Hong Kong-based open metaverse company Animoca Brands has secured US$20 million in a round led by CMCC Global.

Kingsway Capital, Liberty City Ventures, GameFi Ventures, Aleksander Larsen (founder of Sky Mavis), Gabby Dizon (founder of Yield Guild Games), institutional investors of Koda Capital, and others also joined the round.

Animoca Brands’s Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, Yat Siu, also participated.

The new capital will be used to advance the company’s Mocaverse project, including product development, facilitating Web3 adoption, and securing partnerships to expand its portfolio’s gaming, culture and entertainment ecosystem.

Also Read: Animoca Brands to acquire MotoGP developer WePlay Media

Mocaverse is building Web3-native tooling to empower products in gaming, culture, and entertainment verticals. This allows users to create their own digital identity, accrue reputation, earn and spend loyalty points and use their digital identity to access the Mocaverse ecosystem, seeded by Animoca Brands’s 450-plus portfolio companies and partner network with over 700 million addressable users.

Mocaverse will soon launch Moca ID, a non-transferrable NFT collection designed to enable users to craft their on-chain identities and participate in the Mocaverse ecosystem. Moca ID holders can access Mocaverse ecosystem experiences and earn loyalty points through active engagement.

These loyalty points will power a permissionless and interoperable loyalty system that will be progressively decentralised to enable third-party adoption and integration of Moca ID to advance the accessibility and growth of Web3.

“The ongoing evolution of the Internet involves a shift from hierarchical power structures to autonomous ones, and the DAO-based approach of Mocaverse ensures that its community will be focused on driving innovation and collaboration across the broader Animoca Brands ecosystem. In addition to empowering users to participate in a vibrant community that generates new economic opportunities, Mocaverse will also serve as the digital identity, reputation, and loyalty system for other decentralised organisations,” Siu said.

Also Read: Animoca Brands acquires US-based music metaverse company Pixelynx

Animoca Brands develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products, including original games such as The Sandbox, Phantom Galaxies, Life Beyond, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes, and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP, and Formula E.

It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Life Beyond Studios, Notre Game, TinyTap, Be., PIXELYNX, and WePlay Media.

In September 2022, Animoca Brands secured US$125 million from investors, including Boyu Capital, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Temasek and GGV Capital. Singapore-based Web3 investor True Global Ventures 4 Plus Fund and its follow-on fund TGV 4 Plus FoF also joined with a US$17.2 million convertible note investment. 

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Image Credit: Animoca Brands.

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Indonesian edutech startup Cakap recently announced that it has recorded “robust performance”, with its revenue doubling in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year (YoY), a positive outcome that the company said has been consistent since 2020.

According to Cakap CFO Jonathan Dharmasoeka, the company experiences robust growth from all segments, recording positive EBITDA. With this achievement, it is on track to meet the company’s annual budget.

“By staying relevant to evolve based on market demands, Cakap consistently broadens its offerings to benefit more Indonesian students, enhancing their language proficiency, vocational skills, and business acumen-—the main pillars of Cakap. Within the realm of languages, Cakap extends its reach across age groups, encompassing adults and children alike, while diversifying its course array,” he explains in an email to e27.

“Notably, the launch of Korean courses and the launch of blended classes at Cakap Kids Academy. In the arena of upskilling, our focus remains on courses that equip students with job-ready competencies, proving that the highest demand for the course is in the career and development category.”

Starting off as Squline, a platform to learn foreign languages, today, Cakap’s main revenue models are subscription-based and license-based models across its three business pillars: Language, upskill, and business.

The language pillar currently contributes the largest share of revenue to the company, with a growing percentage of students opting to learn Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. The courses offer programmes ranging from three months to 12 months.

Also Read: ZEZEDU revolutionises math education with its AI-powered tools, helping students to excel

As Dharmasoeka has explained, the popularity of Korean courses has surpassed Mandarin over the past six months.

