According to the most recent Glassdoor data, it took 40.8 days for companies to hire a software developer. To add more, software developers were contacted by recruiters four times per week.

So if your company has managed to employ the right remote software engineers for your openings (You have done a great job!), please don’t let your guard down just yet. It’s time to focus on how to retain them in your team.

Here are the five ways that help companies to manage their remote software engineers effectively, as proven by research.

Work should be judged by the ability to meet goals, not hours

Companies have changed the way they measure their employees’ work performance. Considering a software engineer a hero because (s)he has pulled an all-nighter to work is all in the past. Rather than evaluating employees’ work based on their daily activities where work hours are typically used, organizations have switched to focusing on results.

More employers are allowing workers to set their work schedules as they have shown they are trusted to get the job done during their chosen hours. Firms adopting flexible working have experienced employee loyalty, engagement, and higher job satisfaction. “The effects for us have been overwhelmingly positive,” says the UK recruitment agency Austin Fraser.

• According to data from Owl Labs’ state of remote work report, companies that allow remote work have 25 per cent lower employee turnover than those that don’t.
• 76 per cent of workers would be more willing to stay with their current employer if they could work flexible hours.
• Fractl’s survey also found that after health insurance, employees attach the most to flexible hours and the work-from-home option, which are relatively low-cost for employers.

Structured daily check-in setups

Set up regular calls so your remote software engineers understand their questions and concerns will be heard. While one-on-one meetings suit folks that work more independently from each other, team catch-ups go well with highly collaborative employees.

Be emotionally supportive of your remote software engineers

Research on emotional intelligence emphasizes that emotional contagion significantly influences individual-level attitudes and group processes. A leader’s responses to sudden changes are likely to be adopted by his employees. So be aware of the way you react in such circumstances.

While feeling stressed and anxious is inevitable, leaders may provide support and affirmation for confidence to their teams. Assure the employees that you acknowledge the tough situation, yet you know your team can handle it. With this approach, your remote software engineers are more likely to have a sense of purpose in taking up the challenge.

Also Read: How remote work has changed the salary scale in Taiwan

Also, be sure you frequently catch up with your remote software engineers. We cannot stress enough how important it is for organizations to communicate, especially through uncertainty. People tend to open up to those they feel trusted and empathized.

Listen to employees’ stress and concerns. Let them know their opinions matter to the organisations. Data from Harvard Business Review, SHRM, Great Place to Work, Accenture, Gallup, and Trust Edge have demonstrated that when employees trust their employers, they are much more likely to work together towards achieving the same ultimate business goals.

• Video conferencing helps reduce the sense of isolation among teams and is also useful for complicating or sensitive conversations. So for weekly team meetings, one-on-one performance reviews, and frequent catch-ups, this option may do better than written or audio-only communication.
• Mobile-enabled individual messaging functionality tools are usually used where simpler, less formal conversations and time-sensitive collaboration are preferred.
• Fix the frequency, means, and timing of the team’s communication. For example, Zoom video call for daily check-in meetings and Telegram for instant messaging on urgent updates.

Get the help you need for your remote software engineers

Making sure your remote software engineers stay focused and happy requires great investment in the company’s money and effort.

You need people to be in charge of the remote software engineers’ instant support daily and their well-being. More importantly, those people need to know what they are doing: what aligns with the remote software engineers’ cultural preferences and what doesn’t.

Thus, more companies find it more optimal to partner with tech recruitment teams that possess local intelligence and solid experience in the field to attract and retain remote software engineers for them.

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Singapore-based HR automation platform Omni HR has announced closing an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round of US$2.4 million co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Picus Capital.

FEBE Ventures, Basis Set Ventures, Ratio Ventures, Frances Kang at Horizons Ventures, and several prominent angel investors, including former executives at Namely and Ultimate Software, also participated.

With the new funding, Omni HR will further enhance its all-in-one product offering, including launching a recruitment module by Q3 and a performance management module by Q4. 

Founded in 2021 by Brian Ip and YC Chan, Omni HR provides a system that helps companies digitise and automate the end-to-end employee lifecycle on a single platform. It enables organisations to digitise employee records, automate administrative tasks, and interact employee data across different systems. 

Also Read: Human capital is the biggest enabler of digital transformation. Here’s how to enhance it

Omni HR believes that with the ongoing digital transformation and software adoption trends in Southeast Asia, its platform will ultimately become an important piece of software infrastructure for the region. 

The company is ready to expand across Southeast Asia, starting with Singapore and Indonesia.

“Most companies in Southeast Asia are currently using local HR software that supports only basic admin functions, leaving many HR processes to be done manually. Meanwhile, HR software is one of the software categories that require the most localisation due to the differing employment rules in different countries. This effectively creates a unique opportunity for local players to build a modern, scalable employee management platform based out of Southeast Asia,” said Co-Founder Ip.

