A measly 5.6 per cent of fintech CEOs are women. Two-thirds of local businesses are locked out of the financing they need to digitise. Among the ASEAN countries, Malaysians are the most anxious about finances.

These are the statistics that the digital economy will never share with you.

Beneath the fast-paced whirlwind of the digitalisation movement, there is much to be done to close the gap between these underserved segments and financial technology — despite the fact that these are the groups that need financing the most.

As long as this gap remains unabridged, fintech will continue to limit its own growth and worse: fall short of transforming the financial industry in the many ways that it is uniquely positioned to do.

My work at Incite Foodtech Group (IFG), which revolves around diversification and equitable access, is built off the very belief that technology’s true potential lies in elevating underserved segments. By virtue of data and ecosystems, fintech is poised to open up new and unique opportunities that traditional financing may not conventionally provide.

But how do we ensure we are meeting the correct needs?

By critically analysing live transactional/retail data from key business verticals and using them as guiding benchmarks to create avenues of access to financial services.

Enabling the underserved to thrive

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 97 per cent of all businesses in Southeast Asia, which makes it all the more alarming that such a large proportion of them are unable to access financing as and when they need it most.

Due to their smaller operational scale and a common lack of credit history, SME owners are often deprioritised when it comes to obtaining loans. Not only does this make it difficult for them to start building positive credit history, but it also forces them to fall back on physical cash — which comes with its fair share of limitations, namely security risks and reducing the feasibility of paying off large amounts at one go.

Also Read: Empowering women at work: Pre-hiring stage is the key

Fintech players have a crucial role to play in accommodating SMEs’ pressing financing needs: identifying, fractionalising, and downsizing certain key financial services, such as small business loans or micro-investment products. That way, these once ‘big league’ avenues can be made more accessible to those who lack access to conventional banking services.

More than that, this is a game-changer for the way small businesses approach and are evaluated for short-term financing like loans. Rather than relying on big-picture statistics like credit scores, SMEs will now instead be able to make use of data like their daily transaction history or app usage — data that is capable of scaling to match the business size and is a far more accurate assessment of a small business’ financial standing.

As fintech continues to find innovative ways to facilitate growth for small enterprises and improve individual financial well-being across the board, the level of complexity surrounding this technology has also increased dramatically in recent years. It’s understandable that decision-makers may find it difficult to keep up with the torrent of new information every day; this makes it all the more important that we take great care not to leave businesses behind in our drive forward.

Education and transparency are key parts of this effort. In providing critical insights that guide SMEs to better understand the industry, their increased level of awareness and knowledge will translate into greater adoption of fintech as a modern tool — not to mention spearheading better accessibility. Ultimately, this largely removes the burden of knowledge off payment decision-makers and makes it less onerous for them to manage overall.

Creating a comprehensive, unified retail tech ecosystem can go a long way towards driving the potential of underserved segments through embedded financial technology.

At IFG, we have identified four divisions of key business verticals: the consumer sector (F&B, grocers and convenience stores, pharmacies, electronics); retail marketing solutions (user activation, redemption programmes, merchant partnerships); retail tech solutions (point-of-sale, data analytics, customer relationship management); and fintech services (digital lending, equity crowdfunding, venture capital).

Also Read: Women as focus of impact investment: Does it bring more harm than good?

As the ecosystem is well-integrated into essential services and key operational retail elements, it is self-sustaining, scalable, and resilient — ensuring that, even in times of crisis or instability, it continues to safely champion financial accessibility for the underserved.

Women stepping up in fintech

In positioning themselves as diverse and inclusive spaces, fintech and retail tech must also reflect the diversity it claims to represent. As a woman navigating this industry myself, I feel firsthand the importance of increasing the visibility and representation of female leaders in the world of tech.

With women at the helm of more departments, companies, and initiatives in tech, this opens up a world of opportunities for these women to then inspire and lead other women in turn. Beyond creating a positive cycle of empowerment in the industry, this will spark affirmative conversations and action about women stepping up to drive fintech forward.

