Eazy Digital, a Thai startup providing digital platforms for insurance companies, has raised US$850,000 in an oversubscribed seed funding round.

Wavemaker Partners led the round, with participation from Seedstars International Ventures, Wing Vasiksiri, and Sasin Bangkok Venture Club.

The insurtech firm plans to use the funding for development, marketing efforts, and building its team.

Eazy Digital was founded by Harprem Doowa and Maethavee Sukul.

Doowa is the co-founder and former CEO of Frank Insurance, an online digital broker in Thailand. Frank was funded by Nova Founders and Pacific Century Group before being acquired by Bolttech. Previously, Doowa co-founded the e-commerce startup Moxy/Orami (funded by Eduardo Saverin, Sini Mars, Ardent Capital, Gobi Partners, and Velos Partners).

Also Read: The power of insurtech: Reshaping the insurance industry in 2022

Sukul previously led operations at Frank, Bolttech Insurance Broker, and Benix.

Eazy Digital helps insurance companies manage their agents, operations, user referrals, and engagement. It provides a SaaS solution to small and medium-sized insurance companies that lack the resources to digitise their processes and distribution.

“The insurance industry is still in its infancy in digitisation. Current startups focus on the digital distribution of products via partnerships (embedded insurance), direct-to-consumers, and agency platforms. However, insurance companies have been left unattended and have to often find their solutions to the digitisation of processes and distribution,” Doowa said.

Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia are home to many insurance companies. In the current landscape, however, larger players in the industry enjoy major advantages due to their funding sources or parent entities’ support for digitisation projects. At the same time, smaller-to-medium insurers may not have those resources at their disposal, putting them at risk of being left behind. Eazy Digital is working to close this gap.

“Our primary goal is to provide a platform that helps insurance companies, large and small, to digitise and streamline their operations,” Sukul said.

Eazy Digital has also seen use cases of their referral and engagement platform become applicable to industries outside of insurance, such as financial industries, education, property, and more.

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It’s always something new. Yesterday, it was cryptocurrency. Today, blockchain. Tomorrow, NFTs. Wait, no, NFTs was yesterday, we’re floating bits of pixels in the metaverse now. 

The list of ‘emerging technologies’ grows ever longer, ever quicker. In the last five to ten years, we’re constantly told that we live in a time of ‘unprecedented growth’, of ‘revolutionary change’ — a ruthless treadmill whose speed only increases. From gamification to design thinking, AI to cybersecurity, there’s always some new skill to hone, some bleeding-edge technology to harness, and some avant-garde mindset to adopt.

No wonder we are burnt out. It’s not just the teetering work-life integration, the overbearing managers, and the solitude that arises from working remotely — it’s the information overload that both employers and employees are expected to learn and learn quickly. While the tech industry is hit particularly hard, everyone in an office is in a similar place. As the saying goes, today, every company is a tech company. 

Researchers call this information overload: “the difficulty in evaluating and selecting relevant information increases as more and more diverse sources and content is available.” The study found that younger people with less information-seeking self-efficacy were more susceptible to experiencing information overload. 

Creating a robust mental laboratory 

As you grow older, learning also becomes more difficult—research has shown that neural connections, which receive, process and transmit information, can weaken with disuse or age. This makes tasks like learning, multitasking, or remembering difficult. 

This is why it’s important to develop an experimental mindset. To have an experimental mindset is to accept risk and the unknown, it’s creating habits that are biased towards exploring what is possible, not simply an endless grind of rote learning that is based on the traditional sense of what is impossible. 

After all, to experiment simply means to try—to come up with a hypothesis and test it. For instance, if every article claims that blockchain technologies will liberate, democratise and bring riches to the masses—then experiment with it. Whether it’s actively investing in cryptocurrency, going into in-depth research, or learning about it through a course. 

Also Read: Are you ready to put on a Founder’s hat?

It’s important to remember that it isn’t about experimenting with whatever is deemed important at the moment—it could be AI, crypto, or NFTs. What’s important—and will help with burnout—is creating the mindset to learn.

By looking at everything through the lens of experimentation, learning about different technologies ceases to become a chore or an overwhelming tide threatening to drown you. It becomes another method to explore, a different tool to use, allowing new opportunities to emerge and critical unknowns to become known. 

It’s important to explore what it means to have an experimental mindset in the digital age by exploring new tools, ways of doing, thinking and working. The focus here is developing key habits and mindsets that will set you up to be comfortable with experimentation. To create a mind laboratory and see yourself as the zany scientist tinkering with the various tools of your trade, concocting the imaginative chemical reaction through experiment, experiment, experiment. 

