We live in an increasingly complicated and interconnected world where diversity has become the fabric of modern society, all thanks to globalisation and technological advancements. 

The inclusive fabric of modern society aids economic advancements

Success in this international market requires multicultural initiatives and a consistent effort to integrate different demographic and cultural diversity into an inclusive setting that fits into the more expansive vision of the company’s growth and progress. 

This constructs rich prospects for companies to spearhead growth by leveraging their access to a diverse talent pool and untapped consumer base. 

The gold rush to enhance creativity and drive innovation leveraging global diversity of the labour force is good — excellent even, but it also oppugns traditional business assumptions, norms and ideas. 

Companies are being compelled to effect major structural reorganisations spanning all critical areas of business operations – from marketing to talent acquisition and retention functions.

All this sums up for companies worldwide to spend US$9.4 billion on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)-related efforts in 2022. The number is estimated to more than double to US$24.3 billion by 2030.

Data is still too sparse, but collective and coordinated action is required

But even in this plethora of positive possibilities, one pandemic derailed the advancement and showed that any progress made is easily reversible.

Also Read: How to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in DeFi and Web3

Since the start of COVID-19, social and economic inclusion has seen significant setbacks as financial vulnerabilities have been heightened and social and political polarisation has grown. 

The global gender gap closed by 68.1 per cent last year. Up by 32 years at the present rate of progress, the gender gap was set to close within a centennial, according to trends leading up to 2020. 

Despite headway in mainstreaming diversity and inclusion in the corporate environment, racial and ethnic equity efforts stay fragmented. 

Yes, the state of DEI efforts varies by geography, industry, and company, but a growing number of leadership teams have recognised the significance and urgency of driving conversations within their organisations and taking action to push progress.

The affairs of recent years have shown that any progress made is easily reversible. The pandemic has caused a generational loss in gender parity, for example, increasing the projected time to reach global parity from 100 to 132 years. 

Despite progress in mainstreaming diversity and inclusion in the corporate environment, racial and ethnic equity efforts remain fragmented. To bring about faster change, there is a need for clarity on what works — and what does not.

Five actionable initiatives for impact and acceleration of DEI outcomes

The Global Parity Alliance, by the World Economic Forum, was launched to accelerate diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes. The group came up with five success factors shared across the initiatives that yielded the most impact for underrepresented groups:

Root cause analysis — Deep and nuanced

A company-wide survey on employee experience and inclusion and an analysis of its talent pipeline is where an organisation may begin.

Determine the root causes, which will likely include a medley of internal barriers (e.g. organisational policies) and external obstacles (such as cultural sentiments and beliefs).

It is essential that the voices of the target population shape DEI initiatives without burdening those individuals with the work.

Next, by considering impact versus feasibility and urgency versus the importance of the organisation’s core competencies and distinctive positioning, prioritise and line up opportunity areas.

SMART goals of sucess — Meaningful definitions

Setting clear, measurable goals to define success upon identifying the opportunity areas based on impact will keep the stakeholders galvanised.

This can be done by connecting the company’s values, mission, business outcomes and “what’s in it for me” at each level of the organisation. 

Effectively communicate the rationale to serve as a call to action, thereon.

Committed and accountable business leaders

Like any other core business activity, DEI initiatives must be aided based on the capabilities required to execute the plan effectively. This may require a cross-functional team (and not just limited to the Human Resource function) and access to experts, conceivably through external partnerships.

Also Read: Why it’s time to hit ‘refresh’ when it comes to addressing the gender diversity gap in the IT sector

Leadership and management teams tend to hold the most social clout in an organisation. They can use their influence to advance DEI initiatives.

Creating accountability by formally incorporating DEI goals into the stakeholder’s (business leaders’) quarterly and annual planning allows for securing the resources, time and attention needed to drive change.

One size does not fit all — Tailored solution

Each solution should be designed with scalability in mind. To ensure that potential impact will not be hindered by barriers such as cost or operational complexity.

For example, a standalone coaching program will not solve a gender parity problem. The solution set will also need to address systemic bias in hiring, performance management and other policies that add to the target population’s disadvantage.

Abiding in change requires a shift in mindset and behaviour for all employees.

For example, unconscious bias, the key to this lock is addressing relevant elements of the organisation’s systems, processes, and ways of working.

Lastly, it is imperative to encourage and equip employees by setting new expectations, measuring progress, and holding them accountable through performance management.

Rigorous tracking and course correction

With the right metrics and milestones in place, adjustments to the solution can be implemented sooner rather than later to ensure the solution effectively addresses the core issues. 

Scorecards, for example, should track progress toward a high-level aspiration, the resolution of root causes, and granular initiative actions.

Insights from these scorecards and trackers may surface opportunities to adjust or course-correct the initiative to increase impact.

The (Optimistic) road ahead

LGBTQIA+ individuals continue to face stigma and discrimination; only a tiny percentage of businesses are focused on including people with disabilities. There is an acute need to step up collective and coordinated action by private- and public-sector leaders to avoid further backstepping and create organisations and economies that offer opportunities for all. 

This will be a precondition to kindling genuinely inclusive and sustainable growth and fostering greater creativity and economic stability.

The number of pathways for positive change is growing as the scope of DEI action in the private sector broadens from a focus on the workforce to whole-of-business approaches encompassing inclusive design, inclusive supply chains and community impact, among others.

New pathways are also emerging in the public sector as policymakers use an equity and inclusion lens in economic policy-making. For example, recent gender mainstreaming efforts explicitly recognise gender parity as critical to economic growth and stability.

DEI is at a critical inflexion point in today’s companies and institutions. The evolution of how people work, driven in part by the recent global upheavals (such as the pandemic, geo-political tension and global economic slowdown), presents an opportunity to harness the momentum of change toward redefining workplace norms and systems to accelerate progress on DEI.

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This new series provides an opportunity for bootstrapped founders to share their venture-building stories with the audience. If you have a compelling story, please email it to writers@e27.co.

There are only a handful of truly bootstrapped startups or those that have taken no external investments in Southeast Asia. Inmagine Group is the most known among them. Then there are some companies that maintain a low profile or rather they get little media attention, unlike their VC-funded peers.

Indonesian startup 99 Virtual Race’s (99VR) bootstrapped story is one of passion, grit, hard work, and perseverance.

Founded in 2017, 99VR is an innovative platform that makes fitness accessible to everyone. It combines technology with sports to create virtual racing events that can be participated in from anywhere in the world.

Also Read: Validate the problem before building a solution: Surasit Sachdev of Hungry Hub

In this interview, 99VR Co-Founder and CEO Stevie Go takes us through the company’s bootstrapped journey.

What inspired you to start 99VR? What is 99VR and how does it work?

My own personal health inspired me to start 99VR. Since I started running regularly, my health has greatly improved. For example, I used to get the flu easily, and I always kept medication on hand. But since I started running, I hardly ever touch it anymore.

99VR is a platform that encourages everyone to make exercise a healthy lifestyle by participating in various events and challenges that can be done anytime, anywhere.

Who are your co-founders and how did you meet them?

They are David Aryadi and Stanley Adrian. We became closer by running together frequently and sharing the same belief about the importance of health, and finally, the same purpose to invite everyone to experience the benefits of health and they deserve it.

How did you approach the development of 99VR in the absence of external funding?

