Much like Singapore, Dubai is an SME-driven economy — or at least it traditionally was. Both countries, even as smaller markets in their own right, open up the gates to much larger markets in their respective regions. Both have been equally obsessed with quickly adopting new technology. 

But the demographic of their population is what starkly sets them apart. Dubai is made up of nearly 90 per cent migrants versus Singapore has about half of that. 

Both compete with each other for the inflow of VC capital, banking HQs and even tech talent in the race to become the best global city in the world. And while there is no one clear winner, Dubai has moved quickly in the Web3 world.

Making Dubai a Web3 favourite

In May 2022, Bloomberg reported that former Singapore MP, investor and entrepreneur Calvin Cheng established an NFT and fan token investment holding company in Dubai. Via the Calvin Cheng Web3 Holdings FZE, he invests in projects to integrate crypto into fashion, media and entertainment.

Also Read: RareSkills to help Web3 engineers harness their potential

At a time when the government in Singapore told crypto players in the country to stop advertising their services to retail investors, along with other regulations; Dubai announced its new Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA)– for licensing and regulating the Virtual Asset sector in the Emirate of Dubai and its free zone territories (excluding DIFC), and oversees all licensing requirements and applications for authorisation of Virtual Asset activities under UAE law.

VARA is designed as the world’s first participatory-governance model, where industry innovators and market shapers share responsibility with policymakers to create a more democratic and borderless economy. Cheng also said that a regulator like VARA is well-positioned to establish Dubai as the leading global centre for digital assets.

Thus even amidst crypto winter, Web3 entrepreneurs and enthusiasts are looking for places where they are welcome, supported and provided various benefits to develop applications and better use cases on the blockchain. Blockchain investor and founder of TDefi, Gaurav Dubey said Dubai has the upcoming infrastructure, regulation and, most importantly, access to banking for Web3 projects to set up shop in Dubai.

Similar to how India’s Web 2 entrepreneurs registered companies such as Flipkart, Ola, and InMobi, in Singapore, for ease of business, India’s Web3 entrepreneurs are now registering businesses in Dubai. Entrepreneurs have cited advantages such as networking opportunities, no restrictions on innovation, access to global opportunities and access to resources for moving base to Dubai to set up Web3 startups. 

The strength of this move was endorsed by the pioneers of the Web 3.0 economy showcasing at Gitex Global in Dubai in October 2022– like the Thumbay Group’s full-fledged virtual hospital in the metaverse to provide patients with an immersive healthcare experience; The Sandbox co-creating with UAE brands such as Atari to launch gamified experiences etc.

While the recent layoffs and scandals mar the Web3 wave, Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, said, “while in some places, you are guilty until proven innocent. In the UAE, you’re innocent until proven guilty,” to display their confidence in this sector and their desire to move ahead.

Attracting tech talent

2.5 billion people live within four hours of flight and two-thirds of the world’s population lives within an eight-hour flight from Dubai. Thus making it a special location to be able to tap into consumers and talent.

Also Read: The future of recruitment in Web3 era

The government is taking a number of steps to try and support SMEs and the venture capital ecosystem. The government has launched funds to invest in SMEs ranging from US$100- US$270 million. Hadi Badri, CEO of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism said Dubai’s growth market intends to allow for businesses that have a relatively young track record and tap the public markets under certain guidelines and certain requirements. 

And at the heart of it all is talent.

Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy said the “fuel” for any economy is talent, while the UAE is making investments in research and development and supporting talent development through its focus on science and technology. The ministry is forging a business environment that attracts investments, tourism and talent, and stimulates research, development, and innovation with incentives like the golden visa.

Under the scheme, digital companies get faster business licensing and easier access to banking and financing. Employees can be offered 10-year UAE residency “golden visas” and in some cases, the program– which unifies government bodies, free zones and institutions — helps find accommodation and admissions to schools, said Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani Al Zeyoudi said in an interview.

It allows foreigners to work, live and study without needing a UAE work sponsor in a country where expatriate residents, which in the current recession-struck environment can prove to be handy; especially when it doesn’t have to worry about protection from local workers like Singapore.

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Image credit: DTE

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With the constant advancements in medical technology, it is no secret that the medical industry, as a whole, has been able to combat more diseases and administer more demanding surgical procedures, such as orthopaedic, neurological, and even cardiovascular corrective implants.

However, with greater complexity in procedures comes the heightened risk of side effects that may be costly to remedy. In the case of implant-supported corrective surgeries, the body’s immune system may view the implants as foreign or harmful and subsequently develop a hypersensitive allergy to them, beginning with post-surgery complications like impaired wound healing, infections, effusions, or loosened implants altogether.

Immunosuppressive drugs or therapy are the most common stopgap measures for acute bodily reactions to implants. Long-term dependence on these drugs to fully overcome these complications, however, is detrimental and far from sustainable.

