The Vietnamese government considers healthcare to be a major priority in the national digital transformation strategy and program. This makes sense given that the “hottest” social security issue — and a top priority in developing countries in Asia like Vietnam — is always the provision of healthcare for the public at large.

Technology for healthcare is content that has been frequently mentioned on forums and mass media in recent years, making the community both curious and confused, not sure what technology has and is doing for medicare or, more specifically, for taking care of people’s health. 

Vietnam is fully capable of adapting in the era of “Smart Healthcare,” which will assist in optimising the operating system, reduce costs and resources, and at the same time, save money and resources to apply digital technology to medical examination and treatment services. It benefits both customers and service providers in equal measure. As a result, Vietnam has likely witnessed a sharp rise in demand for healthcare apps.

The reality of the healthcare in Vietnam

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently carried out a survey, and they found that individuals in Southeast Asia consistently spend a lot of money on healthcare. The ASEAN nations, which include Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, are set to increase their total spending to close to US$800 billion over the next five years.

In Vietnam, the number of startups in this healthtech field is still very modest, just under two per cent of the total of more than 4,000 medical technology startups in Asia. Only a few names appear on the market, such as eDoctor, Mosia, Jio Health, BuyMed, and Bsgiadinh. The reason is that the medical industry is very diverse in terms of operation forms, many participants, and many types of techniques and objects.

Also Read: The thrills of online shopping: Exploring Vietnam’s e-commerce haven

The patient population is both large and diverse. Meeting hospital operations requires knowledge of clinical medicine, medical organisation, medical engineering, and information technology. When talking about medical technology is also talking about two types of technology: one is techniques applied to medical devices, and the other is information technology that manages medical data.

What has been talked about recently in healthtech?

Vietnam has been using AI in healthcare since a few years ago. Currently, although AI has not been put into operation in hospitals, there are many applications to support medical examination and treatment.

When the COVID-19 pandemic occurs, the presence of AI through the Bluezone application — the application is capable of detecting close contact by automatic statistics and recording the contact between people who have installed Bluezone with each other, tell us who we have been in contact with, when, etc., to reduce the risk of disease spread.

Other healthcare apps being talked about recently have to call names of:

Jio Health

A platform for arranging clinical services in the healthcare industry online. By monitoring individual health profiles and sharing patient medical data with healthcare professionals, the platform streamlines the delivery of healthcare and enables patients to receive rapid care via doctor visits in their homes.

DOCOSAN

A startup established in HCM City is another website that links patients and physicians. The fundamental idea is to employ technology to speed up the selection of a doctor, the intake of new patients, and the management of patient records.

The business-to-business (B2B) marketplace created by Thuocsi is another creation of the Vietnamese healthtech industry. It provides automatic order matching with end-to-end logistics and links pharmacies and medical practices with authorised distributors of pharmaceuticals.

Smart health: Combining information technologies and digital health

It would be simple to conclude that technology is fast assisting in the solution of the most pressing issues in health and healthcare if one were to only pay attention to the information flow regarding trends and forecasts. In actuality, though, things are not as simple.

The national coordinator of the Vital Strategies Health Data Initiative, Mr Tran Hong Quang, commented on Vietnam’s digital health ecosystem, saying: “Health is a sector with hurdles to entry in the business with excellent calibre. Even globally, major technology companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple struggle to break into the healthcare industry.”

The use of healthcare apps on mobile platforms in the medical field has ushered in a new healing trend.

Patients, pharmacists, and even doctors may prefer healthcare applications over in-person consultations thanks to virtual consultations with a team of specialists, online drug delivery process optimisation, and more.

Also Read: How Vietnam is climbing to the throne of fintech among Asia Pacific countries

The idea of online pharmacies focused on providing prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs is accepted through email inboxes, delivery units, or online pharmacy web portals. Line.

Using a health-related app, Ms M, a mother of a three-year-old child, expressed her satisfaction. She said, “I can save a lot of time by booking an appointment for my child or simply Long-term test results I can check immediately on the app.”

