Thailand-based agritech startup Freshket today announced a US$23.5 million Series B funding round led by PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company Limited (OR). The funding round also included the participation of Openspace, Betagro Holding, ORZON Ventures, and Volta Circle.

In a press statement, Freshket said that the funding round will bolster the company as it enhances its operating system through supply chain tech development, improves service efficiency, penetrates into new categories of products and extends its in-demand service to other provinces in Thailand.

It will also focus on the development of demand forecasting technology to ensure transparency for all parties, the reduction of food waste, and the effort to boost the quality of life for upstream entrepreneurs. Ultimately, these improvements will ensure even more customers can enjoy the freshest quality products at reasonable prices, with convenience of online ordering and confidence in Freshket’s service reliability.

Also Read: How Thai food supply chain startup Freshket weathered through the pandemic

Freshket Chief of Staff Komjak Rattakham said, “This funding round was part of a key strategy designed to catapult the brand to achieving rapid and progressive growth this year. Freshket will grow alongside its business networks, OR group’s distribution channels as well as other joint investors, while also developing and launching products and services shaped to meet the needs of more users.”

Founded in 2017, Freshket aims to provide the food business and its customers with access to fresh agricultural produce that was sourced from local farmers and suppliers.

In addition to household customers, its main customers are mostly restaurants and hoteliers, an industry that is worth THB200 billion (US$5.9 billion) in annual purchases. The company said that it represents a three-time volume growth on what was being achieved during the Series A funding round only 20 months ago.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Freshket

The post Freshket raises US$23.5M in Series B funding round to further expand in Thailand appeared first on e27.

Singapore is one of the best markets for Web3 to take off. The possibilities of Web3 are endless and it boasts of an even more fundamental upheaval, one that will eventually cast everything else into the shade. From holding assets digitally without the need for a third-party watchdog to open, trustless, and permissionless networks, Web3 opens up massive and groundbreaking opportunities.

Kenrick Drijkoningen, General Partner of Singapore-based Play Ventures believes Web3 will impact almost every industry. He says, “People have been claiming bitcoin is a fad when it was valued at just US$1, but it is now among the top 20 global currencies. True, Web3 is still in the early development days, something like the internet in the mid-1990s. But it’s real.

“The hallmark of disruptive technology is that it’s dismissed by incumbents in the early days, something we are seeing again today. To understand Web3, you have to dive in, understand the technology and use it. This is daunting for many, so they prefer to dismiss it altogether.”

At e27, we are giving the limelight to the advocates of the Web3 ecosystem and throwing light on their journey and becoming. This time, we are back with a listicle that features 27 noteworthy Web3 startups in Singapore who are capturing massive interest and growing in popularity each day forward.

SEED

SEED is the easiest way for everyone, individuals and companies, to access high yielding investments powered by DeFi without high risk and volatility. Investing in cryptocurrencies does not need to be high risk, the startup provides a non-custodial wallet with built-in DeFi recipes which simplify multi-step DeFi strategies with a single click.

Their curated recipes offer high yields of up to 18 per cent+ APY with relatively low risk. Stable, simple, secure, encrypted, custodial, decentralized, and high-yielding, are the words SEED goes by.

Loominate

Loominate is a plug-and-play community platform built on a Web3 decentralised rewards system. This is where workplace communities trade battle stories, share passions, vote on initiatives and join bounties to drive positive culture and change in their organisations.

With a mission to bring transparency, humanity, rewards and a bit of fun into workplace community building, Loominate is built on the token economy of LOOMI token and is now able to decentralise the distribution of rewards to incentivise and sustain authentic bottom-up change, innovation and transformation in both small and big organisations.

Blockchain Worx

Blockchain Worx is a fintech venture focused on helping institutions harness the potential of blockchain technology for digital transformation in the metaverse era. Their solutions, including a digital banking framework, a tokenized securities platform and an anti-money laundering transaction monitoring system, are targeted at helping organisations leverage distributed ledger technology to develop next-generation business, finance and regulatory networks.

They remain blockchain protocol agnostic and continue to build applications atop various business blockchain technologies such as Quorum, Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, and other alternate private permissionable blockchain platforms, including Hyperledger Sawtooth and Multichain.

Avalanche

Avalanche (AVAX) is an open, programmable smart contracts platform for decentralised applications.

AVAX is the native token of the Avalanche blockchain, which like Ethereum, uses smart contracts to support a variety of blockchain projects. The Avalanche blockchain can provide near-instant transaction finality. AVAX is used to pay transaction processing fees and secure the Avalanche network and acts as a basic unit of account among blockchains in the Avalanche network.

Avalanche holds a strong claim of being blazingly fast, low cost, and eco-friendly. Any smart contract-enabled application can outperform its competition on Avalanche.

MetaLoka PTE LTD

MetaLoka is the first-in-the-world OPEN MMORPG metaverse that features time travel and infinite space. An ultimate Multiverse that transcends the barriers between the past and future worlds to bring people together, at the heart of MetaLoka, the Metaverse can teleport you through an overwhelmingly immersive experience of interacting with other Metazen’s in Ancient Egypt, Dark Ages, 2312 Cyberpunk and so much more.

The startup’s mission is to develop a trademark building engine that allows users to create their own metaverses within MetaLoka while bridging to other metaverses.

Quadrant Protocol

Quadrant is a blockchain-based protocol that enables the access, creation, and distribution of data products and services with authenticity and provenance at its core.

The data economy is similar to space; unmapped and chaotic. The startup provides the infrastructure that facilitates the transparent exchange of Data-as-a-Service and AI services between organisations, enabling data vendors to sell their data with the use of Data Smart Contracts.

Quadrant Protocol is built with Ethereum. It combines the powerful capabilities of blockchain with new innovations developed by the Quadrant team to stamp and map disparate data sets.

AngbaoShop

AngbaoShop is here to get you cryptocurrency at your doorstep or at your nearest convenience store.