Also Read: Healthtech data: The race for new oil in Southeast Asia

This prolonged recovery process leads not only to increased post-surgery follow-up workloads for doctors and healthcare providers but also places great mental and financial strain on patients.

The good news is that the risk of rejections occurring can be significantly reduced by replacing artificial implants with tissue regeneration technology. Before delving further into the benefits of said technology, it is important to first understand what it means.

Tissue regeneration: Understanding what it means

Tissue regeneration is the process in which new tissue is guided to naturally grow or renew itself to replace those that are damaged from disease. Over the past 30 years, the medical sector has been hard at work to unlock the potential of tissue engineering and has seen some notable breakthroughs, allowing for even the growth of an entire skull after a cranioplasty.

Today, tissue engineering can either be done in-vitro (inserting fabricated tissue into the affected area) or stimulated in-situ (harnessing the body’s regenerative abilities to rebuild lost or damaged tissues).

One of the most common applications of tissue engineering is through 3D-printed biomaterial scaffolds that are installed in the body to encourage tissue and bone growth in the surrounding area.

This is achieved by replicating the microstructure that is representative of native bone while also imitating the interconnected pores necessary to facilitate the stages of tissue healing. Hence, a conducive environment for bone cells and blood vessels to grow is created.

Once the tissue and bones are successfully regrown, the scaffolds are designed to dissolve into water and carbon dioxide, leaving behind nothing but a fully healed body part.

This allows patients to rest assured that no foreign materials are left in their bodies for any longer than necessary, in contrast to conventional implants that might need to stay in the body for a lifetime.

Implementing the tissue regeneration technology

This technology has been successfully implemented in the region by Osteopore, a regenerative solutions provider headquartered in Singapore that also operates on Malaysian shores. Their implants are made of a bioresorbable polymer, chosen specifically for its versatility to be applied across various applications in craniofacial, orthopaedic, oral maxillofacial, and dental surgery.

Also Read: Innovating medical devices towards better dental patient care

This material will then degrade over a period of 18 to 24 months, leaving the only natural, healthy bone in its place. Osteopore’s tissue regeneration procedures conducted in Malaysia have so far reported zero rejections, a testament to the viability and effectiveness of regenerative technology.

The reduced risk of post-surgery complications has, in turn, helped decrease the number of follow-up visits to only two-three years of follow-up visits with doctors, as compared to a lifetime of visits normally. Additionally, a re-replacement surgery will be equivalent to the cost of the recent surgery (excluding inflation and the cost of new technology).

This means the total cost is doubled or more to the healthcare system per patient that require re-replacement surgery, not to mention the risk of surgery does increase with age. Furthermore, 3D printing has been reported to produce between 70 to 90 per cent less waste compared to traditional manufacturing methods.

Clearly, tissue regeneration technology is making its mark on the local and global healthcare industry. The financial and medical benefits garnered through the combination of regenerative medicine and 3D printing techniques have proven that tissue engineering is not only an increasingly feasible alternative to traditional implants but that this technology is here to stay.

As such, it is more timely than ever for doctors and stakeholders in the healthcare industry to encourage more widespread adoption of regenerative technology.

Enhancements on a larger scale, such as through increased government funding and greater accessibility to this technology for everyday patients, can go a long way towards ensuring a better future for the local medical industry and, in the long run, positioning Malaysia as a regional leader in championing regenerative medicine.

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Singapore-based customised IoT solutions company UnaBiz has secured an undisclosed sum in fresh funding led by Japan’s SPARX Group to close the ongoing Series B round at over US$50 million.

G K Goh Holdings and Optimal Investment also participated.

This development comes just over a year after UnaBiz bagged over US$25 million in funding led by the Toyota-backed SPARX.

Launched in 2016 by Henri Bong, UnaBiz aims to provide scalable, energy-efficient IoT solutions for firms in critical verticals, such as aerospace, facilities management, F&B, healthcare, logistics, supply chain and smart cities.

Its unique selling point lies in its advances in hardware designs and the company’s deep connection to Singapore and Taiwan’s supply chain and innovative ecosystem.

The company operates with sales offices in Tokyo, Paris, Madrid and Rotterdam, and has two R&D centres in Taipei and Labège.

Also read: How to firm up your IoT strategy to combat online risks

UnaBiz counts Nippon Gas (Japan), Shin Kong Communications(Taiwan), and UEMS (Singapore) among its clients.

Earlier this year, the company acquired the Sigfox 0G technology that powers the global public 0G Network and connects over 10 million sensors for 1,500+ B2B customers through 70+ national 0G operators worldwide.

Post-acquisition, UnaBiz doubled its office locations and tripled in headcount. The company currently employs over 240 employees worldwide.

“Aside from the investments already planned to support business development in strategic markets, we will also use the fresh funds in research and development to further enhance the core low-power 0G capabilities and enable cost-effective long-range connectivity dedicated to very low-value assets,” said Philippe Chiu, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UnaBiz.

