The travel industry took its greatest hit in recent memory during the pandemic.

Around the world, flights came to a near standstill in 2020 as part of a global effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. A report from the Economic Survey of Singapore showed that it was only in Q4 2021 that vaccinated travel lanes in countries around Southeast Asia started to open up.

As global travel opens up after two years of restrictions, Singapore expects between four to six million international travellers in 2022 alone. We are seeing a resurgence in the industry in the form of “revenge travel”, with 46 per cent of Singaporeans willing to spend to travel. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects international air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, a year sooner than their previous 2024 estimate. 

The travel industry is in a unique situation. Though it faces the challenge of being rebooted from a pre-pandemic era to rejoin other industries on a shorter runway than expected, this revival serves as an opportunity for startups to face that challenge on a fresh slate and set a new bar for disruption.

Here are four travel tech startups from the Korea Tourism Startup Centre (KTSC) programme in South Korea that have rolled with the punches during the pandemic and seek to expand our perceptions of the travel industry and the creative use of technology in a post-pandemic world.

Tripbtoz – Enhancing the physical travel experience with metaverse layers  

During the transitional periods between lockdowns, the world became more receptive to phygital experiences. Tripbtoz is a video-based travel app that leverages content travelling through Web3 and extended reality (XR) technologies, adding virtual and interactive layers to enhance physical locations.

Using Tripbtoz’s platform, government agencies and property owners can run campaigns, while users can make journals and guide for others to enjoy. This allows a single location to be experienced in many unique ways.

Tripbtoz has enjoyed good financial traction and allocates a percentage of its daily gross booking value to its loyalty currency, Tripcash. Tripcash can be awarded to users through making XR content and booking through the platform. Organisations can also reward users for specific tasks and build a body of user-generated content (UGC) to suit their needs.

The platform also empowers users to interact with remote destinations through XR and opens an avenue to earn Tripcash remotely. 

Stayfolio – A high-touch approach to creating the modern fine stay journey 

After the lockdowns, people are willing to spend more for quality travel and value experiences. Stayfolio addresses this need by providing refurbished, curated luxury accommodations to define the “fine stay experience”, an offering that boasts a reservation rate of 82 per cent. 

Also Read: How to not let the bots ruin your travel plans

Stayfolio’s full value chain model starts with an in-depth discussion with owners who want to breathe new life into their storied properties. The team revamps the property from the ground up with design, construction, and styling to accentuate its history, heritage, and charm.

After that, they implement the technological infrastructure of the property with IoT gadgets, AI concierges, reservations, and contactless systems. Once everything is in place, Stayfolio manages the property, covering backend aspects such as marketing and bookings on their site. 

Stayfolio believes their high-touch approach from start to end enables them to architect fine stay properties rooted in story and natural beauty while making them convenient and relevant for the modern traveller.

ONDA – Scaling property management solutions for everyone

The hotel industry was in survival mode during the pandemic. Staff had to double up on duties and had to scramble to cut costs by running efficiently through digitalisation. Even now, hotels are still short on staff, correlating to a significant drop in customer satisfaction.

ONDA has raised US$15 million this year for their Series B and has 110 team members around the globe and counting. Their growth through the pandemic is a strong sign that working with complete digital suites could be the industry standard.

As South Korea’s first company to be selected as a Google Hotel Partner, ONDA is poised to replicate its success in other territories. ONDA expanding its digital suite beyond a hotel property management system to scale such that smaller businesses like motels and AirBnbs can easily adapt it to be the de facto digital partner for any lodging business.

Infoseed – Travel tech and navigation for the smart city of tomorrow

Deliveries of food, groceries, and more were lifesavers during the pandemic. However, delivery crews weren’t always able to find the exact locations of the destinations.

Infoseed is ambitiously mapping the world in one-metre square grids. Their precision addressing system gives each one-metre square grid a unique geography nickname, or geo.nick for short. 

Users can personalise each square grid with specific naming conventions. Infoseed’s solution also considers verticality, so spaces above or underground can be tagged. Food delivery companies working with Infoseed have tagged specific entrances for properties in their delivery radius ideal for motorbikes, increasing delivery efficiency.