Cryptocurrencies, despite their growing adoption, are simply too complicated for the common man. Most of the time, it is out of reach for people who are not tech-savvy or those who simply find the process of obtaining or interacting with any form of cryptocurrencies too daunting. In essence, it is not newbie-friendly.

The startup aims to make the process of obtaining and liquidating cryptocurrencies and their respective crypto assets by making it available via a simple top-up card concept. Current retail channels are online via our e-Commerce platform which accepts cash-on-delivery and at local convenience stores.

Also Read: Women of Web3: Top women contributors tell us all we need to know about Web3

Onchain Custodian Pte Ltd

Onchain Custodian offers a global, standardised, resilient, insured and compliant custody service for the safekeeping of institutional digital asset investments with incomparable user experience.

Its solution is built with the flexibility to meet the possible futures of crypto custody and is led by a highly experienced management team with expertise in blockchain, consulting, custody, crypto, investment banking and securities.

The startup walks with the mission to offer a custody solution which solves the digital asset trilemma of security, convenience & compliance; applies the successful approach to other cutting-edge financial services; ultimately empowers the digital transformation of our economy.

Blockee

Or a synonym for NFT Marketplace for Virtual Real Estate in the Metaverse. Blockee is an aggregator of NFT land from virtual worlds and Web3 games. They stand tall on their mission to make virtual land available to everybody, especially to traditional real estate investors who want to get exposure to virtual real estate with their portfolios.

AlphaWallet

AlphaWalllet is the ultimate wallet engine for the Web3 world. Built by Web3 engineers for the community, AlphaWallet is a self-custodial wallet, that’s 100 per cent open-source, and production-ready. It allows you to simply customise your tokens and launch your MVP in 1/5 of the time.

MetaPals

MetaPals is a browser extension that allows users to interact and grow NFT pets directly from their browser computer screen. With distinct personalities, a Metapal can speak via emojis, interact with elements of a webpage, and play page-specific minigames with the user. All of which add to the ‘care index’, an on-chain measure of the wellbeing of the pet, directly influencing the value of the NFT.

“We see it as the first step to bringing life to the Metaverse and are excited to explore new ways to expand the world of MetaPals. For it to become a true extension of the human experience, through our journey to create a world which we feel people want to join, we realised that we need to bring over the qualities that make us human: love, care, compassion,” says Daryl Lim, Co-Founder at MetaPals

KingSwap

KingSwap is a DeFi project that has introduced a liquidity pool platform with possible fiat off-ramp conversions. KingSwap’s high-yield liquidity platform offers extensive staking rewards, digital collectibles, etc. KingSwap’s native $KING tokens are regulated under Singaporean law. In addition to offering off-ramp fiat currency converting solutions to allow users great convenience between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds.

The startup has also added some new blockchain community-oriented features to Uniswap’s core design, which will help boom the technology and provide user-friendly real-time benefits in terms of price curves and contributor rewards.

Gorilla Networks Pte Ltd

World’s first telco in the Metaverse, Gorilla Networks Pte Ltd is a next-generation mobile-finance telco that provides seamless mobile connectivity and mobile finance solutions.

Gorilla’s revolutionary blockchain BSS for telecommunication and financial services provides unprecedented access to power-up mobile data via Smart Contracts. Users can use, spend, save and share mobile data as a digital asset with anyone straight from their mobile phone.

Gorilla Networks Pte Ltd is a pioneer in merging telecommunication and mobile financial services into a universal consumer-centric offering and application that is accessible through any device, any network, any location.

482.solutions

482.solutions specialises in innovative distributed solutions using Blockchain technology since 2013. The key competency of 482.solutions is engineering systems and platforms for Industry 4.0 domains such as transactive energy, FinTech, DeFi, digital identity, eGovernment, Supply chain management, digital twins, digital assets management, distributed storage, value chain management, digital economy, M2M systems.

Coalculus

Coalculus is reinventing finance for a digital world. It is a multi-chain fintech blockchain platform built for hybrid deployments and comes with user permissioning capabilities. Enterprise distributed applications enabled by Coalculus benefit from zero node operations, enterprise chain interoperability, scalability and low transaction costs.

“We empower organisations to introduce innovative financial services quickly and easily, in doing so, our clients benefit from the advantages offered by blockchain.”

Also Read: Meet the DeFi platforms that have made waves in Southeast Asia

Blockchain Zoo

Blockchain Zoo is here to bring clarity to the blockchain jungle!

Blockchain Zoo supports blockchain projects from ideation to implementation, through a bias-free technological approach. Their consultants and associates strive to deliver actionable insight and measurable added value, based on the technology that is best suited for the consumers

To put it another way, Blockchain Zoo is a one-stop shop offering solutions for any blockchain needs.

Enjin

Nine years ago, a small, barely funded company first saw the light of a new, digital day. The startup entered the merciless game industry battleground armed with nothing more than unrelenting creativity, fueled by a profound desire to push the boundaries of technology.

Almost a decade later, what used to be a single, lonely tree on a metaphorical, enchanted planet grew into a world-spanning, magical jungle. The biggest social gaming platform in the world, with over 19 million users spread out in more than a quarter of a million gaming communities and processing millions of USD per month in virtual goods sales.

Enjin is a web-based universal blockchain explorer, built with a focus on user experience, speed and ease of use.

Biconomy

A developer platform to enable a simplified transaction and onboarding experience for Web3 projects, Biconomy’s goal is to make Web3 frictionless and mainstream.

The plug-n-play solution allows Web3 interactions to be smooth and seamless between DApps and end-users by removing blockchain complexities. We do this by providing a multi-chain non-custodial, and gas efficient relayer infrastructure network that enables meta transactions at scale.

Nansen

Surfacing the signals in blockchain data, real-time crypto and NFT insights for the win! Nansen is a blockchain analytics platform that enriches on-chain data with millions of wallet labels. Crypto investors use Nansen to discover opportunities, perform due diligence and defend their portfolios with our real-time dashboards and alerts.

