Starboard, a platform for founders to start and run their companies globally, announced today a US$3.5 million pre-Series A funding round led by Monkʼs Hill Ventures.

Other investors include Actium Partners, Iterative Capital, Bruno Poh (General Counsel, Lyte Ventures), Lelaina Lim (CFO, Eu Yang Sang International Limited), Michael Tor (Executive Director, UOB), Soh Gin Wee, Sulyana Binte Abdul Aziz, and Terrence Hoon.

The funds will be used to expand engineering, operations and customer success teams, supporting users in Singapore, Southeast Asia and the US.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Melvin Yuan (CEO), Starboard is a one-stop corporate services platform for business incorporation, compliance, accounting, and financial management. It helps global businesses set up, manage and run their US/Singapore companies from a cloud-based platform.

Also Read: Lanturn secures US$3M to provide online corporate services to organisations in Singapore

In other words, the firm is building a company OS (Operating System). It provides access to various corporate services, including accounting and bookkeeping, compliance, payroll, visa applications, company formation and structuring, ESOP advisory, and fractional-CFO services.

The company has onboarded many clients — from startups to SMEs and asset managers — and is currently rolling out its proprietary client portal as a web app, iOS and Android App.

“Founders often have to pull information from multiple sources about their business. Starboard is the ʻone place and one teamʼ solution for founders to manage their businesses efficiently,” said Melvin Yuan, Founder and CEO.

Starboard has also set up operations in Silicon Valley to enable clients from Singapore and Southeast Asia to manage their US subsidiaries. Yuan, a three-time founder, believes that US-based companies can quickly expand into Asia through Starboard, tapping into the market and talent pool with Singapore as regional headquarters.

Despite rapid digitisation, the market still sees many traditional corporate service providers (CSPs) that rely on pen-and-paper processes, limiting efficiency and scalability. In Singapore alone, 2,000 such providers are servicing over 290,000 SMEs.

Starboardʼs platform automates corporate entity management and governance workflow to increase productivity and reduce errors by CSPs. There is a huge opportunity to consolidate this massive fragmented industry.

In 2020, Lanturn, another Singapore-based one-stop online corporate services startup, raised US$3 million in a seed funding round from several investors, including East Ventures and CoCoon Ignite Ventures.

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Apeiron Bioenergy, a Singapore-based bioenergy products company, has announced closing an equity financing round from Mitsui Chemicals.

The amount remains undisclosed.

The funds will support Apeiron Bioenergy in increasing its collection capacity for waste-based feedstocks across Asian markets. It will also equip the company for exponential growth amidst growing demand for renewable feedstock for advanced biofuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel.

According to the International Energy Agency, global demand for renewable diesel is set to more than double, or by 11 billion litres, over the next five years. It mainly stems from government regulations in the US and the EU as established in the decarbonisation targets byCOP26.

However, the planned capacity is set to outpace domestic feedstock supply significantly, and production must keep up with the climate emergency.

Apeiron Bioenergy collects and processes a range of renewable feedstocks, including used cooking oil (UCO) and palm oil mill effluent (POME), and acts as a critical exporter across the Asian market.

Over the past 15 years, Apeiron Bioenergy has built its presence in over ten countries and collected more than 500 million litres of UCO between 2017-2021, offsetting an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Also Read: Singapore startup EcoWorth Tech converts highly contaminated waste into reusable products

“Zero Carbon emissions is one of our strategic targets by 2050. As one of Japan’s leading chemical companies, our investment in Apeiron is our way of contributing to solving the world’s future environmental issues,” said Tadashi Yoshino, Representative Director, Managing Executive Officer, Mitsui Chemicals.

Apeiron Bioenergy’s access to diversified sources and networks of feedstock and relationships with downstream customers means it is in an excellent position to access and supply downstream by-products for Mitsui Chemicals to help achieve its net zero targets.

Mitsui’s strategic investment will help Apeiron meet the substantial rise in biofuel demand by ramping up its capacity of collection points and processing facilities through both organic and inorganic growth.

The company actively seeks to acquire or collaborate with local collectors of sustainable feedstocks in the Asian markets.

“Tackling supply chain issues in bioenergy across Asia requires a community-focused, collaborative approach,” said Chris Chen, Managing Director of Apeiron Bioenergy. “We will ramp up our collection capability, collaborating closely with our downstream partners to resolve the wider sustainability problem of reducing carbon emissions across the land, sea and air transportation spaces.”

