The pandemic is entering its third year, and most businesses in Asia-Pacific are moving towards adopting office space plans that acknowledge the current condition.

We have witnessed businesses being compelled to restructure their operations, adapt their staff to flexible working arrangements, and develop greater agility to react more rapidly to changes in the market and consumer demand.

The need for flexible offices is predicted to increase sharply. Businesses have to think very carefully about ensuring the productivity of the employees and having a physical office to cater to the business needs and growth.

Increased use of flexible office space in the future

The global pandemic has highlighted the need for businesses to be agile. Therefore, the demand for flexible office space, such as coworking spaces, will increase in the upcoming years, according to the CBRE Spring 2022 Asia Pacific Occupier Survey (2022).

By 2024, survey participants predict that flexible space will make up roughly 17 per cent of all real estate portfolios, up from the present level of seven per cent. The statistics show that by the next two years, around 50 per cent of companies will benefit from flexible offices, while only 18 per cent of companies will not be using them.

Flexible office space providers must continuously meet their client’s requirements by making broader choices of flexible office space available, ranging from on-demand event space to customisable private offices.

Also Read: What the entrepreneur community says about King Charles III’s visit to WORQ

According to CBRE, tech companies would still be the primary user of flexible offices, with business services, banking, retail, and life sciences sectors all expected to use flexible offices in a far higher amount than in the past.

Flex space is now commonly used by businesses to offer temporary solutions to a scattered workforce, providing on-demand meeting and collaboration space for staff and increasing staff location alternatives.

Post-pandemic situation: 76 per cent of employees prefer the hybrid working model

Although capital expenditure (CapEx) reductions continue to be a major factor driving demand for flexible space, the remote working arrangement is the main motivator.

Surveying 150 companies, CBRE (2022) found that 60 per cent of respondents chose hybrid working, which entails staff members dividing their time between working from the office and working from home.

However, about half of employers who impose hybrid working prefer that their employees spend most of their time at work, with the remaining employers expecting an equal balance.

With the findings, WORQ Coworking Space, which currently has more than 10,000 community members, found that 76 per cent of these members prefer a hybrid working arrangement, while 51 per cent of companies impose a hybrid working policy.

In total, 1,183 out of 1,563 people come to WORQ for the hybrid work model, whereas 240 companies from 469 have their employees in such an arrangement.

Methodology

The data is gathered from OfficeRnD to see the total days 1,563 members and 469 companies come to WORQ in two weeks from January to September 2022. Then, the data is filtered to the frequency of coming to the office equals four days or less, and this population is labelled as a hybrid worker.

Flexibility: The key to overcoming modern workplace challenges

With workers demanding hybrid working arrangements, things will change when more companies return to work in the office. Businesses must embrace flexible working as the new normal by improving workplace flexibility.

Also Read: With a looming recession, is office space really a wise investment?

CBRE data (2022) shows that many businesses have transitioned to hot-desking and other flexible seating arrangements and this process has sped up since 2020. Just 28 per cent of businesses still use fixed seating arrangements as of 2022, far less than the 58 per cent of businesses that did so before the pandemic. This number will decrease sharply to 12 per cent in the next two years. 

Companies are expressing a positive take on investing in long-term office as the return to the workplace continues. Over the next three years, almost 47 per cent of respondents in the CBRE survey want to expand the size of their real estate portfolios.

Only 23 per cent of respondents said they planned to reduce the size of their long-term real estate assets, down significantly from 46 per cent in 2020 due to the adoption of hybrid working in many organisations.

While these businesses reduce the size of their offices, many other businesses take advantage of the opportunity to upgrade to better locations and higher-quality buildings.

WORQ: A flexible office provider supporting hybrid workers

With all the flexibility it can offer, utilising coworking space is the most effective strategy for businesses to tackle future workplace challenges. Through Enterprise Solutions, WORQ can build a flexible office for businesses to scale up in the future and to design and customise the workspace the way they want it to be.

WORQ is also opening its fifth outlet in KL Sentral. The office is certified with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) & Green Building Index (GBI), catering to the demand for green buildings without paying the green premium.

In the end, coworking space is the solution to ease the transition to hybrid working and support the return to work. The future of work is here; it is hybrid and uses flexible offices.

–

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Oyo lays off 600 people amid restructuring plans
The SoftBank-backed hotel chain had 3,700 employees before the firing; The company has cut down operations in China and the US and is now focusing on India, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

CVC Capital explores sale, growth options for Razer
The development comes less than a year after CVC bought Razer, co-founded by Min-Liang Tan and the late Robert Krakoff in California and Singapore in a US$3.2B deal.

SG’s AirCarbon exchange looks to raise US$50M Series B
The round has already picked the interest of 17 parties, including banks and financial institutions; The carbon exchange’s existing backers include Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Deautsche Borse.

A-Labs launches US$10M Web3 fund in Philippines
Archipelago Labs is backed by partners from the PDAX, Oak Drive Ventures, and Magellan Digital Investment Group; Next year, the startup accelerator will run the first cohort for its Archipelago Labs Accelerator Block.

Singapore’s Carousell lays off 110 employees
Quek Siu Rui, CEO of mobile classifieds unicorn, says that Carousell saw the signs of high inflation, geopolitical risks and supply chain disruption as early as March this year.