One should know the value of their experimentation to be able to identify actions and behaviours that help or hinder experimentation; apply prototyping, testing and feedback as a way to learn and iterate solutions further; involve stakeholders and team members in experiments; select and apply effective tools and techniques that support experimentation. 

There is an art to experimentation, and learning it will open up many ways of learning other things. It’s like learning how to walk: with the ability to walk, one can learn how to dance, jump rope, and ride a bicycle. 

Not a sponge, but a sieve 

When there is an infinite amount of knowledge to take in, be a sieve, not a sponge. A sieve takes everything you put in it but filters out the unnecessary stuff. Take time to set up your mental laboratory, configure it to your liking, move the furniture around and optimise it to your interests and skill sets. 

Be experimental within the limitations you set for yourself in order not to get overwhelmed, and remember that learning can simply be trying by experimenting.

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Indonesia’s leading agritech platform EdenFarm has raised US$13.5 million in a pre-series B round of financing led by Telkomsel’s investment arm TMI Ventures.

AppWorks, AC Ventures, and Capria Ventures, among others, also joined.

EdenFarm will use the proceeds to expand across the country, imrove the customer experience, and scale technology.

With this round, the total capital raised by the agritech firm has reached US$34.5 million.

Also Read: Eden Farm closes US$19M Series A to supply food ingredients to HORECA, wet markets, e-commerce firms

Founded in 2017 by David Setyadi Gunawan, Ramavito Mountaino, and Febrianto Gamal, EdenFarm is a B2B food service platform providing fresh produce from farmers to restaurants, caterers, street vendors, and startup partners in Indonesia.

It collects, selects and redistributes fresh produce purchased from farmers, reducing the inefficiencies of other intermediaries to offer lower prices, better margins, consistent quality and efficient last-mile delivery to customers.

With three fulfilment centres and ten collection facilities across Java, the firm claims to have over 5,500 farmer partners and 50,000 B2B customers. According to Founder and CEO David Setyadi Gunawan, EdenFarm has seen almost 60X growth in the last 40 months. It aims to widen the profit in the next 12 months, along with 3.5-4X growth on a YoY basis.

In November 2021, EdenFarm announced closing a US$19 million Series A round of financing co-led by AppWorks and AC Ventures. Trihill Capital, OCBC Ventures, Investible, Corin Capital, and existing investor Global Founders Capital also joined the round.

Also Read: A comprehensive guide to Indonesia’s agritech ecosystem

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesia is home to 33.4 million farmers, with the agriculture sector contributing 14 per cent of Indonesia’s GDP.

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In Indonesia, many individuals believe they are fully protected from cyber-attacks simply because they have installed free antivirus software. I try to prove it by looking closely at Google Trends data.

Over the past year, searches for “antivirus” have consistently outpaced searches for “cybersecurity.” On average, there are 1,650 searches per month for the term “antivirus,” while the term “cybersecurity” only receives an average of 150 searches per month. 

This shows that many individuals in Indonesia may not be fully aware of the limitations of traditional antivirus software and the various forms of cyber protection available to them.

Here’s the thing: relying solely on antivirus software can leave you vulnerable to other types of cyber threats. It’s a bit like trying to protect a castle with just one guard at the gate. You need a whole team of guards, each with their own specialities, to ensure the castle stays safe and secure.

This data also highlights the importance of educating and raising awareness about cybersecurity in Indonesia. It’s crucial for individuals to understand that relying solely on antivirus software leaves them vulnerable to other types of cyber threats.

Knowledge is truly power when it comes to protecting ourselves from cyber threats. And to empower you, I’ll share some valuable insights, so you won’t just rely on antivirus to protect your data.

The potential consequences of antivirus reliance

As technology continues to advance, it’s alarming to see that many in Indonesia still rely solely on antivirus software for cyber protection. This not only leaves individuals, companies, and the government vulnerable to a wide range of cyber threats, but it also puts sensitive data and valuable assets at risk. The potential consequences are numerous, and it’s crucial that immediate action is taken to address this issue and ensure proper cyber protection. Here are a few examples:

• For individuals, relying solely on antivirus software can create a false sense of security, leaving them exposed to the newest types of cyber threats. This can result in financial loss, identity theft, and damage to personal reputation. 
• For companies, a lack of comprehensive cybersecurity measures can lead to data breaches, loss of sensitive information, and damage to reputation. 
• For the government, insufficient cybersecurity can result in breaches of sensitive data, disruption of critical infrastructure, and damage to national security. 
• Furthermore, relying on antivirus alone can lead to a lack of preparedness for cyberattacks, a lack of incident response plan and significant costs for cleanup, recovery, and restoration, as well as potential legal and regulatory fines.

Also Read: Safeguarding digital assets through cybersecurity innovations

Note: Antivirus software is a necessary component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, but it is not sufficient on its own. A multi-layered approach to cybersecurity is necessary to protect against the full range of cyber threats.