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Ivan Yeo stepped down as the CEO of EVOS ESports, a leading e-sports startup he co-founded, in 2021 to focus on his health and handed over its rein to a new generation of leaders. During this time, he started in-depth research about Web3, one of the most talked-about sectors globally.

As he dug deeper, Yeo realised the enormous potential Web3 presents and the disruptive capability across multiple industries it carries.

This landed him on the idea of Avium.

“Avium is building a network of studios by leveraging Web3 infrastructure,” Yeo says. “We are building an entertainment brand to greenlight original content by the Southeast Asian studios behind Marvel Comics, Valve, Netflix, Prime Video, and Tencent.”

Yeo believes that one of the key ingredients of building a successful brand is to capture attention. Avium is doing this by establishing multiple channels.

Also Read: Web3 games should aim to have sustainable tokenomics, ecosystems: Froyo Games’s Douglas Gan

“Our first channel is creating our original content, characters and stories, and we’re supported by hundreds of artists and creators from top Southeast Asia studios working on this. This will eventually be distributed across various social media and content platforms in multiple formats, such as audio, comics, and animation,” he shares.

The second channel is via Avium Esports, which Yeo claims to be the first ever decentralised e-sports team. It allows the startup to establish its presence and gain attention in the gaming sector, drawing eyeballs and creating legions of diehard fans.

“So building Avium as a brand means continually building these avenues for us to capture attention and further develop them,” adds Yeo, who successfully turned EVOS into an organisation with a presence in four countries. EVOS has raised over US$16 million across several rounds and employs over 60 full-time professional gamers and 300 exclusive talents under its brand.

The Founders’ Pass collection — an NFT designed to incentivise the creatives and studios building Avium’s brand — is at the centre of Avium’s ecosystem. It is an all-access pass to the Avium ecosystem. It means the Founders’ Pass holders get auto-access to a curated community, direct access to the project core team, exclusive events, creative resources and subsequent collections by Avium, including the upcoming Origins collection. The pass holders are also considered Avium’s founding members, with rights to build with studios and producers while leveraging the brand.

The benefits for studios

Every artist dreams of creating their original IP and being recognised for the brilliant work they produce. However, bringing original content to fruition and mass distribution remains difficult because Southeast Asia lacks a supporting ecosystem (seen in Hollywood) to enable this.

As a result, much of the work undertaken by Southeast Asian studios is only seen as “outsourced”. While they may be working on blockbuster Hollywood titles, they are minimally recognised, have no claims to the art they produce, and do not participate in the value created downstream (distribution, merchandising, etc.).

“Using the collaborative and community-driven culture of Web3, Avium works with studios to produce original content and intellectual property (IP). Together with our ecosystem partners, we assist them with community building, marketing, NFT technology and smart contract deployment. That’s the unique thing about Web3. The community backing the project is ultimately the same fans who can enjoy their creations,” he elaborates.

Avium and EVOS

Yeo believes there is an opportunity for collaboration between Avium and e-sports, specifically EVOS. For now, the Web3 startup is endorsing and supporting Slate Esports, a decentralised e-sports organisation owned by the players and the community.

Slate was formed by SEA Games Bronze Medalist duo Akihiro’ JPL’ Furusawa and Daryl ‘Youngin’ Ng after EVOS released them in late July. Both are Founders’ Pass holders. With the endorsement, Slate will leverage Avium’s ecosystem and represent the brand through the decentralised ownership model by utilising the pass.

“The decentralised ownership model is one of the first use cases of Founders’ Pass, allowing community members to utilise the Avium brand. Ownership by the players and fans aligns incentives better and allows them to participate in brand value growth, compared to Web2 business model,” Yeo explains.

Also Read: EVOS Esports Founder’s new Web3 media startup Avium lands US$2M funding

Avium has also onboarded two renowned regional art and animation companies — Caravan Studios and Circle Studios. Caravan has developed entertainment IP for household brands, including Marvel Comics, Netflix, Prime Video, Lego, Legends of Runterra, and Clash Royale. Circle Studios is the company behind Valve, Tencent, Dota, and Mobile Legends.