ClayStack

ClayStack is redefining skating by getting their users tradable liquid staking derivatives and instantly withdrawing their staked assets.

ClayStack is a decentralized liquid staking platform that enables its users to unlock the liquidity of staked assets across multiple chains. They can stake their assets and use the issued staking derivatives across the DeFi ecosystem. At ClayStack, security is an attribute. Their smart contracts have been audited by Chain Security.

Zilliqa

Low cost, highly scalable, and environmentally sustainable, Zilliqa is your magic portal to the blockchain world, enabling you to create user-friendly dApps more easily.

The startup brings the theory of sharding to practise with its novel protocol that increases transaction rates as its network expands. The platform is tailored towards enabling secure data-driven decentralised apps, designed to meet the scaling requirements of machine learning and financial algorithms.

Pundi X

Pundi X is the most versatile payment ecosystem of its kind. More and more businesses across the world are using Pundi X solution to harness the power of blockchain technology. They have been deploying their blockchain-based point-of-sale (POS) solution and solidifying partnerships with governments, payment companies, and retailers.

“We keep innovating the ways to harness the power of blockchain technology to facilitate financial inclusion. At Pundi X, we want to make digital currencies to be more accessible to more people across the borders and further increase the value of digital currencies for all.”

Also Read: Southeast Asia is one of the best markets for Web3 to take off, say experts

SolRazr

SolRazr is the first decentralized developer ecosystem for Solana, offering Launchpad, Accelerator, and Developer Tools.

The startup boasts of reimagining token sale whitelists and allocations by leveraging the power of NFTs on Solana, incubating projects and helping with a go-to-market strategy to launch quickly, turbocharging Solana dApp development with a suite of powerful developer tools, and allowing communities from other chains to invest directly into Solana projects.

Chintai

Chintai is transforming the capital markets of today into blockchain opportunities of tomorrow.

Founded by a team of career experts in finance, technology, physics, clinical psychology, business management and economics to revolutionise capital markets using blockchain for asset managers, banks and enterprise, Chintai keep the entire life cycle of digital assets on chain. The startup uses high-performance blockchain technology and a multi-chain architecture to deliver a flexible solution that gives our platform participants the most efficiency gains possible.

Cake DeFi

Cake DeFi generates cash flow out of crypto assets by bringing decentralised finance to the people. As simple as it can get, all the users need to do is sign up and get verified within minutes, add funds by depositing crypto or buying with their preferred payment method, allocate their coins and watch the rewards roll in.

PolyTrade

Polytrade is shaping the future of trade finance by bringing safe and insurance backed real-world assets to the crypto world. The startup provides real-world borrowers access to low interest and swift financing to free up critical working capital, tapped from crypto lenders. Polytrade bridges the gaps in traditional receivables financing by accessing untapped crypto liquidity.

Koinearth

KoineArth works at the intersection of blockchains, machine learning and mechanism design to enable economic networks.

KoineArth’s ngageN platform is a regulatory compliant NFT platform for brands and creator economy, driving loyalty by enabling brands & creators to offer exclusive experiences to their premium fans & customers.

KoineArth’s marketsN platform is an enterprise-grade solution for digital supply chains. By enabling secure data sharing in B2B ecosystems, marketsN enables ESG compliance, supply chain finance and operations efficiency.

–

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Canva Pro

The post The 27 Web3 startups in Singapore that show crypto is more than Terra Luna and stablecoins appeared first on e27.

If we were to look into the future, I believe that it is one where blockchain technology wraps around most existing businesses. The potential is immense, leading to improved processes and capabilities and transparency of how transactions are lodged.

The quick definition of blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that can facilitate the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. Therefore, almost everything significant or has business value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network.

Lendor is a circular platform for tech devices. Whether consumers want to rent the latest technology or end-of-life devices, Lendor has something for everyone on any budget with a flexible schedule.

This meant that we were serving B2B and B2C customers, managing thousands of transactions yearly on short term rentals and long term leases and partnering with multiple merchant partners. It is currently still on Web2 hosted on cloud-based servers.

Sustainability concerns

Moving Lendor from Web2 to Web3 has always been on our minds since 2018 when we were awarded the second runner up in Dsion Blockchain startup challenge in 2018. 

As an impact-driven tech startup in the circular economy space, it was difficult to consider blockchain as a viable technology one or two years back. Our focus on solving SDG goals 11,12 sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production meant that tracking carbon savings and/or output is a key metric.

Also Read: 13 years on since the birth of Bitcoin, it’s now blockchain’s time to shine

Ethereum, the most popular platform for DApps, was great from a technology standpoint, but each transaction with Ethereum is equivalent to running a refrigerator for 35 days. We want to have all the good work we have done in circularity and carbon savings be completely negated by the technology we have chosen to use.

Blockchain technology is fundamentally bad for the environment due to the nature of cryptocurrency mining through Proof of Work (PoW), where miners have to compete against each other to solve complex problems through the utilisation of high-power computers.

It requires the use of significant energy resources. PoW rewards miners with the greatest computing power, which inevitably burns more greenhouse gasses to facilitate additional processes.

Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake

In the last two years or so, the idea of Proof of Stake (PoS) emerged within the community that allows miners to pledge a “staked” digital currency where they validate transactions.

The benefits of Proof of Stake (PoS) are that it requires less energy, is more secure and is scalable. The ecological footprint is also lower, making it more feasible for startups to adapt this into their systems and solutions in the near future. 

Ethereum, through this shift in consensus from PoW to PoS, allows energy consumption to be reduced by 99.5 per cent, which is scheduled to happen by the end of 2022. The PoS aims to fix many common issues with the PoW system. Other popular staking systems to build DApps include Cardano, Solana and EOS.

Moving from Web2 to Web3

For a startup or business to adopt blockchain technology, the various chains, protocols, and consensus, must be sustainable not just on a cost per basis but also have the potential to solve a major pain point for the industry.

