The MoneySmart Group, which operates financial content and comparison platforms in Singapore and Hong Kong, plans to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) via a reverse takeover deal with hotel operator Asia Pacific Strategic Investments (APS).

According to a press release, the deal is worth US$161.7 million.

The purchase consideration will be satisfied by the issuance of new ordinary shares in Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments, which will collectively represent 80 per cent of the company’s enlarged share capital upon the expected completion of the acquisition and a listing within H1 2023.

Also Read: How did MoneySmart grow its revenue by 25 per cent amidst a pandemic?

Hotel operator APS has been in talks for a reverse takeover of the MoneySmart personal finance portal.

The listing on the SGX will help 13-year-old MoneySmart to raise capital for its strategic plans in Singapore and the region.

With the capital, MoneySmart anticipates rapid growth through investments in its membership and rewards programmes. In addition, it will also power other strategic partnerships through potential M&As.

The MoneySmart Group will also invest significantly in its new insurance brand Bubblegum. Launched earlier this year with car and travel insurance, Bubblegum aims to redefine the insurance experience for all customers.

Founded in 2009, MoneySmart Group operates financial content and comparison platforms in Singapore and Hong Kong. It provides aggregation, comparison, and financial advisory services for mortgage and insurance products to help customers make the best decisions with their money (loans, insurance or credit cards). MoneySmart also provides readers tips, tricks, news, reviews and commentary on money.

Also Read: Don’t know which credit card to use for a bill? MoneySmart’s new app has the answer

In 2017, MoneySmart raised S$14 million (then US$10 million) in a Series B round led by Kakaku.com, a Japanese online service provider. Existing investors SPH Media Fund and Golden Gate Ventures also participated.

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Gen Zers not only know what they want; they are more likely to seek out opportunities to get it. 

Innovative companies are recognising this impact and developing tactics to address Gen Zs, which is why as a business owner, it is time to shift your mindset to embrace this new generation of workers. 

According to a 2022 study conducted by Deloitte, “By 2025, Gen Z will make up 27 per cent of the workforce in OECD countries and one-third of the Earth’s population.” If this statistic doesn’t inform you how important it is to understand and cater to this new generation, I don’t know what will. 

Well-being is of utmost priority for Gen Zs. They want plenty of opportunities to develop, and that is how they choose their workplace. According to Forbes, 

• 32 per cent of Gen Z’s choose their workplace based on a good work/life balance 
• 29 per cent based on learning and development opportunities
• Lastly, 24 per cent based on a good salary 

Most Gen Z’s are not looking at jobs that can offer them the best salary. That is not top of their mind. Instead, well-being is.

They are individuals that are highly aware of social and environmental issues and do not shy away from taking action to live the life that they desire. They are individuals that are aspirational but are not willing to give up their work-life balance to enter the rat race. 

Is your workplace ready for this group of young professionals? If not, here are 10 ways to build initiatives at your workplace to support the future of work.

Also Read: NaaS is here to create resilient networks, are you game?

10 ways to start supporting Gen Zs at work and set up young talent for success

• Foster a positive environment so that they have a purpose-driven employee experience.
• Provide them with a safe space to learn. Always work towards formulating a good work/life balance, allowing them to learn and develop. This can be done through online learning, in-house training, or mentorship.
• Facilitate better communication with them. This is crucial, especially if your team is working remotely. The usage of project management tools like Monday.com, Trello, Asana and screen recording apps like Loom helps to build effective communication across teams too.  
• Give them the flexibility to work remotely because benefits like that will enable them to become more productive and out-put driven.
• Set up incentives. Schedule (and pay for!) team lunches or coffee breaks periodically to show them your appreciation. 
• Create challenges and embrace gamification, which can also be done remotely through features on communication channels like Slack and Gather.
• Organise monthly team bonding events – social events and outings, to adapt to a new remote work lifestyle. Even if you are physically apart, you can also organise virtual team-building initiatives. Some examples include Virtual Escape Rooms and Virtual Amazing Race. 
• Foster job satisfaction, look into their personal development and offer training. Companies like General Assembly offers corporate training packages to serve this purpose. 
• Be open and strategic toward sharing future company plans. Gen Zs want to know how a company is performing regularly, and they want to play a part in how they can contribute to the company’s north star metric, so it is important to keep them in the loop at all times.
• Ask them for insights and feedback on how to improve your business processes. You can do so using tools like Free Suggestion Box, Incognea, Peachymondays and Tinypulse.  When you are entrenched in projects, your team will often develop insights you may not see as a business owner.

Start building or refining these initiatives because being able to constantly innovate and adapt will give your company a tremendous competitive advantage down the road!

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The race towards winning the customer experience has considerably accelerated with rising competition among players around the globe and growing customer expectations. Nowadays, customers have become much more impatient than ever before as they have many other brand choices lined up, craving for their attention and eagerly promoting themselves as the best brand in town. As a result, even if a company goes to great lengths to perfect its customer journey, one bad encounter can ruin its reputation and prompt customers to try something new.