Philippine digibank Tonik to acquire B2B fintech firm TendoPay
TendoPay helps companies provide payroll-enabled financial solutions to employees; Its services include BNPL, emergency cash loans, personal finance tools, virtual cards, prepaid insurance cards, and reward programmes.

Tesla teases Thailand entry this month
On its LinkedIn page, the company posted a teaser for the launch only available to users in the country; On its LinkedIn page, the company posted a teaser for the launch only available to users in the country.

Carbon tech startup Fairatmos lands US$4.5M seed capital
The investors are Go-Ventures, Kreasi Terbarukan, Vertex SEA and India; Fairatmos helps project developers design carbon sequestration projects and connect with firms and individuals seeking to buy or finance carbon credits to reach their net-zero goals.

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GapMaps takes the guesswork out of your location planning decisions
GapMaps provides accurate and up-to-date information about locations, which retailers can use while expanding their network or optimising existing stores.

Preference for green jobs is the “most exciting” climate tech development: Lightspeed
While this volume of talent is still too low to have a transformative impact by itself, Lightspeed views this trend as “encouraging”.

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Serving up the future: How robots are revolutionising the F&B industry
By embracing the support of technology to augment the human resources we have, the F&B industry can grow by leaps and bounds.

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Indonesia central bank says digital rupiah currency can be used in metaverse
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9 simple ways to cut down on your crypto taxes
This article sheds light on some of the smartest options to help you save more on your crypto taxes and lessen your liability.

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At its core, embedded finance combines two worlds: financial services and digital. Having long been kept apart, their integration opens up vast opportunities for innovation that bring major practical advantages.

Embedded finance allows business models and their related consumer experiences to operate more effectively, for example, by making working capital more efficient or making payments easier.

Embedded finance promises value for customers, embedders, financial institutions, and the larger addressable market.

Let me break it down a little:

• Customers

There is huge value for SMEs when they can get better access to finance thanks to the rich data already available on the systems they already use, such as accounting packages or e-commerce platforms. The same opportunity exists for underserved consumers: combining applications that deal with a broader aspect of their lives (such as their mobile phone contract) with new financial services makes these consumers economically viable to serve with more than just basic financial services.

• Embedders (those who embed finance into software or platforms)

Innovators who embed financial services into their products benefit in three main ways. Firstly, they have the opportunity to monetise financial transactions that now take place on their platform. Secondly, by enriching their product with new supercharged features, they attract new customers and engage them more deeply. Thirdly, the result is greater retention and value over the customer’s lifetime.

• Financial institutions

Embedded finance providers act as a force multiplier for the distribution and consumption of financial services offered by banks. If embedded finance providers enable more businesses, for example, to put more debit cards in people’s hands, the bank that provides the underlying instruments also stands to gain.

Also Read: MiRXES launches SEA first Translator Program with Plug and Play

The market potential is large and expanding. Bain & Company expect the US market for platforms and enablers to more than double to US$51 billion by 2026 (in total revenue across payments, lending, banking, and cards from 2021). The transaction value of embedded finance also will surge from US$2.6 trillion to US$7 trillion across the same time scale. 

Next, let’s assess where we are now.

Current embedded finance climate

Until recently, state of the art for building Embedded Finance solutions was to use APIs (programming interfaces) provided by banks for, say, creating accounts or issuing cards – this approach is called Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS).

For most innovators, however, BaaS is a heavy lift: implementation times are long, and it requires a hefty investment. 

It’s only going to get more complex as regulators increasingly scrutinise the BaaS model.  Suddenly it seems that regulators are indeed taking a look. 

Concerns were raised by the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to EML Payments, in November 2022 – resulting in EML Payments temporarily ceasing to onboard new customers.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the US recently hinted more regulation is forthcoming to the BaaS space there too.  The public filing of an agreement between the OCC and Blue Ridge Bank highlights a firm example of regulators taking action on BaaS models by a specific bank.

While not great news for Blue Ridge, it provides an example map for other fintech and banks in the market and how they can keep on the right side of regulation. Thus, improving and adding additional protection for the end user.

This is why a radically new approach is needed

What if embedding financial services was no more complex for innovators than integrating third-party software?  And what if banks had a bulletproof answer to their regulators’ concerns with BaaS.

Also Read: ‘DTC, embedded insurance models have big potential in SEA’: Eurazeo’s Albert Shyy

To achieve this, at Weavr we are pioneering a different approach to BaaS, which we call ‘plug and play’ because all the technical, regulatory and operational complexity related to the embedded financial services are included ‘in the box’ with the innovator only having to take on peripheral responsibilities.  As importantly, all the responsibilities that the bank needs to be taking are also ‘in the box’.  

Unpacking what’s in the box

All the facilities, responsibilities and processes that the bank would typically cater for when delivering its own financial products are provided for in a configurable way.  This includes:

• Customer on-boarding: customer ID verification, screening and risk assessment
• Financial data security tools for innovators to operate within  data security standards such as PCI-DSS
• Components to support the regulatory requirements for strong customer authentication, for instance, through biometrics
• Logging of customer acceptance of terms and fees, as well as of any material customer financial activity
• Connection to  transactional systems and financial systems of record (e.g. ledgers)
• Orchestration across multiple financial institutions, financial tech vendors and service providers

Few, if any, innovators that want to take advantage of embedded finance have the appetite to grapple with the above responsibilities. Still, absolving innovators from most of these burdens has to be accompanied by sufficient freedom for creativity and creating seamless customer experiences.