We started using a template application by maximising the existing features they have and of course, minimising operating expenses, so our profit margin was very large in a short time.

What were some of the biggest challenges/crises you faced while building 99VR, and how did you overcome them?

The first challenge was when the template application could no longer meet the necessary features, so we started building the application from scratch to suit market needs.

The second challenge was during the tech winter when we had to lay off some of the team to extend the company’s life and optimize the remaining team.

Did you ever face a cash crunch while building the product and think of quitting? How did you deal with such extreme situations?

The financial problem never happened in the first four years because our revenue and profit were very good. In addition, health and sports industries like ours have benefited from the COVID-19 crisis. The problem arose in the last year when the transition of community behaviour returned to normal activities.

The way to deal with it is to be efficient with the team and optimise the existing features to continue generating revenue.

Could you share some of the strategies you used to acquire early customers and build a user base for 99VR?

Initially, we joined running communities by roadshows in several cities to introduce 99VR. We believe the strength of the community is a very good foundation for a startup.

How did you manage to sustain your business operations and grow your team without external funding? Are you profitable? If not, when do you plan to achieve profitability?

Since the beginning, our company has been profitable until the fourth year.

How did you prioritise the features and functionalities of 99VR, and what criteria did you use to determine what to include or exclude?

Prioritised features were those that could solve the current situation. For example, we added machine learning features to the data verification system to make the verification results more accurate, which made participants feel that the event was fair and not being cheated in virtual events. To ensure that the feature was necessary, we validated it to the market.

Do you have any competitors in this space? What unique value did you bring to the industry?

Since 99VR was launched, more and more competitors have emerged. This makes us more confident that this industry has great potential with a large market.

Also Read: How to out-position the competition in a downturn

The unique value is the comfort of participants and the maintained sportsmanship, as well as the consistency of making themed events that make participants accustomed to exercising by participating in never-ending events.

Did you get any enquiries from investors/VCs/angels/seed funds? If yes, why did you decide to go against it?

We had angel investor interest in 2018, but we declined because our profits were sufficient for our development.
We’re currently looking for a strategic partner to help expand our product.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who are looking to bootstrap their startups without external funding?

Create a simple product that can be immediately used by the general public and has a direct impact (doesn’t have to be a significant impact at the beginning) so that there is no need to burn through money, but instead can generate profits right away, allowing the startup to sustain for a long time.

What were your biggest learnings from building 99VR?

As the startup grows, prepare the foundation of a proper team so that when it’s ready to scale up, it will be a much easier process.

Given a chance, will you build another startup without taking external funding?

Absolutely, to me, external funding is only to accelerate or enlarge, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t start without external funding. As long as we have the right projection and the roadmap to be profitable sooner than later, it should be ok to take external funding

Currently, we are organising the first hybrid (offline and online) series event in Indonesia which aims to promote tourism and the creatives economy. The event is called Nusantara Marathon and has received support from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia.

We also provide an opportunity for brands to collaborate in this national event.

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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 connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

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Approximately 2.8 million Web2 natives got onboarded into Web3 through the recent boom of the Reddit NFT launch from June 2021 to November 2022, beating the 2.3 million figure users of Opensea — the OG NFT marketplace launched last December 20, 2017.

In the span of months, Reddit onboarded 2.8 million people in Web3 without them knowing it, and all it took was the ‘rebranding’ of the daunting, technical term “Non-Fungible Tokens” (NFT) to a term all fans of the internet know and love — digital collectibles.

Why NFTs aren’t designed for mass adoption

The term Non-Fungible Token (NFT) has always been problematic for mass Web3 adoption. In order for mass adoption to happen, conversations about Web 3 verticals such as decentralised finance, cryptocurrency, and digital collectibles have to have a “jump-off” point from Web2.

For example, if there’s Paypal in Web2, there’s Metamask in Web3 — though both of them are in essence, wallets, Web 3 is decentralised so Metamask can’t control the funds of an individual or entity, unlike Paypal.

From left to right, Nas Arcayan (CEO of Mothership — a cognitive branding agency), Neil Dimaphilis (Founder of Social Media Marketing Philippines and Digital Marketing Executive of Warner Music Philippines), Brian Corella (Founder and CEO of The Maverick — a hypergrowth men’s product startup), JC Macalintal (CMO of Bitskwela — a Web3 edutech company), and Nel Mozol.

As Nas Arcayan (CEO of Mothership, an award-winning cognitive branding agency) says, “How we label things determines how we think about them because it changes both context and expectations attached to — more importantly, it changes what it’s compared to.”

Also Read: The future of Web3 communities: What’s next after the NFT community craze?

“To specify, the digital collectible rebrand was effective because, for Web2 people, NFTs didn’t make sense, there was no comparison. What was it building off of?” Arcayan specifies. “Digital Collectibles however, sticks in the mind because it has a “jump-off” point. So, the mind of Web 2 people easily “understand” it,” Arcayan adds.

Moreover, the shift of NFTs to the term “digital collectibles” is more in tangent with the term “cryptocurrency.” That is, Web2 natives that hear the term crypto-currency can easily file in their mind that the conversation is about money or a form of currency and that digital collectibles are collectibles, which people already know and love.

The bottom line is, a conversation between a Web3 and a Web2 native is difficult and often full of resistance and “technical” explanations of the conversation about NFTs. Moreover, a discussion about NFTs will often bring in new technical terms like blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and consensus mechanisms that can be daunting even for people that were curious about the space in the first place. What more people who aren’t even curious at all?

On the other hand, a conversation between a Web 3 and a Web 2 native is more ease-and-flow and relatable than a conversation about digital collectibles. Because everyone is a collector of something, it’s simply just part of consumer behaviour. Collecting and consuming is just what people do.

Collecting and owning are two different things

The magic in the conversation mentioned above then happens when Web2 natives ask the difference between the digital collectibles they know and love, to unique digital collectibles in Web 3 that they can actually own, not just collect. Web2 Digital collectibles are commerce, while Web3 digital collectibles are property.

When I’m asked to introduce Bitskwela, our Web3 edutech company, we introduce ourselves as a “Web3 edutech company that helps Filipinos own a piece of the internet.” We’ve found that reframing our elevator pitch to this from introducing ourselves as a “Web3 edutech company” which has Web3 educational materials has captured the attention of the press, investors, and industry partners easier. Because the next thing that comes out of their mouths is, “You can own a piece of the internet? How?”

This is where the tech infrastructure of Web3 kicks in on the conversation, the blockchain technology that makes ownership and security in the new version of the internet possible. These Web3 digital collectibles are non-fungible — they have a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership.

Upcoming evolution in consumer and collector behaviour

Web3 is not reinventing the wheel of the internet. It is simply the next version of the internet catering to the next consumer behavior. Web1 was the first version of the internet, it brought an information economy where users can only read.

Web2 was its second version, the platform economy, where users can now read and write, it was the first time interaction was possible. Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms you know currently fall in this category.

Web3 is read, write, and own. Aside from interacting with people, users in Web3 own every bit of content, activity, and property that they produce or acquire in the space.

Also Read: 6 NFT mistakes to avoid for newbies

Simply put, the term digital collectibles is just simply easier to understand. The NFT branding sounds like Web3 people are trying to reinvent the wheel. As Arcayan adds, “The plain reason why it works is that its value (digital collectibles) is clear as day. With the term “NFT” you don’t immediately know what it’s for, but digital collectibles have an immediate jump-off.”