According to a survey, 86% of customers expressed their willingness to pay a premium price for a high-quality customer experience, and over 70% of them selected customer experience as a deciding factor when choosing brands. Moreover, modern customers comprised mainly of Millennials and Generation Z, also have very different expectations and consumption behaviours. Therefore, it is critical to revisit the drive of customer experience and factors affecting their engagement and loyalty. 

The evolution of the customer experience landscape

Without a doubt, digital technologies have become entrenched in customer experience, assisting their engagement with a business from the first phase of information search to the final phase of purchasing and consumption. Furthermore, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital transformation process has picked up at an unprecedented speed, evolving constantly with the introduction and refinement of more advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning. Additionally, customers have demanded a more personalised experience, yearning for a service that best suits their needs and makes them feel special.

Also read: We need to accelerate progress at the frontier of innovation

Nonetheless, despite the quick development of digital infrastructure that considerably facilitates access to digital applications, digital transformation is by no means inexpensive. In fact, the total global spending on the digitalisation process has been estimated to reach $1.78 trillion in 2021, and it will be almost $7 trillion over the period of 2020 – 2023. Additionally, with high demands for customisation for increasingly personalised services and continuous changes in the external environment, it is no longer optimal for businesses to opt for a one-size-fits-all digital solution. Therefore, many small and medium enterprises have difficulties when embarking on their digital transformation journey.

How Sendbird empowers businesses to build unique and branded customer experience

When Sendbird first started, it also encountered the same mentioned issues as it shopped for an effective customer engagement solution. “When we first began, we just built a solution that we wanted to use for our own mobile consumer application. We couldn’t find one that was modern, easy to use, and mobile-focused in the market back then, so we had to invent one for ourselves. Our goal was to enable user-to-user conversations within social apps and games. As we onboarded more customers, we started to see that simply enabling a chat experience was not the ultimate goal for customers. They wanted to create communities, facilitate transactions, connect doctors to patients, complete food deliveries, send money, and help people date and start families. We are now seeing businesses go beyond user-to-user conversations, into marketing and support conversations as well. Hence, customers pulled us into the customer engagement space over time,” shared Sendbird regarding how the company found its mission.

To address the challenges, Sendbird introduced the two ground-breaking selling points for its application. First, by offering customers APIs and software-as-a-service, Sendbird enables customers to minimise the complexity of building and maintaining the software services on their own and connect them with needed services and information.

Additionally, APIs free businesses from having to use a pre-packaged product like a SaaS tool that lock them into their in-the-box user interface and user experience. On the other hand, companies can use APIs to tailor the software services to create their desired customer experience, but they don’t have to start from scratch which significantly reduces the costs of their digitalisation process. Through this, Sendbird brings back the power of human conversations which lie at the heart of building every meaningful human relationship and getting things done.

Also read: Gen Z is redefining global consumption. Can companies keep up?

“Whether ordering food at your favourite restaurant, buying a product at a marketplace from a seller, getting help from your doctor, or meeting the love of your life, we all rely on conversations. But in mobile experiences, some of these relationships are lost, and what’s worse, in the areas of marketing and support, the existing experiences today are transactional or unidirectional, so there’s no real relationship between brands and customers,” emphasised Sendbird. “We can evolve this into a bidirectional experience in marketing, as well as improving a ticket-based, transactional support experience into asynchronous and persistent conversations with the brand, giving customers and brands the chance to form lasting and loyal relationships,” they added.

Sendbird was determined to power businesses with the ability to send marketing messages as well as connect customers with support agents, delivering differentiated customer experiences. The company recognised that while messaging apps provided businesses with a floor to connect with a ready base of customers, they have a ceiling on the quality of experiences businesses could deliver to customers. For example, the latest case of spamming on WhatsApp in India where customers have become frustrated with being spammed with marketing promotions in what once used to be a private channel for connecting with friends and family. Consequently, Sendbird anticipated that more and more messaging would start to move inside the businesses’ own mobile app, allowing businesses to also reimagine workflows with messaging and reinvent the entire customer journey.

Sendbird’s continuous journey to lead market innovations

To become the pioneering market leader it is today, Sendbird has constantly evolved to adapt to the market, the customers, and its employees. For instance, Sendbird always tries to keep a beat in the market about the shift to app-based messaging as a way for businesses to communicate and engage with customers through thought leadership content, presence in industry forums, partnerships with other customer engagement companies, and various channels to create awareness. The company also provides programmes for both companies that are just starting out on their just customer engagement journey as well as those that are shifting their customer engagement strategy to using messaging inside their mobile apps. 