Also Read:‘Blockchain could’ve eased the lives of many people fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war’

At Lendor, how we plan to leverage this technology would be for us to have this information being sharable and made transparent for our vendors and customers where they can be granted and allowed access to this information stored on the ledger.

The benefits of having a blockchain network could also be to track orders, payments, accounts, productions, logistics, and much more. The members that are all on our network are thus able to see all the details of transactions from end to end, leading to better processes, and transparency, and leading to lower attrition rate. 

Another example would be that business partners who are seeking out a short-term rental partnership are now able to look at the transaction movements through Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and would be able to identify to see if our merchant partners have the quantity and inventory models to support their rentals, and how best it could be to facilitate their requests and commercial needs.

These partners who are operating on a global level could also work together with Lendor to further facilitate higher ticket size and bulk quantity movements through the implementation and introduction of smart contracts where parameters and definitions such as duration of use, the annual contract value, renewal rates, attrition percentage could be pre-set.

We also seek to work closely together with our partners to incorporate this process to create further efficiencies with the verticals that support our circular platforms, such as insurtech, logistics, procurement, and accounting, to name a few.

We are excited at how the blockchain landscape will develop in Singapore and Southeast Asia for the next decade and think that there is tremendous potential for impact and climate tech companies to take the bold move to Web3.

I look forward to speaking with experts in this space to enlarge my circle of competence further and connect with industry leaders.

This post was co-written by Tay Han Jie.

–

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

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

Image credit: Morthy Jameson

The post Why is it time for climate and impact startups to consider blockchain? appeared first on e27.

Every entrepreneur has to make many legal decisions, often without solid access to advice around what their best options are. That’s why I invited Cassady Toles, a licensed corporate lawyer based in California with national and global legal experience.

In this heavily focused episode on legal issues, we covered important topics like:

– What is the best strategy when starting a company?
– How to know where to incorporate it?
– How do you protect co-founder relationships?
– How to handle marital divorce?
– When should you prepare a Shareholder Agreement?
– What are Classes of Shares?
– What are NDAs and are they actually useful?
– What is the Employee Agreement + ESOP?

Also Read: Why SEA’s startup ecosystem is making a strong case for legaltech

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast
Apple
Spotify
Stitcher

—

This article about managing wealth for entrepreneurs was first published on We Live To Build.

—

Image Credit: superohmo

The post Protecting yourself and your company with Cassady Toles appeared first on e27.

Before making a decision, you must first understand the common problems encountered in hiring overseas talent and starting overseas branches/subsidiaries.

First of all, in order to set up foreign entities, you will need legal support from a lawyer and accounting firm. Setting up a new entity overseas can also take you more than six months before you can start hiring local talents.

You are also mandated to invest in a certain amount of capital, generally, it’s quite a large sum of capital. If you fail to comply with local labor regulations, it will put your business at risk and in crisis.

Furthermore, you must manage all payroll employee accounts internally. When it comes to payroll transfers, it’s never just about paying the employees. Employers must strictly abide by local tax regulations to avoid severe penalties from the local authorities.

Finally, you must understand the local labour laws of each country. Where each country has different labour laws and risks that need to be paid attention to carefully avoid breaking any law otherwise you might put your business at risk if your company doesn’t comply with the local laws.

Also Read: 3 tips for tech startups to navigate their business expansion into Tokyo

All in all, the number of resources needed to operate the overseas hiring process can be very resourceful, not very cost-efficient, time-consuming, and complicated. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. If a business entity is considering starting an overseas subsidiary.

These are a few references for evaluation:

Business scale

If you are not sure about the market stability of the country but would like to test the water, it is recommended to use an Employer of Record (EOR). It allows employers to expand their cross-border team in a cost-efficient manner before investing a huge sum of resources to start a foreign entity.

If the company has gradually expanded to a certain size and when a foreign entity has been fully established, Slasify can assist in transferring employees from the Employer of Record (EOR) to the internal company payroll to ease the transition process.

Competitive market

When entering a foreign market, as a business entity or employer, you might find your competitors to be in the same market as you. Therefore, it is likely to become a war for talent.

When you need to get talents onboard with your company as quickly as possible, Employer of Record (EOR) is the perfect solution to help you get up and running quickly while continuing to plan for your future brick-and-mortar company.

This process can be implemented at the same time while your foreign entity is being set up. This strategy can help you acquire fast and ensure the retention of golden talents. Build a better workforce plan, and think outside the box when it comes to recruiting!

One-to-many market layout

If you have not yet decided on a certain target market (e.g. you are planning to enter the European market yet haven’t clearly decided on which countries yet), using an Employer of Record (EOR) is a good strategy because it will allow you to explore as many possibilities as possible in a more cost-efficient manner, while saving you the hassle of setting up branches in various countries.

Also Read: Is the Southeast Asian market ripe for foreign startups?

Business entities can also utilise this method to thoroughly plan and strategise on establishing multinational foreign entities as this will allow them to assess the market. With Employer of Record (EOR), business owners don’t need to waste internal resources on taking care of human resources management (HRM) matters.

Conclusion: From zero to hero

There is no absolute right or wrong in setting up a foreign entity or using the service of an employer of record (EOR). Either alternatives are suitable to fast-track your business growth. However, it is important to assess the suitability of each option depending on the company’s current operation, scale, and resources.

Employer of Record (EOR) applies to companies of all sizes (with a certain degree of acceptance for the company to be open for remote/hybrid employees).

If you are a start-up team that wants to make a first attempt or a multinational company that already has several foreign entities looking to expand into a more global market, it will take a lot of time for business development and operation management.

In the process of setting up an independent foreign entity, time, resources, and opportunity to start hiring could have gone wasted. It is recommended to choose reliable, experienced, and compliant EOR services to become your best business partner to expand your horizons!

If you want to accelerate your business expansion, Slasify provides employer of record (EOR) services, integrating large and small matters of multinational employment on a single platform, which will best assist your business and cross-border team expansion.