Mr V said that ever since applications to buy medications online were released, he could save a ton of time. “You can regularly check to see if the medication you require is in stock, saving you time from having to drive around looking for it.”

A bright future for health-tech development in Vietnam

Technology is an effective instrument for making significant changes that can quickly revolutionise an industry or area of the economy. Using technology to its fullest potential is essential. Health, on the other hand, cannot be hurried.

It’s critical to support and further publicise activities and investments in healthcare technology. Only with significant and enough investments will the market have the chance to choose for itself appropriate and crucial solutions and goods to support the growth of services to serve society.

If there is a need to give a specific suggestion, it would be to prioritise the use of technology to make people’s lives more convenient while also assisting medical facilities in running efficiently with their resources.

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Web3 isn’t easy.

For all the talk about Web3 revolutionising the way we work and play, the reality is that most people find it hard to understand what blockchain technology is. Not only that, but they also run into problems because Web3 apps (or dapps, which is short for decentralised apps) are not as user-friendly as Web2 platforms.

Think about how easy it is to create a Twitter or Facebook account. Then compare this with the technical and convoluted onboarding process for Web3 – from creating a crypto wallet to loading it with cryptocurrency to connecting it to a blockchain game or NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace like OpenSea. 

No wonder the average internet user is intimidated by Web3. 

Why Web3 isn’t mainstream 

The numbers certainly don’t lie. According to Singapore-based blockchain firm TripleA, the estimated number of crypto users worldwide is 420 million, which represents a mere 4.2 per cent of the global population.

Clearly, if we want Web3 to become mainstream, we have to do a better job. 

As I’ve said in a previous article, what we need to do is to make Web3 disappear. This involves two equally important steps. 

Also Read: Malaysian startups, MNCs have started recognising the importance of Web3: Jasmine Ng

The first is to focus on the customer benefits, not the technology. Consumers don’t really care how the technology works and will only get bored by all the technical jargon. Instead, what they want to know is how Web3 will make their lives easier and what benefits they will get by using it.

Knowing, however, is only half the battle. Instead of putting the burden on consumers, Web3 companies should simplify the process. If it’s hard to use Web3, don’t expect people to flock to it. Remember that the same thing happened before during the early days of the Web when email clients were too clunky, websites were too simple, and internet connections were too slow.

Addressing the pain points 

“While looking at all the potential, we also see some of the limitations of the crypto market right now because it has a very high barrier to entry. For example, if I want to go into DeFi (decentralised finance), I would have to create my own MetaMask wallet, I would have a ledger with me, and I would have to record my mnemonic code and keep it safe,” said DEFED DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) Initiator and Core Contributor Mechbill.

Mechbill, who has a PhD in Physics and has worked in the fintech industry for over 10 years, entered the world of crypto in 2020. He understands what the pain points are because he has experienced them first-hand.

“I used to play a blockchain game, and I opened a special wallet for it. But then, after a month, I didn’t play. I forgot the mnemonic code, and I lost my assets. It was gone,” he said.

Mechbill, of course, is referring to the fact that when you create a crypto wallet, you need to record a seed phrase to recover your account in case you forget your password. This mnemonic code, which consists of 12 or 24 random words, is the only way for you to regain access to your account, as the wallet provider does not store your password.

Imagine explaining this to the average user and expecting them to take that risk.

Of course, since then, improvements have been made. For example, crypto wallets with settings that allow you to click on View Secret Recovery Phrase. Still, this is just a band-aid solution that does not address the need to make the process more user-friendly for consumers.

Instead, what Mechbill wants is to make it as easy to create a Web3 account as it is to sign up for Web2 platforms. Recently, DEFED launched version 2.0, which allows users to create an account using their email address. They can use this to interact with DeFi and other smart contracts on the blockchain.

Also Read: How to launch collaborations that grow communities: A guide for Web3 founders

This means their customers will no longer have to worry about forgetting their seed phrases and losing access to their accounts and digital assets. Just as in Web2, they can simply reset their passwords via email and regain control over their assets.

Best of both worlds

Mechbill emphasised that consumers should be able to reap the benefits of Web3 while also enjoying the same kind of convenience they are already used to in Web2.

