In the vibrant e27 community, a diverse array of voices actively influences conversations on emerging technologies and innovation. This feature is dedicated to our top 10 contributors, all of whom are noteworthy startup founders. They bring forth expert insights in their respective domains, offering a valuable glimpse into their journeys and experiences within the startup ecosystem.
Artem Moskalev
Moskalev is the Co-Founder of IVITECH, a mobility fintech startup. The company provides access to vehicles and innovative solutions for mobility entrepreneurs across Asia, CIS countries, and beyond. Committed to Indonesia’s greener future, it supports the government’s goal of 2.5 million electric vehicle users by 2025. Outdated and unsafe bikes hinder ride-hailing drivers, affecting their income and safety. IVITECH offers affordable daily subscriptions for brand-new electric bikes to tackle this, ensuring safety and reliability and contributing to cleaner air for healthier communities.
“It is not only big business that is able to influence global world processes. Young and emerging technology companies also have the resources and potential to make the world a better place.”
Daan van Rossum
Rossum is the CEO of FlexOS, a Future of Work media brand offering articles, podcasts, guides, and tools for modern managers navigating the dynamic work landscape, with a spotlight on remote work, hybrid work, leadership, and AI. FlexOS has garnered attention in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, and The Economist.
“There’s a noticeable shift towards emphasising its importance in boosting engagement, retention, and productivity. Furthermore, we’ve seen the rapid rise of remote and hybrid work models, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has pushed companies to rethink and enhance the experience for remote and hybrid workers.”
Daryl Lim
He is the Co-Founder of MetaPals, a blockchain startup on a journey to help users transition from Web2 to Web3 through digital pets in the metaverse. He is also an active mentor for startups, having imparted his knowledge and experience at many platforms, from hackathons to accelerator programmes.
“Just like a bear prepping for winter, tech workers can fortify themselves for the funding winter. Bears fatten up and find safe dens before the freeze; similarly, tech workers should enhance their skills, make themselves indispensable, and secure a supportive professional network. Like bears storing energy, tech workers should save and invest wisely.
A bear doesn’t sleep through all winter; they wake intermittently, ready to adapt. Similarly, tech workers should stay updated with trends and be ready to pivot. Just as the bear trusts the cycle of seasons, tech workers should remember winter always leads to spring. And in spring, opportunities bloom again.”
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Darryl Dickens
Dickens is the Founder of Out-Position, a company specialising in positioning and Category Design for tech startups, innovators, and growth-oriented enterprises. His primary areas of expertise and passion for facilitating this goal include crafting compelling points of view, implementing Category Design, and devising ecosystem strategy and optimisation.
“The Cost of Capital has irrevocably increased. We will likely not see “free money” or “zero interest rates” for the rest of our careers. This means three key things:
- Debt servicing becomes more expensive for startups
- The risk-weighting by VCs on capital investment increases
- Other options and rates of return for fixed interest, bonds, etc., become more attractive for investors/stakeholders/home offices
This will force revised thinking and strategy by founders and startups around ‘the new Category that I am creating’. It needs to be bigger than just the Total Addressable Market (TAM) currently identified — and more compelling is the new and bigger Category. This will give you a cut-through of your story and point of view around the new problem you are solving, the new category that emerges, and the new economics and value you are creating.
2024 is a very different environment. Let’s think different and bigger!”
Davin Dedhia
Dedhia is the Co-Founder and CMO of Auptimate, a platform empowering fund managers, family offices, and professional investors to swiftly launch their Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and syndicates online. Auptimate ensures investors can concentrate on their primary focus of investing, handling the legal, compliance, and operational aspects of SPV creation and management.
Gagan Ajmani
Ajmani is the CEO of WOWS Global, a Singapore-based fintech platform specialising in financing solutions for tech-enabled businesses. It is a pivotal link connecting startups with investors, streamlining transactions, and offering alternative financing options.
“As we look ahead to the upcoming year, the widespread application of AI and machine learning is fundamentally reshaping various industries, particularly in fintech. Our strategic emphasis lies in utilising AI to streamline due diligence processes, enhance transparency in private markets, and elevate analytics.
Recognising the challenges in achieving public market-like transparency in private markets, we believe that AI holds the key to addressing this issue to a significant extent. By leveraging AI responsibly, we aim to refine investor matching, optimise risk management, and reduce deal timelines substantially.
This proactive use of AI promises faster deal closures in private markets, underscoring the transformative impact of advanced technologies on the efficiency and transparency of financial transactions.”
Jakob Rost
Rost is the Founder and CEO of Ayoconnect, Southeast Asia’s leading Open Finance API platform. Since its inception in 2016, Ayoconnect has interconnected over 1,000 companies through a centralised Open API network that integrates online and offline businesses and financial services providers. Rost is also engaged as an angel investor and advisor to early-stage startups.
“The immensely popular buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payment plans have already achieved a staggering GMV of US$3.5 billion in 2022, firmly establishing themselves as one of Indonesia’s most favoured payment methods. Based on my evaluation, implementing recurring and subscription payment management via Direct Debit to facilitate payments across various digital industries offers considerable business potential.”
Also Read: Top 10 contributors steering innovation in the tech community
Laurent Misso
Misso, the Founder of GoBike, is dedicated to providing distinctive cycling experiences to local communities. Through GoBike, he aims to facilitate easy and accessible cycling, viewing it not just as a hobby but as a means to reduce environmental impact and promote a healthy lifestyle. To expand GoBike to additional locations, he aspires to inspire more individuals to embrace the cycling community.
Reinis Simanovskis
Simanovskis, CTO and Co-Founder of Finfra, is establishing embedded lending in Indonesia. Finfra provides the necessary infrastructure and seamless integration for technology companies in Southeast Asia to embed financial services from application to decision to operations.
“With less funding available, startups will be forced to focus more on their key value add and less explorations to new business verticals.”
Sunil Nair
Nair is the Co-Founder of Mela.live, a thematic commerce startup facilitating pop-up shoppathons without investments in technology and content production. Beyond his own ventures, he actively pays it forward as a mentor and advisor within the vibrant startup ecosystem in Singapore and India.
“In 2024, Generative AI is poised to revolutionise (if it has not yet happened) how we interact with technology, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. At the same time, Generative AI raises questions about the role of humans in an increasingly automated world.
It is important to ensure that generative AI systems remain under human control, do not undermine human autonomy, and simultaneously understand autonomy and sentience in AGI. The speed at which changes are taking place in the Generative AI space and ethical Generative AI that respects intellectual rights and understands the societal impact and long-term consequences will be an area to watch out for and work towards.”
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