If you are considering expanding your team overseas in the long run, it is more beneficial to establish a foreign entity. With Slasify, our goal is to create a new pattern of barrier-free global labour relations. The expansion of multinational talents and teams is no longer the prerogative of multinational companies. We provide SMEs and start-ups to expand business overseas and the opportunity to enter foreign markets.

–

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

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post What business owners should know before setting up foreign entities appeared first on e27.

There are several reasons why Southeast Asia could potentially be the next hotbed for Decentralised Finance (DeFi). In an opinion piece published by Forkast, Michael Conn, CEO, Chairman & Co-Chief Investment Director at Zilliqa Capital, the region’s relatively high level of unbanked population, combined with its “burgeoning” rate of digital literacy, provides plenty of opportunities for DeFi platforms to seize.

“DeFi’s model of peer-to-peer engagement and inventiveness has created a significant opportunity for the making of real-world solutions to the challenges that exist of giving people a proverbial ‘seat at the table’,” he writes.

“The possibilities for financial inclusion alongside the accretive upside that these types of businesses generate mean that throughout the ASEAN and Indian region entrepreneurs, technologists, investors and innovators are working side-by-side to create open markets that can truly help everybody.”

In recent years, we have begun to see several DeFi platforms making waves in SEA through their innovation, funding announcement, and groundbreaking insight into the future of finance. In this listicle, we compiled a list of such platforms –but we believe that these companies would not be the last.

In fact, we expect to regularly update this list as we dig deeper into the Web3 space in the region. But let us start with these 13 companies:

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Alpha Venture DAO

Formerly known as Alpha Finance Lab, Alpha Venture DAO’s mission is to become an innovation lab that pushes ground-breaking products that maximise returns for cryptocurrency holders.

In October 2020, it announced a partnership with SCB 10X, the venture arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank. The partnership is aimed at bridging the gap between traditional banking and emerging financial technology with a new suite of DeFi products under the umbrella of Alpha.

Ape Board

Earlier in May, Coindesk wrote about on-chain data platform Nansen acquiring decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio tracker Ape Board for an “eight-figure” sum –putting it upward of US$10 million.

Ape Board lists over 375 protocols across 33 blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Solana and Polygon.

Avalanche

According to a Daily Hodl report, crypto analyst Cred said that two Ethereum challengers –Solana and Avalanche– could move hard and fast during the next bounce in digital asset markets.

“These coins do well on bounces because participants are conditioned to buy names they know and like when they’re ‘cheap’ at a time when there’s no new altcoin narrative to ride …,” the analyst wrote in the Technical Roundup newsletter. “Even more colloquially, if you’re going to gamble on Bitcoin and Ethereum direction, might as well punt some Solana and Avalanche as they’ll likely rip harder if you’re right (and also nuke you harder if you’re wrong).”

BHO Network

Formerly known as Bholdus, the BHO Network is built on BHO Chain (BHC-20), a foundational and critical component of the BHO Network in enabling the development of a complete ecosystem based on blockchain technology.

In a statement, the Singapore-based company describes its mission as to enable innovations not only from new projects with breakthrough ideas in this space, but also to support any company that sees blockchain as a solution to achieve intensive margin from current operations.

It also aims to bring that support to all verticals including supply chain, media and entertainment, identity and credentials, healthcare, trade finance, financial services, government, digital assets, and retail.

Also Read: To infinity and beyond: Why 2022 will be the year of Web3

Cake DeFi

Cake DeFi described itself as a platform that aims to provide access to decentralised financial services and applications by enabling users to generate returns from their crypto and digital assets. It offers three options to generate cash flow and passive income: Lending, Staking and Liquidity Mining.

In March, the company announced the launch of Cake DeFi Ventures with US$100 million in earmarked capital.

Coin98

In January 2022, Binance Labs announced a strategic investment in Coin98 that will enable the platform to contribute to building DeFi infrastructure on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

As a platform that builds a full suite of DeFi products, Coin98 introduces itself as Multi-Chain & NFT Super App. It allows users to swap, stake, borrow, lend, invest and earn crypto in one platform, and is constantly developing its DeFi ecosystem.

According to a blog post by Binance, Coin98 aims to build an NFT Marketplace, token launch platform, AMM on Binance Smart Chain, and make DeFi on BSC accessible to everyone.

DeZy

Launched in 2021, DeZy enables users to convert their cash into dollar-denominated stable coins, which are deposited across a range of DeFi protocols. It was started by four co-founders Eric Dadoun (CEO), Harald Lang (CTO ), Sharmini Ravindran (CMO ), and Simon Landsheer (strategic advisor). The company aims to empower people to “achieve meaningful savings, income growth and wealth accumulation” by simplifying decentralised finance.

In February, it attracted a US$2.2 million Pre-Series A funding round led by Leo Capital with participation from Iterative Capital.

MM.Finance

MM.Finance has the largest ecosystem on Cronos with its DEX, Yield Optimizer, NFT, Algo Stablecoin, and DTF.

Earlier in May, according to a CoinDesk report, the platform suffered a front-end exploit that allowed hackers to siphon out more than US$2 million in CRO tokens from users. To handle the situation, MM.Finance issued a statement that the losses will be compensated and reimbursed.

Sipher

In an interview with e27, Sipher explained how they are able to win high-profile VCs’ hearts even before its blockchain games hit the market.

“We were determined that our games should be what they are actually meant to be — fun. So, we came up with a business plan and presented it to several regional investors. We were lucky that they all shared the same opinion and even recommended us to big investors in the west. The rest is history,” recounts founder Tin Nguyen.

Also Read: You’re not really diversifying your investments by buying altcoins

Sky Mavis

Known as the company behind the popular game Axie Infinity, Vietnam-based Sky Mavis recently announced a US$150 million funding round led by Binance with participation from Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, Paradigm, and Accel Partners.