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When it comes to growing and scaling your startup, you need a variety of assistance. That support can come in the form of mentorships, grants, networks, and even access to a physical space where you can test out your products and services.

With all of these forms of support, your startup can take on larger goals at a faster rate and at a much wider scale! Isn’t this the dream? If so, then look no further because SLINGSHOT 2022 is extending its application deadline to 31 July to give more young and promising startups the opportunity of a lifetime!

SLINGSHOT 2022

Enterprise Singapore has extended the application deadline for SLINGSHOT — its global startup pitching competition – for an additional week to July 31, 2022. SLINGSHOT aims to provide exciting new startups a platform to launch their best tech and business ideas into the global market.

Last year, Quantumcyte — an artificial intelligence-integrated tissue dissection solution that provides more accurate test results for cancer patients — walked away with a Startup SG Grant of S$200,000 (in addition to the Startup SG Grant of S$50,000 for being a Sector winner), and 18 months worth of rent-free space at JTC Launchpad.

Also read: Lalamove: Driving growth in eCommerce with last-mile deliveries

In its sixth edition this year, SLINGSHOT will feature an inaugural physical immersion programme for its top 50 startup finalists to be announced in September. According to Enterprise Singapore, the top 50 finalists of the SLINGSHOT competition will be participating in a 10-day physical programme to experience the startup and innovation ecosystem in Singapore, and better understand how Enterprise Singapore can help these startups accelerate their growth and scale their business to the Southeast Asian region.

Along with the physical immersion programme, SLINGSHOT is also collaborating with the AWS Startup Ramp programme to connect its startup finalists to AWS’s global community of partners for collaborative opportunities, as well as training and credits provided by AWS.

Who can join?

Deep tech startups operating in diverse sectors are welcome to join. For its sixth edition, SLINGSHOT is looking for startups that have a particular emphasis on a variety of key innovations, namely transformative digital technologies; health and biomedical; manufacturing, trade and connectivity; environment, energy and green technology; and consumer media, goods and services.

Through SLINGSHOT 2022, startups that belong to these categories can network with global leading investors, accelerators and corporates, from regional demo days, deal-mixers, and qualifiers to finals, immerse in exclusive pitch coaching, corporate site visits, and lab crawls in the vibrant Singapore startup ecosystem, ideate and co-innovate with MNCs and homegrown players to fast-track your ideas into the market, and present to a global audience at the Finals and win up to S$1.2m (US$800,000) worth of grant prizes.

Stand to win exciting prizes

Enterprise Singapore is offering more than US$800,000 in total grant prizes for startup winners, with the top three winners of SLINGSHOT winning up to 18 months’ rent-free space at Singapore’s LaunchPad @ one-north or LaunchPad @ Jurong Innovation District.

Also read: How Singapore startups explore opportunities in Japan—and vice versa

NextBillion, SLINGSHOT 2020’s grand winner, recently raised US$21 million in a Series B round in May. According to Enterprise Singapore, SLINGSHOT’s top 40 winners have gone on to raise almost US$400 million in investments.

The top 50 finalists of SLINGSHOT 2022 will be pitching physically during the finals to be held from October 25 to 27 during the Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology.

With the most important investors, corporates, industry leaders, mentors, media, and tech-savvy early adopters all gathered in one space, SLINGSHOT 2022 offers your startup a golden opportunity to connect with businesses and funding opportunities in the region. Don’t miss your chance to strike the deal of a lifetime.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Enterprise Singapore

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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The recent crypto bear market has cast a shadow over Web3 games. Whilst Axie Infinity brought Web3 gaming to mainstream consciousness, and it is now frowned upon by builders and investors alike.

Just as excitement over the “play-to-earn” phenomenon emerged suddenly and rapidly in 2021, the scepticism over the very same phenomenon has accumulated similarly, with more than a handful “writing off” Web3 games as a fad.

Yet I believe we are at the cusp of an evolution, where we can look to the next generation of web3 games emerging as higher quality, more sustainable and most importantly, more enjoyable.

As Stanford Graduate School of Business students wrote, “Gen one Web3 games were built by crypto natives, game enthusiasts and traditional finance professionals”. This led to the fallacy, “We enjoy playing games, so we know how to build games.” The equivalent of this would be, “I enjoy eating delicious food, so I know how to be a Michelin-star chef,” a misguided belief that can unravel quickly.

The next phase of Web3 games will be built by strong game developers who already have experience building fun and engaging games without the shackles of rushed token launches or Ponzi-like game economies and are now looking to elevate the game with Web3 tools.

These builders understand that a Web3 game is first and foremost, while tokens are accompaniments that deepen engagement and engineer incentives but cannot replace intense gameplay.