“When we first started, it was merely a dream to be able to partner even with just a few. Today, we are helping more than a quarter of a billion people every month to have conversations, and we have a real chance of powering over a billion people every day. This may seem obvious today, but it certainly was a surprise when we went from just a million users a month to 10M, then now well over 250M monthly users. We were able to partner with some of the largest brands in the world”, expressed Sendbird about the company’s proudest achievements.

Also read: Going the extra mile in digital innovation for Singapore’s commuter experience

With the core value of “Endless tenacity for customers”, Sendbird engaged with customers as though they are an extension of their team — helping them imagine and build customer experiences that serve their unique business needs. Sendbird holds at its heart the belief that with heightened globalisation, innovation is flowing across the boundaries of nations, and what used to be just a Silicon Valley thing is now a phenomenon happening across the globe. 

Sendbird expects an exciting future in which more ideas come from different parts of the world and get cross-pollinated. There will be an evolution of mobile marketing and support in the coming years. The user experience will become much more modern, mobile-native, and interactive with the rise of a secular trend of a new generation of customer engagement. Sendbird will continue doing what it has been doing best, powering more brands to build conversations with their customers across marketing and support, and introducing a novel and powerful set of tools and experiences for businesses and their customers.

About Sendbird

Sendbird believes conversations are at the heart of building relationships and getting things done. As such, it built the world’s most proven conversations platform for mobile apps across chat, voice, and video. Industry leaders like Reddit, DoorDash, and Hinge use Sendbird to drive increased transactions and loyalty for hundreds of millions of users every month.

Sendbird has over 250M MAUs from over 50 countries operating in industries ranging from marketplaces, ride-sharing, online communities, gaming, live video streaming, and healthcare. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA with additional offices in New York, London, Seoul, Singapore, and Bengaluru. Sendbird has raised over $220M from leading investors, including ICONIQ Capital, STEADFAST Capital Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Shasta Ventures, Softbank Vision Fund 2, and Y Combinator.

For more information, visit Sendbird’s official website here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Sendbird.

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FishLog, an ecosystem enabler for the fisheries cold chain industry in Indonesia, has closed its US$3.5 million pre-Series A round from BRI Ventures, Accel, Insignia Ventures Partners, Patamar Capital, Indogen Capital, and Triputra Agri Group.

FishLog was established in 2020 by Bayu Anggara, Reza Fahlepi, and Abdul Halim to solve the fragmentation in cold chain fisheries in Indonesia.

Also Read: The future of farming in the Asia Pacific is here to empower farmers

The agritech startup improves cold storage, processor, and distribution in Indonesia’s fisheries to enable the industry to meet global supply and demand better. It activates fisheries coastal areas by establishing FishLog Quality Centers, an O2O hybrid platform that works with local cold storage partners. These centres provide local stakeholders, including fishermen, aggregators and traders, greater access to buyers by listing their inventory in the FishLog marketplace and digitising their operation.

FishLog also enables fisheries businesses to maximise upstream-to-downstream operations through its four products: inventory handling, financing, B2B marketplace, and cold storage digitisation.

The fresh funding will allow FishLog to improve this ecosystem of services further by providing existing players greater access to tools, operating models, and liquidity, and enhancing the industry’s ability to process products and SKUs.

Bayu Anggara, CEO and Co-Founders of FishLog, said, “While there is massive global business potential for the Indonesian fisheries sector, it has long been plagued by inefficiencies and fragmentation. Our mission at FishLog is to unlock the selling potential and maximise the storage utility of Indonesia’s fragmented fishing industry, building the best and most affordable way to ensure product and labour sustainability in the industry.”

Also Read: eFishery secures US$32M loan from DBS Indonesia to support expansion move

“Through this funding, we will continue to build the cold chain ecosystem enabler and operating system for the fisheries in Indonesia. Our vision is for all stakeholders in the sector to be able to participate productively in this industry, transacting safely, trusted by and seamlessly integrated,” he added.

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At e27, we have kickstarted a new articles series called work-life balance to learn more about tech enablers and executives and their lives beyond working hours.

Gunalan Ram is a marketing strategy leader with over 20 years of experience across project management, consulting, account strategy, and customer success encompassing multiple sectors and functions. 

He currently leads the influencer marketing and marketing strategy practice at CINNOX, a total experience platform that empowers team members and delivers an omnichannel experience to customers.

He is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read his thought leadership articles here). 

In this candid interview, Ram talks about her personal and professional life.

How would you explain what you do to a five-year-old?

When five-year-olds visit Toys R Us, they are greeted by a breathtaking view of toys, games and educational products. Like how the kids enjoy personalised experiences through open play areas, interactive displays and spaces for special events and birthday parties, giving the kid a sense of joy and engagement.

This is what I do. I’m part of the marketing team, driving the marketing strategy of CINNOX. I help businesses build better relationships with their customers through personalised interactions.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

I must admit there were many challenges in my career. But through challenges, there lie opportunities as well. For every job I have taken up, I learned the art of executing tasks through teamwork and guided decision-making.