“For us, Caravan and Circle are not just teams of people we outsource to or just there to get the work done. We acknowledge and work with them as ecosystem partners, symbolising a deeper relationship between the creators and what’s created. Ecosystem partners are active participants in the Avium ecosystem. The more they succeed, the stronger the Avium ecosystem becomes. So it was important to find partners aligned with the vision of what we are building,” Yeo says as he shares the reasoning behind the partnerships.

Last week, Avium received US$2 million in a pre-seed round led by Saison Capital and joined by East Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Ricky Ow (ex-Warner Media), and Hepmil Media Group. The fund will be deployed to build the brand and IP in line with its vision to become the most prominent Web3 media and entertainment company.

“We will deploy the capital to fund the costs of creating original content and characters in the Avium world, publishing stories in the media, and establishing our content creator network and presence in e-sports,” Yeo concludes.

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It’s not very often that I receive phone calls from ex-colleagues. So, I was surprised when my phone’s screen flashed with an ex-colleague’s number when I was ready to sign off after a busy week. The strange thing was that we hadn’t spoken for nearly two decades, except for the occasional greetings and wishes on WhatsApp.

I must say, it was a long conversation. We chatted about family and our jobs. Lo and behold, he informed me that he has been with the same company for the past 35 years.

He went on to express that for some time now, he was overcome with emptiness. Unfair treatment from his manager, lack of support, and unmanageable workload. A couple of times, he voiced his intent to quit, but he never could follow through with it. I felt for him at this point.

A lot of questions floated in my head instantly. Would I have been in the same boat if I was still working there? Had he been stuck at the same company for too long? How can companies value long-serving employees?

I’ve been reading about burnout, roadblocks at work, and mental health. As I continued listening to him, I realised that this was what he was experiencing.

As we navigate the new normal, we are constantly faced with new crises every now and then. Businesses have to transform to suit the different needs of customers. Employees have to re-skill and up-skill constantly to keep up with the new technology tools to prevent burnout. Customers have a variety of channels to cater to their needs and wants.

But business leaders are not addressing complex issues such as stress, mental well-being, exhaustion, and burnout. There is no emotional support given at the workplace.

Working on core company culture to prevent burnout

We must understand how important it is for an employee to feel good, happy, and motivated at work. From having one-on-one conversations to checking how they are doing, managing their workloads, or even giving them time away from work.

Also Read: How startup leaders can delegate to prevent burnout 

However, employees need to be shown that they are valued before burnouts even occur, which can lead to an even bigger mental health problem. This is why I would like to share the best ways to support an employee emotionally.

Give feedback

We all wish to have constructive and timely feedback on our performance. Giving balanced feedback can help in shaping an employee’s work. Employees working remotely or in a hybrid setup could request a monthly evaluation from their supervisors. You could even seek guidance from trusted peers, mentors, or even your managers.

Healthy criticism and feedback will have a positive effect on your employees for many reasons. Among some of the reasons, we can mention that it helps to build a relationship between the higher-ups and the employees. Their work will feel more important and valuable if you show that you care.

Equip your employees with the right tools

Ensuring your employees have the right tools to do their job well can benefit productivity and satisfaction. Whether on-site or remote, there must be a collaborative synergy between teams. Some examples of tools are collaboration platforms, CRM, customer engagement platforms, and project management.

One of the most frustrating things that I have experienced as an employee myself was when the company tried to save money by not purchasing the tools that I needed to the point that it was impossible to do a decent job.

Unclear job expectations

One of the biggest aspects of why your employees procrastinate or get to the point of burnout is the lack of clarity on what, how, and for what amount of time they need to do a certain job. You won’t likely feel at ease if you’re unsure about your level of authority or what your boss or other colleagues expect from you.

That is why you as a manager should develop an excellent hierarchy structure and a detailed plan for your employees. This way, they would know what they need to do and to whom they should go for help and advice.

Dysfunctional workplace dynamics

Nothing screams “toxic” more than an unwelcome job environment. I know that the saying “we are one big, happy family” is misused and should not describe a company because you are mainly there to purely profit from one another but to be honest, you are spending a big chunk of your day at work, with your co-workers. That is why you should at least have a friendly interaction with them.

Like just imagine this scenery: Perhaps you are the target of an office bully, feel undercut by coworkers, or have your job micromanaged by your employer. This may increase work-related stress and make the whole working experience not enjoyable.