Apart from that, Cakap also aims to solve the problem of learning loss, a phenomenon of elementary school students missing out on making progress in their learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Bank highlighted this issue in a report, and Cakap tackles it through the launch of their Cakap Kids Academy, an initiative that combines offline language learning with several facilities designed to enhance soft and motor skills. It aims to create a fun learning experience for children aged four to 12.

“The vision and goal of Cakap is to elevate people’s lives through quality education. This drives Cakap’s approach always to consider the holistic development of students, valuing both online and blended learning methodologies. Recognising the demand for offline engagement, Cakap has identified that certain types of development are more effectively carried out through in-person interactions. Therefore, the company strategically integrates offline components into its offerings,” Dharmasoeka explains when asked about the integration of offline elements in the company’s business.

Also Read: AI Blocks, revolutionising education with easy and effective AI technology learning

Cakap has also introduced the Cakap English Standardized Test (CEST), an English language testing system curated and developed by its internal education team that is the equivalent of other standardised tests such as TOEFL. Advantages of the test include the ability to be taken through a mobile device and the use of both human and AI supervision in its results. It is also marketed as being more flexible, affordable, and faster in giving results.

Since its launch at the end of Q1 2023, the company said that 14 institutions have adopted the CEST, and 5,000 students have been scheduled for the test.

Enabling lifelong learning

As a platform with the goal to enable lifelong learning for its users, the majority of Cakap’s students are in the 20-29 age group, followed by the 30-39 age group.

Demographically, its students are mostly located in the Greater Jakarta Area, followed by Medan and Bali in the top ten cities.

It has forged over 600 clients, spanning educational institutions, corporations, governmental bodies, and foundations.

Founded by Tomy Yunus and Yohan Limerta, Cakap’s most recent funding round is a Series C from MDI Ventures and Heritas Capital, which resulted in a US$100 million valuation.

Dharmasoeka shares the company’s up-and-coming plans for the remainder of 2023.

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

“Expanding into second and third-tier cities across all core business areas, and broadening the reach of CEST test takers through AI adaptation, are focal points. Throughout the remainder of 2023, the company is dedicated to nurturing its core business with the aim of fostering a robust and more impactful educational enterprise,” he says.

“The primary focus for 2024 centres on elevating the personalised learning experience for our students and crafting comprehensive, specialised courses. On the business front, our goal is to establish an all-encompassing ecosystem that spans casual learning and certification programmes. This effort contributes to boosting the nation’s employability rate and places a heightened emphasis on advancing UNDP SDG’s point five, which pertains to gender equality, within our business processes.”

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Image Credit: Cakap

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Gobi Partners today announced that it had made an undisclosed strategic investment in Electronic Recycling Through Heroes (ERTH), a Malaysia-based company that focuses on electronic waste (e-waste) recycling, with L8 Ventures as a co-investor in the funding round.

The investment was made out of the Khazanah Nasional-backed Gobi Dana Impak Ventures Fund (GDIV Fund), part of Khazanah’s initiative to bolster the local startup ecosystem operating within Dana Impak’s Future Malaysia Programme.

“My vision for ERTH is to see widespread acceptance of our environmental initiatives, all geared towards improving the environment. With this funding, we aim to extend ERTH’s influence further, making a positive impact on the lives of everyone,” says ERTH co-founder Nahed Eletribi in a press statement.

The company also shared that within the next 12 months, its goal is to open more branches across Malaysia.

Established by Eletribi and Mohamed “Mo” Tarek El-Fatatry in 2019, ERTH was born out of a desire to make a meaningful impact, particularly in waste reduction, with a focus on e-waste.

Also Read: YEAP joins forces with youths to drive e-waste awareness and sustainable innovation

In addition to facilitating responsible e-waste disposal, it also rewards contributors with cash incentives or vouchers. According to the company, this approach fosters a community-driven commitment to environmental preservation while providing economic compensation.

ERTH aims to achieve its goal by employing a gig-economy workforce of over 1,000 freelancers, referred to as “Heroes.” These Heroes collect obsolete, faulty, and discarded electronics, such as laptops, smartphones, printers, televisions, and various devices, directly from households and businesses.