Things have not always been so smooth for Sky Mavis. In March, its Ronin validator nodes were compromised, resulting in 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC drained from the Ronin bridge. The funding round that they announced in April –combined with their own balance sheet funds– was meant to reimburse all the users affected by the hack.

Summoners Arena

Summoners Arena, which was founded in Vietnam in May 2021, is a role-playing game (RPG) that aims to redefine user experience in the blockchain gaming space. In an interview with e27, founder Hung Tran explains that it integrates traditional and blockchain gaming elements to provide a multi-layered experience for players to participate in immersive gameplay and experience true ownership over gaming assets while earning digital assets.

To date, Summoners Arena has raised US$4.25M from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Onechain Technology, and GuildFi, among others.

Treehouse

Treehouse aims to transform on-chain data into meaningful metrics to help decentralized finance (DeFi) investors make informed financial decisions. In March, the company secured a US$18 million seed funding round.

Led by an undisclosed large fintech investor, the funding round included the participation of notable names such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Binance, MassMutual Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Jump Capital, GSR, Wintermute, Do Kwon of Terraform Labs, and senior executives from SoftBank Vision Fund.

The company managed to secure this funding round just 11 months since its founding.

3moji

In a recent interview with e27, 3moji explained how its upgradable and composable NFT avatar system will transform how NFTs are used in games and across the metaverse.

“3moji is all about expression. This DApp (decentralised application) — a P2P app that operates autonomously on the blockchain — allows Web3 users to customise their avatars over time and purchase and combine different NFT accessories,” explains founder Shivek Khurana. “In a nutshell, we bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 cultures, and profile pictures are just the tip of the iceberg.”

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: sidelnikov

The post Meet the DeFi platforms that have made waves in Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

Investment in deep tech startups has increased by 165 per cent from 2020 to 2022.

But while deep tech startups are enjoying increasing attention from investors, there are still some challenges both for the startups and the investors to address. For example, startups in the deep tech space are generally seen as riskier due to longer gestational periods and higher R&D investment.  

From the perspective of the startups themselves, deep tech startups are also particular about the investors they engage with — and for a reason.

“With the market flush with liquidity, the biggest challenge is finding the right investors with aligned vision, who can understand the industry and more importantly visualise how the technology transforms the industry,” said Alan Lai, founder and CEO of Singapore-based AI-powered food fingerprint platform Profile Print. “We met many financial investors who may not fully comprehend the technology and have little experience in the B2B space.”

Walter H. Gunzburg, founder and CTO of biotech startup Austrianova, echoes this sentiment. “We are a platform technology company with a business to business (b2b) commercial model. This appears to fall outside of the remit of many investors, many of whom still like the classical biotech company model of taking one or more lead products and then burning cash during the R&D, pre-clinical and clinical phases, in the hope that one product will make it to the market.”

Also read: Behind the scenes of oVice: a leading remote work solution

Keith Tan, CEO of robotics company Crown Digital, shared “our biggest challenge was most VCs in this region don’t invest in hardware startups. As a full-stack startup, we design and build the hardware and software, as well as develop a successful business model — challenging tasks for a bootstrap startup during our initial days. We had to get all this done with minimal resources.”

In addition, the development stage for deep tech startups is different from other sectors not just in the length of time but also in the process. This means that deep tech startups need to find other creative ways to get the resources they need.

“[We have moved] to a model in which we generate revenue from day one by working with multiple partners on multiple projects. Our partners pay for our work, as well as the big-ticket items such as clinical trials,” added Gunzburg.

What deep tech startups need, Lai says, is support beyond the money. “[Deep] tech startups cannot afford to bring in investors who are not able to add value beyond pure capital.”

Leave a Nest: funding, expertise, and network

With the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”, Leave a Nest aims to support startups that aim to use cutting-edge technology to solve the world’s problems. One way in which is providing funding for startups, particularly in the deep tech space.

Having been founded by and made up of researchers, Leave a Nest adopts a long-term perspective when it comes to supporting startups and developing technologies. This is reflected in how they engage with the startups that they fund, by first understanding the deep technology behind it and taking time to know the founders. 

“What we value working with Leave a Nest is…more importantly the ability to understand our business and provide useful guidance to help us grow,” said Lai.

“The startup ecosystem in Japan is still at its nascent stage and often, Japanese corporates may not fully understand the roles and responsibilities from the corporate’s standpoint when it comes to startup investing. This is where the Leave a Nest team really brings value in supporting and communicating with both parties to find the best solution,” shared Tan.

He further explained, “this requires strong networking, matchmaking capabilities, and staying close to the startup — hearing their challenges and providing solutions. Leave a Nest with its wide network of investors and partners has been really beneficial to Crown’s entry into the Japanese market and the way they have provided support to Crown has been like a family.”

Also read: 5G tech? All eyes on Taiwan

How Leave a Nest supports startups is through a multi-pronged approach. In terms of funding, Leave a Nest — with the help of two investment vehicles — offers check sizes ranging from 1 to 3 million USD (Real Tech Holdings) depending on the startup stage. Leave a Nest envisions having a deep tech investment support system that does not only support at an early seed stage (Through Glocalink Singapore and Leave a Nest Capital), but also nurtures them so that Real Tech Holdings can do follow on investments at a later stage.

Apart from funding is the equally important support they gain from Leave a Nest itself and its network of researchers, innovators, investors, and corporates — aspects that Austrianova found valuable and suited to their needs.

“They were (and are) professional, efficient and friendly. It is always a real pleasure to meet with them and discuss ideas, take part in the events they organise,” said Gunzburg. “They also have provided us with advice, particularly on the Japanese market and have even introduced us to two leading Japanese companies as partners/clients. As a result of their efficiency, the whole investment process was quite fast and extremely well organised.”

Leave a Nest investment vehicles

Leave a Nest funds startups through two investment vehicles: Glocalink Singapore (GLSG) and Real Tech Holdings (RTH).