At the same time, the bank (and perhaps more importantly, the regulator) is assured that these sensitive matters are being done to its standards and not outsourced to the innovator who typically neither wants nor can effectively take them on.

Five key principles that plug-and-play finance solutions should adhere

In summary, if we had to propose a ‘manifesto’ for plug-and-play finance, it would include these principles:

• Software-only responsibility: Plug-and-play finance solutions should, wherever possible, be no more onerous to implement and run than any other software package.  
• Abstraction from financial protocols: Plug-and-pllay finance solutions should abstract away details of specific technical protocols associated with (often legacy) financial technology and expose functionality in high-level intentional terms (what, rather than how), such as onboarding a customer, issuing a card, enabling a transfer of funds, while aggregating and encapsulating the many fine-grained sequences of steps, interactions and exchanges of data to achieve them.
• Contextual adaptation: functionality and processes offered by Plug-and-play finance solutions – whether related to risk management, compliance oversight, end-customer charges, approval workflows, etc. – should not be one-size-fits-all. They should be adaptable to the deployment context. 
• Maximum allowed access to financial data and controls: Plug-and-play finance solutions should provide maximum visibility over financial data and maximum control over financial actions as allowed for by (a) data security, end-customer privacy and financial regulation, (b) by the ability for the end-customer to effectively delegate and withdraw access, and (c) the risk of inadvertent or malicious action by the innovator or third-parties to the detriment of the end-customer. 
• Minimum constraints over non-financial data and controls: Plug-and-play finance solutions should leave it open as far as possible for the innovator to design any aspect of the solution that doesn’t compromise the integrity of the financial solution or bring the innovator into the scope of financial regulation.

The plug-and-play approach changes everything, unleashing the power of embedded finance across a multitude of industries.

–

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In this article, I’ll be sharing a self-assessment of my progress as an entrepreneur. A quick introduction so we all have some context. I’m Wen, Founder and CEO of SushiVid.com, an influencer marketing marketplace turned tech-enabled influencer marketing agency.

Incorporated in 2015 in Malaysia, we have over 7,000 influencers whom we have paid via our platform and have generated an average of US$1 million in billing annually for the past three years. I am not a high-growth startup Founder. I did not raise a whole lot of VC money, but I’m sure many could identify with my journey and struggles just the same. 

The show must go on

One common theme I’ve been getting, a question that’s been going around amongst my peers (who are also decade-long Founders), is succession planning.

I never gave it much thought until this year. It’s a monumental task and a decision that many entrepreneurs/ leaders miss when they first take on the CEO role. How to wash one’s hands off or pass the baton on?

Also Read: From hobby to startup: Here’s my story as IKIGUIDE’s Co-Founder

The show must go on, as one says. A successful business must continue to thrive without us founders, and the quest to find a successor is probably one of the biggest challenges we all have to face. I have been contemplating this a lot this year.

As I am nearing my 40s, the thought of starting a family pops up. I may want to at some point, who knows? The idea of managing both a family and a company is petrifying. Thanks to the quick exits that we all once aspired for (Joel Neoh exited Groupsmore in less than 12 months) or foolishly thought we could achieve.

To all aspiring entrepreneurs out there, realistically, the grind is at least a decade long. I guess I should’ve thought about this more seven years ago. But again, overthinking it may have deterred me from starting SushiVid.

Seven years is a long time, at least for me. If I could attribute my persistence to something, it must be my masochistic love for a good challenge. It dawned on me that the longer we linger in our entrepreneurship path, the more complicated the challenges become, and that gets me going.

As entrepreneurs, we have got to love changes but, at the same time, also be wise to stop ourselves from working on every new shiny idea that comes our way. I learned that the hard way. In our journey in SushiVid, I also started GoShareLah, ConfirmPlusChop, SushiVid LIVE and IGLinks.io.

All with circa 15 manpower at any point in time. While I still believe all our MVPs were great, I do not have the manpower or personal capacity to explore them all. If only I could tap the undo button, erase those experiments and focus on one instead.   

The right kind of detox

In 2020 and 2021, we slowed down our experiments due to the pandemic, but the work was equally fun because the challenges we faced were all distinct, new and difficult. I am so thankful for the Alibaba eFounders programme.

Thankfully right before the pandemic, they shared with us their experience navigating SARS, and that laid a path or two for me to follow. I had to plan pay cuts, manage remote working and handle resignations while our business was soaring all at the same time.

The pandemic has also enabled me to run a detox around the office. We were forced to do things very economically. Although it was an uphill climb at first, this austerity drive brought out our creativity and resourcefulness. It was one of the best exercises we have ever done in SushiVid.

A founder’s problems can come in all shapes and sizes

2022, now that the pandemic stress is almost over, one would think I could finally catch a break, but no. Just when I thought I could finally enjoy some peacetime managerial work, I was slapped with the biggest betrayal I’ve ever had to endure in my working lifetime. We caught our employee(s) committing a Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT). So you see, a founder’s problems can come in all shapes and sizes.