“Our product portfolio will also be expanded to integrate more LPWAN and satellite technologies, ultimately providing aggregated and clean data through UnaConnect service. The proliferation of new solutions aimed at a broader market will allow our customers to enjoy economies of scale and the freedom of choice when collecting data from physical assets – that is what the Technology Convergence movement is about,” Chiu added.

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A long list of five-star reviews and positive customer survey results may look good, but they are meaningless if customers feel pressure to always leave positive feedback.

Negative feedback is necessary; otherwise, you’ll never understand how your customers feel or the areas where your business can legitimately improve. Constructive criticism may be tough to hear, but it’s the only way to learn and grow as a business.

Why do most businesses get inflated positive feedback

If you’ve ever measured your customer satisfaction, do you suspect they are being “too nice” or that your score is somehow “too good”? You are likely receiving inflated feedback from your customers. When you expect to get high ratings and push your customers to give them to you, you lose the value of receiving feedback.

An article in the Los Angeles Times pointed out that customers give 5-star reviews because they are coached to give 5-star reviews.

It’s time you asked yourself if your business is really searching for feedback from your customers or just asking for another 5-star result.

Also Read: Customer retention strategies are getting trickier. Can you keep up?

There’s a natural psychological bias among customers who wish to be perceived as nice people. People giving feedback have no wish for a hard-working employee to get into trouble on their account.

Customers also want to do what’s easy. They may not want to give poor ratings because then they might be asked to answer follow-up questions.

The dangers of inflated customer feedback

Receiving inflated reviews is not only unrealistic, but it’s also dangerous. Customer feedback is supposed to serve a purpose: It’s designed to help you improve your business practices based on data from your customers.

Inflated scores may feel nice and look good in reports, but they aren’t giving you any value.

 You need to truly know how your customers feel about your business in order to make positive changes.

Why you need critical/negative customer feedback

Inflation isn’t the only problem.

You need to receive negative feedback in order to learn from it. Criticism is a healthy part of growth. Without it, you’re left carrying on with business as usual, eyes wide shut to all of the ways you could be improving your processes and outcomes.

Your business must receive negative feedback to determine what areas need improvements. If you receive the equivalent of 5-star reviews across the board in all areas, the data you collect won’t tell you much about how you are actually doing. 

Remember, most customers aren’t going to give you these critical reviews naturally. They’ve been conditioned and trained for years to give positive reviews so they can move on with their day.

On the other hand, you don’t want to wait until you have an angry customer to start receiving some criticism. Chances are this angry reviewer isn’t leaving you constructive feedback with their hot-tempered one-star rating.

Also Read: Customer frustrations: How and when to respond

So how do you flip the script to receive negative feedback and valuable criticism from your customers?

Strategies: How to get critical feedback from customers

Ask for negative feedback

Let your customers know it’s okay to be critical.

You want them to be critical. Simply asking your customers for negative feedback will make a difference. If they aren’t completely thrilled with everything your business is doing, you want to hear about it. Let them know that it’s okay to give a negative review and how much it will help your business improve if they take the time to be critical.

Survey timing

Switch up your survey timing to ensure your customers don’t feel like their feedback is connected with a specific agent.

As long as they are happy enough, people don’t want someone they work with to get in trouble with their account. Quarterly NPS surveys will help customers feel like the feedback they give is not centred around one person but the company as a whole.

Increase the rating scale

An increased rating scale will allow your customers to rate your services more freely. If you only have a one-three scale, a two might seem too harsh. With a one-five scale, the three and four-star ratings don’t seem too bad to the customer while still providing your business with valuable insight. 

Forced ordering

Ordering your services or best attributes from top to bottom forces the customer to decide what you do best and what you need to improve. Make the customer rank their favourite parts of your service, so you always end up with something toward the bottom of the list.

This will help you see what you can do better without making the customer feel awkward if they’re uncomfortable criticizing your business.

“One thing to improve”

Ask the user what the one thing your business could do to improve. This works well, sandwiched among other questions, as it reduces friction. Ask for one good thing, one bad thing, and one thing to improve.

Follow up

Forgetting to follow up could push your customers away from leaving criticism again in the future.

If a customer leaves critical feedback that nobody addresses, they could feel like nobody is listening. What’s the point of providing feedback if no one is doing anything about it?

Always follow up to show your customers you care and how much you appreciate them taking the time to give you feedback. If you can, tell them what you are doing with their feedback and if there are any changes your business will be making.

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The ShopBack Group, which runs a shopping and rewards platform across Asia Pacific, has raised US$30 million in strategic investment from Australia’s Westpac Banking Corporation to close the Series F round at US$200 million.

This follows the Singapore-based group’s earlier announcement of its US$160 million Series F tranche from Asia Partners and Temasek-owned 65 Equity Partners, together with commitments from other new and existing investors.

The raise will support ShopBack’s growth efforts across the Asia Pacific as it gears up for the public markets. The group will use the fresh capital to launch new shopping products for users, develop growth and payments solutions for merchant partners, extend its services to more markets, and build capabilities for public market readiness.