Cyberattacks that bypass antivirus

Are you still under the impression that simple antivirus software can keep you safe from all cyber threats after reading the first topic? Well, let me burst that bubble for you by highlighting some types of attacks that cannot be thwarted by antivirus alone.

• Phishing attacks: These are emails or messages that appear to be from a legitimate source but are actually from an attacker. They often contain a link or attachment that, when clicked, will install malware on the victim’s computer. Antivirus software may not be able to detect this type of malware because it is new or has not yet been added to the software’s database.
• Advanced persistent threats (APTs): These are targeted attacks that are designed to gain access to a specific organisation or individual’s computer systems. They often use sophisticated techniques to evade detection by antivirus software.
• Ransomware: This type of malware encrypts the victim’s files and demands a ransom payment in order to restore access to the files. Antivirus software may not be able to detect ransomware because it does not necessarily contain a virus.
• Social Engineering attacks: These attacks use psychological manipulation to trick victims into giving away sensitive information or performing actions that will compromise their security. Social engineering attacks can bypass antivirus software because they do not rely on the installation of malware.

Cyberattacks cases in Indonesia

If you’re still convinced that antivirus is the ultimate solution to all cyber threats, it’s time to think again. Below, I share some news about cyberattacks in Indonesia that cannot be defended solely by using antivirus software.

Also Read: Why firms need a multi-layered approach to cybersecurity

• Conti Ransomware attacks Bank Indonesia at the beginning of 2022. This attack resulted in a leak of Bank Indonesia data, which amounted to 74 GB. The number of Bank Indonesia’s devices that were hacked was around 237 units.
• Two thousand bank customers become victims of social engineering attacks every month. Social engineering is a cybercriminal tactic that influences the minds of customers by making emotional conditions, and this method is easier than hacking the systems.
• More than five thousand phishing attacks in Indonesia in the second quarter of 2022. The number of phishing attacks increased by around 41.52 per cent from the previous quarter. It is noted that the spread of phishing is mostly targeting financial institutions. The percentage reached 41 per cent. 

The importance of a multi-layered security approach

Now that you understand that relying solely on antivirus is not enough, you may be wondering what steps to take next. Worry not, for I am here to share with you a multi-layered approach to security that will better protect you from such attacks.

• Email filters: these tools scan incoming emails for malicious content, including phishing attempts. They can block emails that contain suspicious links or attachments.
• Web filters: these tools can block access to known phishing websites and can also block malicious links in web pages, emails, and instant messaging.
• Endpoint protection: These tools, such as endpoint security software, provide real-time monitoring and protection of all devices connected to a network. This includes protection against malware, intrusion detection, and vulnerability management.
• Network security: This includes firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS), and other tools that help to protect the network infrastructure. These tools can detect and block malicious traffic, such as APTs, at the network level.
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): These tools collect, analyse and correlate log data from various sources and provide a centralised view of the security posture of an organisation. This can help detect and respond to APTs and other advanced attacks.
• Incident response plan: This is a documented process for identifying, containing, and eradicating an APT or social engineering attack. It also includes plans for recovery and lessons learned.
• Security awareness training: this can teach employees how to recognise and avoid phishing attempts.

In conclusion, Indonesia’s reliance on antivirus software alone is a cybersecurity blind spot. While antivirus is important, it’s not enough, and you need a multi-layered security approach to fight against evolving cyber threats and reduce the risk of a successful attack. This includes technical solutions, user education, incident response planning, and an understanding of the cyber threat landscape.

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China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have long enjoyed close economic ties. According to a Global Times report of last August, the two-way investment between the world’s second-largest economy and the ASEAN was US$340 billion as of July-end 2022.

The warm relationships reflect in the venture capital sector as well. Several Chinese tech behemoths and VCs, such as Alibaba, Ant Financial, JD.com, Tencent, and Matrix Partners, have already invested billions of dollars in Southeast Asia’s leading tech companies.

Also Read: ‘The era of easy money is over’: VCs speak of funding winter and exit landscape in Southeast Asia

As per a new report, some top-tier VCs, such as Shunwei Capital, Source Code Capital, and Vision Plus Capital, also plan to expand their regional presence. They look to invest in fast-growing startups in SEA, which has 46 unicorns, says a DealStreetAsia report, citing sources.

The Chinese VCs are turning their focus to the ASEAN because of a slowing economy back on the home turf for many reasons, including a surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths and strict lockdowns. This has led to massive protests across cities. It has made an enormous impact on China’s economic growth, prompting investors to look for other markets, including Southeast Asia.

The question is: Is China stepping up its investment activities in the region during the Funding Winter, and how vital is the role of Chinese VCs in SEA?