These Web3 games will be more than games; they will be economies, driven by supply and demand, possibly underwritten by tokens and access gated by NFTs.

This multi-part series explores building health economies, discusses mental models for supply and demand, and highlights best practices around Web3 game tokenomics.

Also Read: All hands on deck: How Iron Sail strengthens blockchain gaming ecosystem through collaboration

We have started this conversation with the ‘demand-side’ of the equation before discussing the ‘supply-side’ of tokenomics because tokenomics are not sustainable without a product (in this case, a game) that is in demand. A game with no demand is effectively dead.

Patrons, players and farmers of Web3 games

Demand for Web3 games comes from three persona groups: patrons, players and farmers.

• Patrons are die-hard believers who often have an ironclad belief in and support of the game. Patrons are often the early adopters in the community, the investor who writes a cheque before a line of code is written, or the individual who joins a new Discord server and starts conversation religiously. Patrons often feel emotionally connected to the game or the team behind the game: a passionate but small group.
• Players are true gamers who participate in the gameplay for various non-financial reasons. The player is someone who invests a non-trivial amount of time in engaging in the game and, at best, considers the financial reward as a fringe benefit.
• Farmers focus almost exclusively on the financial upside of the gameplay. The primary objective of investing time in the game is to earn a financial return exceeding the initial participation cost in the shortest possible time period.
• Examples include the popular Axie Infinity scholarship model, where farmers would invest in in-game character NFTs and rent the characters out to players on a revenue-sharing model instead of playing.

Persona	Mindset	Play the game?	Leave when earning stops?
Patrons	I am here to support	N	N
Players	I am here to have fun	Y	N
Farmers	I am here to make money	Y	Y

These three personas are not mutually exclusive, even within the same game. An individual who begins as a Patron (before the game is launched) can transition to a Player (when the game launches), then onto a Farmer, due to a change in family circumstances.

Also Read: Exploring the creator economy in gaming

All three personas are usually present to some extent, yet one will be the dominant persona at a time.

The challenge for game developers is to keep a close pulse on the demographics of their population and how they shift over time. All three personas are necessary to build a healthy web3 game ecosystem.

The Patron is needed to seed initial confidence, attracting Players and Farmers; the Player is needed to engage with the game and consume/utilise game assets produced by Farmers; the Farmer is needed to produce game assets for the Player, especially those who are time poor.

The impact of an imbalanced population is evident among “Gen 1” Web3 games like Axie Infinity, especially between Players and Farmers. When the population’s majority are Farmers, excessive value is extracted from the game, while there are insufficient Players to consume the economy.

This leads to “Ponzi-nomics”, where new entrants largely support the value of game assets until the supply of players and the token price craters.

Patrons will always remain a small but important proportion of participants and have a less material impact. So, what then is the Goldilocks ratio between Players and Farmers? 

A quick online literature review does not reveal much insight, but having informally surveyed several game studios with a track record of building games with decent traction among non-Web3 audiences, the consensus is 7:3, out of every 10 participants in a fun, seven or more have to be Players who consume game assets. At the same time, three or fewer should create assets as Farmers.

This ratio is anecdotal: if you have evidence to prove or disprove this, please reach out at qinen@saisoncapital.com; we would love to engage.

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

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One of the major enablers of new digital products and business models for the current and future transformation of enterprises is agility.

Enterprises need the flexibility to redesign the connectivity for each location and operations in line with their ongoing transformation process. Connectivity used to be an enabler, but as new products are developed and portfolios evolve in modern digital business, it is becoming an intrinsic part of the product itself; take the connected car as an example.

Therefore, enterprises will need even greater flexibility in all aspects of their connectivity to make it fit for the future, including the capability to adjust bandwidths, optimise latency and security, and reinforce the resilience of their connectivity in line with the business demands and application requirements.

And creating secure and customisable connections to new business partners as and when needed. Not to mention time-independent booking and adjustment of services and intelligent automation.

Comparing the new demands with legacy enterprise connectivity is a bit like comparing an elite athlete with a couch potato. The couch is comfortable, but modern digital business requires strength, resilience, and flexibility to win the game.

Understanding the connectivity landscape of the modern enterprise

So how is the enterprise connectivity landscape transforming?

A digitally transformed factory, for example, has more data requiring storage and processing than a legacy factory. This data will most likely be stored and processed in the cloud to enable access from geographically dispersed company locations to monitor KPIs and QA in a centralised way and to provide management with aggregated data for making decisions.

As a result, modern enterprises have an increased demand for aggregating and transporting data. But beyond this, a factory is no longer the preserve of the manufacturing company alone. With concepts like robotics as a service, a factory provides a home for intelligent machines owned and operated by external partners.