Mass adoption only happens when product conversations become household. Conversely, household conversations can only happen when people can easily understand the new trend in consumer behaviour.

People love to own things. They just don’t know that until now, their social media profiles and everything they’ve published in Web2 are only borrowed. The moment they violate platform guidelines and terms, no matter how much they use in ad spend or promotions, they will be de-platformed within seconds.

“No one wants to progress in a vacuum. We want all of the progress, with none of the risks. If we want people to adopt new information, we must make them feel safe to do shift towards the new way of doing things. This can’t happen by throwing around technical jargon no matter how impressive they are. They can only happen if we work with the mind and give our innovation the correct labels to make it understand and feel safe.” Arcayan adds.

Imagine the conversation when people finally understand that they can own a piece of the internet. This is crucial so the next time you’re asked why you pay so much for a JPEG? Your answer can be simply, “Because it’s a digital collectible I own, and since I own the digital collectible, I get access to features, benefits, and a community of people who also own pieces of the collection.”

Before, NFTs were far-fetched from being a household conversation; but the rebrand to digital collectibles allows people bullish and building in Web3 to have better and easier conversations with Web2 natives that are ‘web-curious’ (curious or open to engaging in internet activity with Web2 and Web3) in the space.

The long-awaited rebrand of NFTs to digital collectibles — as paved by flagship and Fortune 500 Web2 brands such as Reddit and NBA top shot — will remove a lot of resistance to Web3 adoption.

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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

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Deep tech ventures are usually built around a novel technology that either solves a fundamental market demand or offers significant advances over existing solutions. More frequently than their digital counterparts, they create new opportunities and markets that did not exist previously.

Taking these technologies from the “lab floor to business” requires substantial human capital and investment, carrying a different degree of risk than the average venture investment, which leads less sophisticated investors to become hesitant and shy away from tremendous opportunities.

In this context, universities play an important role in de-risking, funding and helping the early commercialisation of deep tech companies. Singapore is extremely lucky to see the leadership and strong support of the National Research Foundation (NRF), the research institute A*STAR and the top local universities, notably NUS and NTU, when it comes to local deep tech entrepreneurial endeavours.

Obviously, this support does not prevent local teams of science entrepreneurs from facing regular venture-building complexities, and the usual ‘valley of death’ in the later transfer stages. But it constitutes a welcome differentiator against international competitors and shows how Singapore plants the seeds for tomorrow’s high-tech champions.

While deep tech startups can come out of any university, not all universities have real commercialisation experience and a supportive frontier tech ecosystem. Looking at their very own ecosystems with pragmatism, science entrepreneurs should leverage every advantage that the university environment can provide, such as incubation space and top-notch facilities, and connections to scientific experts who can be leveraged as consultants and advisors.

Also Read: Why Vickers Venture Partners go with deep tech investments to solve world’s biggest problems

Voicing out what should be adapted, or improved, within universities to make the life of science entrepreneurs easier is essential. It goes from sharing best-in-class technology maturation principles from other research ecosystems to challenging conservative intellectual property frameworks, or asking for more contractual creativity and speed.

Find your corporate pathfinders

When it comes to financing deep tech startups, available university grants can help catalyse and do a certain amount to de-risk technology, extending the runway through non-dilutive funding and creating a technology roadmap which validates the science as significant. Many science entrepreneurs feel too comfortable at this stage.

They get easily trapped in the endless loop of grant funding, overlooking the efforts to be put into corporate partnerships. This is a risky strategy. Corporate venture funds and strategic investors have a major impact on early-stage startup developments, alongside non-dilutive funding.

Not only can they be a check, but they can also be a customer, an advisor and a partner in the early prototype to manufacturing stages. The best strategic investors play a fundamental role in helping frontier tech ventures succeed because they need the technology the entrepreneurs are creating. They can be called corporate pathfinders, as they help deep tech founders identify, define and validate market opportunities.

Why are they so important? Let’s face the hard truth: Deep tech startups experience a very different evolution cycle than a traditional B2B company, let alone a B2C company. Go-to-market paths and commercialisation activation keys tend to be more complex. They require science entrepreneurs ready to embrace a steep learning curve.

For instance, a common pitfall is that early-stage teams overestimate the size of their hypothetical markets, which in practice turn out to be much smaller given the complexity of the developed solutions. Very complex does not relate to large market opportunities, it is rather the opposite.

Interrupting or reorienting projects that, over time, prove to be too small of an opportunity, should be much more common. Timing and market maturities are two other key elements to study carefully. Some technologies are just too early to reach and grow on the market, due to multiple structural factors.

Despite all the efforts deployed by the venture team, the market might not be ready for technology even if it is solving a very important problem.

Corporate pathfinders help founders find a way through the pre-industrialisation maze, co-drafting a roadmap to market, and challenging the possible paths. Once a joint market opportunity is validated, they are expected to morph into different players: corporate activators.

Leverage your corporate activators

Deep tech ventures face several challenges that strategic investors can help to address. Firstly, owing to tough global competition (and the inherent noise), it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate B2B offerings on the basis of functional benefits. It is especially the case in the advanced materials fields, in which “wonder materials” are regularly touted to investors and corporations alike.

Also Read: How to build deep tech startups across borders

With a growing number of market players, customers have to choose between many offerings that promise similar levels of quality. In addition, business customers frequently require tailored solutions for which it is more difficult to evaluate the quality before the purchase.

Secondly, the traditional narrative of B2B transactions based on highly rational decision processes in which customers exhaustively survey the available options in the marketplace and select their partners on the basis of objective performance dimensions — such as availability, functionality, and reliability– is far from the reality we face every day.

An alternative point of view to this traditional approach to B2B marketing is the interaction perspective, which emphasises the importance of personal selling and the relationship-building function of go-to-market and sales interactions. Those efforts take time. In terms of recurring revenue, they are a game changer over the medium term.

Finally, deep tech offerings are inherently complex: the product or delivery of a service requires customisation to the specific business needs of customers and the value chains they are embedded in. In such turbulent and fierce competition times, customers do not want to be passive.

They have become active entities willing to contribute to startup development: value co-creation has become the new paradigm in contemporary deep tech marketing. By involving strategic partners in the value creation process, founding teams strive to build stronger relationships and secure over time more loyal and satisfied corporate customers.

It is a win-win situation. Building on mutual trust, corporate activators start showcasing brands and products internally (i.e., spreading the word to business units), and externally with a selected range of existing clients and partners.

In conclusion, we cannot emphasise enough the effectiveness of corporate pathfinders in science-push market discovery, and corporate activators throughout a market penetration journey.

Co-assessment, co-innovation, co-development and co-design have become more pervasive. They emphasise the positive synergistic effects of those science-industry interactions, from building solid business networks to developing collaborative ecosystems, from Singapore to the world.

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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 Southeast Asian startup ecosystem witnessed many activities this week. From GoTo’s release of Q1 financial results to Capria’s first close of Fund II and Selex Motors’s US$3 million financing, the ecosystem saw many major deals.

Take a look at the highlights of the week.

GoTo trims Q1 loss by 41%

Indonesian tech giant GoTo Group announced its financial results for the first three months of this year. The firm said it narrowed its net loss by 41 per cent for the quarter ending March 31, 2023, to Rp 3.9 trillion (US$265 million) from US$445 million recorded in the same period last year.