Also Read: How can influencer marketing help the travel industry in a post-pandemic world

Infoseed’s solution can be the catalyst for smart cities to improve the quality of delivery services, sync with autonomous vehicles for accurate and safe implementations, and improve the response time of emergency and municipal services.

They have worked closely with the Korean government to manage and display facilities near the Hangang river and with construction companies to provide digital twins.

What is next for travel tech in the future?

The disruptions and new takes in travel tech will not only adapt to the demands we have of travel in a post-pandemic world but also elevate the expectations we have in the space. 

Right now, we see travel tech picking up speed and taking pages from its brethren industries. We believe that as the industry starts to mature again in a post-pandemic world, certain solutions to challenges specific to travel will begin to find applications in other industries.

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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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There are benefits in shifting one’s digital business operations from a purely on-premise set-up to having the flexibility of running them on the cloud. These include better security, increased flexibility to scale operations, and catalysing a culture of innovation. Smart cloud databases allow customers to quickly adjust to operational fluctuations or upticks in transactions as customer geographical footprints expand.

When it comes to cloud migration, it is imperative that companies explore open-source technology options that can help them prevent future vendor lock-in scenarios.

Open source is not owned by one entity, and its overall framework is common to all consumers. Any updates to its core files have an impact on all projects. A business can simply migrate its application environment to the cloud without worrying about its open-source-powered backend environment. Applications and services developed or deployed by different businesses and vendors can be seamlessly integrated, kept patched and secure, and remain available at all times.

Adopting open-source technology during cloud migration also ensures interoperability with other enterprise solutions located elsewhere (such as on-prem in other data centres or on different clouds). This interoperability enables the reuse of software stacks, libraries and components. Such interoperability makes it seamless for businesses to deploy multi-cloud environments.

Creating relevant and data-intensive applications through the cloud

Aiven plays an integral role in ensuring a smooth cloud migration. Since 2016, Aiven has enabled organisations worldwide to create relevant and data-intensive applications through its open-source cloud data platform. Startups can now set up and manage their cloud data infrastructure in as fast as 10 minutes, giving them the freedom to pick from various cloud providers at their fingertips.

Teams can tailor their setups according to their preference by integrating open-source solutions. Aiven offers Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQL, MySQL, OpenSearch, Redis, InfluxDB, Grafana, and M3 in more than 90 regions around the world on AWS, GCP, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, and UpCloud cloud platforms.

Also read: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Enterprise SG join forces for SWITCH & SLINGSHOT2022

For instance, Apache Kafka is a standard technology in modern software architectures but requires a sizeable effort to deploy and operate. Startups often outsource this to third parties with the right expertise and experience. The Aiven experience offers these building blocks of the best technologies. It takes care of operational concerns, freeing up teams and enabling them to focus on developing key builds for their business to get ahead.

With Aiven, enterprises can have more reliability in their tech operations, with their track record of high uptime stats and round-the-clock customer support. It is also kept secure and certified with the help of encryptions and dedicated virtual machines. Customisation is also easier with Aiven, enabling better ease of integration, availability of multiple options for cloud solutions, and the ability to swiftly ramp up cloud operations to an unlimited scale with minimal downtime through their automated scaling feature.

The perks of automation

Aside from making things more convenient for application developers and database administrators, there are broader organisational gains to be had. Tasks such as routine changes, installations, upgrading, and maintenance can be automated. This would then free the operational tech team to focus on performance optimisation. According to an IDC report, Aiven enables teams to perform more efficiently, reduce direct infrastructure costs, and provide improved database performance, agility, and scalability with significant impacts on the bottom line. The report finds an average ROI of 340% over three years, breaking even after only five months.

The study also cites how business customers have seen a 37% decrease in operational costs and a 78% decrease in staff time allocations for database deployments.

Many reputable global brands have trusted Aiven, including Toyota, Atlassian, Comcast, and Wolt. In Southeast Asia, GoTo Financial, a fintech provider under the GoJek group, turned to Aiven’s technology to help them optimise user experience across millions of customers while maintaining operational uptimes.

Also read: Meet the 100 nominees for Alibaba’s AsiaStar 10×10 campaign

As they were rearchitecting data pipelines and assembling everything into one system, GoTo Financial wanted to set up Apache Kafka within the region. Still, it was hard to find this anywhere else. Aiven offered this, and GoTo Financial has been happy with the uptime levels, realising better cost control and predictability. This migration with Aiven enabled easy scalability in the operations of GoTo Financial, which allowed adjustments for spikes and lulls in usage quickly and easily.