Consequently, it is necessary to optimise the connectivity to headquarters, branches, production plants and specific external parties. Intelligent production processes, be that the use of robots, smart quality assurance, or additive manufacturing (3D printing techniques), place much greater demands on the resilience of the connectivity. This requires guarantees in the form of high-level service level agreements (SLAs), dedicated bandwidth, and flexibility.

Also Read: Amidst uncertainty, digitalisation requires reliable connectivity

Added to this, companies also want to consume more services from centralised clouds from multiple cloud providers simultaneously as part of their multi-cloud strategy. In this case, end-to-end flexibility is required to guarantee the bandwidth needed for the given service.

Companies today no longer consider the historical A-to-B locational conception of connectivity. Instead, they require more fine-grained connectivity between applications, workloads, devices, and users.

The conception of connectivity is no longer about connecting sites in, for example, two particular cities; rather, the focus is on goals like setting up connectivity between the company’s AI cluster in a centralised hyper-scale and the locally hosted on-prem SQL database.

The importance of resilient, fast, high-bandwidth, and flexible connectivity from the enterprise network to the cloud and to other digital infrastructure service providers, as well as to any service providers involved in the company’s digital value chains, cannot be underestimated. The evolution of modern interconnection services must follow and reflect the needs of modern business.

Designing these modern interconnection services, therefore, needs to be approached in two ways: firstly, by creating a robust, secure, resilient, and high-performance physical infrastructure, and then by adding flexibility and simplicity through virtualisation and automation, thus enabling a range of customisable services.

Resilience is essential for keeping data traffic safe and flowing

For a digital business, trust in its connectivity infrastructure is essential. Day-to-day operations depend on fail-safe transportation of data, be that customer data, maintenance of systems, analytics, or any other of a myriad of essential data-driven use-cases.

Unfortunately, in the real world, incidents and outages are a part of life, and it is necessary to build connectivity in such a way as to minimise their impact of these. Just as a resilient immune system helps the body avoid infection or bounce back rapidly from health-related setbacks, connectivity requires its own form of resilience.

A company can design its critical digital infrastructure to be more immune to real-world events by building multiple layers of redundancy in technology, geography, and business partners.

Also Read: Conservation technology: The role of data and tech in addressing the biodiversity crisis

Sounds great, you say, but how is this even possible?

Redundancy, neutrality, and diversity in digital infrastructure are key to the greatest level of resilience. This must be factored into the design of enterprise connectivity from top to bottom.

Take what we do at DE-CIX as an example: Physical redundancy is an essential hallmark of the design of DE-CIX platforms, necessary to support the SLAs we guarantee our customers. The distributed nature of our platforms, accessible in many geographically dispersed data centres, and redundant deployment of our core and edge infrastructure ensures resilience against localised outages.

Furthermore, we purchase connections as diversely as possible along multiple routes so that connectivity can be maintained between locations, even in the case of localised outages along one pathway.

This means we ensure redundant and non-overlapping cable connections between every data centre where our platform is accessible, creating a highly robust and resilient, failure-safe interconnection environment.

We seek the highest levels of diversity on multiple levels: different operators, different cable stretches, and different upstream products. Interconnecting our platforms globally, the same applies: we share our capacities across different sub-sea cable routes and ensure that these paths do not overlap.

Enterprises should also apply this best practice approach to ensure resilient connectivity for their critical data flows and value chains, the foundation of business continuity in the digital economy.

How enterprises can get what they need when they need it

Bearing in mind the need for resilient connectivity, it is not surprising that enterprises are looking for secure and resilient alternative means to access their chosen cloud services. The demand for private cloud connectivity is constantly growing, and digital businesses meanwhile understand the pitfalls of connecting to clouds via the public Internet.

At the same time, flexibility and simplicity in handling interconnection services are paramount to enterprise agility. An access model (one access, multiple services) for the booking of interconnection services, paired with a self-service portal and API capabilities, ensures easy booking, scaling, and adjusting services. This makes a multi-cloud strategy feasible and manageable and simplifies general interconnection.

No matter whether it’s for direct access to hyper-scale and specialised clouds, for sourcing and using specific applications from the cloud (like Microsoft 365), or for securely connecting and exchanging data with business partners in a secure and exclusive environment, enterprises require a dedicated infrastructure to consume the services they are using.

Therefore, even when the underlying infrastructure is necessarily shared (such as the global Internet backbone and interconnection platforms like those operated by DE-CIX), enterprise customers need a virtual point-to-point private line, meaning that the enterprise connectivity is logically separated and has guaranteed reserve bandwidth on the infrastructure.

Also Read: Why Asia Pacific is a hotbed for bold ideas in material technology and sustainability

The further evolution of cloud connectivity will involve greater interoperability and cloud-to-cloud communication.