Work-life imbalance

You risk burning out rapidly if your work consumes so much of your time and energy that you lack the energy to spend time with your loved ones.

Also Read: 6 leadership lessons I learned after we raised our seed round

That is why ever since people started working from home during the quarantine, they understood how important it was to be near their loved ones more. You can see a lot of employees all around the world requesting or even demanding that they be allowed to work from home permanently.

Lack of social support

I once worked for a company that went from 10 employees to 150 in less than five years. In a conversation that I had with some of the employees that were in the company from the beginning, they confessed that they were happier, more motivated, and more productive.

The reason behind this is they could instantly communicate amongst themselves for every need. They also had a great time because they filled their break-time with quality, social time full of laughter.

But this does not mean that all of you should be in a big office for some quality time and social support. Firstly, because it’s impossible if you are in a large company and secondly remote working has too many pros.

But how can you build social support and interaction if your employees are working remotely? Equip them with the right tools. Get together on a virtual call to get things done. Have fun Fridays. Basically, pour a glass of whisky, chat, and play games for an hour.

Final thoughts

Coming back to the conversation with my friend. As I rounded up my conversation with my old friend, we both felt that we learned valuable lessons from one another. We said our goodbyes with a promise to strive to do better at our jobs and for ourselves.

Now that I’m reminiscing about this, I think I should call my friend and see how things are at his end.

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Singapore-based WasteX, an agricultural processing waste startup, has announced its launch with an initial investment of US$525,000 from Wavemaker Impact.

Founded by CEO Pawel Kuznicki, WasteX helps Southeast Asia’s agricultural producers convert waste into higher-value products that fight climate change. The startup looks to tackle the problem of 3.5 billion tons of agricultural processing waste globally — dumped, burnt, or sold cheaply — by converting it to upgraded products with major financial, operational, and carbon benefits.

Also Read: Singapore startup EcoWorth Tech converts highly contaminated waste into reusable products

The company provides an end-to-end solution to agricultural producers – from selecting the right technology, its deployment, and operational support to the certification for carbon credits and facilitation of the sale and application of higher-value products, such as biochar or black soldier flies.

WasteX has already started several pilot projects with clients, including integrated agricultural companies, independent mills, and livestock farms. Over time, it looks to digitise its solution significantly and connect diverse players along the biomass waste value chain to scale this new industry.

The early assessment of the opportunity comes with a potential market of over US$150 billion in GMV for the upgraded products and over 700 million metric tons in GHG reduction potential.

Also Read: Shoes from waste plastic bottles! Neeman’s is going places with its sustainable footwear products

WastX was born out of Wavemaker Impact’s 4-month-long venture-building process. Wavemaker Impact is a climate tech venture builder that co-founds sustainability startups with proven entrepreneurs to reduce 10 per cent of the global carbon budget by 2035. It aims to rally individuals, investors, and businesses that care about the planet and want to make a rapid, material change in reducing carbon emissions.

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Today marked the first day of NXC International Summit –the event commonly known as Nexticorn– after a short, pandemic-induced hiatus.

Held in Bali, Indonesia, from August 31 to September 2, Nexticorn is an initiative to streamline the investment process by connecting leading investors from around the world to high-performing tech startups from Indonesia –the region’s most promising digital economy. To build the next Indonesian unicorns, it assists tech startups in securing the “missing” middle-stage investment by tapping into locally and internationally available resources.

The event has brought onboard hundreds of notable tech startup investors who are ready to meet its next potential investments. The following is a handy list of 22 out of those hundreds of investors that startups can meet at the event:

1. IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. They help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. Its notable investments in the region included Voyager Innovations, 2C2P, and RedDoorz.

2. MUFG Innovation Partners
The investor’s most recent moves in the SEA startup ecosystem includes an US$850 million investment in regional tech unicorn Grab, which was raised to support its expansion in the fintech sector.

3. GIC
An example of a recent investment that GIC made in the region is a US$80 million round it led for Bibit which was raised to foster greater financial literacy in Indonesia.

Also Read: These 30 Indonesian startups are ready to meet you at NXC International Summit

4. Saudi Aramco Enterpreneurship
The organisation aims to promote entrepreneurship and help develop local SMEs by encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to establish or expand SMEs in their respective fields. The Center provides various programmes that offer non-collateralised loans or equity partnerships, along with the guidance and tools that develop and nurture entrepreneurs and their businesses.