“China could be a potential wild card for SEA in 2023,” says Dave Ng. “During the past two years-plus, China had been pretty much inward-looking when it came to tech activities and leadership. We witnessed the changes and realignment across the Chinese tech titans, aside from other industrial sectors.”

“We are now starting to see signs of readiness for China to once again step up in their global tech activities. I believe that once they fully move past the remnants of COVID-19 sometime this year, it will be a restart of China-SEA cross-border tech flows,” remarks the Altara Ventures General Partner.

Andy Hwang, General Partner, Wavemaker, agrees. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen global investors redirecting from China to Southeast Asia. More recently, we are also observing more Chinese investors pouring money into Southeast Asia VCs and Chinese family offices set up in Singapore. Given the geopolitical environment, we expect both trends to accelerate.”

Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder and Partner at Alpha JWC Ventures, also believes China could be a potential wild card for SEA startup funding in 2023. China is the world’s second-largest economy and largest single-country donor to the ASEAN. It has also become a major player in the global startup landscape. “We have seen how significant investments have been made in some of the biggest startup companies in Southeast Asia, such as Grab, Gojek, and Traveloka,” Hwang adds.

Increasingly, China has been playing a much more active role in the region, with its investments enabling companies to scale quickly and tap into the large Chinese market to deepen growth and footprints. “Hence, China’s matured economy and willingness to invest in the region could make it a major player in SEA startup funding in 2023,” Joe observes.

Also Read: Why global investors are eyeing China’s EV landscape (Part 1)

However, Monk’s Hill Ventures’s Founding Partner Peng T. Ong doesn’t expect Chinese VCs to make a significant impact on the region’s startup scene. This is because most of the investments in Southeast Asia come from the region itself, and China is probably in the second or third spot. “There won’t be any significant rise in activity [in terms of VC investments]. Our investors are basically from our region. So China is unlikely to play a significant role here,” Ong adds.

Tin Men Capita’s Murli Ravi also subscribes to Ong’s views. “It is unclear to me how China’s reopening and other major strategic events within the country will play out in the coming months. If pushed, I would wager that Chinese businesses would focus their attention on their domestic market.”

Until several years ago, Chinese VCs bet big on India market. However, their activities in India dropped following a boarder dispute between the two countries. ASEAN countries can look to harness this opportunity but the question is: will they?.

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2022 was a turbulent year for most of the world, and the  VC/startup ecosystem was no exception. Global political and economic turmoil shook investor confidence and sparked a pullback from the record levels of startup investment that we saw in 2021. In the third quarter of 2022, startup venture funding fell by 50 per cent year-on-year, triggering dire warnings about funding winters and predictions of an impending recession in 2023.

Despite the investing slowdown, VC firms in the ASEAN region broke new records by raising US$3.03 billion across 23 funds in the first half of the year. Key sectors such as e-commerce, logistics, transportation and agritech continue to attract investment dollars – with Alibaba’s US$1.3 billion total investment in Lazada being particularly noteworthy. Impact startups, especially climate tech companies, are also beginning to see investor interest.

As we head into 2023, there are lessons we can learn from 2022 – which, despite everything, was still the second-highest investment year in history – and hopefully use these learnings to navigate through projected headwinds for the start-up investment ecosystem in the year ahead.

Kickstart’s 2022 snapshot

We have been accelerating our pace of deployment over the past three years. Between the three funds we manage, we closed seven new deals and seven follow-on investments worth a total of over US$23 million. We successfully structured complex investments to optimise risk and reward in turnaround situations and deepened our bench of investment professionals.

Also Read: A year in review: How e27 served the tech ecosystem in 2022

• Under the ACTIVE Fund, we closed five new deals and five follow-on investments. Highlights include: Co-leading the Series A+ round for Clarity, which uses innovative hardware and software solutions to monitor air quality affordably and at scale.
• Leading the Series A round for Mosaic Solutions, a full-suite restaurant management system for the burgeoning Philippine F&B industry.
• Leading the Series A of Eezee, a Singapore-based B2B marketplace, which offers a view into the future of industrial procurement.
• Leading the Series A for SariSuki, the leading community commerce startup in the Philippines.
• We also participated in the Seed round of Esevel, a workforce provisioning startup serving the IT needs of fast-growing companies across Southeast Asia.

For Kickstart Fund One, our evergreen fund focused on early-stage startups in the Philippines and beyond, we closed two new deals:

• Pickup Coffee, a fast-growing, digitally-enabled coffee chain serving high-quality beverages at affordable prices.
• Closer, a centralised chat app for all direct messages.

New investments aside, we made sure to support existing portfolio companies in navigating the ongoing global turbulence. We made follow-on investments into seven companies across our portfolio and provided strategic advice and commercial intros to several others.