As part of the equity investment, ShopBack will enable Westpac customers to access exclusive offers and deals when they shop via ShopBack.

Also Read: ShopBack banks US$80M Series F funding to deepen its presence in Asia Pacific

“With more customers choosing to shop online, we’ll also be exploring new ways to expand on this offering within Westpac’s digital channels,” said Steve Rubenstein, MD (Consumer Finance) at Westpac.

ShopBack, founded in 2014, offers shopping deals, rewards and payment methods at the users’ fingertips. The group claims it serves over 35 million shoppers across ten markets and powers over US$3.5 billion in annual sales for over 10,000 online and in-store merchant partners.

In 2022, ShopBack launched ShopBack Pay and PayLater.

The group has made significant advances in product innovation and regional expansion this year. In January, it launched ShopBack Pay, allowing two million users in Singapore and Australia to check out conveniently at more than 5,000 merchant outlets.

Last December, ShopBack acquired hoolah, a leading buy-now-pay-later player in Southeast Asia. In August, it launched its cashback service in Hong Kong.

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Due to the tremendous surge in online orders in recent years, the logistics of enabling last-mile delivery has become a very important differentiation factor for e-commerce retailers. Defined as the movement of goods from a transportation hub to the final delivery location (usually a personal residence or office), the focus on delivering items to the end user as fast as possible has led to a significant evolution in  the way retailers approach last-mile delivery.

Consumers today expect affordable and fast delivery, forcing companies to improve logistical efficiency to  enable the quickest last-mile delivery at the most competitive price point. Last-mile delivery costs comprise 53% of total delivery costs and play a major role in customer satisfaction and loyalty. But it’s not always easy to meet customer requirements. Standard last-mile delivery services for large-volume retailers usually take around three days. Conversely, most last-mile delivery services that offer same-day delivery are unable to service large volumes of deliveries or offer fast processing turnaround.

Today, e-commerce companies need a service that can offer on-demand same-day delivery in a customisable model that can support large volumes of parcels whilst also accommodating changing business needs and traffic fluctuations. That’s where a service like Lalamove’s new Customised Solutions can help merchants: by taking advantage of solutions tailored to their operational needs, vendors can now deliver volumes on-demand with shortened turnaround time. 

A game changer in logistics

Lalamove, known for specialising in on-demand same-day delivery service, is a logistics platform that enables users to conveniently source for drivers and vehicles to meet their delivery needs within minutes.

The company has 61,000 driver-partners ready for activation across Singapore, enabled by technical innovations like API integrations and e-commerce plug-ins that allow Lalamove to offer business owners services that can help them automate delivery workflows and simplify ordering processes. Despite being a leader in the on-demand delivery service space, Lalamove recognises that this is not always suitable for businesses that need to make large-volume deliveries daily.

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

Ms Zarifah Zulkifli, Business Development Manager at Lalamove Singapore, discussed their new offering: Customised Solutions allows merchants to design and tailor according to their business delivery needs. “We have always been known for our on-demand delivery service. To remain relevant and thrive in the post-pandemic market, we have ventured into customising our product to meet our merchants’ needs,” she explained.

The perks of Lalamove’s new offering

“Lalamove’s new Customised Solutions give merchants the added advantage of fixed contract pricing, a trained driver fleet, flexible delivery procedures, and dedicated operation and account management support,” explained Zulkifli.

Lalamove’s Customised Solutions also present a seamless user journey experience beginning in the onboarding phase. Upon qualifying for the service, the Lalamove team will propose a tailor-made pricing and operation model and grant access to the Customised Solutions Portal.

Creating orders is even easier. After submitting an order through the Customised Solutions Portal, Lalamove’s ops team will generate planned routes and assignments for drivers, and a routing list to be shared to the client. From there, drivers will pick up orders from the client’s assigned pick up location and deliver directly to the recipients following the operations flow. Delivery statuses can also be accessed through the same Portal where users can generate an EOD report at any time.

With this new offering, business owners can focus on more lucrative tasks, like engaging with customers and developing new products, whilst Lalamove oversees their last-mile delivery processes as an affordable personalised service.

Also read: Safeguarding digital assets through cybersecurity innovations

Lalamove’s new solution is best suited to businesses with high order density and delivery volume that also require flexible same-day or scheduled deliveries. “This is especially beneficial for e-commerce businesses without storage facilities and in need of same-day deliveries to reduce costs and increase productivity,” elaborated Zulkifli. “Furthermore, if you have specific requirements and processes, this solution is most suitable for you as it is based on the fundamental concept of being customisable to one’s own business needs,” Zulkifli added. 

Compared to the average 3PL logistics provider, same-day delivery is a game changer for the logistics industry because traditional 3PL models typically take around one to three business days for the items to be sorted and delivered. ”With Lalamove’s Customised Solutions , your customers can expect the items to be delivered within the same day upon order placement,” said Zulkifli.