Glocalink Singapore is an investment company comprised of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., Euglena Co., Ltd., FTV Labs, and Kobashi Holdings Co., Ltd. that aims to provide seed funding for startups focused on agriculture and food technologies.

Led by a group of seasoned serial entrepreneurs with backgrounds in biotech, agricultural machinery, education, and food and technology, Glocalink Singapore offers early-stage startups much-needed funding as well as additional support via their network of corporations, technologists, and investors.

Their portfolio includes startups with a wide range of solutions like increasing agriculture productivity, decreasing food waste, and developing robotics in food production. 

Real Tech Holdings is a VC fund established jointly by Leave a Nest and biotech company, Euglena, with the aim of providing support for deep tech startups that offer solutions for life science, aerospace, robotics, agriculture, medical devices, marine technology, electronics, energy and new materials.

Also read: Three leading B2B digital disruptors win 2021 Fast Forward with HPE

Because Real Tech Holdings focuses on startups that aim to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, they also work in close cooperation with governments, corporates, and municipalities to be able to accelerate and maximise the implementation of these solutions.

Their portfolio includes startups with solutions such as the development of medical devices, food culture, and drone solutions for infrastructure inspections.

Through Glocalink Singapore and Real Tech Holdings, Leave a Nest is able to offer early-stage deep tech startups both funding and support from development to implementation.

For more information, you can visit the site.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest

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

The post Deep tech startups gain multi-pronged support from Leave a Nest appeared first on e27.

In the past few years, the fintech industry has seen exponential growth. The rise of mobile banking, digital payment methods, and the continuing shift toward e-commerce have all contributed to this rise.

Fintech is a broad category that includes various financial services software applications built around the internet and mobile devices.  These services are often referred to as “digital banking” or “financial services software.”

The future of the fintech industry is unpredictable. It’s changing rapidly, and we can’t even begin to imagine the implications of where this is heading. Let’s take a look at the latest trends in the fintech industry.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a technology that was used initially to support cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Today, this technology has grown far beyond cryptocurrencies and is being applied to many different fields in the fintech industry.

Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions and other information securely, verifiable, and permanently. Blockchain has great potential for financial inclusion.

For example, blockchain can allow people who don’t have enough money to open an account at a bank to borrow through mobile devices or online. It also offers greater transparency than traditional banking systems and can help prevent fraud.

Blockchain isn’t going away anytime soon either. It’s expected to grow exponentially as more organisations adopt this technology.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and Machine Learning are the driving force behind fintech innovation today. The ability to automate processes is an important part of this technology and is often viewed as a way to eliminate human error, improve productivity, and increase efficiency. This AI allows companies to automate various aspects of their business.

Also Read: How this homegrown fintech is helping Singaporeans with alternate investing

For example, AI is used in the banking industry to automatically identify trends in spending that may indicate fraud or even identity theft. This can be done by analysing trends in spending patterns over time, looking at specific locations where certain types of transactions occur, or even checking for unusual patterns in credit card transactions. 

Another use for AI is predicting future customer behaviour based on past information. Fintech businesses are building predictive models that help them see how likely a customer will churn or switch providers based on what they’ve observed from social media and other online sources.

The model can then be used to suggest personalised offers and sales campaigns that might entice the customer to stay with your company for a longer time.

The rise of Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the future of fintech. This software helps organisations speed up their business processes by replacing human labour with advanced computer programmes that can complete tasks faster than humans. These software applications are built around the internet and mobile devices and have become increasingly popular in recent years.

The rise of RPA has had a significant impact on the way businesses do business. It’s helping them reduce costs and increase efficiency, staying competitive in the global marketplace without compromising quality or customer service.

RPA is a big win for businesses, but it could also be a big win for fintech, which has seen its share of both chaos and growth over the past few years.

Peer-to-peer finance

Peer-to-peer finance is a type of digital banking that helps people borrow and lend money to other individuals or organisations.

For example, Venmo allows you to transfer money to friends easier than ever before. This method of transferring money has gained popularity because it’s easy and convenient, and it’s integrated directly into the social media platform.

However, this payment method is not limited to just social media outlets. Peer-to-peer finance can also be found on other platforms like eBay or Etsy.

Platforms for fintech startups

One of the most recent trends in the fintech industry is the rise of new platforms for startups. With these platforms, companies can have their products and services easily accessible to users. Platforms like Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Windows Store make it easy for entrepreneurs to reach a global audience.

Also Read: How the global growth of fintech defies age and gender

57 per cent of app developers are on-board with this trend and plan on developing their product or service on a platform different from their previous one.  Additionally, major fintech companies like Amazon and Google are also getting into the game. Both Amazon and Google now offer software development kits (SDK) that allow developers to build apps around their respective ecosystems more conveniently.

This is just another example of how platforms are helping startups expand their horizons by providing access to audiences they didn’t have before.

Summing up

The future of the fintech industry is bright. The possibilities are endless in this rapidly changing industry.

From new advances in technology to increasing global demand, the future looks promising for companies within the fintech space. It seems like everyone these days is talking about fintech, so why not launch your own company?

Many opportunities are available, and it’s never too early to start planning. Take a look at our infographic that summarises some of the latest financial services software industry trends and our thoughts on what’s coming next!

–

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

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post The future of fintech: The latest trends in the industry appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures today announced a US$600 million close of their Fund IV with US$450 million in the main fund and US$150 million in additional managed commitments, bringing its total Assets Under Management (AUM) to over US$1 billion.

In a press statement, the firm said that the fund was an oversubscribed one with an initial target of US$350 million. This update followed the firs close of the fund that it announced in September 2021.

It included over 50 per cent of commitments from existing investors such as Temasek, IFC, FMO, and DEGto. New investors such as Mizuho Bank and StepStoneGroup also participated in the fund.

With Fund IV, Jungle Ventures said that it aims to strengthen this position while continuing on its ‘concentrated portfolio’ building approach, by making a projected 15-18 key investments across India and Southeast Asia.