5. HALA Ventures
Hailing from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, HALA Ventures recently made an investment into Egypt-based SubsBase, and is looking forward to enter Southeast Asia.

6. SoftBank Ventures Asia
As one of the leading investors in the region, one of SoftBank’s investments this year includes Funding Societies’s US$294 million Series C+ round through its Vision Fund 2.

7. Alpha JWC Ventures
This year, Alpha JWC Ventures led a in Filipino parenting e-commerce startup edamama.

8. Sequoia
The firm’s participation in the event is no surprise as it recently announced a US$850 million fund to double down on Southeast Asia.

9. Merak Capital
Merak Capital is an investment firm focused on technology companies across multiple industries, and licensed by the Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia. It has recently participated in a seed funding round for Egypt-based Convertedin.

10. Saison Capital
In a recent interview with e27, Chris Sirise of Saison Capital explains how “absolute decentralisation” will never be a panacea for every issues in the market.

11. Sovereign’s Capital
With presence in major tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and Jakarta, the firm invests in two market segments: profitable, lower middle market companies (with US$10 million to US$100 million in revenue, and US$2.5 million to US$10 million in owner earnings) and promising, early-stage technology companies (with US$500,000 to US$5 million in annual recurring revenue).

12. Jungle Ventures

Jungle Ventures recently announced a US$600 million close for its fourth fund, with targets of up to 18 key investments.

Also Read: ‘Indonesia will soon see a proper credit boom for businesses, consumers’: AC Ventures

14. Openspace Ventures
One of the firm’s most recent investments included a US$5 million funding for Indonesian waste treatment startup Octopus.

15. BEENEXT
BEENEXT recently led a US$3 million Pre-Series A funding for RIMM Sustainability.

16. Cornerstone Venture Partners
Based in New York, the firm is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on B2B technology solutions.

17. Insignia Venture Partners
Having raised US$516 million for its fund, Insignia Ventures announced that it will remain bullish about Web3, climate-tech, and healthcare in SEA.

18. 1982 Ventures Partners
A relative newcomer in the space, 1982 Ventures recently closed debut US$20 million seed-stage fintech fund.

19. Vertex Ventures
Only yesterday, the firm announced that it leads Propseller’s US$12 million Series A round.

20. 500 Global
In an interview, Ee Ling Lim, Head of APAC Business Development at 500 Global, explains about the characteristics that the firm looks in a company and how they can help it grow.

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Image Credit: Nexticorn

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Earlier this year, it was predicted that the 2D internet space would be replaced by a 3D virtual space. The metaverse has been introduced repeatedly in fiction throughout history, and VR inventions paved the way for its conceptualisation. 

The first VR machine was invented in 1956 by an inventor named Morton Heilig. The Sensorama Machine simulated a motorcycle ride through the city of Brooklyn. While VR went on to make an impact on the gaming industry with VR arcade games and various gaming equipment, it wasn’t until Web2 did the potential of metaverse fully revealed itself.

The concept of a virtual metaverse

The metaverse is basically a virtual world where people could be presented through avatars and control those avatars through VR gear, though that doesn’t have to be the case for a virtual world to be considered part of the metaverse.

In fact, games such as Minecraft and Second Life are also components of the metaverse. What innovators are hoping to do is to combine the internet into a comprehensive, linear world that will offer users a rich experience that they would not otherwise have in real-life.

In the sci-fi book-turned-movie, Ready Player One, there is a strongly established metaverse which is fully immersive and offers free education to all so that everyone can access the kind of knowledge that their more privileged peers are traditionally more likely to be given.

Also Read: The work in the metaverse is just beginning, where do we stand now?

Aside from information-sharing, the metaverse can also improve the quality of life for any individual as the virtual currencies can be converted into real-world money, which can aid those who are physically disabled or unable to hold down a traditional job.

The potential of the metaverse is exceedingly beneficial, and its advantages have been discovered and implemented in the health industry.

Digital technology encompassing the health industry

Following the COVID-19 outbreaks, countries all over the world implemented their own social distancing protocols and borders were shut, along with schools, shops, and other non-essential services. Healthcare was strained to its maximum capacity, and it was only a matter of time before someone came up with the idea of digitising the healthcare system.