The improvement is mainly attributed to higher revenues and reduced incentives and product marketing spending.

In Q1 2023, GoTo Group continued to optimise monetisation and reduce costs across the organisation. Gross revenue grew 14 per cent YoY to Rp 6 trillion (US$408 million), while incentives and product marketing costs were reduced by Rp 2.6 trillion (US$317 million) or 39 per cent YoY.

ONE, Animoca join hands

Animoca Brands and its game developing and publishing subsidiary Notre Game announced a partnership with leading martial arts organisation ONE Championship to create an NFT-powered mobile game ONE Fight Arena.

The We3 game is being developed by Notre Game and will start player testing in Q4 2023, with a full global launch in Q1 2024.

It will be available as a free-to-play mobile game on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Explico secures US$1.4M

Singapore-based edutech startup Explico secured US$1.4 million in pre-Series A financing. The key investors are Astonic Ventures Singapore, Mavis Tutorial Centre, and Singapore Asia Publishers.

Explico will use the money to enhance its learning platform and expand in Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam and Philippines, and Africa.

Better Bite backs 4 alt-protein firms

Better Bite Ventures, a fund focused on alternative protein startups in Asia Pacific, invested an undisclosed amount in four startups under its early-stage First Bite initiative.

The startups are Singapore-based Allium Bio and Cultivaer, New Zealand-based EatKinda, and India-based Klevermeat.

Capria Fund II hits US$100M first close

Capria Ventures, a ‘global south’ specialist VC firm, announced the first close of its US$100 million Fund II.

The VC firm’s previous institutional investors, including OIP Investment Trust and Gates Ventures, besides individuals and family offices, including Crystal Springs Foundation, Sall Family Foundation, Brakeman Family Trust, and two founders of Pioneer Square Labs, invested.

Fund II will make early-growth (Series A and A+) investments in sectors, including fintech, mobility/logistics, agtech/foodtech, climate, and job tech/HRtech, with an emphasis on Generative AI and climate tech.

Cosmose AI nets funding from NEAR

Singapore-based Cosmose AI, a global platform that predicts and influences how people shop offline, received a strategic financing from NEAR Foundation at a US$500 million valuation.

NEAR Foundation is a Swiss non-profit that supports the ongoing growth and development of the Near Protocol, a carbon-neutral blockchain.

With the new investment, Cosmose will innovate within the Web3 ecosystem to create a “seamless” experience for shoppers and increase sales for retailers. By leveraging Web3, Cosmose AI can ensure that users maintain complete control over their data and benefit from the ecosystem they help create.

VN’s Selex Motors scores US$3M

Selex Motors, a Vietnamese maker of electric two-wheelers and battery packs, netted US$3 million in convertible notes from ADB Ventures, Touchstone Partners, and two foreign investment funds.

The company aims to utilise the funds to expand its two-wheeler production lines and set up battery-swapping systems in key cities in Vietnam, aiming to become the nation’s largest battery-swapping network provider.

“This investment will provide us with a strong foothold in Vietnam and a platform for our expansion into other parts of the region,” said Selex CEO Nguyen Huu Phuoc.

ZEBOX expands into APAC

ZEBOX, a French accelerator connecting entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and ecosystem experts globally, announced the launch of its Asia Pacific hub in Singapore.

The accelerator aims to help tackle pressing business and sustainability issues in multiple sectors, such as supply chains, logistics, transportation, and energy.

With the support of Enterprise Singapore and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), ZEBOX Asia Pacific will identify startups in Asia, notably in Singapore, and match them to corporate partners. Together, they can embark on co-innovation projects locally and across markets in the Asia Pacific.

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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 connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Copyright: akerstudio

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While global e-commerce has passed its COVID-19-induced peak, the sector is still on track to expand for the foreseeable, growing a further 10.4 per cent this year with global sales reaching US$6.3 trillion according to eMarketer.

Asia is also expected to have the lion’s share of this growth with over US$2 trillion in sales. Zooming into Southeast Asia, the market is projected to mushroom by 22 per cent and will reach around US$230 billion in gross merchandise volume in 2026, with Singapore leading the region.

E-commerce is essential to Asia’s economic prospects

The growing e-commerce market has provided a platform for many of Asia’s small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to reach new markets and engage in international trade. Importantly SMEs are the backbone of Asia’s economy and these businesses represent 17 per cent of the national GDP in low-income countries such as India, or circa 40-50 per cent in higher-income countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

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

Here we have a unique window of opportunity. Macroeconomic headwinds are battering Western markets, while economic optimism has returned to Asia. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is also picking up momentum and sets to drive more cross-border trade.

Yet threatening this optimism is that SMEs remain largely an underserved group. The most recent figures from the Alternative Credit Council quantify the funding gap for Asian SMEs at US$4.1 trillion.

The challenge lies in that when these SMEs grow, they do so at pace and as do their financing needs. Yet all too often entrepreneurs face substantial challenges accessing funding quickly enough through traditional avenues such as via banks.

Turning data into insights

There are several reasons for this. One is the lack of insights available to financial institutions in making lending decisions. Underwriting for funding remains largely paper-based evidence from a pre-defined list of documents such as invoices or previous sales records. Thus underwriting decisions are based on a very limited base of non-digital backwards-looking data resulting in a reduced risk tolerance to compensate.

Yet interestingly, when it comes to e-commerce, there is an abundance of real-time data across different platforms and partners in the value chain from procurement to fulfilment. While this offers a treasure trove of alternative data, the challenge is that such data is often unstructured, unconnected and in various formats. By breaking the siloes between e-commerce and finance data, richer insights can be uncovered and this is the first step to informing underwriting decisions.

The need to bring together investors with innovators

Another issue is that although traditional financial institutions such as banks are holders of capital, they may not have the capability, operational model, or risk appetite to lend to this segment of the market.

This is where hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore can play an important role in connecting financial institutions with financial power, with fintech companies that have the technological and operational models to deploy capital and serve this sector.

Given its proximity, Singapore is well placed to be a funding corridor into Southeast Asia which has immense potential for cross-border e-commerce trade. Burgeoning markets include Vietnam as well as Indonesia, where its government is aiming to boost the SME share of exports by 54 per cent to 21.6 per cent by next year.

Filling the quantum requires an innovative approach

While these measures are a start, the size of the gap requires a solution which goes beyond these. Perhaps a good stress test of this was the Chinese cross-border e-commerce sector during the pandemic. Based on our data, Gross Merchandise Value in Chinese cross-border e-commerce increased by an incredible 63 per cent between 2019 and 2022.

Also Read: 3 success tips to help e-commerce businesses unlock online success

What made Chinese SMEs so successful was their ability to adapt quickly to overseas consumer trends and market opportunities. While these SMEs grew at an incredible pace, their funding needs also evolved just as rapidly.

For many Chinese entrepreneurs, traditional lending avenues even if successful, were unable to keep up with their businesses’ evolving needs, eventually becoming a bottleneck. It was during this period when we witnessed an increasing demand from these cross-border businesses for fintech alternatives able to offer dynamic funding facilities that scale with their growth patterns.

Most data involved in SME funding is backwards looking. Therefore, funding decisions are often made upon less relevant and untimely data. For this reason, providers often offer funding limited to what the customer needs at that moment – rather than based on what they need to help them grow going forward. This issue is not limited to traditional financial institutions but is something common among alternative lenders and even fintech companies in this space.