Accelerator programmes that take into consideration the nuances of tech for women, such as She Loves Tech Malaysia, are also a gateway to normalising women as catalysts for greater change. As a community challenging the status quo in an industry as dynamic as technology, we bring with us a wealth of diverse perspectives that can translate into more creative, more sustainable growth.

Gender equality in tech is not just about having more women in the trade; it’s also about finding constructive ways for men to support women in the fintech space. That’s why it’s high time that businesses and financiers stop viewing the world through a gendered lens and rather embrace the inclusivity and innovation at the very heart of fintech itself.

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Hello Pro member,

Is failure a failure?

We know it is not because we always have one or more lessons to gain from our failures, which will come in handy when building another venture. Plus, failures help you avoid mistakes in the future.

With high expectations, Warren Leow in 2017 launched Amazing Fables, which published personalised content to inspire young kids via rich storytelling, vibrant visuals, positive values, and exciting facts. He sold around 10,000 books, and orders poured from many countries. But three years later, he had to wind it up. High customer acquisition costs, low lifetime value and lower-than-expected gross profit margins led to Amazing Fables’s untimely death.

“It was breakeven on sales but needed a positive cashflow ROI on the first purchase to keep the engine chugging along for a bootstrapped company,” he said.

Along the Amazing Fables journey, he learnt many lessons.

In our first article from the failure series, he talks about the venture, the experience, and the lessons learnt.

Besides this, today’s ER edition also carries news items about eFishery’s unicorn club entry, B Capital’s closing of a new healthcare fund, Una Brands’s US$30M fundraising, Betterhalf’s Series A round, among other features, authored articles, and Top100 updates.

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Indonesia’s eFishery said to earn unicon tag in new funding round
The aquatech startup is said to be in advanced stages of finalising US$150M new round, likely to be anchored by Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Berhard.

Despite slowdown, SG continues to dominate equity funding in SEA
Singapore accounts for 56.3% of the deal volume, followed by Indonesia (22.4%); Early-stage funding in the island nation maintains its upward trajectory at 568 deals in 2022.

Changpeng Zhao says Binance and FTX ‘are different’
The tweets were in response to an editorial published by Forbes that draws parallels between the recent moves of the two crypto exchange firms.

B Capital closes inaugural US$500M healthcare fund
B Capital Healthcare Fund I targets firms from digital health to biotech that are building breakthrough products and solutions; The current B Capital global healthcare portfolio includes over 20 companies in the US, Asia and Europe.

SoftBank gets US$115M from sale of 3.8% stake in India’s Delhivery
The Japanese VC firm continues to be the largest shareholder in the logistics company, holding around a 13.5% stake; SoftBank has invested in a slew of unicorns such as Flipkart, Oyo, Lenskart, Unacademy, and Swiggy.

SG’s Blockchain Founders Fund closes US$75M fund
Fund II received support from key industry investors such as Polygon, Ripple, Octava, and AppWorks; BFF invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups that use Web3 and blockchain tech to create new solutions.

E-commerce aggregator Una Brands rakes in US$30M
The lead investor is Northstar Group; Una Brands’s flagship brands, ErgoTune and EverDesk, are now in multiple countries across the APAC region and beyond.

DigiFT, a DEX by ex-Deputy China CEO of Citibank, bags US$10.5M funding
The investors include Shanda Group, HashKey Capital, Hash Global, Xin Enterprise, and North Beta Capital; DigiFT will use the new funds to support license applications in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

CrediLinq in advanced stages of making a strategic acquisition in Indonesia
The firm also actively seeks acquisition opportunities in Singapore; Founder Deep Singh said if traditional banks fail to embrace the embedded finance wave, it can become an existential threat to them.

AI-powered match-making platform Betterhalf nets US$8.5M Series A
The investors include Finsight Ventures, co-founders of Instagram and Dropbox, and Rebel Fund; Betterhalf claims it has recorded a 17% m-o-m growth, recording US$2.5M annualised revenue and has 1M+ monthly active users.