“During the DeFi Summer, all those products offer opportunities for generating a lot of wealth, so they are very attractive for people who are willing to make money. So even if there are high barriers to entry, they will jump in,” he said.

He pointed out, however, that this is not sustainable, especially in the current bear market, which is known as Crypto Winter in Web3. As the market matures and Web3 becomes more mainstream, the space cannot just target traders with a high appetite for risk or rely on rewards such as high APR (annual percentage rate) to attract users. In fact, Mechbill said that traction is decreasing, but the barrier to entry remains high. So what is needed is to lower the barrier to entry to Web3.

That is why apart from letting users easily create accounts using their email addresses, DEFED also makes payment so easy that it is almost like tweeting your friends. This is because they have integrated chat into their system so that customers can easily transfer their DEFED balance to each other instantly when messaging their friends online. 

Moreover, DEFED acts as a Web3 super account that lets customers connect their assets to different dapps so that they can avail of different services, whether it’s depositing to earn interest or borrowing with credit.

“We are not just focusing on the evolution inside the current market. We are trying to open a new market from Web2. So we’ve created a super account system, and we want to build a superapp in the future to let customers get Web3 functions but with Web2 usability,” Mechbill said.

Asked to share his vision for DEFED and Web3, Mechbill replied: “I have two visions. One is for our product itself which can benefit our customers and increase the Web3 population. And for the organisation, in the future, I would like to run our product as a DAO. That is like a social experiment, and we are trying to find a way for people from different locations and different cultural backgrounds to collaborate. That, to me, is interesting. I am not sure if it will succeed or not, but it’s worse not to have tried.”

At the end of the day, the benefits of Web3 should be made available to everyone. Together, we can open the doors to more people.

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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 post DEFED and DeFi: Making it easier to migrate from Web2 to Web3 appeared first on e27.

Author’s Note: Insights shared here are taken from the CFO Mixer and Investor Panel held on February 2023 in Singapore hosted by Stripe, featuring a panel with Jason Edwards of January Capital and VentureCap Insights and Insignia Ventures’ Yinglan Tan, as well as a conversation with former Slack CFO Allen Shim. 

Highlights

• Venture-backed private companies now face a crossroads in fundraising (i.e., to raise or to not? To take a valuation hit or not? To raise equity or debt or some combination?). This is compounded by the need to extend runways to survive in the case of some companies or the pressure to capitalise on their competitive advantages in the case of others.
• From the investors’ perspective, especially late-stage investors, where the correction’s impact is more severe, the bars are higher. The challenge is more pronounced for companies that raise at too high (or attractive) of a multiple and are now faced with potentially getting penalised for their last-round valuation.
• The crossroads companies face in this market could be illustrated in four or five possible scenarios: Already cash-rich, get to profitability or 36-month runway, take a down round, find a buyer, or fold under pressure.
• Five practices for healthier cash flow management: You can’t address what you can’t measure,  robust finance function begins with solid bookkeeping, better to hire one slowly at 110 per cent than many quickly at 80 per cent, when it comes to marketing spend, get alignment on what you’re actually measuring, it’s not only equity on the table, but these alternatives (like debt, venture debt, and revenue-based financing) are not for everyone.

From fundraising heydays to fundraising correction

“What we’ve seen leading up to the correction in the public markets was that there was an enormous amount of money coming into the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia. And that was really caused by a number of factors,” shares Jason Edwards of January Capital.

These factors included many overseas investors investing massive amounts in the region for the first time, from the likes of Jeff Bezos to Sequoia pouring as much as US$50 million into first-time meetings. This flush of money in the year post “first-generation unicorn-minting” (the likes of Gojek, Traveloka, Grab) to the pandemic-induced digitalisation rush (2018 to 2021) shifted the fundraising value chain in two ways.

Also Read: Cashflow and financing: what companies need to know

Late-stage investors were forced to move earlier because the prices went up in later rounds, while smaller funds that were able to raise much larger funds on top of the Southeast Asia potential sought to fuel larger fundraising rounds.