Another Aiven customer is Swift Solutions, a Jakarta-based logistics company offering delivery and order fulfilment services in Indonesia and is part of the Tokopedia Group. Using Aiven enabled them to streamline the data infrastructure components they needed and realised convenience by managing these multiple components through one console within Aiven. Another customer, Vidio, a streaming giant in Indonesia, was able to rapidly and efficiently deploy new services and features and scale their databases across fluctuations in user volume, ultimately improving customer experience.

Olivier van Grembergen, Aiven’s Regional Vice President for the Asia Pacific, shares with e27, “Aiven helps organisations by collecting all necessary components under one umbrella, offering integrations between services, ensuring that the systems are available, maintaining compliance with all major data regulations, and providing better data governance.”

A leader in cloud solutions

Headquartered in Helsinki, Aiven has been named by Forbes as part of its 2022 Cloud 100, being part of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world. It has also recently raised its $210M Series D funding round led by Eurazeo and joined by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock as well as existing investors IVP, Atomico, Earlybird, World Innovation Lab, and Salesforce Ventures, catapulting Aiven’s pre-money valuation to $3B.

Aiven was conceptualised after the founders’ own experiences as developers working with open-source technologies, encountering situations where data infrastructure tasks were getting in the way of focusing instead on innovating, problem-solving, and optimising product offerings. Allowing developers to make open-source technologies easier to adopt was the precedent to how Aiven was built. “At its core, Aiven’s vision is to establish a true, open-source data cloud that organisations can then use to build modern data infrastructure, enabling them to grow from prototyping to worldwide scale at greater velocities,” Olivier added.

Also read: Reimagining customer experience with Sendbird

Aiven’s strategic outlook and integrations are becoming more dynamic. Alongside their international expansion in Asia Pacific, they also announced accelerated growth of over 100% and a headcount increase of over 200% since October 2021. With strengthening security features a key priority, they recently acquired Kafkawize in September 2022, an open-source governance tool for Apache Kafka. This aligns with their goal to advance their open-source stewardship. 

They also recently announced the beta launch of Aiven for Clickhouse, a fast, open-source cloud data warehouse that is fully open-source. Clickhouse can help generate real-time analytical data reports using advanced SQL queries and has already been adopted by leading companies such as Spotify, Deutsche Bank, and Uber. In their pipeline is a launch of their global sustainability program to empower the Aiven community to build more sustainable cloud applications.

“The future is bright for the state of open-source in the Asia Pacific. The region as a whole is rapidly maturing from a technology perspective. Businesses are adopting cloud technologies and turning to open-source as part of their digital transformation to drive growth and innovation. Aiven is excited about the opportunities that are abound in APAC. We are committed to continue growing our footprint, working with the most progressive digital natives, elevating service delivery, and pushing the envelope further when it comes to the stewardship of open-source,” added Olivier.    

To learn more about Aiven and its offerings for startups and scale-ups, visit https://aiven.io/.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Aiven

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Last week, The MoneySmart Group, which runs a financial content and comparison platform in Singapore and Hong Kong, announced its plans to go public via a reverse takeover (RTO) deal. The company said it would acquire SGX-listed hotel operator, Asia Pacific Strategic Investments (APS) in a deal worth US$161.7 million.

The listing will help the 13-year-old MoneySmart to raise capital for expansion in Singapore and the region.

In this interview with e27, MoneySmart Founder and CEO Vinod Nair discusses the RTO, its benefits, the company’s grant plans, and the trends in the financial comparison industry in the region.

MoneySmart is a 13-year-old company with a considerable presence in Singapore and Hong Kong. Why does the company prefer an RTO route to a direct listing? What are the benefits of an RTO listing?

An RTO is simpler than an initial public offering (IPO) and similar to an M&A transaction where terms are agreed upon with a single buyer.

In an RTO, the listing company and vendor agree on the valuation of the target company and pricing of the consideration shares at an early stage of the transaction. Moreover, it is faster and easier because a sponsor can issue shares directly and has the required shareholder support rather than getting help to underwrite the deal like in an IPO.