These activities align with the ACTIVE Fund’s Investment Theses and the Ayala Sustainability Blueprint, which serve as our guide for investing in the future we hope to build for the Philippines.

What Kickstart is watching for 2023

We believe that online-to-offline (O2O) commerce, mobility solutions, solutions to food insecurity, and solutions that address resource insecurity and climate change will see rapid growth in 2023.

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is expected to hit 20 per cent growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) this year despite headwinds and may reach the US$200 billion milestone a full three years earlier than predicted.

We also expect that the shopping habits acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic will persist. With such a long growth runway and a growing digital-first population, O2O models are showing promise in converting new and existing online channel visitors into offline sales.

Developing countries continue to struggle with mobility issues, especially with the growing urban sprawl outpacing the expansion of public transportation networks. The myriad inefficiencies in public mobility are costing countries billions of dollars annually and reducing citizen quality of life. Solutions such as electric vehicles (EVs) are still in their infancy in this region, but there is an opportunity for VCs to participate in driving tech-enabled solutions.

In a similar vein, food insecurity is also a glaring problem that requires immediate attention, especially in the Philippines. Nearly 12 per cent of the Philippine population suffers from involuntary hunger, but the Philippines is a net importer of basic food products, and retail food prices are double – if not triple – farmgate prices. This makes food inaccessible to many Filipinos. We are looking to emerging technologies such as AgriTech, alternative proteins, and supply chain/logistics tech to plug the gap.

Last but certainly not least, climate change has regularly been cited as a key driver of disaster events, and emerging economies such as in Southeast Asia are particularly vulnerable. The Philippines alone sees about 20 typhoons per year, each claiming hundreds of lives and causing millions of dollars in damage.

Also Read: Meet the VC: Philippines’s Kickstart Ventures on becoming the country’s gatekeeper for startup ecosystem scale-up

While this is a complex and multifaceted issue to solve, we are buoyant on climate tech, including CleanTech, renewable energy and battery storage solutions. We are also determined to continue championing the decarbonisation agenda via the ACTIVE Fund’s investments.

Kickstart’s 2023 plans

We have a comfortable amount of dry powder to deploy through the ACTIVE Fund. Although the outlook for 2023 remains publicly bearish, we recognise the opportunity this affords to make good deals, with valuations likely to be more favourable due to cautious investor sentiment.

Given the promising growth projections for the SEA region, our focus for 2023 is likely to continue to be in SEA. We are looking at a number of companies that have displayed good fundamentals and are currently at attractive valuations – we believe that if these companies can weather this storm, they will emerge in very strong positions once the markets recover.

Now that we have an expanded investment team and borders have reopened region-wide, it is much easier to connect with founders and investors, experience new innovations first-hand, and seize the best opportunities to invest in promising start-ups – particularly in our sectors of interest. As such, we intend to increase our investment pace for 2023.

Advice and projections for 2023

In the short term, we expect late-stage funding to continue to decline as global macroeconomic conditions are currently not favourable for initial public offerings (IPOs). In fact, many startups have already postponed their IPO plans this year.

Overall, we do anticipate conditions to improve and trend upwards again next year as the global situation stabilises, but we do not expect it to be a quick bounce back.

As such, Kickstart’s suggestions to founders who are bracing for 2023 are to focus on what you do best and protect the progress you have already made. With many companies now tight on funds and headcount, especially with the recent slew of tech layoffs, companies must prioritise strategically to conserve resources.

Core projects that can deliver quicker, tangible wins should be given priority over more speculative or experimental projects. Similarly, growing an existing customer base will incur less cost than trying to acquire new customers and will also yield healthier margins. The idea is to build a sufficiently long runway, raise morale and confidence, and be resilient enough to outlast the winter and wait for spring to come.

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With over 46 reports regarding corporate failures, frauds, and misconduct in accounting practices for businesses in Singapore. It is essential for businesses to take affirmative measures to acquire solid accounting systems and well-structured internal controls, which are critical to their stakeholders.

As the new year approaches, many Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are looking for ways to improve their performance and drive success for their organisations. But predictions point to another challenging year, and given what will likely be an unstable financial year ahead, it is key for CFOs to set early goals for both themselves and those they work with. 

Here are four new year’s resolutions for CFOs that can help drive a solid financial outcome to an already turbulent 2022.

Sound accounting policies

Given the upheaval in the tech sector in 2022, the Finance function will play an increasingly prominent role. Growing sustainably and smart cash management are key themes for 2023, and it all starts with sound accounting practices. 

More than ever, high-growth tech firms need to realise the importance of investing in financial leadership and finance teams at an early stage. It is significant to devote even greater efforts to staff development, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation. 