This capital influx closed the well-documented “growth-stage funding gap” in the region as money chased investments. Edwards adds, “For founders, at that time, it was a heyday. You just had so much money chasing investments, and people were raising more than they needed. And the valuations were, I think, higher than they should have been.”

New market, new rules

Now the script has flipped with the public markets correction, and venture-backed private companies now face a crossroads in fundraising (i.e., To raise or to not? To take a valuation hit or not? To raise equity or debt or some combination?). This is compounded by the need to extend runways to survive in the case of some companies or the pressure to capitalise on their competitive advantages in the case of others.

From the investors’ perspective, especially late-stage investors, where the correction’s impact is more severe, the bars are higher. In particular, Tan points out two key questions: “When you talk to the late-stage investors, they ask you two questions. One, are you profitable? The second question they ask you is, do you have audited financials to fundraise?”

The standards for product-market fit have also changed, as Tan adds, “…the founders that have succeeded in the past five years could raise 10 million on a PowerPoint deck and could give subsidies to grow. They will not be the founders that will succeed in the next five years because the environment has totally changed, right? You have to show economics much earlier in the process. You have to have products that actually have product market fit. And when I say product market fit, it’s not just growth, transactions need to be EBITDA positive or really unit economics positive.”

The durability of cash has also changed. Before, 12-18 months would have sufficed to ferry through another round and generate enough growth to make the markup justifiable, but now that may no longer be enough for most companies.

It also takes much longer to raise money, given the more rigorous due diligence expected by investors. Given the higher bars for fundraising vis-a-vis price adjustments, Tan advises getting to 36 months or a three-year runway, if not profitability.

The challenge is more pronounced for companies that raise at too high (or attractive) of a multiple and are now faced with potentially getting penalised for their last-round valuation. As Edwards puts it, “The challenge I think that really brings about is if you’re a good company that’s doing well at a late stage, and you’ve raised when the times were really good, you would’ve raised at a really attractive multiple. And that’s not gonna happen now. It’s all changed.

“So how do you avoid being penalised by what’s happening in the markets if you are performing well because you don’t want to have flat rounds and down rounds? So I think part of what you have to think about is managing that with the ability to raise…How do you make your runway work? That’s one thing people should think about.”

The fundraising crossroads

With this in mind, the crossroads companies face in this market could be illustrated in four or five possible scenarios. First is that if the company is already cash-rich (profitable and/or has a three-year runway), then it’s time to be aggressive. If the company is not in that position yet, the obvious alternative is to make that happen.

So second is to focus on cutting burn to create a longer runway or, even better, refocus the business towards profitability. In some cases, the company is able to safely raise a bridge round or a decently priced follow-on to add to this cash “cushion” as they refocus the business. If the company has already done these measures but is still not in a safe position at the least, taking a down round may be necessary, or considering other instruments (venture debt, debt, and other revenue-based financing instruments) as we share later in the article.

If these measures still don’t work, it may be time to find a buyer to inject a significant amount of cash in exchange for ownership of the company. Depending on the founder or management, this may actually be the optimal choice to ensure the product or service continues to be delivered and also relieve the pressure of having to navigate the bear market alone. That said, there needs to be buyer interest, to begin with.

Also Read: Bite-sized advice on cashflow in time of crisis for startups and SMBs

Ultimately not all businesses will be caught within the safety of this crossroads, and others will fold under pressure, some more spectacularly than others.

While there are external factors to account for, how an entrepreneur can make it through this crossroads begins with a realistic and thoughtful response. As Tan puts it, “…what I see nowadays is that the more mature, thoughtful founders say it’s a great time. “We got fed last year. Now we are going to, more or less, see our productivity per employee. We made the hard decisions.”

Five practices for healthier cash flow management

The crossroads just illustrated above is not a hard fast decision tree that applies to every company. This is just a simplified heuristic to illustrate the importance of building up healthy cash flows and runway if the company is to continue growing sustainably in this market.

With that in mind, we list down five practices covered both in the panel previously mentioned and in a conversation with former Slack CFO Allen Shim that followed the panel. These practices go beyond fundraising and pure finance and apply to various aspects of company building, from internal communication to hiring and marketing.