I consider all work success as my highlights. I prefer not to single out any one of them. As long as I’ve displayed a strong commitment to the task and provided value to the other party, I consider that an achievement. 

Highlights could also be seen in forming good relationships with your team members and stakeholders.

Also Read: Dream loud, dream big and dream now: Surbhi Agarwal of Yellow.ai

For now, I’m learning and soaking in my role as a Strategic Marketeer at CINNOX. The biggest challenge in this job is not the product but the chaotic marketplace itself. Information overload leaves people confused and unable to reach any decision. How do I overcome or differentiate my point of view in such a cluttered scenario?

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

I don’t have a mystic crystal ball, so I can’t predict the future. We are living in a world that moves and changes so rapidly. What excites me is I am constantly challenged with new things to learn in my current position.

We can no longer adopt a cookie-cutter approach. Marketing has evolved so much over the years, from traditional to digital. Digital marketing is an entirely different beast from traditional one. As I’m already in my mid-40s, I hope to press on learning and strategising the best way to reach the audience.

That said, I’m very fortunate to discover CINNOX. The solution is not just a unified platform that helps employees and customers but an ecosystem for a user journey, be it a startup to an enterprise.

The platform’s capabilities constantly keep me wanting to have a deep understanding of the business. I always believe that the more you understand how a company and product are positioned, the more valuable asset you will be. This is not just for a marketer but for anyone.

So at least for the next few years, I hope to build trust and reputation for the brand.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

My first job after my National Service lasted 15 years. I lived in a bubble, never getting out to venture into other domains.

In the company name CINNOX, if you take the first and last letters, CX = Customer Experience. The middle four letters, INNO = Innovation.

Though we are a startup launched in 2020, our parent company M800 was founded by a group of telecommunication pioneers in 2007 with a vision to revolutionise global communications.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

I love working on Google Workspace, though I don’t use them in my current work. We use M365 a lot to get our work done.

In my previous job, I used Jira for product development. I dabbled with project management tools like Trello and Miro occasionally, and I enjoyed the latter because of its visual strategy mapping.

For team collaboration and communication, it’s none other than our brand, CINNOX. I can use it to chat and voice/video-call my team members. Share and screen share our projects.

Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

I prefer a hybrid approach as it gives more freedom and autonomy. This enables me to fit my work and life together, reduces stress and helps prevent burnout.

Sometimes, it is healthy to see your colleagues at the workplace and talk about work and other matters outside of work. It helps to understand each other better, strengthens relationships, and improves communication. Going out for lunch or even a drink after work encourages team bonding.

Also Read: ‘Don’t chase titles; chase curiosity and let it lead you’: Bernadette Cho of Entrepreneur First

That said, I’m a remote worker based in Singapore. CINNOX is headquartered in Hong Kong. As such, I work from anywhere (WFA) because our platform enables us to work entirely online.

The only advice I would probably give is to try to have more human interaction to foster mental well-being. This will strengthen the connections that make teams thrive.

What would you tell your younger self?

Always be open to learning. Every day is a learning journey. If there is an opportunity to travel, go for it. Learn new cultures and meet people. The most important thing is not to underestimate anyone.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Passionate, trustworthy and curious.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

Binge-watching on Netflix, Prime, and Disney with my teenage children, I go shopping with my wife (reluctantly, lol), work out at the gym, and spend time with friends.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

I’m always on Spotify when I work—listening to jazz, classical, and instrumental beats. Something to keep me calm, focused, and think better.

I like reading novels, and they must have an interesting start, or I’ll get bored quite easily. Recently I’ve been reading some non-fiction/self-help books. I just finished with The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. It’s a psychology-based book for anyone who wants to make better decisions in life.

I love watching movies, any kind, as long as the story is good. Sci-fi, suspense, thriller, hero saves the world, comedy, documentary, reality, etc. Recently, I finished watching Stranger Things with my kids and was blown away by the creativity of the storyline. Currently, I’m watching Somebody Feed Phil, Season 6, a popular food and travel series by Phil Rosenthal.

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Partior, a blockchain-powered cross-border payment and value exchange, has closed its Series A financing round led by Standard Chartered.

Existing shareholders DBS, JP Morgan, and Temasek have also participated.

The transaction, whose details haven’t been disclosed, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

The investment will help strengthen Partior’s vision and drive for the broad adoption of atomic settlement and clearing. The company recently announced its 2023 product expansion and launched its Hyderabad Research and Development Centre after atomising cross-border value movements last October.

Partior CEO Jason Thompson said: “Our vision has always been to transform global payments and become the worldwide ledger for financial institutions’ value exchange. Standard Chartered is one of the most established international banks in the industry and is a strategic partner to diversify our network and scale the delivery of our technology globally.”