There is no question that the move to digital has made the financing process faster and more efficient. However, often the underlying risk assessment continues to be structured upon parameters and information when paper-based applications were still the norm.

This is what needs to change. It is building the ability to develop forward-looking risk modelling and harness emerging technologies such as machine learning. To sustainably deliver financial inclusion to this underserved group we need to shift mindset and business models to adapt and fully capture their needs rather than expect the underserved to conform to an approach that is not representative of their needs.

Behind every SME is an entrepreneur, real people whose lives and prosperity can be uplifted if we close this funding gap. The scale of the mission cannot be achieved alone by one bank or fintech provider. It requires the finance and fintech sector as a whole to step outside the norm, collaborate and innovate. This is an exciting moment for Asia, and there’s been no better time to be leading the charge.

–

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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Prof. Durreen Shahnaz is the founder of IIX, a pioneering impact investment firm that brings together investors, development agencies, and entrepreneurs to advance sustainable development and empower millions of women. Shahnaz is on the Forbes 50 over 50 lists and received the 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Award. Shahnaz holds degrees from Smith College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University.

Her latest book The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women is set to come out on June 27, 2023. It chronicles the story behind the founding of IIX and the life events that inspired her.

The following is an excerpt from the book:

Chapter 13: Toward a global marketplace

“Bahu!” my friend Radhika called out from a distance. Central Park was bursting with flowers and kids running around when I found a bench under the shade of a tree to rest. I was supposed to meet Radhika here to catch up. And we had so much to catch up about. Since our days at Smith, Radhika had become an embodiment of the Lower East Side. Free-spirited, creative, and optimistic, she was writing a book about how jazz musicians create music. Rob and I had been back in New York City for a few years: settling into our new careers, married life, falling right back into the intensity of the city with work and old friends. Rob had returned to investment banking and was now equipped with a law degree. He had found his groove doing billion-dollar merger and acquisition deals, helping giant companies join together or buy each other. He slipped right back into the intense routines of New York investment banking like they were a pair of old shoes.

Meanwhile, I had arrived at a dead end—several, in fact. My search to make finance do good for the 99 percent seemed imperiled. Graduate schools did not have the answers for me, nor did the bastion of development, the World Bank. Through my work experience and graduate school programs, I was creating a bridge between the vastly different domains of development and finance, but I felt so alone in making this connection.

I had interviewed with several community development banks in Philadelphia and the Greater New York area. While they were making capital available in a small way to small businesses in underserved communities, these banks were struggling. Their work was happening in a vacuum, without any connection to the larger financial markets and without access to capital to grow and lend to the community at larger scale.

Small and minority-owned businesses in underserved communities were hitting the same wall of selective bias. Even if they did receive capital from a bank—and that happened only with much difficulty—other operational challenges remained. These businesses tended to lack the “right” contacts, access to the “right” market, and sometimes simply the “right” strategy. In other words, a whole set of invisible business tools, beyond just money, enables small businesses to work—and when lacking, as in the case of many businesses owned by women and entrepreneurs of color, causes them to fail.

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

I observed micro- and small businesses in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, hitting a wall in their growth and potential positive impact in their community. Here in America, these businesses were bigger than those I had seen with Grameen, but there were a lot of similarities. Both types of businesses were located at the periphery of the financial system, without an entry to the inside. Both needed much more from the financial markets than they were getting. Making finance work for the underserved “takes a village,” to crib a well-known phrase—but where was that village? Who was going to create it? Where was the pathway for these enterprises and the underserved communities they represent to financial markets that truly value their work?

Feeling disillusioned and unable to change a rigid system, I had left the financial sector for a job with Hearst, the multibillion-dollar media company. I was now overseeing the business of a dozen women’s magazines. In my ever-evolving search to find the source of power and turn it inside-out, I had wandered into media, which I believed had incredible potential for public service by influencing hearts and minds. Media also had incredible power to influence public opinion and the financial market. It sat in the nexus of human development and economic opportunity with the power to unleash change. At least that is what I thought.

But now I had a fancy job at Hearst magazines, and I was feeling more disillusioned than ever. Could I really make a difference by informing women about twenty ways to get the man of their dreams or eight ways to make the perfect pie? I struggled to come to terms with what people wanted to read versus what was moral and just. Adding to the tension between consumer desire and what you think they should desire was the overarching pressure to create content that would attract the advertising dollar.

Even while our magazines were offering solutions for women to shape and control their bodies, I was feeling betrayed by mine. I was recovering from an ectopic pregnancy, which takes hold in the fallopian tube and can be fatal to the mother if not detected in time. Without knowing it, I had been six weeks pregnant when I started bleeding at work and fainted.

During the month of bed rest following my emergency surgery, I had spent time piecing together what had happened and how I felt about it. I had been pregnant? We certainly hadn’t planned it. I had been traveling so much for my corporate job that I had lost track of many things in my life. I hadn’t noticed anything different with my body other than chronic exhaustion. Now I had lost one fallopian tube, and my other tube had been severely damaged during my teenage years when my appendix ruptured. Sadness overwhelmed me.

Now I still tired easily, but I was healing. I was doing some work every day, trying my best to run a vast overseas media operation while sitting propped up on a bed, with a cordless landline phone, in a tiny New York apartment.

But it was hard to focus on the nuances of growing a magazine business on the other side of the world when my head was in a fog. I could not focus. Little made sense anymore. How strange it feels to mourn for something you did not even know you wanted.

Also Read: How Third Derivative assesses the impact of a potential climate tech investment

Sitting on the park bench, I smiled as Radhika ran toward me with her big smile, crumpled linen shirt, and torn jeans. “Bahu!” she sang out again, her hair flowing behind her. She thought it was hilarious that Rob called me Bahu. “I mean, honestly, how cute and corny can it be?” she would laugh, and soon the teasing became a part of her vocabulary. So I was bride to Radhika now too.

Radhika engulfed me in a bear hug. “Bahu, how are you feeling? Are you OK?” she took my face in her hands. “You know it’s OK, right? Being a mother does not define womanhood—screw what South Asian culture shoves down our throats. We are in America. Think of all that you have done here as a woman—and as a minority woman at that!”

I saw the love and concern in her shining eyes and started sobbing. “I am sorry,” I said eventually, wiping my nose and resting my forehead on Radhika’s shoulder. “I don’t know why I am crying. I didn’t think I wanted to have a baby. But now that I can’t, I’m overwhelmed with sadness—and I’m angry! I’m angry with my body and my fate.”

I thought I wanted to transform the world for inclusion and gender equality, I told Radhika, but I hadn’t done anything. Yes, I could occasionally push through some meaningful content—like magazine covers featuring women of colour or stories covering economic inequality. But so what? Did that move the needle at all? I felt full of despair, and my words showed it.

“Hey, this is not the Bahu I know!” Radhika said, pulling back to look me straight in the eye.

“The Bahu I know does not let anything pull her down. What happened to the new idea that was brewing?”

A few weeks earlier, I had told her my idea for a new company: one that would connect the haves and have-nots from across the globe, as producers and buyers on equal footing. I dreamed of an online global marketplace of handmade goods made by millions of women artisans, and small businesses. I had wondered aloud to her whether a marketplace would be the next stage of the microcredit movement. Not only would women have the chance to start small businesses making handmade goods, but they’d also have the opportunity to grow their business by accessing new markets through this new medium called the internet. A new online company for collectibles called eBay was getting people excited, I had mused to Radhika; surely the market would have an appetite for handmade gifts, household items, and fashion accessories from around the world.