Consultations were soon being done online, and the first AR surgery was done on living patients by neurosurgeons from Johns Hopkins. The sophistication of modern technology will inadvertently hail medical services from all sectors to adopt its practices and take it a step further.

Dentistry has also pioneered the use of metaverse, led by the Dental Design Studio. The dental practice currently has 15 facilities in the United Kingdom and one that exists on the virtual plane of Sandbox. 

Patients may very well one day have dental telehealth conversations regarding their oral health and hygiene. With the right gear, x-rays or 3D imaging may be possible in real-time. Currently, the firm intends to develop interactive surgeries where users will be able to design their own teeth.

A representative from Dental Design Studio explains that they “have always been interested in technology and have tried to innovate in any area that will benefit our patients. As people are increasingly starting to use the metaverse as a form of social interaction, we got the idea to create a group of dental practices in the metaverse – giving patients the chance to experience the dentist differently. ”

The metaverse benefits everyone from the end-user to the service providers. Aside from patients, practising dentists will also be able to join conferences and talks without having to travel in real-time by participating in lectures in the metaverse. 

A startup called Immersive Touch has developed a virtual simulation to help medical students and practising dentists alike rehearse medical procedures before executing them on their living patients. The practice of using technology to practice will inadvertently reduce the risks and enhance patient satisfaction. 

Also Read: Why Singapore is ASEAN’s sandbox for innovation in healthtech

On the other hand, patients can also view procedures beforehand to prepare for their upcoming procedure to alleviate any dental anxiety they may have, stemming from the fear of the unknown. 

The future of dentistry in the metaverse

Marketing is important and will continue to be important in the virtual world. Having a digital presence in the metaverse can help dentistry practices create brand awareness and offer advertising opportunities, as long as risks are taken into account, such as data privacy.

But the purpose of the metaverse isn’t just to feed capitalism or enhance commercialisation. It’s to increase accessibility. With increased accessibility and decreased costs, the metaverse can provide access to medical care to anyone in the world.

Dental booths may be set up in offices or medical sectors with the sole purpose of giving patients extra accessibility to dental services. Just imagine strolling up to a booth and having your needs taken care of, whether it is a consultation or an extraction, immediately.

What may sound like a luxury to first-world individuals would sound like a heaven-sent to underprivileged people living in third-world countries.

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

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

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Singapore-based online career discovery and development platform Glints has announced a US$50 million Series D raise co-led by DCM Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital, and returning investor PERSOL Holdings.

Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors, including Monk’s Hill Ventures, Fresco Capital, and Flipkart Co-Founder Binny Bansal, also joined.

This brings Glints’s total investment to date to over US$80 million.

Also Read: Non-revenue generating jobs tend to be more affected in the current downturn: Glints CEO

The startup will use the new capital to expand its talent supply base into the Philippines, its employer demand base globally, and its product and technology teams.

“Our mission at Glints is to empower the 120 million professionals in Southeast Asia to realise their human potential. We also believe that one’s career is a journey and an entire talent ecosystem needs to be built to support these talented professionals’ lifelong career development, not just once-off job matching,” said Co-Founder and CEO Oswald Yeo.

Launched in 2015 in Singapore, Glints is a talent ecosystem that helps professionals to grow their careers and empower organisations to hire the right talent from anywhere in the region. The firm claims to have empowered more than three million talents.

Glints is used by over 50,000 clients, including AIA, IKEA, GetGo, KKday, and Gameloft.

The company operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

Per a press release, its annual revenue and gross profits grew 2.5x y-o-y. Its cross-border remote work business also continues to double as employers shift to a more borderless mindset, and employers globally are increasingly interested in hiring Southeast Asia talent.

Also Read: Tech companies lay off, now or never for smaller startups

Remote cross-border job opportunities on Glints’s platform have grown more than 11x over the past two years. Its Indonesia and Vietnam markets are profitable.

As part of the investment, Xiaoyin Zhang, Founding Partner of Lavender Hill Capital and former Goldman Sachs TMT China Head, and Ramon Zeng, General Partner of DCM Ventures, join the board.

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Amidst the doom and gloom of ‘crypto winter’, there are some bright spots: Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm slated for completion by 2022 is one and a much anticipated event.