Technology-neutral integration enables the service edge

Technology-neutral integration allowing the service to the edge is needed to fulfil the interconnection needs of future enterprises. Here again, DE-CIX, the world’s leading operator of neutral interconnection platforms, can stand as a model.

The DE-CIX ecosystems are home to all the digital service providers that the business world needs access to, the data centres, the network operators, the cloud and content providers, the content distribution networks, and many more.

As an innovative interconnection specialist, we are responsible for providing flexible integrated solutions in terms of an on-demand network as a service and customers beyond the scope of traditional interconnection services.

The best way for enterprises to ensure the greatest resilience of their connectivity to locations, partners, and resources in the cloud is to not only build out their redundant connectivity with multiple contractual partners but also to capitalise on the redundancy and diversity built into the distributed and neutral nature of the DE-CIX infrastructure.

As an agile facilitator, an interconnection specialist like DE-CIX can simplify and streamline the process of creating resilient connectivity for the digital transformation challenges of the modern enterprise.

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The cryptocurrency regulations need to evolve since the existing laws are based on a centralised system, said Atsushi Taira, Managing Director of startup investor Mistletoe Singapore.

Smaller but advanced countries like Singapore and Estonia can take the lead and introduce innovative regulations.

“Blockchain is part of society. Regulators need to consider the decentralised nature of blockchain [while drafting laws]. Although they cannot control everything, they can at least put a minimum requirement like KYC (know your customer) for crypto transfer between two parties. It is necessary to prevent instances of anti-money laundering,” Taira said in an interview with e27.

There are different kinds of KYC models. For example, blockchain-based distributed KYC or zero-knowledge proof or ZKP (ZKP is a cryptographic method to prove that something is known to a third party without having to reveal the underlying information).

“Regulators need to be savvy enough to understand the technology and then accept new types of KYC,” said Taira, previously Senior VP (Global Business Strategy) at SoftBank Group. “If regulators push the existing KYC system (based on the concept of a centralised banking system), people won’t accept that. So regulators must be more advanced and adapt to the blockchain-based regulation.”

Taira also stressed that if Singapore and Estonia (economies where the financial system is advanced) can change the regulatory framework to accept the new forms of KYC, it can be a good starting point. Changing regulations may not be possible in big countries like Japan and the US because it’s hard to reach a consensus among various stakeholders.

Also Read: The brother of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is heading to Singapore, following Eduardo Saverin’s footprints

According to Taira, the ongoing financial crisis is a course correction and is good for the global startup ecosystem. When a recession occurs, all the bad guys and mediocre startups will go, and only strong ones will remain. In addition, the valuation will become reasonable. In that sense, it is an opportunity for the startup ecosystem.

“In 2009, when the economic recession happened, it proved to be a great vintage for VCs because they could find great startups and invest with a reasonable valuation. The return on investment was also good. So a legitimate startup and technology don’t need to worry about the current slowdown. Plus, it is a temporary phenomenon.

In his view, there is a good demand for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) around the world, especially in the wake of the recent Luna and UST crashes. “We will require stablecoins in the future irrespective of the Luna and UST crashes. This will prompt central governments to introduce digital currency. When a country, for example, China introduces a CBDC, the US may be freaking out: ‘Oh my god, if China’s CBDCs spread worldwide, it will impact USD’. Because of that kind of attention, I think governments will consider introducing digital coins. I don’t know if it is good or bad for blockchain, but they will do it anyway.”

Mistletoe Singapore is a unit of Mistletoe Japan Inc., which was started in 2013 by Taizo Son, the youngest brother of SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son. It primarily invests in hardware solutions across the globe and has invested in over 60 companies, including Ninjacart, Golden Equator, and Hatcher+.

The firm recently started investing in the Web3 domain. The primary focus is next-generation Web3 companies that are striving to make a social impact. For example, tokenisation of energy/electricity, carbon credit, and solutions targeting the unbanked population (it has already invested in an investment DAO in Vietnam).

“In that sense, we focus on linking with the real world. We hope that Web3 will change society,” Taira concluded.

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It’s hard to exaggerate just how critical technology and digital transformation are for business in almost every industry. Their importance and influence, which was already substantial, have only grown in the wake of the pandemic and will continue to do so.

However, technology is often overlooked in hospitality, an industry with so much to gain but that many still see as ‘traditional’.

Few industries were harder hit by the pandemic across the Asia-Pacific region than hospitality. But with restrictions easing and international travel back on the agenda, there is a reason for optimism and a transition from survival to thriving. The pandemic has accelerated many trends, and chief among them, particularly for restaurants, bars and cafes eager to stand out from the competition, is data.