Also Read: Why GoImpact believes that education is the key to promoting ESG investment

“You’re right,” I told Radhika. “I need to put it down on paper and write a business plan.” I smiled, feeling a nudge of something like hope in my stomach. “I mean, maybe this new global equalizer, the internet, can help me do it. It’s 1999!” I said.

“Right!” Radhika said animatedly. “Now this is the Bahu I know!”

*

Writing a business plan is like taking the first step of a marathon— or maybe the first thousand steps. A business plan is basically a structured research paper in which you outline how you will create the business, who your customers will be, how you will grow, and what technology, marketing, and sales strategy you will need. The plan allows you to think through whether what you want to do is actually possible.

Once you ink the idea, having evaluated all the necessary parts of growth, you turn the ideas into numbers. The numbers tell you how much it will cost to make this idea a reality. It is the first reality check of an entrepreneur’s journey, the stage during which the edge of idealism often collides with pragmatism. How will the revenue streams look? How much money do you need to get the company off the ground? Will you need outside funding and if so, where will you get it? You will not have all the answers yet as to whether your new venture will succeed or fail. But now you’ve got some structure to the thinking, a framework for the idea, and the numbers to back it up. Now you need to make the plan a reality.

My company, oneNest, would manifest my quest to connect the worlds of the haves and the have-nots. I wanted to empower women, artisans, and microbusinesses from underserved communities by connecting them with a global market to sell their goods. These goods would be handcrafted personal items and household goods—jewelry, shawls, scarves, photo frames, tablecloths, bedspreads—anything that you need in your day-to-day life and made with hands and from the heart from artisans all over the world. The market would improve not only their individual incomes but also the fate of their communities, mightily. We would give women access to a market to sell their products so that they could pay off the loans they had taken to expand their production, avoiding the fate of the Grameen borrowers who defaulted on their loans after a few years because they had no access to new markets to grow their business.

In my research for the business plan, I found that such a marketplace simply did not exist. The internet presented a perfect opportunity for bringing exquisite, fair-trade items, made by artisans around the world, together in one marketplace. Beautifully woven fabrics from Bangladesh, silk shawls from Cambodia, silver jewelry from Indonesia, glass-beaded purses from Kenya, ceramic bowls from Mexico: the oneNest platform would show photographs of these products and share the stories of how they were made and by whom, as well as the positive impact created by every purchase. By connecting the two worlds of the buyers and the sellers, we could move the needle on global income inequality.

Turning an idea into a plan and then into reality hinges on an entrepreneur’s ability to convince friends, family, and acquaintances to contribute labour and funds. The two first believers in oneNest were Mohsin, a childhood friend of mine, and Vance, a friend from the corporate world. Both men believed in the power of the internet to democratise the market and connect the haves with the have-nots for sustainable growth. All three of us put in some seed money to pull together a prototype of the website.

Also Read: In February, digital transformation and social impact continue to take centre stage in startup investments

We got to work right away. Mohsin pulled together the web developers, while Vance took care of operational aspects like logistics and delivery. My job as CEO was to design the platform, source the goods that would appeal to the Western market, ensure pricing and quality, attract the buyers, find the right partners for marketing, and start building the team and the business as a whole.

A market requires two sides to come together simultaneously: buyers and sellers. On one side, we built a list of artisans and small businesses making beautiful handmade products. Watching the first artisans post product listings on the website was thrilling. There was Usha from India, uploading pictures of her gorgeous blue-and-white block print cushion covers and bedspreads. Maria from Guatemala uploaded photos showcasing the thick silver jewelry that she made that honored Indigenous designs. Grace, an artisan from the Philippines, shared a touching story of how she and her daughter collected seashells from the beach next to her village to create small, delicate capiz bowls from mother of pearl. Each item had a heartwarming story of the creator’s passion and purpose wrapped around it.

Even as listings from sellers began pouring in, we had to get their goods in front of direct consumers and small retail businesses. We started pulling together the buyers—mom-and-pop stores, gift companies, anyone and everyone who would buy artisanal gift items.

The technology had hiccups. In these early days of the internet, it was difficult to capture the beauty and exquisite artisanship of the handcrafted items. The photographs uploaded by vendors were often of poor quality and the descriptions inadequate. Sourcing and delivering the products, as well as enhancing their appearance on the website, were difficult tasks. Vance, Mohsin, and I were all working part-time from home, but we soon realised that arrangement was not sustainable. We needed to get an office, we needed to start working full time, and we needed to raise money to grow the business.

Even as the stress of our startup began to build, I could feel an almost physical sense of satisfaction as the dots between my three domains—development, media, and finance—began connecting. I reached out to my contacts at various microfinance organisations, fair-trade organisations, and artisan groups around the world to get their members to list their products on oneNest. I reached out to my media friends to develop creative marketing channels for oneNest. My experience of running multiple offices across multiple time zones at Hearst was coming in handy as I engaged microbusinesses and media houses across multiple countries and faced hurdles of cross-border commerce.

We were ready to move into the next gear: figuring out how to harness the power of finance to help our embryonic business.

We needed funding.

—

The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women (2023) will be published by Broadleaf Books on June 27, 2023. The book is available for pre-orders on Amazon starting from April 27, 2023.

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.

Image Credit: Durreen Shahnaz

The post Book excerpt: How Durreen Shahnaz finds the inspiration behind her impact investment firm IIX appeared first on e27.

When watching the Earth Week panel discussions on YouTube I tuned in to some of the thought leaders in Blockchain and it forced me to focus on the threats of our changing environments and how projects are trying to support some of the most unfairly impacted. 

Rene Reinsberg, President of the Celo Foundation recognises that climate and economic opportunity are linked. As a technology, money is essentially software. Blockchain can reinvent the financial system and provide positive benefits through external factors. Climate change is driven by human behavior and it is not impacting people in a fair way. 

Reinsberg describes Web3 as “…a toolset for mass co-ordination.” This collective approach to solving some of the world’s biggest problems is a new way to consider the potential of humans when tackling the climate crisis.

In a world where success increasingly depends on reputation and trust, why is greenwashing so common?

Greenwashing refers to making unsubstantiated claims about sustainability and environmental practices to improve corporate image. As a result, regulatory bodies around the world are increasing their scrutiny and enforcement of ESG metrics reporting, with fines for violations sometimes exceeding US$1 million, as issued by the SEC.

Also Read: How Singapore is leveraging technology to become a sustainable fashion hub

However, reporting on greenwashing is challenging as organisations often struggle to measure and track relevant data points in an efficient and reliable way. This lack of standard metrics and transparency makes it difficult for consumers to trust the data and for regulators to distinguish between genuine and false reports.

Blockchain technology can help address this issue by providing transparent data recorded efficiently and automated reporting of various data points related to an organisation’s ESG tracking. 

Blockchain and Web3 Technologies funding climate solutions

Blockchain and Web3 technologies are at the forefront of a movement towards increased transparency, which can help achieve the goals set by the Paris Climate Accord and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Blockchain projects are providing a foundation for structural changes that support cultural climate awareness, climate policy-making, and individual commitments to sustainability.