In fact, when the date of ‘the Merge’ was recently announced to be 19th September 2022, an injection of much needed enthusiasm galvanised the investor sentiment in the crypto sphere. Within a mere week of the announcement, the price of its native token, ETH, rose by about 50 per cent, from US$1,000 to US$1,500.

Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin shared that following the Merge and subsequent phases in the Ethereum transition developer roadmap known as ‘the Surge, Verge, Purge, Splurge’, Ethereum will be able to support over 100,000 transactions per second (tps), a monumental leap from its current capacity of about 15 to 20 tps.

The Merge dramatically lowers energy consumption, and is claimed to become the foundation that removes much of Ethereum’s scalability constraints, unlocking its full potential. This is probably what fuelled the community’s recent optimism.

At the height of crypto’s run-up last year, bullish investors of Ethereum proclaimed price targets of US$50,000/ETH or higher, based on the belief that Ethereum will eventually monopolise or entrench its market dominance in the smart contract blockchain segment.

This was certainly a plausible prediction given Ethereum’s immense popularity. At the peak of network congestion, users have paid hundreds of dollars in gas fees per transaction and waited days for these transactions to be processed.

Miners have meanwhile collected billions in gas fees per month as incentive for verifying these transactions. Intuitively, scaling up Ethereum is expected to compound the value being created and captured, thereby aiding the price appreciation of ETH.

Also Read: The growing adoption of Ethereum in emerging markets

However, despite current optimism in the market, the reality is often much more nuanced. Even as the Merge draws near, I contend that it is still everyone’s guess if the present ETH bull run will last for the longer term.

Will Ethereum emerge as the winner?

While the technological roadmap for Ethereum to scale up to 100,000 tps seems straightforward at first glance, it is a lengthy process undoubtedly filled with hiccups. Since the news first surfaced, key developments for Ethereum 2.0 have been repeatedly delayed.

Furthermore, the Merge is not the endgame, merely one of many milestones in the pipeline, with another four scheduled ahead: the Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge, and as Buterin remarked, the protocol will only be “55 per cent complete once the Merge is complete”.

If we go by its track record, we cannot guarantee that Ethereum 2.0 will be delivered on the proposed timeline, let alone expect its 100 per cent completion, which is still far beyond the horizon right now.

The development of Ethereum 2.0 is also racing against time, as other developing blockchain networks are rapidly gaining ground. For example, Solana has been able to attract a sizable community with its fast transaction speed and low latency. Avalanche was also dubbed as an ‘Ethereum 2.0 killer’, quickly gaining traction because of its developer friendliness and blockchain interoperability among other reasons.

In addition, many new blockchain networks are entering the fray. There are now over hundred blockchain network offerings at various stages of development. Aptos is just one of many examples, and it is rumored to have raised at a whopping US$2.7 B valuation prior to its launch.

Even if Ethereum 2.0 were to deliver on its vision, it is an oversimplified assumption to think all or even most of its existing users will adopt it.

Notably, dYdX, the leading decentralised margin trading platform that first was building on Ethereum, announced in late June that it is leaving Ethereum for Cosmos. The Ethereum ecosystem is simply unable to support the customisations that dYdX requires for its order book design, such as fee structures and transaction speeds.

Meanwhile, the Cosmos Network allows dYdX and other projects to build custom tailored, native blockchains with the ability to make transactions with other blockchains within Cosmos’ ecosystem, all without astronomical gas fees or compromising on transaction throughput.

Where other blockchain network ecosystems are increasingly successful and adapting to ever-changing needs of users, the Ethereum ecosystem may fail to support the heterogeneous needs of future decentralised applications.

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

Putting the promise of those blockchain network projects aside, the reality is that all of these blockchain networks are facing their own technical challenges and competing to deliver their scalability solution or other value propositions. Naturally, the first to succeed will tend to gain more market share.

Can Ethereum capture enough value?

Another key question is, even if Ethereum were to capture a significant share of the future smart contract market, would it be able to capture enough value? Delphi Research elaborated its thesis on ETH’s potential for value and revenue capture for this base asset in Valuing Layer 1s – Memes, Money, or More?

In essence, ETH captures three streams of value-productive asset yield through staking, consumable/transformable value as a rare commodity, and store of value asset as the quote currency – similar to the petrodollar system due to its ecosystem value and stickiness.