Data helps take the guesswork out of running a hospitality business, providing operators with real-time insights that tell them exactly what their guests need, whether ordering online or dining in-venue.

But how exactly is technology, digital transformation and data revolutionising a once-traditional industry in APAC?

Building deeper guest relationships

Customer data is the lifeblood for businesses in so many industries today. Just as Spotify provides tailored music recommendations and Amazon personalised shopping lists through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and customer data, technology allows restaurants, bars and cafes to do the same.

When a guest interacts directly with a venue, for example, via online reservation, a QR code or newsletter sign-up, rather than through a third party, the business can access a goldmine of approved customer data.

Whether a guest is dining in or ordering takeaway, by collecting relevant data, restaurants, bars, and cafes can paint a detailed picture of each customer, from their favourite dishes to their allergies, how often they order and even whether they have a favourite table when they visit.

Also Read: How to not let the bots ruin your travel plans

Through solutions like SevenRooms, a data-driven guest experience and retention platform, businesses can collect and personalise various data points on every guest. 

For example, data tell businesses not to offer oysters to Guest One, who has a shellfish allergy; that Guest Two is a positive reviewer; and that Guest Three visits frequently and spends a lot.

Through this data, once-traditional businesses operate like technology start-ups, targeting customers directly with data-driven personalised experiences that incentivise loyalty and boost revenue. 

Driving operational efficiencies

For business owners, time is money. The longer a business spends on mundane, non-revenue-generating manual tasks, the less time it can spend driving value and the exceptional experiences its customers demand. This is true for hospitality businesses, too.

Through data, venues today can automate time-consuming tasks while focusing on the revenue-driving areas of their business. With approved guest data, venues can segment their customers based on shared traits and preferences and use targeted marketing to provide these groups with tailored offers and communications.

Technology, and the data it collects, can also help alleviate the industry’s biggest challenge today: staff shortages. Technology allows operators to do more with less.

For example, QR codes allow customers to order food and beverages directly from their table, eliminating the need for more front-of-house staff. Online reservation and waitlist management removes a burdensome manual process, and historical data can also help identify trends such as the busiest days and times of the week so operators can resource staff accordingly.

Some of the biggest names in hospitality in APAC, like 1-Group and Jigger & Pony, established their position as industry leaders through the quality of their food and drink and the emphasis they’ve placed on guest experience over a number of years. They’ll maintain that reputation for years because they’ve recognised that data and digital transformation drive those experiences today.

Technology can not and should not replace the meaningful, human-to-human interactions we associate with visiting a restaurant, bar or cafe. But it’s enhancing the hospitality industry’s ability to deliver these meaningful experiences that people remember and recommend.

APAC is recognised globally as a melting pot of world-leading restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels. These businesses have innovated to survive over the last two years, and through data, they can innovate to thrive in the coming years.

As consumer demands evolve and industry trends continue to progress, venues that fail to embrace data-driven technology aren’t standing.

Still, they’re moving backwards. In a traditional industry, food, drink, and ambience will always be paramount, but technology, digital transformation and data are their secret ingredient. 

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

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Zilingo Philippines lays off entire team
A source close to the situation says that the remaining team consists of 19 people, all of whom are affected; Before its recent challenges, the company employed between 35 to 40 people in the country.

Japanese VC launches US$82M fund for ESG, fintech startups in Indo-Pacific region
GMO VenturePartners says its new GMO Fintech Fund 7 LP aims to create more than 10 unicorns by 2030; Since 2005, GMO VenturePartners has managed as many as six funds totalling nearly US$123M.

SGX taps NYSE to make dual listings to both exchanges easier
The dual listings can benefit companies that want to tap into pools of capital outside their home regions; The SGX and NYSE will also partner in developing new products and services to support listed companies and investor communities.

 

Crypto lender Vauld owes US$363M to retail investors after halting withdrawals
Vauld owes a total of US$125M to its 20 largest unsecured creditors; Three creditors are owed more than US$10M each, with the largest owed US$34M; Vauld suspended client withdrawals on July 4 as it fought to stave off insolvency.

Crypto exchange KuCoin secures US$10M funding from SIG
KuCoin said that it will collaborate with SIG in incubating blockchain startups and building an ecosystem for KuCoin Shares and the KuCoin Community Chain, a public blockchain developed by the crypto exchange’s community.

Singapore to expand scope of crypto regulation
This is in line with global efforts to lower risk for crypto investors after a series of failures hurt the industry;
The consultation will take place in either September or October, with the new regulations possibly including a clampdown on retail investors’ access to crypto.

Asian crypto finance platform XLD Finance raises US$13M
Lead investors are Dragonfly Capital and Infinity Ventures Crypto; The platform builds infrastructure for Web3 and crypto projects to bridge them to traditional finance; Its products include crypto-based payments, disbursements, and crypto-to-fiat offramp APIs.