An RTO deal also brings growth capital into the company. This transaction will provide significant growth capital into MoneySmart to accelerate our growth ambitions.

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

Besides this, a listing provides liquidity for shareholders: It enables investors and shareholders to realise some liquidity.

Above all, a RTO listing provides us with currency to pursue M&A opportunities: While the market is volatile and uncertain, we believe this presents an excellent opportunity for well-capitalised companies to pursue strategic acquisitions.

Why SGX? Why not a global stock exchange such as NYSE?

MoneySmart is a Singapore-based tech company founded by a Singaporean and is a well-known brand in Singapore amongst retail and institutional investors. MoneySmart will be proud to be the first major local consumer technology company to list on the SGX.

How much capital does the company aim to raise via SGX?

We are unable to comment on this at the moment.

A MoneySmart release mentions expansion plans. Can you share more details about this?

With the raising of capital, we anticipate MoneySmart’s rapid growth through investments in its membership and rewards programmes designed to deliver maximum value for its customer base. MoneySmart Plus rewards MoneySmart customers with cashback for transactions they would typically perform and provides them with highly personalised financial product recommendations based on their profile and preferences.

In addition, raising capital through its listing will also power other strategic partnerships through potential M&As.

The RTO will also help accelerate MoneySmart Group’s digital disruption of the insurance industry through Bubblegum — a digital insurance platform aimed at millennials and Gen Zs, launched in recent weeks.

We’re evaluating expansion opportunities in developed markets in Asia across the group. Developed Asian markets are attractive because of the relatively high financial literacy and product penetration rates.

Can you share more details about Bubblegum? How is it different from other insurtech platforms?

As Singapore’s newest insurance player, Bubblegum intends to shake up the market, challenging the status quo where insurance products are often associated with complexity, confusing jargon, trade-offs, paperwork and long-drawn claims processes. The definition of what Singaporeans value is changing, and so must include the concept of insurance.

Bubblegum is not just here to disrupt the status quo; we are here to change what consumers should expect regarding their insurance experience. Bubblegum’s product design is guided by our extensive consumer insights from helping consumers find the best financial products on the MoneySmart platform.

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

In terms of USP, Bubblegum is aimed at the younger generation of digital natives who prefer to do their own research on sites like MoneySmart and want a seamless digital experience instead of having to talk to an insurance agent. Bubblegum is for the self-serve generation that is increasingly discerning and value-conscious.

Secondly, Bubblegum aims to address many consumer pain points like unclear terms and conditions, manual paperwork and opaque claims processes through its digital platform.

You raised your Series B in 2017, and there have been no public announcements about follow-on funding. Did you raise more capital after that?

We raised US$10 million in Series C in 2019 from existing and new investors.

What will happen to your institutional investors? Will they also exit?

They will remain shareholders, and major investors will have the option to sell after the lock-up period.

Are you profitable already?

We are at breakeven; low burn rate in some months and marginal profitability in others.

How many users do you have across Singapore and Hong Kong? How many deals does MoneySmart process a month?

We have about 2-2.5 million in sessions every month.

How is the personal finance market growing in Singapore and the region? What are some of the definite trends?

The personal finance market continues to grow at a healthy clip in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Increased digitisation and a more financially-savvy population mean that consumers are much more highly involved in personal finance than before. Over the last 13 years, MoneySmart has worked closely with consumers to help improve financial literacy.

Millennials and Gen Zs also think about personal finance very differently. This is where the consumer insights MoneySmart Group has amassed over the last 13 years are pivotal in helping us design personal finance products that cater to their changing lifestyles and needs.

The group aims to bring this DNA of meaningful disruption through unrivalled consumer insights to different parts of personal finance over time.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

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Eastern Asia is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency market, having received US$777.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022, representing just under 13 per cent of global transaction volume during that time period.

Eastern Asia has lost ground to other regions this year, having ranked as the third biggest region by transaction volume at last year’s Geography of Cryptocurrency Report. The region saw year-over-year transaction volume growth of just four per cent, by far the lowest of any region.

The biggest reason for this is likely the decline in cryptocurrency activity in China, the largest market in the region.

While it remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, China saw its cryptocurrency transaction volume fall by 31 per cent compared to the previous year-long period; even neighbours like Japan more than doubled transaction volume.