Lalamove’s custom offering enables a faster and more personalised delivery solution for businesses while handling large volumes of delivery. The new solution ensures parcel-level tracking, alongside several other personalised services such as flexible payment plans, which allow both big and small players to compete in the new digital retail environment.

Meeting the demand of the e-commerce age

Alex Lin, Managing Director of Lalamove Singapore, explained how the new service reflects a new trend in the logistics industry. “The last-mile delivery process helps merchants to enhance the overall customer experience. With the ability to aggregate demand with flexible and personalised same-day delivery at a fixed contract pricing, we can expect a shorter turnaround time for consumers when it comes to delivery,” Lin explained 

“We foresee higher sales revenue from the clients as they can now close the gap when it comes to expectation between what the customer wants when it comes to delivery and what they can provide,” she remarked. “With the new launch, we will further understand the pain points of both our merchants and their end customers. This will allow us to further improve our product which will in turn elevate the customer experience,” he continued.

Also read: RareSkills to help Web3 engineers harness their potential

Lalamove recognises that most retailers have specific requirements and processes unique to their business. By combining Lalamove’s technology-driven logistics service with the added flexibility of custom pricing, parcel-level tracking, and account management support, Lalamove hopes its new service sets a new standard for the whole last-mile delivery services industry. 

If you want to explore this new offering further, visit Lalamove.

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

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Modern history’s greatest health crisis, COVID-19, has had a significant impact on Singapore’s retail industry. Retail and F&B sales in Singapore fell by about SG$4 billion (US$2.95 billion) in total during the Circuit Breaker (CB) period, which was around 40 per cent of the 2020 full-year decline in the total retail and F&B sales of SG$10 billion (US$7.38 billion), as per government statistics.

Truth be told, no business can prepare for such a black swan event that caught the world completely off guard. Retailers in Singapore were no different and were struggling with dwindling cash reserves, supply challenges and demand fluctuations during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fast forward to today, and the situation on-ground has relatively improved. Total retail sales in Singapore were up 11.2 per cent YoY in September 2022.

Also Read: How retailers could prepare for the next consumer recession, if it were to come

From Pine Labs’ extensive experience with the merchant commerce ecosystem, I can tell you our retail partners were quite innovative in navigating the challenges around COVID-19.

During the pandemic, social gifting increased and was propelled by a surge in gift cards usage at online marketplaces like Amazon and Lazada. This was understandable as there are many benefits of gift vouchers for businesses, small or large.

Let me cut to the chase and outline a few of what we have picked from our retail partners.

Gift vouchers reduce customer acquisition costs

Remember, with each gift voucher, our merchant partners instantly acquire two customers, the purchaser and the recipient. Considering today’s high customer acquisition costs, this works beautifully, especially for smaller businesses looking to focus on their core competency instead of spending big on marketing to win customers.

Our merchant partners also report an uptick in revenues as the gift voucher recipients tend to spend on an average 20-30 per cent more than the value of the gift card.

Foster customer loyalty

Benefits of gift vouchers cut across diverse industry verticals, including travel, hospitality, and restaurant industries which were primarily struggling with consistent cash flows during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This made a lot of sense as businesses that were closed during the CB got the opportunity to infuse cash flow in their businesses by reaching out to existing customers and selling gift vouchers.

Reward and recognition

Employee reward and recognition is one area where we are seeing massive adoption of gift vouchers. Gone are the days when gifts were purchased and imposed on the recipients, and there was no way to find out whether those would be well received or not.

Today’s young Gen Zers want to be in control of the process, and therefore gifting the power of choice to them makes much more sense. True to this, we have seen several of our corporate customers rely on gift vouchers for their reward and recognition programme.

Also Read: 2022: Making the year of the tiger a roaring success for payments

We found that employee rewards, channel incentives, and promotions & campaigns were the most popular use cases for gift cards and vouchers.

Improves brand recall

In addition to gift vouchers appealing to their present set of customers, they also help a business reach out to an untapped set of users cost-effectively. Generation of happy pleasant memories associated with gifting aids in a stronger brand recall.

Advancing the cashless vision

Did you know that three in five Singapore consumers have tried going fully cashless during the pandemic, with Gen Z constituting a majority of this digital-savvy segment, as per Visa’s ‘Consumer Payment Attitudes’ study?

Closing thoughts

Gifting, be it at an individual level or corporate gifting, is here to stay. After all, experts have alluded to the fact that gifting has measurable social and neurological benefits.

According to Dr Mark Williams, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Macquarie University, we get a release of dopamine when giving and receiving gifts, which means gift-giving creates pleasure, and a good gift can reinforce a positive impression of the giver, creating a stronger bond in the long run.

At Pine Labs, we are proud to play our part in enabling a cashless and completely digital ecosystem for our merchant partners and their customers in Singapore. We have always been a tech-first company, and our cloud-based SaaS Gift Card platform is helping SMBs launch their gift card programmes effortlessly in any digital avatar, be it barcode, URL-based, or even QR codes.