Today, it is dangerous to ignore the urgency of climate change. As the only place with a continuous life cycle, Earth is being harmed by all kinds of destructive actions. We need to act now to save our home and ensure a healthy environment for both living and nonliving creatures.

Imagine a world where recycling is not only easy but also profitable. With a blockchain-based recycling program, you can earn tokens in exchange for dropping off recyclables like plastic containers, cans, and bottles. It’s already working in Northern Europe, and the rest of the world needs to catch up.

Furthermore, conventional power networks are centralised, leading to energy delivery inefficiencies and power outages in areas devastated by natural catastrophes or poverty. A blockchain-based peer-to-peer power system can shift electricity remotely from where it’s generated in excess to where it’s needed, reducing the need for energy storage and fossil fuels.

Incentivising organisations to be transparent 

The environmental footprint of products is also impossible to determine in the existing system, and its carbon emissions are not reflected in the price. But with blockchain technology, each brand’s carbon emissions can be monitored, and the amount of carbon tax to be levied can be calculated at the time of sale. This will encourage purchasers to choose environmentally sustainable items and incentivise corporations to reorganise their supply chains.

And finally, blockchain can make supply chains more transparent, tracing products from the factory to the store and reducing waste, inefficiencies, fraud, and unethical behaviours. Consumers will have a better understanding of how each product was created and distributed, allowing them to make more ecologically conscious decisions.

We have the technology to save the earth, and we need to use it. Let’s act to ensure a sustainable future for our planet.

Four organisations connecting blockchain with climate solutions

The Celo Foundation 

Celo is the carbon-negative, EVM-compatible blockchain ecosystem. Their primary goal is to enhance the capacity for refi applications on the Celo blockchain. During the Global Impact Investing Network Investor Forum in The Hague, the Celo Foundation, based in the U.S., unveiled its “two per cent for Web3 Impact” commitment.

Also Read: Understanding the role of fintech, blockchain in transitioning to net zero

This initiative, developed within the Foundation’s Social Impact Collective, is an industry-wide effort that aims to assist in the onboarding of over 100 impact investors to Web3 and facilitate their first investment in the field or offer liquidity to impact lending protocols.

Ethic hub

A noteworthy example of a regenerative finance initiative that utilises smart contracts for crowd-funded impact investing is Ethic Hub, a company that originated in Spain and is redefining traditional microfinance.

Ethic Hub provides small-scale loans to farmers who have limited financing options and were previously subject to high-interest rates of up to 100 per cent. With a minimum investment of only around US$20, Ethic Hub uses blockchain technology to democratise impact investing and minimise investment risks through its native token, Ethix, which serves as a backup for Ethic Hub’s compensation pool.

Since its establishment in 2018, Ethic Hub has financed 450 projects, deployed US$3 million in capital, and generated a 1.2 per cent default rate and a nine per cent return to investors.

Climate Collective

The Climate Collection provides grant funding, community education, and collaboration with members to promote various impactful products and protocols that advance the Regenerative Finance ecosystem. Our goal is to encourage the adoption of ReFi and shift perceptions about the blockchain industry by engaging with climate enthusiasts and crypto participants.

Together with our members, we aim to create an all-inclusive ReFi Stack that surpasses its individual components, to foster a Web3-native financial system that promotes ecological regeneration alongside economic growth.

Digital Art 4 Climate

DigitalArt4Climate is an initiative involving multiple stakeholders that leverages blockchain technology (specifically non-fungible tokens/NFTs) to transform artwork into digital assets that can be collected and traded.

By doing so, it creates a social and technological innovation space that allows for unique possibilities to mobilise resources in support of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals/Agenda2030, particularly in the area of climate action empowerment.

–

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

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Filipino cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao, who is one of the world’s most famous cosplayers as well as the co-founder of Southeast Asian esports company Tier One Entertainment, recently started exploring AI art.

Admitting that she’s late to the party, Gosiengfiao, who is an artist herself, just wanted to play around with the AI art generators that have become massively popular in the past few months. Just as all things AI have become.

Imagine her shock, then, when her followers became so upset when she posted AI-generated art on her Facebook page. The barrage of negative comments was so bad that she was forced to take down the image and post an apology. 

“‘Sorry…’ — art by yours truly (non-AI). 

“Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. I’m not here to promote AI-generated images. Just exploring what all the fuss is about. Tbh, I’m late to the game (since this is my first time trying this out). And by doing this now I understand why some fellow artists are against it. I still support real art and will continue to produce non-AI works.

“Today, I listened to all of you and educated myself more about the concerns many of you have around AI-generated images. As a gamer, I like to explore technology, but as an artist, I have deep respect for the craft. I apologise for disappointing you guys. My heart still lies with real art.”

Now, what’s wrong with this picture?

Much ado about AI art

This is what I posted as a comment on her apology.

“I’m sorry you had to experience this, Alodia. It’s an outrage how public figures get bullied by an online mob. It’s one thing to have your opinion on AI art. It’s another to attack someone experimenting with AI art and force her to take it down.

Also Read: Effective marketing strategies to win over Gen Z for your startup

“Yes, there are valid concerns over AI art. But a mob is a mob, online and offline, and this is basically censorship. Hope you’re all proud of yourselves and your groupthink.”

Let me be clear: it is valid to question the ethical and legal implications of AI-generated art. For instance, research has shown that AI generators can simply copy existing images.

“Researchers in both industry and academia found that the most popular and upcoming AI image generators can ‘memorise’ images from the data they’re trained on. Instead of creating something completely new, certain prompts will get the AI to simply reproduce an image. Some “of these recreated images could be copyrighted. But even worse, modern AI generative models have the capability to memorise and reproduce sensitive information scraped up for use in an AI training set.”

AI art is currently in legal greyscale, challenging existing copyright and privacy laws. In the meantime, many artists have been earning an income selling their AI-generated art as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs have proven to be a boon for many artists, bringing their work to the attention of an audience that might previously not have been interested in art, but like collecting digital collectibles.

The artists who oppose AI art, however, are concerned not only for ethical reasons but also economic ones, as they deem it unfair to compete with someone who does not have “natural talent” and who hasn’t put in the number of hours required to train in their craft and produce works from scratch, whether manually or digitally.

Of course, AI artists will point out that they do use their talent and own artistic style to edit and enhance the images AI has generated. The AI-generated images are only the building blocks – far from the finished product. And so the question goes back again to whether the AI images themselves violated someone’s copyright.

Far from the online crowd

Clearly, the controversy over AI art is a complex issue that cannot and will not easily be resolved. It is just the tip of the iceberg, as AI continues to evolve and becomes part of human society. 

It is only human to be afraid that AI will replace you. For instance, the Industrial Revolution shook the foundations of society and rendered many professions obsolete or undesirable – and not everyone who lost a job was able to adapt. That’s why, in the age of ChatGPT, many humans are anxious that they could be replaced by AI.   

My problem, however, with what Gosiengfiao experienced is that she became a victim of an online mob mentality. Unfortunately, online mob mentality has become the norm rather than the exception in social media, turning it into a toxic environment.

By loudly criticising and verbally attacking her with their barrage of comments, these so-called fans basically bullied Gosiengfiao into taking down the Ai-generated art and forced her to apologise. It’s no different from the toxic behaviour of, say, K-pop fans who want to dictate what the recording label of their idols should do, or who verbally abuse other K-pop artists and their fans. 