This CBT issue we are facing is not only a problem that we face as a company or industry, I believe it is a model-wide problem for all gig economy model startups. In the gig economy model, there are many suppliers and many buyers. Gig-economy platforms like ours are the platform in between that connects the suppliers to the buyers.

Ideally, everything should be handled via our platform, suppliers should be randomised or, at best, listed based on a review or prioritised listing the algorithm controls that. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Things could be fair and efficient, but it isn’t happening this way at the moment. I’d say for most gig economy models.

Also Read: Dedoco: A founder’s journey to building next-gen digital trust technology

Suppliers and customers are simply not ready for an entirely self-serve platform, and very often, they would appreciate recommendations because it’s just much easier. Consequently, relationships are built, and illicit secret side deals are made quickly. Such deals are essentially what make up the criminal breaches of trust.  

Navigating this has been difficult for me. We, as the leaders of the company, can’t oversee every conversation. It is impossible to control greed or to expect everyone to behave with the same level of integrity as we do.

We want to believe in the best and trust our employees. It would be impossible for us to lead a company out of fear or with a sense of distrust, but also, at the same time, we have to be slightly cautious. This is yet another balancing game that we need to play as a business. Do we become too rigid and risk losing clients? Or do we remain convenient and easy to work with but risk getting taken advantage of?

Sadly, I believe that this is the start of where layers of approvals get implemented in a startup, and we become the old dogs of the game waiting to be disrupted. Seven years is about right. So we got to pick up and self-disrupt before we get disrupted!  

Final thoughts

On the brighter side, as an ever-evolving founder, I have also become more mature in business relationships. To be fair, the first few years, every time a player came, we’d treat each other with hostility.

But recently, influencer marketing has become a vibrant industry, and with it, a lot more players and contributors in the ecosystem. I, too, have softened my approach to other industry players. I guess I’ve grown up? Better to join forces than to try to beat each other up.

We’ve collaborated with players across borders, we’re in talks with players locally to form some kind of an association, and it’s become much more constructive and friendly as compared to the hostility I faced and contributed to in the earlier years. 

Overall, I love the 37-year-old me and every bit of this entrepreneurship journey. I am positive about the industry and the outlook of the market. I am excited and look forward to the new year. 2023 will be another year with many opportunities for tremendous growth and progress. I believe we Malaysians (post-GE-15) are off to a good start!

–

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From public health scares to ongoing conflict and geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions are becoming more frequent.

Past lockdowns in key port cities, military conflicts, and trade disputes slowed the flow of raw materials to manufacturing hubs and finished goods to consumer markets, forcing companies to reconfigure their supply and production networks. More companies are following in response to ongoing conflict-related shortages.

Aside from strategies such as near sourcing production and regionalising supply chains, companies are also investing in digital solutions to address disruptions. These include tools that enable complete supply chain visibility for decision-makers, the utilisation of data and analytics for better planning, and predictive models to identify future disruptions.

But while enterprises are progressing in these fields, the trade finance sector continues to lag behind other components of the supply chain network.

Also Read: Can blockchain function as a medium for social good and digital philanthropy?

Financial institutions’ processes are still paper-intensive and highly manual, slowing down the entire supply chain and generating more operational costs for all parties involved while remaining vulnerable to fraud.

Traditional processes are holding the trade finance sector back

Trade finance has been a paper- and labour-intensive sector throughout its long history. But with the astronomical growth in supply chain networks’ complexity, as well as the sheer volume of goods being shipped, the highly-traditional trade finance system is hindering business efficiency, agility and scalability.

With its preponderance of manual processes and overreliance on physical documents, supply chains are littered with process inefficiencies, susceptibility to fraud, and unnecessary increases in costs.

Large amounts of physical documentation, such as product, shipping, and transaction details, are exchanged through multiple parties. Fairly straightforward processes can take up to months to complete.

Meanwhile, this is all against a backdrop of more stringent due diligence requirements such as know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML). These regulations are precisely in response to the lack of transparency that legacy processes exacerbate.

And failure to comply will have serious consequences on businesses’ ability to continue driving Asia Pacific’s economic growth. According to the Asia Development Bank (ADB), the region has the highest rejection rate of trade finance proposals at 34 per cent.

Little wonder, as fraud, especially duplicate trade financing, continues to be a thorn in the side of trade finance. In one of the most prominent cases in recent history, Singapore oil trading company Hin Leong led to US$3.85 billion in losses for 23 banks.

While this type of fraud, which involves financing a single invoice multiple times, is not new and has occurred in the industry as far back as decades ago, institutions are unable to make significant progress against it.

This is a result of the lack of visibility and transparency between stakeholders due to the difficulty in sharing critical data in a timely fashion. In turn, a collaboration between stakeholders takes a blow and opportunities for malpractice become commonplace.

Blockchain tech makes processes faster, cost-efficient, and transparent

When trade finance is done on a decentralised blockchain, all transactions are recorded in a secure database which is accessible to all parties to the trade. This addresses the three major challenges facing trade finance transactions: inefficiencies stemming from the use of large quantities

of physical documents, increased costs of complying with regulatory requirements, and the lack of total visibility, which makes the system vulnerable to fraud.

Conducting transactions through a decentralised blockchain entails digitalising the documentation created, exchanged, and processed by the various stakeholders in a supply chain.