Also Read: ‘Trade & supply chain sector is set to witness unprecedented blockchain adoption’: #dltledgers

Partior was founded last year by JP Morgan, DBS and Temasek as an independent company.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore-backed company aims to make digital clearing and settlement more efficient, reliable and secure for financial institutions worldwide. It harnesses the key features of blockchain and smart contracts (programmability, immutability and traceability) to address the industry’s longstanding pain points.

With Standard Chartered joining the Partior network, it will serve as one of the integrated Euro settlement banks. This creates synergy and strengthens Partior’s plan to scale its offering globally. Partior is on track to deliver its currency offerings of USD, SGD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY, CNH and HKD.

On the other hand, the investment will deepen Standard Chartered’s blockchain innovation capabilities to build a more transparent, efficient and secure infrastructure for global value movement. It will also further accelerate its deployment of blockchain technology across its global wholesale payments and settlements financial network and scale the delivery of Partior’s technology to global capital markets.

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Advancements in cloud computing have transformed the business landscape in the last few decades. More companies are kickstarting digital transformations to keep up with their tech-savvy competitors and meet the needs of their digitally-driven customers.

However, making a companywide transition to the cloud might seem intimidating, particularly for organisations that still rely on legacy systems. Before small businesses migrate to the cloud, they should consider several important factors, including cost, availability, security and availability.

Here are the benefits of migrating to the cloud and some tips to keep in mind to make the process simple and effective: 

Five benefits of cloud migration for businesses

Cloud computing for enterprises involves running cloud-based application software on various servers across the internet. More businesses are using the cloud than ever before.

Research shows that over 60 per cent of all corporate data is stored in the cloud, and that figure will rise in the coming years. One reason the cloud will become more ubiquitous in business is the widespread remote work trend. More people are working at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so companies need cloud technology to support their employees.

Also Read: Cloud communications firm Toku nets US$5M Series A+ for APAC expansion

Below are some primary benefits businesses can reap from migrating to the cloud:

Data accessibility

Cloud services allow users to access these applications from any location with internet access, which helps businesses with remote workers. Because the cloud transmits data over the internet, there’s no need for employees to work near physical hardware in an office. Anyone with proper credentials can access the company cloud, a centralised, web-based information hub. 

Scalability

Modern businesses need digital solutions that can scale up or down, depending on needs. For example, companies using the cloud can adjust the number of users if new employees join the team or others resign. 

Cost-effectiveness

The most popular cloud service providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), offer a pay-as-you-go model. These subscriptions allow companies to only pay for essential services, which helps reduce unnecessary expenses. 

Security

A significant benefit of using the cloud is enhanced security. Cybersecurity must be a priority for virtually every company. Therefore, organisations should invest in solutions that will protect their sensitive data. 

However, no IT environment is completely secure in today’s cybersecurity landscape. More businesses are moving to the cloud, and it’s becoming an increasingly popular target for hackers. The cloud is highly secure, but companies must utilise other preventive security measures to protect themselves.

Business continuity

Another benefit of using the cloud is business continuity. The cloud will come in handy if an organisation experiences a disaster, such as a cyberattack or hardware failure. 

Cloud computing solutions offer suitable storage options for companies in an emergency. Their IT systems are usually accessible from remote locations to keep operations running smoothly.

While this is not an exhaustive list, it does provide a glimpse into how businesses can benefit from the cloud. 

Tips for a seamless migration to the cloud

Follow some of these helpful tips to ensure your cloud migration process is successful:

Assess company needs

Before your company moves to the cloud, it’s important to identify why the transition is necessary, who will be affected by the change, a reasonable budget and other important considerations. 

Consider using the 80/20 rule when planning the migration: 80 per cent of your data will migrate easily, and 20 per cent might pose challenges. The 20 per cent is also referred to as “anchor workloads,” which are crucial to operations, create a complex IT infrastructure and are costly. Take them into account when planning your strategy.

Consider a piecemeal transition

Some organisations are eager to leverage the cloud and, as a result, transfer all their processes there. However, this could overwhelm your employees and cause more harm than good. 

Also Read: How can businesses improve their operating margin by controlling cloud costs

Consider migrating to the cloud over time and train your employees to get a feel for the new IT landscape. A slow transition approach will help the company adjust and fix any possible issues.

Outline roles and responsibilities

Migrating to the cloud might alter some of your employee’s roles and responsibilities. Keep them updated on these changes and what your departments should expect. All workers should be aware of the cloud migration and be ready to communicate during the process.

Your company’s IT department will play a significant role in the transition. IT professionals with experience in cloud tech will make a move easier. 

Choose a migration partner

Many cloud service providers offer helpful migration services for companies. These vendors know that more clients need assistance moving to the cloud, so they offer expert support to help facilitate the transition. 

Here are some of the most popular vendors with cloud migration services:

• Accenture
• Cognizant
• AWS
• Infosys
• IBM Managed Cloud Services
• Google Cloud
• Deloitte

These organisations and others simplify cloud migration to ensure the process is successful. 