However, I would like to highlight that all these value streams are underpinned by one assumption. Ethereum block space is hard to replace, a scarce computing resource that is highly sought after, thus allowing its base asset to command a premium.

But what if decentralised computing resources were heavily commoditised? The Ethereum block space is a scarce resource, evident from its high transaction fees and users’ willingness to pay at its peak.

However, other blockchain network offerings have only become more valid alternatives recently, and evidently a lot of developers and users have already migrated out to others despite the pain of moving to a new ecosystem.

Furthermore, with more and more vibrant blockchain network offerings emerging, significant effort is pouring into cross-chain bridging projects (and layer 0 technologies) connecting blockchain network chains together, such as Layerzero, Polkadot, and Cosmos etc. These protocols would allow developers and users to tap on multi-chain linkages and interactions in a frictionless way.

In our physical world organised by sovereign states, multi-chains which are interlinked is much like how citizens of European Union’s (EU) member states can travel, work and live freely without border checks under the EU’s open border policy.

Under such a scenario, the existence of other blockchain network chains may not diminish Ethereum’s market share substantially, but it might lead to a race to the bottom with lowering fees as Ethereum’s stakeholders try to retain their user pool, culminating in the commoditisation of the Ethereum block space value.

De-monopolising the blockchain network universe in such a way will certainly diminish Ethereum’s control over value capture. Thus, Ethereum block space is probably less like petrol which shaped our current geopolitics, but more like the current evolution of electricity where solar, wind, nuclear and many other new power generation technologies are competing for the future and will co-exist.

Supporters will argue that Ethereum is more decentralised than others but remember, most users will mainly care about general user experience and cost.

Lastly, I believe that Ethereum will eventually lose its monopoly, eroding the strong premium that ETH currently commands. ETH‘s potential as a store of value and quote/reserve currency adoption will also need to be further questioned in a multi-chain world.

Overall, the multi-chain scenario is an intriguing vision and, if realised, opens up unparalleled developmental opportunities in the coming years. Thus, I retain my cautious view even as the market reacts very favorably to the announcement of the Merge. While the short term event-driven trade sounds like a workable idea, the long term investment thesis for Ethereum is much less straightforward.

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Singapore-headquartered tech-enabled real estate agency Propseller has secured US$12 million Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.

The round saw participation from existing investors Hustle Fund, Iterative, and Rapzo Capital, and new investors Partech Ventures, ICCP SBI, Vulpes Ventures, and Redbadge Pacific.

Jani Rautiainen (Co-Founder, PropertyGuru), Marta Higuera (Co-Founder, OpenAgent), Steffen Wicker (Co-Founder and CEO, Homeday), and Tushar Garg (Co-Founder and CEO, Flyhomes) also joined.

The funds will enable Propseller to scale its core business model, expand its line-up of services, and explore overseas markets.

The 50-people company plans to hire 200 new people across the marketing, operations, product, engineering, sales and real estate functions.

Also Read: What are the key emerging trends and technologies in proptech space?

Founded in 2018, Propseller employs in-house salaried agents backed by technology and centralised operations. The proptech firm controls every aspect of a real estate transaction and offers consumers a “transparent and reliable way” to sell a property for a commission as low as one per cent, half the market rate in Singapore.

In October 2020, Propseller raised US$1.2 million in seed funding from Hustle Fund, Iterative, XA Network, Rapzo Capital, Stein Jakob (Co-Founder, Lazada) and Ben Neve (Founder, Dot Property). Two years earlier, it closed a US$1 million seed funding round from industry entrepreneurs and senior executives.

Propseller claims to have grown its revenues by 1,000 per cent year-over-year in 2021 and reached profitability.

“We believe people deserve extraordinary service when selling their home, which often represents 70 per cent or more of their wealth. Yet, on average, consumers still deal with property agents who close less than two sales transactions per year each while generally charging a two per cent commission. Our business model addresses this industry challenge by elevating our service for consumers while charging a lower cost. Our real estate consultants each closed in 2021 25x more transactions than a traditional agent,” Adrien Jorge, Founder and CEO of Propseller, said.

According to him, Propseller the COVID-19 pandemic caused two shifts in consumer behaviours — 1) the flight from offline to online for everything, including high-value items such as real estate, and 2) unprecedented work-from-home movement making millions of consumers who want to move to a larger home than the one they are currently in.

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