Out of this fund, it has made investments in companies such as Vietnam-based digital bank Timo, Singapore-based enterprise solution Sleek, India-based D2C consumer electronics brand Atomberg, Vietnam-based healthcare and insurance platform Medici, Indonesia-based social commerce enablement platform Desty, social-crypto-community platform for women Eveworld, social commerce platform Mio, and SaaS platform inFeedo.

Also Read: David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures: Why we will see an IPO from SEA in the next 12-18 months

e27 has reached out to Jungle Ventures to understand more details about their plan with the fund.

Founded in 2012 by Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava, Jungle Ventures was launched with a US$10 million debut fund and has since grown its AUM 100 times in 10 years.

With a focus on Southeast Asia and India, the firm implements a strategy that allows it to “pick category winners predictably and consistently”.

Its portfolio included Kredivo, Livspace and Moglix –all three of which were seed to unicorn investments by the firm. Apart from these companies, it has also invested in various categories including vertical e-commerce (Pomelo Fashion, Sociolla, Reddoorz), social commerce (Citymall, Evermos, Mio), fintech/insurtech (LeapFinance, Vayana, Turtlemint), B2B enablement (Kiotviet, Deskera, Waresix), electric vehicles (Datbike), SaaS (Builder.ai, BetterPlace) and brand aggregators/D2C brands (Believe, Hypefast).

Jungle Ventures has recently promoted Yash Sankrityayan, Sandeep Uberoi, and Manpreet Ratia as Managing Partners of the firm to join the firm’s leadership team of David Gowdey and the Founding Partners Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Jungle Ventures

The post Jungle Ventures makes US$600M close for fourth fund, targets up to 18 key investments appeared first on e27.

You may be familiar with Torrent Systems, a software that allows anyone to download and share their files with a decentralised network free of cost. Torrent works on an honour system; if you download a file, you are expected to share the file with others in the network.

However, many users don’t follow this honour system as they don’t see any economic benefits for doing so, so it defeats Torrents’s very purpose.

The advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain-powered decentralisation has changed this scenario. Now, decentralisation comes with a lot of economic and other benefits for participants.

In the crypto industry, the area that deals with the economic benefits for participants in a decentralised network is called cryptoeconomics. This discipline seeks to solve user coordination problems through economic incentives and game theory.

A crucial element in decentralised networks

In a nutshell, cryptoeconomics is a discipline that studies the protocols that govern the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a decentralised digital economy. It combines cryptography with economics, allowing for the coordination of the behaviour of network participants. Cryptoeconomics is crucial while building decentralised networks as it eliminates the need for a trusted third party to align participants’ incentives.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency, money laundering and KYC: Why are regulations important?

Traditionally, decentralised networks rely on cryptography to verify data transactions and provide economic incentives to encourage participants to behave in a certain way. It is achieved through a process called mining, where the miners who successfully validate a block of transactions receive bitcoins in rewards. This approach encourages miners to act honestly, making the network more secure and reliable.

Crypto mining, however, involves solving a complex mathematical problem based on a cryptographic hash algorithm.

What are hashes?

Hashes tie together blocks, creating a timestamped record of approved transactions. They are also used in the computational puzzles that miners compete to solve.

One of the consensus rules governing crypto transactions is that a Bitcoin can only be spent if a valid digital signature is generated from a private key. Bitcoin’s security model is also built around penalties and barriers to entry. These rules were introduced to prevent malicious actors from potentially taking control of the majority hashing power, a process known as a “51% attack“.

Nevertheless, gaining control of the hashing power is not easy and is prohibitively expensive; it costs nearly US$2 billion in hardware and electricity to do so.

These requirements and rules make Bitcoin immensely popular and successful even ten years after its invention by Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto foresaw people’s future thought processes and made assumptions about how they would react to specific incentives.

Nakamoto also made the cryptographic protocol rigid to make it easier to reward miners. There exists a symbiotic relationship between miners and the Bitcoin network. Without miners, there would be no confidence in the blockchain records. This relationship gives us confidence about Bitcoin’s future.

Cryptoeconomic Circle theory

In cryptoeconomic, a theory emerged recently to show how value flows through different participants in a crypto network. This theory, known as cryptoeconomic circle, was published by Joel Monegro, Partner at Placeholder Capital.

The cryptoeconomic circle (see the diagram) represents the three network participants — miners (supply), users (demand), and investors (capital). Each group exchanges the flow of value via a scarce cryptoeconomic resource called tokens.

The relationship between miners and users is relatively straightforward — miners are compensated for their work via tokens used by the users. Creating a network based on a mining setup makes sense as long as the costs of a decentralised system are outweighed by the benefits of having a distributed supply side (low cost of production, higher reliability, etc.).

As per this theory, the third participant — investors — has two vital roles: funding the cost of developing new technology, and 2) supporting the network by supplying financial capital to miners.

Monegro further divides investors into two: traders (short-term investors) and holders (long-term investors). While traders create liquidity for the token so that miners could cover operational costs, holders capitalise on the network for growth by supporting token prices.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency is a notoriously volatile field. Is it possible to generate a stable income?

Traders are a direct form of value transfer. On the other hand, miners sell earned tokens in the open market to cover their costs and reinvest profits. Holders is an indirect transfer of value in miners’ balance sheets rather than their income statements.

The cryptoeconomic circle focuses on understanding how networks operate and exchange or capture value.

Conclusion

As discussed above, cryptoeconomics as a discipline is crucial in decentralisation, especially in times of blockchain rage. It has broad implications, from supporting the first major cryptocurrency to forming the foundation of the next stage of digital currencies.

By educating ourselves on previous cryptoeconomic successes and pitfalls and staying up to date on the latest cryptoeconomic research, we can glimpse what the next major crypto networks may look like. However, we still have a long way to go to achieve ‘cryptoeconomic literacy’.

—

Copyright: slonme

The post What is cryptoeconomics and why is it a crucial element in decentralised networks? appeared first on e27.