Test, monitor and train

Once the company successfully migrates to the cloud, it’s important to run tests, monitor the new system and train employees on how to navigate the new environment. 

It might be challenging, particularly if seasoned employees are less tech-savvy than their younger peers. Employees must learn to leverage the cloud to fulfil their job responsibilities and contribute to the organisation.

Simplify cloud migration for your small business

The business landscape is rapidly changing. Companies must be agile, flexible and willing to adopt new technologies to align with their specific business objectives. 

Cloud technology is becoming increasingly widespread for all types and sizes of businesses. Migrating to the cloud will benefit your company, but only if the process is successful.

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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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Despite a record-breaking and highly promising 2021, global fintech funding has fallen short of expectations this year. In Q3 2022, funding dropped by 38 per cent from the previous quarter to US$12.9 billion. Also notable is how the mega-round share dropped to 34 per cent from the 66 per cent average recorded in 2021.

Such grim trends, exacerbated by restrictive macroeconomic conditions in Europe and globally, have led to a sharp reduction in the number of new fintech startups being created: an 80 per cent drop from last year’s.

Are investors losing faith in fintech? Should you?

The state of fintech investment in 2022

The decline in fintech investments speaks to the larger stock market downturn; it has particularly impacted growth stocks, which feature many fintech heroes. In 2022 H1, amidst the 20 per cent crash of the S&P 500 index, growth stocks in particular saw their stock values halved or even more significantly affected.

The fintech appeal lies in its long-term potential, with experts projecting a market value as high as US$700 billion by 2030. One closely related sector that recognises this is banking, as large banks are not slowing down in attempts to have a leg in fintech. Following in the footsteps of JP Morgan and the Bank of America, HSBC is one of the latest big banks to invest in fintech, staking US$35 million in Monese. 

Also Read: How is fintech different in Asia

The laggy growth rate in the fintech industry in 2022 has prompted these banks, which have demonstrated reluctance in the past, to identify opportunities for long-term strategic partnerships. Despite this trend, fintech are more willing to seek funding from VC firms than traditional banks due to the independence that the former might provide.

On the one hand, the unexpected growth in 2021, coming from a significant pandemic-motivated deterioration in 2020, has made a market consolidation inevitable as the market evens out. On the other hand, COVID-19 is not dead and buried yet, and even though the world seems to have returned to normalcy after the 2020 peaks, markets and economies continue to suffer from the short-term and long-term effects of the pandemic. 

However, one item of good news is that fintech companies are now more resilient, cybersecurity-wise, even though there is still a lot to be done. According to a WEF survey, it appeared that many firms took advantage of the pandemic downtime to enhance their cybersecurity infrastructures, which has been a major change.

Opportunities for fintech startups and investors

Presently, there is little doubt that 2023 VC investment in fintech will match 2021’s figures. But this particularly applies to late-stage deals.

While it may seem like overall investing activity is slowing, many early-stage startups are snapping up funding, which, even if lower than late-stage rounds, speak to the promising potential of the industry. Notably, digital lending has been going strong in this regard, with BNPL startups drawing massive interest from VCs and entrepreneurs. 

In particular, there are fewer regulatory obstacles in business lending compared with consumer financing. This creates a rich ground for innovative avenues toward profit-making while the debate on whether to categorise BNPL schemes as loans or otherwise continues.

More broadly, consumers (individuals and businesses) converge on certain major drivers, namely faster transactions, information security, and flexible cash flow management options. This also explains the rise of services like embedded finance.

It is also notable that the rise of fintech startups in recent years has been the response to perennial calls for more financial inclusion. Since 2011, the global unbanked population has reduced by 35 per cent as 1.2 billion unbanked adults have gained access to financial services. To achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion, it is pertinent to reach the over 1.7 billion adults still unbanked globally.

This is a major value proposition for emerging fintech startups; clearly, there is immense potential for growth in the sector. The liberating impact of fintech on underdeveloped and developing markets presents massive opportunities for disruptions in the coming years. 

Another important consideration for investors looking into fintech involves rising regulations for the industry. While the lack of stringent regulation for fintech startups (including neobanks) compared with traditional banks has enabled the former to innovate in ways that banks cannot, it contributes to the volatility of the industry.

Also Read: How payment networks are crucial to the rising fintech movement

However, with the clamour for fintech regulation becoming even more pressing, it remains to be seen if the industry’s startups might eventually lose some of their appeals. It is critical to watch how fintech startups respond to the growing need for more regulation as well as how regulators would attempt to balance risk containment with innovation-friendliness. 

Regardless, one vital channel that is opening for fintech startups is data analytics. Studies by KPMG and Mastercard emphasise the significance of data analytics to fintech growth in the coming years, to the extent that many fintech will seek to differentiate themselves by rebranding as data organisations providing financial services.