We empower our merchant partners by letting them place their gift cards into Bank catalogues, loyalty programmes, and wallet providers through APIs, thereby helping them expand their reach and avail associated benefits.

Our customer base for digital gift vouchers is fast expanding to newer industry verticals, and the addition of insurance giant Singlife this month is a good example of the fast-paced adoption of gift vouchers by businesses across sectors.

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Despite an increased awareness post-pandemic, insurance penetration rates across Southeast Asia remain low due to affordability and accessibility. The rate is a meagre 1.2 per cent to 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Insurtech companies like Igloo attempt to change this situation by introducing innovative insurance products covering underserved communities.

Igloo, based in Singapore, has already introduced several unique insurance products in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. With an eye on new markets, the company recently secured US$27 million in a new funding tranche to close its Series B round at US$46 million. The money came from Germany’s InsuResilience Investment Fund II, WAM, Finnfund, La Maison, and Cathay Innovation.

In this interview, Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta shares insights into the region’s insurtech industry and talks about the company’s products, growth, expansion and IPO plans.

Excerpts:

What is the synergy between Igloo and InsuResilience Investment Fund II? How does its participation mutually benefit? Does this indicate Igloo’s interest in entering the German market?

Igloo uses technology to make insurance more affordable and accessible to underserved communities in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the InsuResilience Investment Fund II supports technologies that drive affordability and accessibility to climate insurance.

Igloo has the expertise and capabilities to develop insurance products and solutions directly impacting our investors’ target communities, such as Weather Index Insurance. We also share their mission to build a sustainable future and contribute toward realising the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

While Igloo does not have plans to enter the German market, our recent funding round shows that investors outside Southeast Asia are paying attention to the impactful work we do to advance financial inclusion through insurance protection and focus on impact and social good.

How did Igloo manage to raise additional funds amidst a looming recession?

Despite the economic slowdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to seek partnerships with local and regional insurance companies and digital platforms to facilitate new insurance products and solutions.

We drew investors’ attention with more than 300 million policies and a gross written premium (GWP) that has grown 15x since 2019.

Since our inception, we have facilitated more than 100 million policies targeted towards climate change, low to mid-income populations and the gig economy.

You said in a statement that Igloo is in the process of identifying and closing on various M&A opportunities. Have you identified any companies yet? When can we expect to close your first M&A deal?

We are evaluating multiple opportunities across SEA. The focus is on vertical integration to enhance our expertise and value proposition.

We are looking at closing multiple deals over the next year.

Is the insurtech industry ripe for consolidation?

Over the last two years, we saw an increase in demand for insurtech products and services, resulting in a significant growth of new entrants focusing on specific verticals, business lines, and distribution channels.

Also Read: ‘Microinsurance will play a pivotal role in accelerating financial inclusion in SEA’: Raunak Mehta of Igloo

With the insurtech industry maturing, we might expect fewer startups to emerge. Still, we foresee early entrants and established players continuing to grow as they utilise their learning and experience to innovate and build strategic partnerships with the right players to strengthen their positioning.

You operate in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Do you follow the same strategies in all these markets? Do you plan to introduce any new specific products to these markets?

We conceptualise our product offering through a combination of market research and inherent demand from our digital distribution partners. After this, we identify common pain points in each market to find opportunities to scale these products outside of their origin to drive our inclusive insurance agenda in the region.

An example is our recently launched blockchain-based Weather Index Insurance in Vietnam. We see a massive potential for this product. So we plan to expand this insurance solution to cover more agricultural commodities and take it to other parts of Southeast Asia shortly.

Where do the Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippine markets stand regarding the growth of insurtech? What local trends do you see in each market?

Although COVID-19 has increased awareness, insurance penetration rates across the region remain low due to affordability and accessibility.

For instance, the life insurance penetration rate is approximately 1.2 per cent to 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), with more than 70 per cent of the working population employed in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do not grant proper insurance coverage.

This triggered insurtech companies like us to use our technology to develop more insurance products and solutions that could improve insurance penetration rates in our key markets.

Across the markets, we see growth areas we can support with insurance products and solutions. The positive results from Ignite (the blockchain-based Weather Index Insurance) in Vietnam and Indonesia led us to the Philippines, where most of the population relies on insurance agents and traditional insurance companies.

We also see a demand for protection plans geared towards protecting the Philippines’ gig economy, seeing the uptick of contractual workers in the market.

Do you have plans to introduce more niche insurance products in the region?

In the Philippines, we introduced pet insurance protection with the rise of pet ownership during the pandemic.

With its massive gaming community in Indonesia, we brought Gamer’s Insurance to the market.

We plan to bring Weather Index Insurance to more SEA countries, covering different crops and adverse weather events like typhoons or earthquakes.

Are you profitable already?