Singapore’s crypto exchange halts withdrawals
The firm attributed the move to external factors such as volatile market conditions and the resulting financial difficulties of key business partners; This news comes after Coinbase said in June that it would be making strategic investments in Zipmex.

Thai SEC asks Zipmex to clarify withdrawal freeze
The regulator has asked whether Zipmex used Celsius or Babel Finance in connection to its ZipUp programme;
Several crypto platforms have also frozen withdrawals since the June market downturn, including Celsius, Babel Finance and Voyager Digital.

Tencent to pull plug on NFT platform Huanhe
Huanhe reportedly started out as NFT trading platform; In October 2021, the platform replaced mentions of NFT with “digital collection” – similar to the switch made by several Chinese tech firms, Pandaily reported.

Singapore stablecoin builder Bluejay Finance secures US$2.9M funding
Investors include Zee Prime Capital, C2 Ventures, and Stake Capital Group; The fintech firm will use the funds for team development and stablecoin deployment, focusing on Asian stablecoins pegged to local currencies.

Hong Kong food firm DayDayCook joins Brinc to invest US$10M in alt-meat startups
The programme aims to finance 45 foodtech startups developing sustainable and animal-free products in Greater China and Asia; Brinc also announced a US$500K pre-IPO investment in DayDayCook.

East Ventures joins edutech firm Creative Galileo’s US$7.5M Series A
Creative Galileo caters to students aged three to 10 with its early-learning platform; With 7M downloads and 700K MAUs; Moving ahead, the firm plans to expand to Southeast Asia.

Indonesian property rental startup Mamikos lays off employees
The company did not specify how many employees or which divisions were affected; However, Mamikos says that the company had to restructure to ensure a healthier and more sustainable structure; Before the layoffs, Mamikos had 400 employees.

Indonesian fintech SaaS firm Djoin bags US$1M in seed money
Djoin provides solutions for local microfinance companies and cooperatives; Its offerings help clients manage their employees, process payments, and collect loan instalments from their users.

Singapore robotics startup Botsync nets pre-Series A
Investors include Seeds Capital, Venture Catalysts, and AngelCentral; Botsync specializes in building industrial autonomous mobile robots for manufacturing factories and warehouses; It currently has operations in India, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Indonesian blue-collar jobs platform Pintarnya raises US$8M
Investors include Vertex Ventures SEA & India and East Ventures; Pintarnya helps blue-collar workers to find job opportunities based on their skill sets and location; It also works with employers to select the right applicants for their needs.

Thai smart-city startup receives UN sustainability honors
5G Catalyst Technologies has been selected as a global excellence leader for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, making it the first Thai startup to receive the honor.

Vietnam rural-focused banking firm MFast nets US$2.5M
Investors include Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Do Ventures, and JAFCO Asia; MFast’s agents introduce and distribute financial products to customers living in rural Vietnam by connecting them with reputable financial institutions.

Where is the future of NFTs and metaverse heading towards?
NFTs are said to be the key that is driving the metaverse; the question is, where are we now and what happens next?

Is your investing game defined by your emotions?
Investing based on emotions is not a new phenomenon, but a concern that bubbles to the surface with the markets’ rising and falling tides

How Singapore startups explore opportunities in Japan—and vice versa
How the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) programme is helping Singaporean startups explore opportunities in Japan––and vice versa.

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Singapore-based credit underwriting startup CrediLinq has secured US$2.6 million in a financing round co-led by 1982 Ventures and White Venture Capital.

500 Global, Sequoia Sprouts, Arkana Ventures, GK Plug and Play Indonesia, Sketchnote Partners, Boleh Ventures and EPIC Angels also joined.

The startup will use the new funding to accelerate product development, enter new markets, and expand its team to support its growing client base.

Established in 2021, CrediLinq uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-driven credit models to generate the credit scores of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). CrediLinq provides embedded fintech solutions that enable one-click checkouts for B2B marketplaces, corporates and fintech companies.

CrediLinq offers two embedded fintech products — B2B PayLater and GMV Financing.

Also Read: 1982 Ventures closes debut US$20M seed-stage fintech fund

B2B PayLater allows buyers to perform one-click online payments to suppliers. The buyer gains access to credit terms to purchase supplies and inventory, while the seller receives payments immediately. This solution is embedded in their customers’ e-commerce platform with application programming interfaces allowing real-time credit health monitoring.

GMV Financing, on the other hand, allows sellers to offer credit to their B2B customers. The optimal financing amount is automatically determined using CrediLinq’s proprietary technology, which analyses transactions, credit history, and other alternative data sources. By enhancing risk models and making decisions more consistently, CrediLinq’s customers can also reduce the risk of non-performing loans (NPLs) by 10 to 25 per cent.