It is a herd mentality in digital form. An online mob is not interested in a discussion or an exchange of ideas. What they want is to impose their ideas and force someone to act the way they want them to. 

Also Read: How to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in DeFi and Web3

In other words, they are online bullies. And the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.

“We’re entering a world where more of our lives and actions are being not only monitored, but closely inspected, and it’s only a matter of time before we’re all judged under similar scrutiny. I hope for your sake, as well as mine, that we’re able to find a more peaceful way to express criticism and discontent for the actions of our fellow people—and that the institutions of the world grow enough of a backbone to stand up against internet hate mobs.”

It’s hard, of course, to fight against mob mentality, especially since most of us are on social media because we want to be liked. It’s so much easier, then, to just think like the crowd – or to give in to their demands.

“When we share our thoughts on social media, we’re generally hoping for validation. A simple web search will reveal that people have begun discussing the possibility that many in our society are now addicted to likes. By extension, our desire to be accepted can impact our ability to be objective in the face of online bullying. In fact, it may contribute to our willingness to join the mob. 

“This collection of naysayers may be completely well-intentioned but could be making decisions and forming opinions based on irrational thought. Once this groupthink sets in, an ‘us versus them’ attitude can dominate any discussion. When members of the group don’t want to dissent for fear of rejection, the mob mentality will prevail.”

At the end of the day, being human means learning to think for ourselves – and to accept that others may not think as we do.

–

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: Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

The post The controversy over AI art: Online mob mentality and the complex ethics of creativity appeared first on e27.

 

Dear Pro member,

It seems GoTo Group’s cost-cutting measures are paying off.

The Softbank-backed tech giant managed to cut its net loss for Q1 by 41%. Like many other tech startups in the region, GoTo also has been tightening its purse strings by cutting jobs and arresting cash burns to survive these uncertain times. Gross revenue also grew 14 per cent y-o-y.

The firm said in March it would cut 600 more jobs after the layoff of 1,300  employees announced in November. As per some reports, the reduced head count saved it about 210 billion rupiah (US$14.3 million) in Q1.

The group expects to turn profitable in Q4 on higher revenue growth and reduced costs; savings from the jobcuts announced in March will be reflected from May onwards, says CEO Andre Soelistyo.

This is the top story of this edition of Ecosystem Roundup.

Also, take a look at the other major developments in Southeast Asia’s startup industry.

Regards,
Sainul.

—

Startup fundraising in SEA dipped to a 2-year low in Q1
Homegrown startups raised US$2.08B in Q1, down 25% from the previous quarter and 52% from the same period last year; Startups in the region clocked 195 equity funding deals in Q1, marking a 37% drop on y-o-y basis.

GoTo Q1 loss narrows 41% to US$265M on higher revenues, lower marketing spend
Gross revenue4 grew 14% YoY to US$408M, while incentives and product marketing costs were reduced by US$317M or 39% YoY; The adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2023 improved 67% YoY to US$109M.

Capria Ventures hits first close of US$100M Fund II
The fund will invest in 20-25 startups across India, SEA, LatAm, and the MEA; The focus sectors are fintech, mobility/logistics, agtech/foodtech, climate, and jobtech/HRtech.

Finnish EV firm Virta raises US$93.8M, gears up for SEA expansion
The investors are Jolt Capital, E.ON, Helen Ventures, and Vertex Growth Fund; The company plans to expand into Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam within the next two years.

Edtech firm BrightChamps makes new acquisition to enter B2B vertical
The Metamorphosis Edu deal is expected to help BrightChamps expand its learning offerings to schools globally; This marks the company’s third acquisition after it bought Vietnam’s Schola for US$15M and India’s Education10x in 2022.

Cosmose AI raises funding at US$500M valuation
The investor is Swiss non-profit NEAR Foundation. Cosmose gathers insights from smartphones and helps understand offline shopping habits and drives footfall across 20M venues in Asia.

ONE Championship, Animoca partner to create NFT-powered mobile game
ONE Fight Arena will offer players optional Web3 integration that uses blockchain and NFTs to provide authentic digital ownership to players for certain game assets.

MetaCRM raises US$2.5M to build one-stop Web3 CRM tools
Cherubic Ventures is the lead investor: The Taiwanese startup says its Web3 CRM products can connect on-chain and off-chain data to create blockchain-native solutions and analytics tools.

Explico bags US$1.4M to make student assessment easier using AI
The investors are Astonic Ventures Singapore, Mavis Tutorial Centre, and Singapore Asia Publishers; Explico can generate assessment tasks, find appropriate peers for study groups, and provide transparent adaptive feedback using AI.

Better Bite invests in alt-protein startups Allium Bio, Cultivaer, EatKinda, Klevermeat
The VC firm invested from its First Bite, which provides a US$50K investment to new and aspiring alt-protein founders in APAC; A new round of First Bite applications is now open until May 19.

French accelerator ZEBOX opens APAC hub in Singapore
ZEBOX Asia Pacific aims to help tackle pressing business and sustainability issues in sectors such as supply chains, logistics, transportation, and energy.

True Global Ventures pivots fund to focus on generative AI
TGV has now rebranded the Follow On Fund to the Opportunity Fund; About 30% of this fund has already been deployed;
The firm expects to reach the second close for the fund by the end of May.

SoftBank Group taps Arm CEO as board member
Rene Haas is the CEO of British semiconductor firm Arm; SoftBank acquired Arm for US$32B in 2016; The semiconductor company is planning to launch an IPO in the US this year, with a reported target of US$8B minimum.

17 startups inch closer to competing at the 2023 TOP100!
Check out this diverse and exciting group of frontrunners as they inch closer to competing at this year’s TOP100!

Bootstrapped: How 99VR raced against the clock to build a profitable business
99VR CEO advises aspiring founders to create a simple product that can be immediately used by the general public and has a direct impact.

Why Fidelity Funding believes startups need more than just funding to succeed
To curb the high failure rate in the startup ecosystem, Fidelity Funding builds a model that provides startups with more than just money.

Canvas Space allows you to micro-monetise your content in fiat, cryptocurrencies
Canvas Space is a creator-centric platform, allowing micro-transactions for any small parts (seconds, pixels, minutes, and paras).

We want to be the ‘verification check’ for growth-stage companies in SEA: TNB Aura
In their investment philosophy, TNB Aura is taking a top-down approach when it comes to assessing a potential investment.

Hard work takes over when talent fails: Latif Sim of BeLive Technology
Knowledge evolves day to day and there could be situations which require us to unlearn and relearn says the Chief Strategy Officer at BeLive Technology.

Web3 startups: The next big thing investors are flocking to
Web3 startups have captured the attention of investors, who recognise the potential for high returns on investment and the benefits of diversification.

Lessons learned from executive who helped expand 4 unicorns to global markets
Throughout his 15-year career, Troy Malone has helped Evernote, Weebly, All-Turtles, mmhmm and Drata to scale internationally.

How business leaders can utilise generative AI in employee communications
There are some incredible use cases where generative AI can increase efficiency and help you focus on the stuff that matters.

Rise of digital collectibles: The long-awaited “NFT” rebrand
The rebranding of NFTs to digital collectibles allows people bullish and building in Web3 to have better and easier conversations.

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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 connecting with investors, visibility through the platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

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