According to Tarek, who is a Finland citizen, “Finland has consistently ranked among the cleanest countries in the world, and I’m enthusiastic about applying Finnish best practices here in Malaysia to lead the way in e-waste recycling within Southeast Asia and ultimately work towards making Malaysia the cleanest country in this region. Our partnership with Gobi through the GDIV program is a perfect match, benefiting both our companies and contributing to the improvement of Malaysia’s environmental efforts.”

Since 2019, ERTH said that its Heroes have collectively diverted more than 1,000,000 kilograms of e-waste from landfills or the equivalent of 1,053 Perodua Myvi cars or 13 Boeing 737 aeroplanes.

The Malaysian Department of Environment has recognised ERTH as the largest authorised collector of e-waste in Malaysia.

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Image Credit: Gobi Partners

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Manuva, an Indonesian startup helping SME manufacturers produce ready-made, custom-made packaging and semi-branded goods, has secured US$8 million in new funding.

Singapore-based VC firm Tin Men Capital joined the round with US$3 million, with the balance coming from other undisclosed investors.

Manuva plans to expand its business with the new funds by adding biodegradable packaging and exploring the semi-branded goods vertical.

It is also pursuing a distribution expansion strategy to reach the islands of Java, Bali, Sumatra, and several major cities across Indonesia.

Also Read: 5 smart ways to decarbonise supply chains and logistics with AI

Founded in 2018 by Anggara Pranaspati, Raffisal Damanhuri, and Hasandi Patriawan, Manuva (formerly Tjetak) provides merchants and online sellers with various types of packaging, from cardboard and snack boxes to paper bags and plastic cups. Through more than 100 manufacturing partners, Manuva is producing more than 300 different packaging SKUs under its six private label brands for more than 7,000 retailers and 100 enterprise customers.

The startup also provides modern digitisation tools that enable players in their ecosystem to improve their logistics, procurement, inventory and sales processes.

“Over the past few years, Manuva has demonstrated substantial growth while achieving sound unit economics, which is a mindset that both our teams share,” Tin Men Capital Co-Founder Murli Ravi said.

In addition to financial backing, Tin Men Capital has been collaborating closely with Manuva, offering strategic advisory services and fostering opportunities to bolster Manuva’s growth and expansion efforts.

Before this funding round, Manuva had secured an undisclosed sum in a Series A fundraising led by Vertex Ventures and a seed funding round from angels.

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Image credit: Manuva

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Protégé Ventures, a student-run venture fund programme set up by the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE), has launched the Marina & David Su Protégé Ventures Fund II.

This S$500,000 (US$368,000) sector-agnostic fund looks to invest in early-stage technology startups founded by students or recent graduates of Singapore’s polytechnics and universities.

David Su, founding managing partner of Matrix Partners China and a member of the SMU Enterprise Board, donated the amount.

The fund was launched in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, Heng Swee Keat. He was the chief guest on the opening ceremony of Finals Week (called BLAZE) of the 11th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC).

Also Read: Meet the 55 finalists vying for prizes worth US$1.9M at SMU’s LKYGBPC competition in Singapore

Protégé Ventures was formed in 2017 to facilitate connections between university innovations and VC funding and to foster collaboration among students across different tertiary institutions. It also allows students to gain practical insights into the complex venture investment landscape, nurturing the next generation of tech and entrepreneurial leaders.

Since its inception, Protégé Ventures has trained 251 students, evaluated over 1,100 deals, and invested SGD265,000 (US$194,000) in ten startups that have collectively raised over SGD35 (US$26) million from notable institutional investors.

“For Singapore to successfully engage the challenges of tomorrow, we must cultivate a new generation of tech-savvy, agile and skilled decision-makers who can take the lead in navigating the turbulent and uncertain technological and economic landscape with sensitivity and wisdom,” said Su.

The LKYGBPC is a biennial university startup challenge organised by SMU IIE. As many as 53 finalist teams representing 1,100 universities across 77 countries were selected to compete for the grand prizes in Singapore from 11 to 15 September 2023.

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Image Credit: LKYGBPC.

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