SEA fintech firm Fazz raises US$5.3M new funding from MUFG
The overall round could be larger; In September, Fazz raised US$100M in Series C comprising US$75M in equity from various investors and US$25M in debt facility from Lenable.

ILex gets US$4.5M to tackle inefficiencies in corporate lending
Hong Kong-based VC firm QBN Capital led the round; ILex’s loan distribution platform aims to offer banks, asset managers, and debt advisors operational efficiencies in primary syndication and secondary trading processes.

Philippine store management firm Enstack nets US$3M in Series A round
The investors include Mangrove Capital, Xendit, and Shinsegae International CEO William Kim; Enstack provides SMEs with an end-to-end app to manage multiple storefronts, inventory, payment and shipping solutions.

Malaysia streaming platform for Muslim children raises US$2.8M
The investors include Y Combinator, Gobi Partners, and former employees of Meta, Google, and IQIYI; The firm says it has also recorded over 22,000 subscribers.

Tech jobs return to SEA, open opportunities for tech talents in non-tech industries
As encouraged by the pandemic, digitalisation has pushed non-tech companies to seek qualified tech talents to support their transformation.

SGX-listed Thakral pours US$750K into SG analytics firm Climate Alpha
Climate Alpha uses machine learning to generate forecasts for land and property value for every year up to 2040 under multiple climate scenarios.

East Ventures, Temasek Foundation launch US$650K climate tech competition
The Climate Impact Innovations Challenge provides a platform for Indonesian startups and entrepreneurs to showcase their sustainable solutions to tackle ecological issues and mitigate the effects of climate change.

The first 10 frontrunners closer to competing in the 2023 TOP100
From our diverse pool of applicants, get to know the first group of startups that are close to competing at this year’s competition.

Brand new days: How startups can approach growth in a post-pandemic world
In the pre-pandemic world, growth is often identical with speed; Startups often stay in a cycle of raising funding to expand to new markets before they are hit with the reality of sustaining a business.

Warren Leow talks about Amazing Fables shutdown
Amazing Fables published personalised content to inspire young kids via rich storytelling, vibrant visuals, positive values, and exciting facts; It sold 10K units before the business shut down in 2021.

KittyKat does affordable brand photoshoots for small online businesses
The Singapore startup works affordably with brands and SMEs to create photos, videos, and GIFs; It has already worked with nearly 100 SMEs, brands, and MNCs across the US, Australia, and Asia.

Navigating a recession: How founders can protect revenue as funding dries up
The challenging part about recessions is that they are out of our control, and the best way to navigate them is to manage our own businesses effectively.

Empowering women at work: Pre-hiring stage is the key
The greatest push for gender equality at work starts from the very beginning of the funnel: even before the hiring stage.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

The post Ecosystem Roundup: SG tops SEA’s equity funding amid slowdown, eFishery said to earn unicorn tag, SG blockchain investor closes US$75M fund appeared first on e27.

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As the dreary funding winter continues to soar, at e27, we are kickstarting a new article series Line of Hire to understand an organisation’s culture and hiring philosophies to empower tech workers with the right growth tools and enable business owners to attract talent.

Stephanie Ping is Co-Founder and CEO of WORQ, a hyper-localised community workspace bringing new opportunities to businesses and entrepreneurs by fostering meaningful connections for its members and the surrounding community.

Ping graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics and MS in Management Science and Engineering. Her experience with Stanford’s entrepreneurship community significantly shaped her vision for WORQ’s entrepreneurial community.

Ping is the recipient of the Malaysian Venture Capital Association’s Outstanding Female Entrepreneur of 2019. 

Ping discusses her company’s culture and hiring philosophies in this candid interview.

What personality traits/qualities do you look for in potential employees?

We look for passion and grit. We love teammates who are community-minded and are driven to foster connections.

How do they fit into your company culture? Tell us a little more about your company culture.