Empowering consumers with digital finance services requires acknowledging the need for hyper-personalised experiences, and data analytics and artificial intelligence are major keys to aligning with this demand.

Final thoughts

No sector received as much venture investment as fintech did in 2021, but we are in the final months of 2022, and it seems the glory days are well over. The goal for most established and new fintech is to help guide consumers through the struggling global economy toward personal financial stability. 

More so, opportunities keep expanding for collaboration in other sectors, such as the creator economy, whose rise has coincided with the fintech boost to support a new class of content-making entrepreneurs.

Fintech might be experiencing drought now, but that is not the end of the chapter, as there is still a lot of innovation yet to be captured, particularly via market expansions and the development of more financial technology infrastructure. 

There are plenty of reasons to be bullish on fintech startups in the coming months, but a conservative approach focused on long-term gains is the best way forward, given the present challenges of the sector and international economies in general.

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Across Southeast Asia, young professionals are struggling harder and longer than their parents and grandparents in their pursuit of owning a home. More often than not, owning a home will take up a chunk of their income and leaves no room for any semblance of financial freedom, causing stress and sometimes leading to debt.

However, younger Southeast Asians are no longer willing to put off having their own space and have found that renting a place can be the next best thing.

As a result, the stigma associated with renting is less apparent. Furthermore, with an increasing number of companies catering to the needs and concerns of the younger generation, a shift in perspective has come about. 

Renting is no longer seen as an unnecessary expense and a hindrance to the long-term goal of being a homeowner. Instead, it is now seen as an immediate and more flexible solution. 

Progressive structures for the younger generation

The conventional and restrictive structure of the real estate market no longer attracts younger and modern Southeast Asians.

This can be seen across the region, particularly in Singapore, where the landscape is continuously changing. Traditionally, the Housing & Development Board (HDB) scheme has enabled very high levels of home ownership.

However, with the rising prices of HDBs, especially in the resale market, coupled with the supply being unable to keep up with demand due to delays in the construction of Build-to-Order (BTO) properties, which can be as long as five or six years, home ownership in Singapore has declined over the years.

Also Read: Casa Mia, a Singapore coliving startup’s success story

This was further exacerbated by the pandemic, where many Singaporeans were cooped up with their families, prompting Singaporeans to opt for a more immediate solution.  

Furthermore, the requirements for owning an HDB are becoming more and more confining, with criteria indicating that one has to be married or above 35 years old to own a home. This does not gel well with the progressive population of young people who are less likely to be in traditional relationships and are choosing to get married later.

The alternative of waiting until age 35 to get a place is equally unattractive, and young people are no longer prepared to live with their parents until that age, hence the appeal of renting.  

In Indonesia, similar trends of declining home ownership have been observed. This is also due to the rising cost; according to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the national share of households with a home of their own fell to just over 80 per cent last year from nearly 85 per cent in 1999. This is in line with the higher number of Indonesians renting a home at 37.71 per cent in 2020.

Additionally, with the greater focus on remote working, many Southeast Asians echo the same sentiments regarding home ownership and no longer feel the need to stay put in one place. This makes renting a more enticing option to cater to their mobile lifestyle. 

SEA’s home rental platform Cove leads a paradigm shift in the rental market

Cove, Southeast Asia’s leading one-stop home rental platform, saw that rental was growing everywhere. As experienced renters, the founders realised that the available offerings in the market were very sparse.

Having collectively rented over 30 properties in around 14 cities globally, the founders are familiar with the experience and the hurdles that young professionals have to go through to find suitable accommodation.

They understand the importance of homes to people and how homes are their safe spaces, where they live out many important moments in their lives. They held on to a belief that everyone, whether they rent or own, deserves to have a high-quality, comfortable place to live where they can feel a sense of belonging in.

To lead a shift in perspective amongst Southeast Asians, Cove knew the long-established rental processes had to change. Often tedious, antiquated and not tech-enabled, the undertaking alone can be a deterrent, with multiple agents, in-person viewings, poor listing websites and lots of paperwork.

In addition, there is often a prolonged process before tenants can settle down, namely, having to set up utilities, buy furniture and have very inflexible long contracts. 

Also Read: Throw your paper-based biz card away because Scard has a better alternative

With that in mind, Cove has used technology and a consumer-first approach to transform and make the experience more seamless. With flexible stays starting from three months only, everything is managed by state-of-the-art technology, from Virtual Reality (VR) tours to online booking and even the integration of smart home technology where possible.

The goal is to strengthen mindsets further that renting is the new norm. In just over four years, Cove has expanded its portfolio across Singapore and Jakarta to 6,000 rooms, more than 30 times the roughly 200 rooms it had in 2019.

The future of the rental market

Southeast Asia has always been conventionally a house-buying market, and stereotypes about renting have long been ingrained within the population. However, there has also been a growing acceptance that times are evolving and that a different approach is necessary.