Transmitting the electronic versions of these documents through the blockchain reduces transaction times from months to hours because all involved parties have access to it. The costs associated with such paper-intensive processes are also reduced.

Also Read: ‘Trade & supply chain sector is set to witness unprecedented blockchain adoption’: #dltledgers

In addition, stakeholders with access to the blockchain have complete visibility over the whole process, significantly reducing the risk of duplicate trade financing. At the same time, parties are assured of the integrity of their data due to the unprecedented security of digital ledger technology.

Successful blockchain adoption is a network-wide effort

For the utilisation of blockchain technology in trade finance to be successful, all parties must buy into it. If just one of the multiple parties in a cross-border trade scenario is not part of the decentralised blockchain, other parties will not be able to have full visibility on all transactions, and confidence in the latter’s integrity against fraud would not be possible.

Improvements in transaction speed and lowered operational costs would not reach their full potential as well. There would still be a need for physical documentation in certain links in the whole supply chain, as well as slower processes.

Financial institutions and other large organisations must take the lead with blockchain adoption. They can be the drivers of change in trade finance, influencing other stakeholders to become more efficient via improved transparency and collaboration.

In addition, this can also fine-tune legislation and regulatory mechanisms to enable the pivot towards blockchain technology in the overall supply chain process.

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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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Airwallex is pleased to announce that it has launched multi-currency physical corporate cards in Singapore, available for all Singapore-based businesses. Airwallex’s physical cards complement its existing suite of virtual and digital wallet-supported corporate cards released in Singapore earlier in May this year.

With its virtual financial products, customers enjoy various benefits. For instance, Singapore-based companies can instantly create and issue free virtual multi-currency debit cards to make transactions with vendors and online third parties, paying in over 140 different currencies at favourable exchange rates with zero international transaction fees. Moreover, the card creation process is fast, convenient, and secure, enabling companies to conduct business globally with ease and confidence.

To empower businesses of all sizes to accept payments, move money internationally, and simplify their financial operations all in one single platform, Airwallex continues to enhance its card functionality by enabling the use of physical cards in Singapore. With this product, customers using Airwallex cards to pay for business flights and hotels can now extend that use and pay for other travel expenses while overseas, especially for Point of Sales (POS) transactions.

Local businesses can create and issue up to 50 free Airwallex physical and virtual corporate cards as needed at the touch of a button. They can entrust and empower employees to spend in multiple currencies without transaction fees and track expenses in the web app. Consequently, businesses will be further empowered when making everyday financial transaction decisions. 

Airwallex’s partnership with Agoda for travel promotion

Along with launching its physical cards, Airwallex has partnered with Agoda to offer up to 7+1% cashback for applicable hotel bookings made on the travel platform. Specifically, Singapore-based businesses with valid Airwallex employee cards can enjoy a 7% discount on eligible accommodation transactions and 1% cash back for any transactions made on Agoda. The 7% discount will be applied automatically during booking on Airwallex’s affiliate site on Agoda. The additional 1% cashback will be credited to the customer’s Airwallex account, following the promotional cashback schedule.

Airwallex is also extending this 1% cashback on all other local and international transactions without limit.

Also read: Lalamove’s Customisable Solutions: a game-changer for delivery

The partnership is timely as business travel has picked up, with most countries easing their COVID-19 travel restrictions and businesses resuming their operation under the new normal. A recent Business Travel Recovery Poll by the Global Business Travel Association expects business travel to continue its recovery, with a strong outlook set for 2023. Even as businesses continue to embrace new ways of working, with hybrid or remote work policies, almost three-quarters of all respondents do not expect their employees’ business trips to be impacted.

According to Deloitte, the opportunity to conduct sales meetings, strengthen client relationships, and network at conferences in person was listed as being among the top purposes for the comeback of business travel.

Additionally, a key finding from a separate study — the 2023 Global Business Travel Forecast by CWT – revealed that business travellers can expect to see price increases for airfares (8.4%) and hotel rates (8.2%) in 2023. Therefore, by using Airwallex’s corporate cards to book business travel accommodations on Agoda, companies can maximise cost savings even as employees travel for work.

Empowering businesses to grow across borders

Airwallex was founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 2015 by engineering-banking friends Jack Zhang, Max Li, Lucy Liu, and Xijing Dai to empower businesses of all sizes to accept payments, move money globally, and simplify their financial operations, all in one single platform. Its purpose is to connect entrepreneurs, business builders, makers and creators with opportunities in every corner of the world. 

The company has a global footprint across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America, with over 1,300 employees across 19 global locations. Airwallex also recently raised US$100 million in its Series E2 financing round, increasing its total funding to over US$900 million.

Also read: Gamifiying education: Soqqle takes schooling to the metaverse

Airwallex made its official debut in Singapore in January 2022 after securing a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2021. Accordingly, Singapore businesses can start experiencing Airwallex’s offerings, including global account issuance, multi-currency wallets, and online payment acceptance, among others.

Airwallex’s strong growth in Singapore

The launch of Airwallex’s physical corporate cards and partnership with Agoda is another step towards a full rollout of Airwallex’s suite of money movement offerings in Singapore. Since its expansion into the Singaporean market, the company has engaged directly with businesses at trade shows and events like the Singapore Fintech Festival, Singapore Business Show, and Accounting & Finance Show to share how Airwallex can support and empower them. 