WORQ is a collaborative community, and we operate on a flat structure that drives high mobility in a fast-growing organisation to embrace the community mindset. At the same time, we strive to have quick feedback turnaround and execution across departments and reporting lines.

At WORQ, our community, which comprises MNCs, freelancers, startups and SMEs from different backgrounds and ethnicities, is at the heart of what we do. Our mission is to create a world where people prosper by working together.

Also Read: Keep learning and building relationships during funding winter: Richard Yan of Airwallex

The design of our co-working space has been carefully thought out to foster collaboration and creativity while providing flexibility in working arrangements, from the layout of the hot desking areas to the private rooms, common areas, pantry and even meeting rooms.

How do you foster transparency and encourage achievement in the workplace?

It is crucial to have a robust work environment with the effectiveness to scale, accountability to progress and adaptability to change to foster a team.

Whether it’s people, process or technology related, identifying and bestowing the necessary resources, policies and tools for our teams is essential to encouraging achievement. Other than planning and setting goals to provide that clarity that our teams need, we encourage everyone to share learnings, celebrate successes and even reflect on failures, which is a crucial process for growth as an absolute unit.

To achieve that, we must allow everyone to share their voices through an open platform (through employee engagements or an open communication channel that provides access to information and ease of communication and feedback).

More importantly, we also found that involving our employees in decision-making creates that creative space and instils the confidence they need to grow.

Do you have a mental health policy? 

We provide safe and open channels for our employees to reach out to us whenever they encounter any challenges. Our co-working spaces are designed with quiet areas and even sleeping pods for the community to recharge and get much-needed peace of mind throughout the day.

WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

Hybrid, hybrid, hybrid.

At WORQ, we believe in the hybrid work model that provides flexible working arrangements and work-life balance. All our outlets are strategically located near public transportation, with high connectivity to major highways and easily accessible to multiple service providers and various food choices.

We understand the need for working parents to be closer to home. We support working mothers by providing mother-friendly facilities (mother’s room) for nursing mothers, a shower room and napping pods.

How should a tech worker prepare for the funding winter?

Profitable scalability. Profitability isn’t the opposite of growth. In fact, it is synonymous with scaling.

Every new site we open makes us more money to grow, and that’s how tech companies should think. Things catch up, and if one isn’t disciplined to withstand the pressure not to be unsustainable, then it is tough to be successful.

Also Read: Innovation, teamwork, open communication are valued in our culture: Farida Charania of Empauwer

Every winter, there is an opportunity. As WORQ was working on sustainability through COVID-19, it emerged as a stronger player. Winters are when the wheat separates from the shaft. Tech companies should prepare well in advance and anticipate winter to use these opportunities to surge ahead, which was WORQ’s strategy.

How do you measure the performance of your employees?

We must ensure that our company goals always reflect our vision to be the best co-working space, which is then translated into key results and action plans across divisions to be measured routinely. We run our appraisal exercise quarterly to provide an active platform where both appraisers and appraisees can tackle challenges, celebrate achievements and grow effectively as a team.

At WORQ, our core values are deeply rooted and embedded in our working culture to promote accountability, customer and entrepreneurial mindset. On a day-to-day basis, we encourage collaborative behaviour among team members where they can send their colleagues Qarma Points for any support received, which will be showcased and translated into rewards.

Will you consider a moderately skilled person with great honesty or a highly skilled person with less honesty when hiring?

Yes. Skill is secondary, and we will 100 per cent hire someone who doesn’t have the right skills yet, as long as they have the right attitude.

We do not require a college degree. We can work with anyone as long as they can demonstrate a willingness to learn, curiosity, honesty and integrity! Skills can be acquired, and we are here to help our amazing team acquire them.

Do you encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ in your organisation?

Yes absolutely. We work in a community work style and practice design thinking in how we operate. We encourage our employees to think out of the box to resolve challenges and lead change to improve the current workflow. We have an ‘innovation box’ where employees can submit their ideas anonymously too. At WORQ, every idea is worth exploring.