Deep Singh, Founder of CrediLinq, said: “As consumers, we no longer view digital payment capabilities as a “nice to have” — we now expect it at the checkout page of every online store. This experience is not common for B2B e-commerce, especially when it comes to extending payment terms and financing.”

“B2B PayLater for buyers and GMV Financing for sellers is how we’re helping companies bridge this online experience gap and delight their customers with a fast and frictionless e-commerce experience. The future of B2B payments and purchasing will be just like the current consumer experience, and CrediLinq is providing the core technology to accelerate this shift,” he added.

Scott Krivokopich, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures, commented: “Every business owner knows that the B2B purchasing experience still lags behind the innovation in B2C payments. As online B2B payments grow, the ability of a company to provide a seamless credit and payment experience at checkout determines its long-term success.”

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While founders typically must address many facets of their company, from the operations and technology to the talent and the infrastructure, one area they routinely overlook: politics.

Such an oversight makes sense. Technology and politics occupy two opposite ends of the spectrum in the public imagination. Startups are viewed as agile and innovative (i.e. as in Facebook’s former mantra to “move fast and break things”), while politics is viewed as glacially slow, stuck far too often to whatever the status quo happens to be.

Though they may represent different worlds, both have much to learn from one another, far more than is currently accomplished in the present. Some more prominent startups have government relations officers and similar positions, but these are few and far between. These roles also generally focus on the regulatory environment.

In truth, there is so much that the technology ecosystem can learn from politics, far beyond how to adhere to compliance and vice versa. This idea applies to individual startups, the broader tech ecosystem, and the political sphere.

High-profile intersections between startups and politics

Fortunately, several high-profile intersections between startups and politics over the last few years show us how this can be successfully done.

Also Read: Stripe, LinkedIn Co-Founders back Entrepreneur First’s US$158M Series C round

The first is client acquisition. Many b2b technology companies focus on acquiring enterprise clients, forgetting that government agencies are also enterprises, some even considerably larger (and with greater budget) than the private companies they primarily associate with the term.

Take, for example, the case of Multisys in the Philippines. Multisys had frequently served the government as a web and application developer, such as when they created StaySafe.ph, a contact tracing app for COVID-19.

Apart from the revenue such deals bring, this work also brings in an infusion of knowledge and experience: Creating enterprise-grade solutions for the government often demands the most stringent technical requirements, as it is the public good being served.

In line with this thinking, founders should more frequently view their local government agencies as potential customers for long-term projects and ad-hoc engagements. They are often stable clients, given that such budgets are set well before actual execution. They add to your expertise, credibility, and portfolio, which can apply to clients in the private sector.

Finding common ground between uncommon spheres

Startups and politics can have a deeper relationship than just vendor-supplier. One such example comes from Coexstar, a licenced cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, which recently inked a deal with First Shoshin Holdings Corporation, a venture capital firm in the country.

What’s notable about First Shoshin is that it’s led by Jack Ponce-Enrile and Sally Ponce-Enrile, who have a combined six terms as lawmakers.

Their background gives them the social capital and political know-how to navigate better the regulatory climate through which all high technology startups must tread. This skill is particularly necessary given that their joint venture targets the Web3 space.

Founders should similarly try to bring in more leaders into their organisation to navigate compliance environments better. This can be done at the individual level by hiring leaders with this background, whether as full- or part-time staff or even as a consultant.

Alternatively, this, like the Coexstar and First Shoshin example, can be done at the institutional level. Founders can strike deals in the form of joint ventures, subsidiaries, partnerships, and the like, where the collaboration brings in the requisite political capital.

Besides clients and collaborations, government agencies can more broadly help startups through business-friendly policies. Such arguably occurred when Gojek CEO Nadiem Makarim as Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology by President Joko Widodo in 2021.

Also Read: Why community building has replaced lean startup approach to lurk investors?

Though this mandate was broad, Makarim has been able to help the innovation community in the country, such as in his advocacy of ed-tech initiatives that make online learning more accessible for Indonesians.

Appointing former tech entrepreneurs to tech or tech-adjacent positions in government may seem like a no-brainer, but that has not always been the case.

Many regional governments have appointed career politicians to these positions rather than recruit entrepreneurs with the requisite domain expertise from the private sector.

Such should be a greater priority now that more and more of our lives are shaped by an increasingly complex network of technologies, guiding the way we buy, commute, learn, live, and more.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, I think it would benefit the startup community to look at itself as a niche business ecosystem and as one woven into the fabric of society, whose ties we can bind even more deeply through politics.

As former founders in public service, we need entrepreneurs with the political capital to innovate government services, navigate and shape regulatory environments as leading-edge tech companies, and even shape innovation from the top-down.

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