We are making a better-than-expected movement towards profitability on the back of higher revenue extraction and economies of scale effect on our cost base. Ceteris Paribus, especially with respect to macro variables, we should be able to turn cash flow positive over the next couple of years.

What are your exit plans? Is an IPO plan in the offing?

Our journey has just begun, and with the growth that we have delivered over the last three years with continuous improvement in our margins, we believe we have taken baby steps towards our vision of “insurance for all”.

A strategic sale or IPO may be possible over the next three to five years, contingent on prevailing economic conditions.

Can you share insights into the overall global insurtech industry? Do you foresee tech like AI and blockchain disrupting the sector?

Globally, we see strong demand for insurtech services. As economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we will see more solid demand for new insurance products and solutions to help make insurance more affordable and accessible for underserved segments.

Also Read: Women in Tech: Female leaders shaking up insurtech in Asia

In countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, we see the demand from insurance agents who would benefit from digital solutions that help them serve customers better. In other markets like the Philippines, we already see a demand for more personal insurance products like Pet Insurance.

As the shift towards the digitisation of the industry is imminent, this also presents opportunities to utilise and integrate new technologies into insurance products and solutions. In light of our recently launched Weather Index Insurance, we can also see blockchain integration disrupting the industry. Through smart contracts, insurance payouts could essentially be triggered for multiple types of coverage.

Index Insurance may be the start, but this could eventually make more traditional forms of insurance, such as personal accident or car insurance, more affordable and accessible.

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For Daniel Shen, connecting with people is the key to happiness. And it applies to teaching and learning too.

Daniel, Founder and CEO of game-based learning platform Soqqle, began his career in banking and finance with impressive experience at JP Morgan and Standard Chartered – some of the world’s largest financial institutions that many would die to work for. At the heart of these experiences is a spirit that gave him a competitive edge when starting his own business: building relationships with people to challenge the status quo.

“School should be fun”

Coming from a culture where schooling can be packed with assessments, public exams and stress, Daniel believes that acquiring new knowledge can be much more enjoyable if carried out in arguably the most powerful space on earth today – social media.

What if students can do assignments by posting videos on social media, view each other’s progress on their news feed, and solve learning challenges together on the same platform, no matter where they are?

In March 2018, Soqqle was born as a mobile app in Singapore where teachers create social tasks for students to do, at home or during class. Though this would later prove to be a farsighted solution as COVID-19 forced everything online after less than 2 years, market reception was far from ideal at the time.

Hong Kong: real business begins

So there’s a noble vision, but bringing it to the real world is another thing. As Daniel began touching base with educators in Singapore, he was met with immense resistance: “People worried about the impact on teaching performance, student perception, ratings… concerns were all over the place.”

His quest to find “super users” was filled with barriers. Traction was slow. And resources were drying up.

Frustrated, Daniel had no choice but look beyond his home country: “The conditions were extremely challenging for our solution in Singapore, so I had to search for opportunities elsewhere.”

He finally landed in another Asian city – Hong Kong. “I am quite surprised how few startups in Southeast Asia are aware of the vast opportunities there.” Noting the vibrant culture, daily life efficiency and the transparency for available resources, Daniel soon settled into the world’s freest economy recognised by the Fraser Institute.

In search for last mile development for customer fit, Daniel first arrived at Hong Kong’s startup scene in 2020 when he pitched to hundreds of investors and corporate partners as a contestant of the city’s signature Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC) held by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), Hong Kong’s flagship startup cradle. Little did he know that he would later find the resources needed for accelerating growth of his startup company there one year later.

Going full-fledged

In 2021, to take his team further, he joined an incubation programme at Hong Kong Science Park, which brought Soqqle USD 150,000 in funding in addition to diverse tech resources, physical and digital infrastructure, and support for talent recruitment like fast-track visa application. Headquartering in the world’s 3^rd top financial centre also meant extensive exposure to a massive web of global investors and potential partners.

In that same year, Soqqle ran their first pilot in collaboration with teachers and students at Lingnan University. According to Daniel, professors there were very receptive to new ideas and open to try something new in class, successfully advancing peer-to-peer learning with tremendous results.

“This gave us the confidence to go full-fledged to turn this into a metaverse concept.”

What started as a straightforward video app was fast becoming an innovative learning platform that engages students and teachers like no other tools before: “In June this year, we’ve begun doing private trials for our flagship metaverse product, Classlet.”

“Our partnership with Soqqle has created new ways to use the metaverse to help students learn in more real-world settings,” said Professor Paulina Wong from Lingnan University.

This was echoed by high school educator Ka Tim Chu (Tim), chairman of the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKACE) and vice principal of Hong Kong True Light College, whom Daniel knew through the HKSTP Mentorship programme. Tim designed a metaverse programme with Soqqle to create learning scenarios.

Dixon Fong, Vice Principal of Pope Paul VI College, joined the pilot to teach Computational Thinking. “Students can interact with characters and objects in the metaverse to obtain data and learn about abstraction to deconstruct problems,” he said.