This is part of the Finance Transformation journey that Max Tay, Head of Finance, embarked on when he joined Geniebook.  It is also critical for his team to develop the mindset that they need to be a strategic business partner to the other functions. 

Also Read: Report: Singapore businesses remain open to implement embedded finance, Web3 in 2023

It is important for businesses to have financial tools for sound company-level decision-making this year that could determine whether a technology firm’s services through the current ‘winter’. Some of them include cash burn analysis on a granular level, ROI analysis on existing and potential projects, accurate budgeting and forecasting, regular real-time reporting, and cost controls.

Embrace changes

We live in a technological age where businesses are constantly evolving, making it imperative for us to be adaptable and ever-ready to move away from traditional mindsets. We should not be contented or get too comfortable – automation is now key to success, and Chin Wai Hong, Head of Finance at Spenmo, is pleased that they are driving his finance team to achieve that. Through automating financial processes, she hopes that the finance team will be able to invest even more time in business partnering.

But despite the need to grow, adapt and scale quickly, there has been constant pressure for businesses to manage costs better. In 2023, specifically for the finance function, Aylwin Chia, Global Controller Of Velocity Global, hopes that we can strike a good balance between investing in people (both current and new hires) and technology (both enhancements/developments and new fintech solutions). 

Under current market conditions, he believes businesses should keep teams lean and versatile. More broadly, the team is to continuously challenge themselves to diverge from traditional finance activities by embracing technology such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or Machines Learning (ML) tools to streamline, automate and digitalise our processes. That way, they keep costs relatively low, eliminate human errors and set a strong foundation to scale in years to come with efficient financial processes while maintaining high-quality financial data.

In a nutshell, Shivani, the Financial Controller Of Blackpanda, puts it nicely. It is about making use of the best technology available to evolve our finance processes in 2023 and drive strong Data-based business insights.

Strategically mitigate rising costs

“Plan for the worst, hope for the best”, said Josephine Tan, Head of Finance of Azendian. In this case, it is important for finance teams to be averse to change or innovation instead of holding traditional values – financial prudence is the new trend.

With a gloomy global economic outlook in 2023, elevated core inflation and the implementation of the first of a two-step increase in GST in Singapore, one thing is certain – it will only get costlier to run a business. 

This year, Emelia Long, Financial Controller of Circular and Vincent Yeo, Head of Finance at Hydra-X, resolved to manage and mitigate rising costs strategically. It is essential for businesses to stretch the runway and reduce cash burn, especially in an increasingly cautious funding environment. Be it a bullish or bearish market, finance teams can help future-proof businesses by keeping a close eye on their financials. 

Also Read: Embedded finance can help legacy banks grow loan book, go to market quickly: FinBox CEO

The team will have to continually ensure financial data integrity and orderliness of data across databases, increasing the finance team’s agility to react and make efficient decisions. It is essential for decision-makers to set their resolutions in 2023 to seek opportunities to increase their agility.

Desire to be stronger business partners

Danny Lim, Financial Controller of ThoughtfullWorld, hopes for finance functions to constantly be close to the business. He posts that it is important to talk to business people frequently so that finance teams have a clear view and direction of the business. Businesses need to understand that finance teams aren’t just a cost centre but also serve as revenue drivers that drive decision-making by combining both financial and non-financial information, forming the core North Star metrics that organisations look for.

Karl Mead (Finance Lead, StaffAny) and David Cheng (CFO, FastCo) shared similar views. Their resolutions are to be more customer focus and foster a growth mindset within the company. The key is to add value throughout the organisation rather than just compiling reports.

Looking ahead into 2023

With that said, 2022 taught us that while things may look rosy and great at the current moment, the overall environment can change rapidly, and finance teams need to ensure that their businesses are constantly on their front foot to adapt quickly to market conditions.

Cost efficiency and revenue growth are at the front of businesses’ minds for the upcoming year, and while we acknowledge that the VC space is currently looking bleak, we believe businesses are still aiming to raise the bar to put themselves in good stead for the following years, allowing the finance teams to focus on business expansion and growth strategies.

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

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The “chilling” funding winter has already wreaked havoc across the startup world. With no hopes left to raise the much-needed capital to survive the onslaught of the winter, many companies winded down, and many have reduced their workforce. There are no hints that the winter will recede in the foreseeable future, as the factors that led to this situation still persist.

How long will this recession and funding winter last?

In this interview, Dusan Stojanovic, Founding Partner and Director at Singapore-based VC firm True Global Ventures, discusses the funding winter, its impact, exit opportunities, and how it plays out in Southeast Asia.

Excerpts:

How long do you think this tumultuous period will last?