Note that these are practices (and not remedies) which means they are best applied as part of a company’s operating principles and management ethos rather than as one-off actions.

Read more about the five practices for healthier cash flow management on Insignia Business Review.

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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

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post Oh my cash: Navigating cash flow management in today’s market appeared first on e27.

Dear Pro member,

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a major lender to some of the world’s leading tech startups, is the hottest story of the past few days.

While a crisis has been averted for now, thanks to the intervention of the US government, the global startup industry fears its full impact will likely manifest only in the coming weeks. Having said that, the event will unlikely impact Southeast Asian startups as they don’t have much exposure to SVB.

According to some experts, SVB’s failure is a classic case of having too much on the table and getting complacent over past successes. Abhishek Agarwal, Managing Partner Rockstud Capital, says that the asset liabilities mismatch is the worse example for a financial institution.

The startup industry may take some cues from this event, and they cannot afford to be complacent and overconfident about their growth prospects.

We are talking to a few VC experts in the region to learn the possible impacts of the SVB failure. Stay tuned.

Let’s also look at the other top stories of the past 3-4 days.

Have a good day!

Sainul
Editor.

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HSBC acquires Silicon Valley Bank UK, says all depositors’ money is safe
The deal is a massive relief to the UK technology sector, which was highly exposed to the collapse of both SVB and its UK arm; The quick turnaround of the deal will be seen as a signal of the government’s support of tech.

GoTo to shed 600 workers to focus on core operations
It will trim down certain parts of Mitra Tokopedia, its platform for small businesses, as it moves away from non-core businesses to help accelerate growth; It aims to turn profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis within Q4 2023.

Binance moves US$1B from FTX recovery fund amid SVB collapse
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the move comes amid “the changes in stablecoins and banks.”; He also shared the wallet where the US$1B in Binance USD comes from and specific transaction details.

Indonesia’s insurtech startup Qoala’s losses more than doubled in 2021
The losses ballooned 2.6X to US$10.36M on the back of significantly higher expenses; Qoala focuses on retail insurance, which includes protection for cars, bikes, homes, and health.

VCs see SG as ‘stronger haven’ for startup capital after SVB fallout
Yinglan Tan, the founding managing partner at Insignia Ventures, says collapses will boost acquisition momentum and affect certain companies’ and funds’ buying or investing power.

500 Global-backed Monnai raises US$6.5M, tapping into SEA for growth
The investors include Tiger Global and Better Tomorrow Ventures; Monnai’s platform integrates data from various sources worldwide and offers tools to help clients solve fraud and regulatory challenges.

Vietnam e-pharmacy Medigo raises US$2M Series A
The investors are East Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and Touchstone Partners. Medigo helps users order medicine from trusted pharmacies close to them.

Indonesian lending firm Pintek shifts focus from students to businesses
Tommy Yuwono, Pintek co-founder and president director, said the startup has worked with distributors and suppliers and “will be focusing on expanding this line of business,” moving beyond the education sector.

AI-powered Betterhalf aims to make online matchmaking easy for urban Indians
Betterhalf has integrated online matchmaking services assisted with human matchmaking, background verification, astrology, and horoscope matching.

We can always earn money, but we can never bring back our youth: Justin Chin of e27
The Head of Business Development at e27 shares the importance of embracing life to its fullest and aiming to go out to experience the world.

Why Liminal sees compliance as the way to go for the crypto industry
Liminal aims to build an efficient and compliant wallet operating system where users can securely use various digital assets and blockchains.

‘There’s a lack of urgency among companies in achieving net zero targets’
Unravel Carbon’s Grace Sai also said the increased connectivity within the ecosystem from f2f engagement can create significant economic value during tough times.

How an accident kickstarted my entrepreneurial journey (quite literally)
Discover how an accident led to the start of my entrepreneurial journey and the lessons learned along the way.

Navigating challenges and opportunities in the Malaysian robotics industry
Explore Malaysia’s growing robotics industry and learn how experts overcome obstacles to drive innovation.

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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.

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