Airwallex has also partnered with Google Ads and EasyParcel on campaigns to share how its product suite can support the business community in Singapore. Furthermore, Airwallex recently announced its collaboration with buy now pay later (BNPL) provider Atome to allow its merchants to offer BNPL as a payment option to shoppers across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Also read: Safeguarding digital assets through cybersecurity innovations

The Airwallex x Agoda travel promotion deal has gone live and will be available until 31 Dec 2023. Hence, to take advantage of the opportunity, businesses are encouraged to sign up with Airwallex to receive either the virtual corporate card or the newly launched physical cards and enjoy all the perks when booking with Agoda. The earlier businesses take advantage of this promotion, the more cost savings they can enjoy! 

Sign up for the offer here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Airwallex

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Thanks to substantial investment into the digitalisation process, the world has become more connected than ever before. Notably, the global Internet penetration rate has reached over 63%, and the number is quickly growing — a trend further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic with the rise of increasing remote work, more Internet usage, and constant connectivity. Consequently, the data generated by users’ activities have been predicted to grow over eight times by 2030.

Human beings are not the only ones more digitally connected; devices and machines also communicate more frequently and seamlessly. From daily household appliances such as smart toasters and hairbrushes to large-scale modern factory equipment, all things are inserted with increasingly sophisticated chips and are connected to the web application and the Internet to become part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

The connectivity among devices opens endless opportunities for data connection, analysis, automation, and efficiency optimisation.

The ingrained trade-off between product performance and energy consumption

Nevertheless, amidst growing concerns over sustainability issues caused by business activities and human consumption, there exists a rising problem: our penchant for more data and connectivity also results in a considerable increase in carbon footprint due to higher energy consumption to power all the devices used to create, store, and evaluate big data. This means that to enable higher performance, the equipment must consume more energy which eventually increases its environmental footprint.

At the Harnessing IoT and Data for a Sustainable Future session at the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology 2022 (SWITCH 2022), Charles Vaillant, CTO of MANN+HUMMEL Group, a leading privately owned corporation in the field of filtration in Germany, expressed that “During our company’s history, we are very keen on technology, and our way of working focuses on innovating products to improve water, air, and mobility. All of our products are designed for the noble purpose of protecting people and protecting assets.”

Also read: Airwallex: making business transactions easier than ever with physical cards launch

Vaillant added, “To function, they need the energy to push the water through a membrane or air through an HVAC system. As a result, two areas are always important for us. The first concern is the product’s performance, particularly how good it is and what else can be done to enhance its performance, allowing it to better track and separate the harmful from the useful. Second, ensuring that the products consume the least energy is essential. And most of the time, this is a big challenge because if you want the product to perform well, it often utilises a lot more energy.”

In fact, the perceived inherent trade-off between product performance and energy consumption has become a significant constraint for many ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and industrial products, prompting the producers to reconsider various factors, including product design, energy availability, and different optimisation frameworks with selected features and functions. Greater energy usage levels are often linked to higher greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and harmful waste discharges to the environment during the extraction, energy production and usage process, polluting the environment and threatening sustainability.

The power of IoT and data in enhancing sustainability

Fortunately, according to Accenture, despite their shortcomings, IoT technologies and data present new valuable opportunities to develop functional and eco-friendly applications such as smart energy metres, health monitoring, smart fleet management, traffic management, and so on.

IoT technologies allow devices connected to the same network to communicate and share data, which subsequently provide valuable insights into the whole process to optimise the activities, saving time and energy as a result. Companies leveraging these new IoT technologies have significantly improved their technical solutions to reduce carbon emissions. Nearly 85% of existing IoT-related projects have consistently incorporated the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in their long-term objectives, maximising energy efficiency and taking advantage of newly available renewable materials.

Also read: Lalamove’s Customisable Solutions: a game-changer for delivery

More than that, sharing the same vision for a greener and healthier world, companies across sectors have joined hands to develop innovative solutions that harness IoT technologies to solve complex sustainability challenges. For instance, CTO Charles Vaillant shared about MANN+HUMMEL’s cooperation with Audi in a joint effort to improve air quality with Audi products.

“Audi announced that they’re working with us on a concept where they integrate filters in the front of the car to collect and filter particulate matter in the surrounding air while driving or charging. With this pilot technology, when the electric car is driven through the city or charged at the station, it consistently and systematically gathers and absorbs the minute particulates discharged by itself and nearby vehicles immediately when the emissions are generated. This innovative solution thrives on the capability of IoT technologies and addresses the issue of the fine specks of dust produced frequently by the vehicles’ brake and tire,” said Charles Vaillant.

Partnerships are key when employing IoT and data to foster sustainable solutions

Pushing for sustainability is vital in supporting Asia’s future, as 92% of the region experiences air pollution while 300 million people in Asia lack access to clean water. Additionally, Asia is at the epicentre of climate change effects which can erode up to $4.7 trillion of the region’s GDP due to the impacts of hurricanes, floods, droughts, and other unpredictable climatic events.

Collaboration with leading global innovative solution providers is crucial to curb these sustainability risks and accelerate knowledge exchange and technological transfer. International companies such as MANN+HUMMEL have strengthened their cooperation with other partners in Asia, including established organisations and startups to bring about cleaner air, buildings, mobility, and water.