How do you support upskilling for your employees?

We have crafted a Career Progression Plan (CPP) for all roles to allow all team members to align fairly and have ownership over their career goals, competencies, and timeline. CPP showcases the vertical career ladder each employee can progress into and allows our team to explore various portfolios based on their interests and capabilities.

At WORQ, we are also committed to building practical training and development programs to continuously enhance our team members’ knowledge, skills, leadership and standards. From technical topics like system functional training to soft skill topics like customer relationship management and leadership training, we aim to gradually build up over 15 syllabi of topics under our Centre of Excellence programme.

We provide monthly learning recommendations to our team to promote self-learning from our readily available and easy-to-access platforms, such as Masterclass, SoftBank Operator School and TedTalk.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post There is an opportunity in every winter: Stephanie Ping of WorQ appeared first on e27.

The UN WOMEN announced the theme for International Women’s Day 2023 in December last year. For us in the tech startup ecosystem, it was something that is near and dear to our heart: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

“The United Nations Observance of IWD recognises and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. IWD 2023 will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities. The event will also spotlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence,” the organisation announced in a statement.

This theme calls for the inclusion of women and other marginalised groups into the digital world. It highlights that their lack of inclusion has shaved US$1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade, according to the UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report. This loss is expected to grow to US$1.5 trillion by 2025 without action.

The problem–and the possibility for us to take part in providing the solutions–sounds like an exciting challenge to tackle. But before we go out to try to solve the problem, perhaps we should aim to sit down and reflect: Are we alright?

Because we can never solve a problem when we are still part of that problem itself.

Also Read: Uplifting the underserved and women in fintech: Retail technology on the frontier of equality

Women in the startup ecosystem today

The state of gender equality in the tech startup ecosystem has always been a hot topic. For years, we have touched upon different angles from the lack of women in leadership position, access to funding for women-led companies, to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Today, in 2023, we certainly would like to ask ourselves: How far have we come? What challenges have we managed to tackle? What challenges remain?

There are many ways to answer these questions, depending on which problem you would like to focus on. But I would like to highlight the state of startup funding given to women founders–as funding is the very thing that allows impactful companies to grow and thrive.

“Women are not only raising less funding, but they are also raising it at lower valuations. This has ripple effects throughout the gender ecosystem, from decreased equity to more modest exits than male founders,” Nikkei Asia Review wrote in December 2022.

“And as women amass less personal wealth, fewer become limited partners, venture capitalists, angel investors or serial entrepreneurs – the people providing the investment money for funds, those making the decisions on how that money will be invested, and those allowed to use the funds.”

The report further highlighted that in Southeast Asia, startups founded solely by women accounted for only 0.6 per cent of capital invested in the region in 2021.

Also Read: Uplifting the underserved and women in fintech: Retail technology on the frontier of equality

One might say that “Hey, back in 2021, nobody raised any funding. Everyone suffered.” Sure.

That is why mainstreaming the discussion on gender equality is even more urgent.

Last year, I attended a debate at the She Loves Tech conference in Singapore which pointed out the harm in treating women as an impact investment. This meant that when a crisis happens, investment in women and other minorities will usually be the first to go. So, investors need to put investing in women as part of their core agenda–not a charity or a CSR.

This is by no means stating that the tech startup ecosystem should not be involved in the general movement for gender equality in society. After all, the tech industry does not stand in a silo. We are the society itself. Whatever is going on within the tech startup ecosystem is a reflection of the society it lives in.

But perhaps the way for us to make a change is by looking at how operate as an ecosystem and see how we can continue to improve. To allow talents to thrive regardless of gender, race, sexuality, and economic background. To give room for every entrepreneur to build and grow their companies.

Once we were able to get there, then perhaps that is where true disruption can happen.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups get the chance to pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Image Credit: ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

The post This year, International Women’s Day calls for the tech startup ecosystem to look within appeared first on e27.