Dusan Stojanovic: We believe the funding winter will last in the US till Q4 2023. However, we will see recovery earlier in regions such as the Middle East (Dubai) and Southeast Asia (Singapore) and later in most European countries, which are still very much affected by inflationary pressures caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Also Read: Next blockchain unicorn will be from gaming: Dusan Stojanovic of True Global Ventures

The funding winter is mainly driven by the non-profitable public tech market in 2022, with some companies’ valuations falling 90 per cent. We saw similar patterns in the private market during Q3 and Q4 2022.

There is always a delay between the public and private markets based on trading data on our portfolio company Forge Global (a global marketplace for private transactions). This fall is mainly driven by high inflation reflected in high-interest rates, which results in the dip of especially non-profitable public tech stock when doing discounted cash flow valuations.

On the positive front, we expect inflation to decrease to around 5 per cent as interest rates continue to drop and potentially even loosen monetary policy by Q4 2023. The last increase of interest rates in the US was 0.5 per cent and is expected to be a 0.25 per cent forecast in February 2023). This is a very US-centric view, but it is still where we have a majority of tech companies.

We also see considerable differences in inflation rates and macroenvironment and growth globally. The inflation rate is 17.6 per cent in Poland, where there is a lot of engineering talent. In Germany, it is 8.6 per cent; in Singapore, 6.7 per cent; and in Hong Kong, 1.8 per cent. This also reflects where the funding will be.

Generally speaking, we believe that the US funding will recover in Q4 2023. However, today, the funds are in the Middle East and many parts of Southeast Asia (due to strong capital inflow from mainland China).

When the funding winter stops depends on which geography we are talking about. We recommend founders take into consideration these geographical differences. For instance, the Middle East (Dubai), SEA (Singapore) and certain extent, Japan and South Korea as exceptions.

One reason for optimism in the UAE is because of the forecast GDP growth of 5.4 per cent, which is broken down into oil GDP growth of 8 per cent and non-oil GDP growth at 4.3 per cent compared to forecast global GDP growth in 2023 of 2.7 per cent (IMF, Q4 2022).

What does this mean for VCs in general and SEA VCs in particular?

Dusan Stojanovic: If VCs want to fundraise in general, the likelihood of getting LP traction is higher in SEA (Singapore), the Middle East (Dubai) and, to a certain extent, in the US. On the other hand, VCs should completely avoid European LPs from a fundraising point of view.

VCs should also let all their portfolio companies know they should have a runway for at least two years, which is the same answer as before when we started to see a downturn in Q2 2022. The two-year runway depends on geography, as mentioned above. The market can be more favourable in some geographies.

Also Read: True Global Ventures’s Web3-focused follow-on fund TGV4 Plus hits US$146M first close

You can get LPs to invest in you as VCs if you can prove that you can invest in cash-flow-positive companies. Many high-growth tech companies can turn around to be cash flow-positive with slightly lower growth in 12 months if they keep the same staffing/halt recruiting. Such companies can get funding from LPs in around 12 months.

How does the exit landscape look in SEA during the slowdown?

Dusan Stojanovic: We think most exit opportunities would be linked to consolidation, especially in tech, as opposed to IPOs for the first six months, as many companies may choose to delay IPO to focus on value creation while awaiting more favourable valuations.

Meanwhile, M&As will probably be the major form of exit for smaller companies as larger companies with strong balance sheets will continue to acquire for growth at decent valuations.

However, as the economic conditions improve in H2 this year, companies may take advantage of favourable market conditions and strong investor interest in new offerings to go public.

The number of IPOs in Singapore and globally will decrease significantly compared to 2022. However, the island nation’s economy has been recovering relatively well and the market is no longer in free fall.

It’s possible that the memories of past crashes during market uncertainty will continue to make companies and investors cautious in the short term. It may lead to a decrease in the number of IPOs or a decrease in the overall performance of IPOs in Singapore in 2023.

Also Read: ‘The era of easy money is over’: VCs speak of funding winter and exit landscape in Southeast Asia

That being said, a robust tech stock exchange ecosystem is still missing in the region and, surprisingly, still in Singapore.

However, with the influx of capital from Hong Kong and mainland China, it could be an opportunity for the regional stock exchanges, particularly the Singapore stock exchange, to create a strong ecosystem for tech IPO.

We still think that the largest tech companies will still choose to IPO on Nasdaq in the US, especially those with Indonesia as a major target market, which still has the potential to create new unicorns in SEA.

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A lot of innovation happens within a span of a year and, in some cases, decades of innovation. In this case, we are talking about the incredible shifts AI tools have brought upon us in the way we work, market, and interact in the last year. It’s a challenge if you don’t adapt and an opportunity if you know how to quickly learn and apply it to your business.