Millennials and Gen Z now see renting as an investment in the quality of life rather than a “waste of money”. There has been a greater need to leave the nest earlier and live independently, enabling them to build life skills around budgeting and managing multiple responsibilities. 

Companies like Cove put renters at the core of their business by making renting more affordable through products like co-living, enabling young people to rent a place while still being able to save and ultimately buy a property in the future.

The all-inclusive nature of their offering also gives more visibility to utility costs. In addition, things like wifi and housekeeping are all included, reducing the administrative burden for people with limited time. 

Ultimately, renting a home is becoming the norm as younger professionals put their quality of life above anything else. However, the changing real estate market and mindsets call for more inclusive choices.

Businesses like Cove have kept up with the trends and placed people at the centre of their business model, evolving with their customers’ needs for a more sustainable and long-term outlook.

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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 majority of the world’s population still does not have access to Internet connectivity because existing communication technologies, such as fibre optics and radio frequency, are challenged by the world’s ever-growing demand for better connectivity, according to Rohit Jha, Co-Founder and CEO of Transcelestial Technologies, a last-mile internet connectivity startup.

He also said internet penetration would not be enough to bring everyone online. At the heart of the internet distribution problem is the need to provide affordable, high-speed internet to everyone.

“Even among the ‘connected’, internet speeds can vary between 12Mbps to 238Mbps. The impact on those at the lower end of the spectrum can be felt across their daily digital career, work and personal interactions,” he said in an interview with e27.

“Fibre optics can be highly time-consuming and cost-prohibitive to deploy in most countries. It often faces huge ‘right of way’ challenges in getting access to the ground where it can be deployed. On a per kilometre basis, it can cost between US$10,000 (in rural areas) to US$100,000 (in dense urban areas),” Jha added.

Also Read: Transcelestial raises US$9.6M Series A to ‘deliver a step-change in internet connectivity globally’

Transcelestial can address this problem with its laser communication (lasercomms) technology, he added. The Singaporean startup has developed a network device called Centauri to provide a wireless distribution network between buildings, traditional cell towers, street-level poles and other physical infrastructure. The size of a shoe box, Centauri weighs less than 3kg and can deliver fibre-like speeds to customers.

“Our device provides the same level of high-speed wirelessly, regardless of contextual factors, such as extreme weather or spectrum licensing. The technology involves accurately beaming a laser as thin as a single hair strand into a smartphone-sized window 3km away. The cost of deploying our technology per km is roughly 10x cheaper and takes just days (compared to months) for deployment,” claimed Jha.

“Wireless solutions like Centauri devices provide consistent, high-speed wireless connectivity even in congested environments or under the most demanding weather conditions. They can be deployed quickly with a simple point-to-point connection, which means organisations can now connect the last mile rapidly, flexibly and cost-effectively without any right of way,” shared Jha. “We remove the need to lay expensive fibre to bring internet to mobile towers and buildings in the case of home or office broadband.”

Centauri devices are already installed in over ten markets, including Singapore, the US, Indonesia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Mongolia.

Its customers are leading telecom companies, internet service providers, ports, universities, sports entertainment organisations, cloud providers, defence, and governments.

Globe Telecom, which has previously tested its technology, has deployed Centauri in the Philippines in areas where it is difficult to install fibre. Hong Kong’s HIT Ports have also deployed this technology between their data centres to power connectivity.

Last week, Transcelestial opened a US$1-million Terabit Factory facility in Singapore. The 2,000-square feet production facility can manufacture up to 2,400 Centauri devices annually. It can create a potential bandwidth of over 10 Tbps, which translates into the capacity to connect tens of millions of users.

Also Read: Transcelestial aims to help telcos roll out 5G rapidly and cost-effectively in SEA

Terabit Factory was set up to meet the rising demand for lasercomms technology across telecom, broadband, education, ports and maritime, government, and defence.

The company is currently in talks with some of the world’s leading telecom and connectivity partners to roll out the technologies produced right in this facility.

Transcelestial has recently expanded into India, a vast market with massive potential. It has an on-ground commercial team and some early national-level partners working on key broadband initiatives in some Southern states in India.

“For instance, we are working with a top-tier enterprise broadband provider with a large presence across India to provide high-speed connectivity to their enterprise customers. In parallel, we are also working with key railway and metro station owners to build robust connectivity infrastructure at and between their stations,” he said.

Founded in December 2016 by Jha and Mohammad Danesh (CTO), Transcelestial is backed by investors, including EDBI, Wavemaker Partners, Airbus Ventures, Cap Vista, SEEDS Capital, Entrepreneur First, Partech Ventures, 500 Startups, AirTree Ventures, Tekton Ventures, SGInnovate, and SparkLabs Global Ventures.

Transcelestial also counts Michael Seibel (CEO of Y-Combinator, Founder of Twitch.tv) and Charles Songhurst (Microsoft’s former Head of Corporate Strategy) among its backers.

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