Soqqle will be presented at Hong Kong’s Learning & Teaching Expo (LTE) 2022 at HKSTP’s booth. LTE is an annual expo for education buyers, governments, and academics to discover and source latest educational tech and resources.

Since settling in Hong Kong, team Soqqle grew from 2 people to 6 in less than 6 months to support the product growth.

“HKSTP has given me opportunities I never had before,” said Daniel.

Next stop? China

More ventures continued to stem, while Daniel also sensed the enormous potential of growing his business beyond Hong Kong into the wider Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (more commonly known as the Greater Bay Area or the Bay Area) – a fast-growing region in southern China consisting of 11 cities (including Hong Kong) in thirst of innovation.

While Hong Kong is long renowned as a springboard for the China market, it is more recently highlighted as a gateway towards the Bay Area, home to over 86 million people with a GDP of USD 1.67 trillion in 2020.

“I see Hong Kong as our primary starting point and runway. Not only with incubation support, but it’s also an amazing testing ground. Now we’re much more ready to expand and explore the whole regional market.”

Besides being a hub of professional services for the Bay Area, Hong Kong is also leading the regional value chains especially in FinTech, PropTech and Biotech, with an ever-growing pool of specialists who can travel to any city in the Bay Area within an hour.

“The ecosystem here in Hong Kong is amazing. I found talent, funding opportunities and quality infrastructure – all crucially important for us as an early-stage startup,” said Daniel.

The HKSTP Incubation Programme is currently open to application. Click here to apply.

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

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The post Gamifiying education: Soqqle takes schooling to the metaverse appeared first on e27.

The world economy has never faced a more tough scenario than it currently faces, particularly with the massive layoffs of prominent technological businesses. Yet, there is a startup named Recruitery that can address the issue.

The situation with layoffs in technology firms

Concerns about an economic crisis, increasing interest rates, dropping revenue, falling equities, and so on have forced several huge technological businesses in the United States, the world’s largest economy, to lay off tens of thousands of staff to stay in business. 

It is still being determined how long this trend will continue. Still, suppose inflation continues to rise, impacting economies worldwide and weakening the financial climate. In that case, Randstad expects that the movement of technological layoffs in Southeast Asia will continue into the second quarter of 2023. 

Also Read: Your identity should not be limited to what you do at work: Sheryl Chen of Qualgro

There is no way to stop this trend, but Recruitery will be a solution for companies searching for outplacement and individuals affected by the wave of layoffs.

About Recruitery

Recruitery has an extensive network of headhunters, with over 10,000 headhunters, 1,000 of the top enterprises trusting Recruitery, and over 1 million transnational high-level human resources networks. As a result, they can quickly recruit personnel in 98 countries worldwide.

Recruitery has approximately more than 5,000 referrals per month, and the average time from job posting to placement is 20 days.

Recruitery was founded in 2019 in Singapore by a group of dedicated young individuals who feel that this is the right option for businesses that want to save on recruiting costs while still finding talent for the firm. 

The primary aim of Recruitery is to link businesses with a network of recruiting professionals and experts in various disciplines to reach out to possible applicants (not actively looking for jobs). The tool allows firms to reach five times as many potential applicants as the present system while saving 80 per cent of the time and 50 per cent of the money.

Recruitery’s strengths include a strong headhunters network and a high number of worldwide customers, a very user-friendly UX system, competitive fees, and a wide range of positions. 

Recruitery focuses on corporate, headhunter, and candidate-centred methods while building its solutions.

How Recruitery is bridging this gap

“With everything in place, Recruitery will become a ‘home’ for people impacted by mass layoffs, particularly in the IT industry; we will connect them with our headhunting partners (10,000 signed up) to assist them in finding a new job,” Recruitery CEO Toan Nguyen stated. 

“In the last few months, some startups requested assistance from specialists to help former employees who were laid off prepare and even design their resumes to find a job. This highlights the difficult circumstances for employees who are abruptly out of work, with venture capital financing drying up as investors become wary owing to unpredictable financial markets and geopolitical concerns,” Toan added.

Also Read: Addressing Singapore’s talent crunch with remote work

On the other hand, Recruitery has witnessed increased demand from organisations growing their staff during the last two quarters. In addition, following the disruptions produced by covid, there has been a surge in recruiting in fields such as information technology (IT), IT support services (ITes), and startups. 

Creating a platform that serves outplacement agencies and jobless prospects takes time and effort. But they’ve been preparing for this wave for quite some time, and the system is finally ready.

“We have a two-week sprint to rebuild the site’s layout, including providing additional messages and allowing the headhunter to connect directly to the firm on our platform. The headhunter can now interact with the firm about all of the candidate’s details, as well as oversee the whole recruiting process,” Toan added.

Recruitery intends to grow further into Southeast Asia next year and release additional UX tools to improve the platform and become the premier recruiting platform in Southeast Asia.

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The post How Recruitery plans to help people who affected by tech layoff appeared first on e27.