Also read: Gamifiying education: Soqqle takes schooling to the metaverse

For instance, MANN+HUMMEL currently provides corporate venture investments to invest in startups with a promising financial return and strategic fit in the region. Moreover, it also seeks to form peer-to-peer relationships with other companies. Specifically, MANN+HUMMEL can provide solutions and technical know-how to support Asian startups to scale up and enhance their products and services. Similarly, MANN+HUMMEL can licence and use the startups’ technologies to improve its products for customers at home.

With exciting new developments, IoT and Data are poised to change the game for the future of sustainability in Asia and beyond!

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MANN+HUMMEL

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Ohmyhome files for up to US$16.5M IPO in the US
The company is looking to offer 3.3M shares at a price of between US$4 and US$5 apiece; In the filing, Ohmyhome said it logged US$2.4M in revenue for the six months that ended June 30 this year, up from US$1.7M in 2021.

Indonesian agritech firm Sayurbox cuts 5% of staff
The agritech company said that the decision is one of its efforts to solidify ‘financial independence’ and ‘sustainable long-term growth’; Sayurbox is a farm-to-table distribution platform for fresh produce.

Vietnam EV maker VinFast files for US IPO to fuel global expansion
It hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups in the US with its two all-electric SUVs, the VF8 and VF9, including battery leasing to reduce the purchase price.

Singapore-based Glints lays off 198 (18% of) employees
The decision is based on ‘market conditions and business priorities’; The development comes after the startup raised US$50 million in a series D funding round in August.

Animoca Brands acquires US-based music metaverse company Pixelynx
Pixelynx creates a physical and digital ecosystem for artists and fans by building products that blur the lines between music, gaming, and Web3; Animoca invested in Pixelynx’s seed round in Dec 2021.

ShopBack bags US$30M to close Series F round at US$200M
The investor is Australia’s Westpac Banking Corporation; ShopBack plans to launch new products for users, develop growth and payments solutions for merchant partners, and expand into new markets.

Osome rakes in US$25M Series B to grow its accounting solutions beyond SG
The investors include Illuminate Financial, AFG Partners, and Winter Capital; Osome helps SMEs set up through a simple platform with easy-to-use software and an expert accountant to take care of financial admin.

Temasek-backed Haulio acquires Indonesian logistics startup Logol
Haulio makes moving containers on land more efficient, whereas Logol streamlines data entry for logistics players, enabling shippers and haulers to connect to others within the supply chain.

SG crypto firm Amber Group lays off hundreds of staff
This news comes after the firm was reportedly seeking funding at a valuation of US$10B in May; It last raised US$200M in February this year; The group previously cut 30-40% of its headcount in September.

BAce Capital advises founders to chase value, not valuation
Managing Partner Benny Chen suggests that all founders review their cost structure and improve operational efficiency; Founders should also consider how an economic crisis affects their competitors.

UnaBiz raises more funding to close Series B round at US$50M
The investor is Japan’s Toyota-backed SPARX Group; The IoT firm will invest the capital in R&D to enhance the core low-power 0G capabilities and enable cost-effective long-range connectivity dedicated to very low-value assets.

Malaysia’s Paywatch bags US$9M for Philippines, HK expansion
The investors include Third Prime, Hana Ventures, and Parkwood Corp; The earned wage access service company claims its solution has reached a 50 per cent engagement rate among its Malaysian users this year.

IMDA launches US$3.7M fund for SG media industry
Virtual Production Innovation Fund aims to support the media industry in harnessing virtual production tech, which uses LED screens powered by a video game engine to create realistic backgrounds for TV or movie production.

FinAccel adds former Slack CFO to board
While at the professional messaging platform firm, Allen Shim helped build Slack’s finance and operational function and oversaw the acquisition of Slack by Salesforce.

Why blockchain is instrumental for the future of trade finance
Conducting transactions through blockchain entails digitalising the documentation created, exchanged, and processed by the various stakeholders in a supply chain.

Binance in talks to acquire ID crypto exchange Tokocrypto
Sources said Tokocrypto will likely see layoffs following the takeover; In September, the Indonesian firm laid off 45 employees or about 20% of its workforce.

Ex-Binance execs’ investment firm OFR backs HK Web3 platform Sprout
Sprout combines on-chain and off-chain ownership information for equity, token wallets, cap tables, and team compensation on a central platform; In March, Sprout raised US$3M in seed capital.

A strategic sale or IPO likely over the next 3-5 years: Igloo CEO Raunak Mehta
CEO Raunak Mehta says Igloo is evaluating several M&A opportunities across SEA and looking at closing multiple deals over the next year.

‘Bring your most authentic self to the table whether at home or work’
CEO and Head of School at NewCampus Will Fan talks about his journey of building the next hundred-year-old brand; Finding authenticity may take five, ten, or twenty years; Don’t rush it.

How I dealt with the biggest betrayal of my entrepreneurial life
I’m not a high-growth startup Founder, but I’m sure many could identify with my journey and struggles just the same: Yuhwen Foong, Founder at SushiVid.

How to get more constructive (negative) customer feedback and why
Negative feedback is necessary to help you understand how your customers actually feel and the areas where your business can improve.