We wanted to make it easier for organisations to navigate the ever-changing forces of marketing and consumer behaviour to get the most out of their ROI on every dollar spent.

To do this, we tapped into our very own think tank of the best brains in the industry from Wizly’s global community of marketing and product leaders to prepare the Marketing Predictions report for this year – where uncertainty and recession hang over us. 

We want you to be prepared, understand the why behind the latest trends in the industry, and give you access to our cerebral crystal ball of leaders who have worked with the likes of Google, Twitter, Canva, Wati, EY, Dentsu and are currently helping the next generation of growth companies move in the right direction.

Here are some top finds.

The force of AI

The biggest trend has been to find alternatives to data-driven strategies with the threat of a cookie-less world. The threat isn’t going away, and marketers will not only have to educate their stakeholders even more, but they will also have to foster more creativity to connect with customers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the way businesses operate and how marketing activities are being carried out. In 2023, AI is expected to have a major impact on the future of work and marketing. 

AI can be used to automate mundane tasks, analyse customer data, generate content ideas, and optimise campaigns for better results. We have already read, discussed, and also tried our hands on ChatGPT – the new craze. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with letting AI allow marketers to identify new trends quickly and respond faster to changes in the market. But experts warn of flaws that could result. 

Also Read: From paper to pixels: Juwai IQI’s transition to a digital workflow

“While we’re also experimenting with it, I think using ChatGPT for content needs guardrails, or we’re just going to have thousands of content pieces online – none of which ever really solves a problem. Use it as an enabler to simplify research and find frameworks but do not make it a means of going back to the times of ‘let’s just publish more content’ – that’s not how you win,” says Vanhishikha Bhargava, a B2B SasS Marketing Specialist.

The era of product-led community marketing

Product-led communities are a business already; they’re created as organisations with a purpose and culture. These communities also happen to be one of the most effective forms of marketing and help businesses achieve their goals. Therefore, product-led community managers approach community building with strategies to build this synergy.

In 2023, businesses will have to build a product-led community that advocates for their brand and interacts with other community members.

Companies need to sustain deep, focused relationships with their target group of customers now more than ever. The future of work is collaborative and online communities are building blocks for it. 

Wizly is one such organisation that helps companies solve crucial problems by enabling them to find, connect and engage with an invite-only global community of leading independent professionals on a unified platform. Wizly truly embodies the future of work using a product-led community approach to give companies access to hire, learn and work with a global pool of high-skilled talent for business growth.

TikTok enters B2B in full force, and marketers should double down

Once you understand who your audience is, where they are, and what they think and do when they are on the platform, use Tiktok to find a connection with your audience and create value using a short-form video. B2B companies like Shopify and Grammarly have been using Tiktok to their advantage to make their brands known and define themselves.

“Throughout the pandemic, TikTok managed to attract a larger audience and is not only used for the younger generation anymore. It is an effective marketing tool to sell your products or services through short videos,” says Marina Masisca, an independent marketing consultant.

The urgency for product-led strategy

Companies need to build winning product experiences using product-led growth (PLG). If you are able to make your product do the talking and become the primary driver of its own growth, you’ve won half the battle. 

Also Read: 3 of the strangest uses of artificial intelligence that could make sense in the future

Address the product and its need by using the three key elements of a product-led strategy for a successful PLG strategy. If you are not actively considering how to minimise friction at each customer interaction, maximise product adoption by making it easier for users to adopt, and drive customer loyalty and advocacy through your product, it is time to be highly concerned about your product-led competitors.

“Asian businesses, including B2B businesses, will need to explore additional customer acquisition and customer nurture models to thrive as customer expectations of value and immediacy grow.  David Isaac, Corporate Venture Building, Casuality.

Focus on hi-touch point customer experiences

Customers will most likely be facing tight budgets, so keeping them satisfied and loyal will be critical. Carrying out your customer’s best experience while using the product plays a significant factor in your success. To do this, start with a clear mission and think seriously about the experience you want to create. 

“Instead of focusing on growth or market share, companies will need to focus on experience and loyalty. Customers will be more aware of their spending and have high expectations from companies.” Alicia Crowther, Three Digital Consulting.

Consumer-centric content marketing

Brands must provide high-value information, answer consumer questions, and guide them toward making the best purchase decision. It helps brands move beyond transactional messaging and tell a story.

On the other hand, finding the right ebook, social sharing platform, success stories, or influencers helps brands engage and bond with their target consumers by relating to their real lives- that approach will be more successful if branded content is more organic and authentic.

The full report, Marketing Predictions 2023, dives into how organisations can effectively market in the coming decade of product-led communities using AI, strong brand narratives, and consumer-centric messaging to yield the best ROI for every marketing dollar spent. You can download it here. 

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The content was first published by Global Class.

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