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What happened recently in the crypto space felt like the timeline of a year of events. In less than a week, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has become the talk of the town. FTX, valued at over US$32 billion, has filed for bankruptcy.

How did it all begin?

Alameda Research started in 2018 as a small hedge fund. They raised debt from investors, promising “high returns with no risk”. FTX concluded its seed round by raising US$8 million and launched in Q3 2019.

There was no denying that Alameda contributed heavily to FTX’s volume in its early days. As FTX continued to grow at an exponential pace, they capitalised on the DeFi hype by creating Serum, a decentralised exchange on Solana.

Alameda’s job as a market maker was to boost liquidity in the market and maintain delta-neutral strategies. However, realising that their edge slowly eroded, Alameda began to assume highly degenerative leveraged directional bets in crypto.

FTX, Alameda and the multi-billion dollar hole

As the tokens were all traded at thin circulations, it was an easy feat for Alameda to manipulate the price higher on FTX to beef up its balance sheet. Alameda created the illusion of a sizable balance sheet which they leveraged as collateral to borrow heavily and fund directional bets.

As the market plummeted this year, Alameda could not repay the borrowed money as their collateral was illiquid, leading to margin calls. This led to the theft of FTX users’ funds to attempt to put out the fire.

Also Read: ‘From a cybersecurity perspective, the Asian market still uses legacy tools’

Coindesk released an article two weeks ago regarding Alameda’s balance sheet, citing that a huge part of its US$14.6 billion assets is issued by the FTX team itself. In light of revelations regarding Alameda’s balance sheet, CZ announced that Binance would liquidate their entire $FTT holding, which equates to more than US$580 million at that point in time.

As of 7 November 2022, approximately US$450 million worth of stablecoins left the exchange in the past seven days. Herd mentality participated in fear-mongering, inducing a bank run and the bankruptcy of FTX soon after.

Security and custody

As the saying goes, “not your keys, not your coins” security is important. However, there is an apparent lack of security awareness among investors today.

We have identified three key factors to consider when securing your coins:

Ensure they are offline

We have all heard about hackers, viruses, social engineering and more. A simple way to prevent others from stealing your coins is to take them entirely offline and store them in a cold wallet.

This way, your device will never be connected to the internet, and you will never download any malicious files to that device. By connecting your computer to the Internet, you allow yourself to be vulnerable to any form of hacks that could come your way.

Keep your device safe

Any device that you use to store your coins can be lost or damaged. It is important to have backups. A fuss-free example is writing down your seed phrase on a piece of paper.

However, that piece of paper could be burnt during a house fire, misplaced, or read by others.

Bequeathing – Pass them to your loved ones

Estate planning is needed should something happen to you unexpectedly. Many exchanges or banks will not allow the transfer or sale of your crypto holdings and will withhold them until ownership is proven.

Also Read: Strengthening cybersecurity measures in the face of Web 3.0

Proving ownership legally (including the source of wealth and source of funds) is difficult, given the uncertainty of probate in different jurisdictions.

Key lessons

There has been a myriad of catastrophic events in 2022 alone, and the recent one has proven to be the most unsuspecting yet arduous challenge. Security and self-custody are no strangers to anyone in this space by now.

We have seen time and time again how centralised entities halt withdrawals to cope with a potential bank run. Users’ funds that are on the platform are now stuck and plausibly gone forever. Some of them had a majority of their net worth on these platforms.

By working with a licensed fund manager in a major financial jurisdiction, one eliminates most of the regulatory and security risks when investing in Bitcoin.

Fintonia Group is a Singapore-based fund manager regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore with a provisional license in the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai.

We comply with strict standards and regulations regarding client funds and with proper due diligence conducted on the management team to ensure adequate experience and qualifications in terms of risk management.

Fintonia Group works with insured and licensed third-party custodians with state-of-the-art security measures where Bitcoins are stored in cold wallets. The client’s funds are segregated and not co-mingled with Fintonia funds, as required by regulations.

Fintonia Group’s institutional-grade funds were created for professional investors looking for direct exposure to Bitcoin, allowing them to gain exposure to Bitcoin and store them in segregated cold storage vaults.

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Singapore-based Ohmyhome has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US at about US$88 million valuation, according to multiple reports.

The property-tech company seeks to raise up to US$16.25 million and offer 3.25 million shares at a price range of US$4-5 apiece.

The shares will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ‘OMH’ ticker.

Spartan Capital Securities is the lead managing underwriter and book-runner for the IPO.

Also read: Ohmyhome aims to tackle lack of transparency, unreliable agents issues in Filipino realty market

In the filing, Ohmyhome said it clocked US$2.4 million in revenue H1 2022 compared to US$1.7 million in H1 2021. Its net loss in H1 2022 doubled to US$700,000 from US$365,000 last year.

Started in September 2016 by sisters Rhonda and Race Wong, Ohmyhome connects buyers and sellers directly at no cost. The platform boasts features such as ‘ShoutOut’ and ‘Open House’ to enhance the overall user experience. It operates on a hybrid model — a do-it-yourself (DIY) platform and fully-fledged agency services.

The company has operations in the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.

In August last year, Ohmyhome secured US$5 million in financing from local investor Swettenham Blue. Two years earlier, Ohmyhome raised US$2.9 million in a Series A round led by Golden Equator Capital.

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