As we’ll explore in more detail later, this is likely due to Chinese government crackdowns on cryptocurrency activity over the last year. 

Also Read: A look into the Chainalysis 2022 geography of cryptocurrency report

The data also shows that Eastern Asia has surprisingly low DeFi adoption. In fact, over the year-long time period we studied, DeFi made up just 28 per cent of transaction volume in Eastern Asia, less than all but one other region.

Below, we’ll explore these trends and more as we dive into what makes Eastern Asia’s crypto market tick.

DeFi drives outsized growth in Japan

As noted above, Japan’s cryptocurrency market has grown substantially over the year-long period studied, with on-chain transaction volume increasing 113.2 per cent over the previous 12 months, compared to 72 per cent for the next-closest country, 13.2 per cent for South Korea, and 31.1 per cent contraction for China. Why might this be? One reason could be Japan’s comparatively high embrace of DeFi. 

Despite having a smaller overall cryptocurrency market, Japan’s DeFi transaction volume is nearly double the size of South Korea’s at US$56.7 billion and close to China’s total of US$67.6 billion.

Chainalysis’ Tokyo-based Advisory Solutions Architect Hayato Shigekawa shared that “DEX trading has become very popular in Japan,” citing the importance of platforms like Uniswap, 1inch, and TokenIon in the country. He also discussed the popularity of NFTs in Japan, and the possibility of their future growth.

“Many have pointed out that Japan has lots of quality IP from anime, comics, and video games, which could be utilised in Web3 in the future.” Chainalysis data confirm that these services have played a big role in Japan’s DeFi market.

Interestingly, off-chain spot trading data released by the ​​Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchanges Association (JVCEA) suggests that DEX trading may be eating into trading on centralised services, which haven’t seen similar growth.

Also Read: From Moonshining to Shining – Story of Bobby Ong’s crypto data aggregator, CoinGecko

The reported trade volume on Japanese exchanges is lower than in 2020 and 2021, while the year-over-year creation of new accounts is between 30 per cent and 40 per cent in most months. One reason trading volume has shifted from centralised exchanges to DEXes could be the latter’s greater number of assets on offer.

“Centralised exchanges in Japan support roughly 60 crypto assets, and the process to list new coins is lengthy and rightly regulated,” said Hayato. Hayato also pointed out that, as of now, that list of available crypto assets includes no stablecoins. Given that, it’ll be interesting to see how Japan’s usage of DeFi changes as regulations evolve.

China’s market remains among the world’s strongest despite government bans

As discussed above, China has seen a large dropoff in cryptocurrency activity, likely due to government crackdowns. The Chinese government started by banning mining in May 2021, and by September moved further to ban all cryptocurrency transaction activity. “Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in an unambiguous statement. 

Still, despite a 31.1 per cent dropoff in transaction volume, China remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, the fourth overall in the world, and ranked tenth for grassroots adoption on our Global Crypto Adoption Index.

Plus, trading activity has even picked up in recent months. That hardly seems to reflect the total ban announced or the harsh words from PBOC officials that came along with it. 

Even mining, the first crypto activity targeted by the Chinese government and saw a huge dropoff following the ban, has made a comeback in China. That’s especially surprising given that you’d expect it to be easier for the government to pinpoint the increased power usage indicative of mining and take action.

The data suggests that in China, the anti-establishment ethos of cryptocurrency’s early days remains intact. While government crackdowns have had an effect, China’s cryptocurrency market remains strong, with healthy transaction volumes across both centralised and DeFi services. 

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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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Within this increasingly globalised and competitive business landscape, brand relevance is more important than ever. Companies turn to marketing strategies as they strive to make the brand stand out and enhance the desirability of their products and services against countless other competing brands.

Nevertheless, the arrival of disruptive digital technologies, combined with increasing customer experience expectations around personalised, relevant experiences, have made it more challenging for marketers to keep the brand relevant. The Internet and social media have allowed customers to have more control over how they discover and interact with different brands, share their feedback, and get inspiration for their next purchase. Social media and digital platforms can also magnify the impacts of both negative and positive publicity as a single tweet or Facebook post can go viral in a matter of seconds.

This further punctuates the importance of a brand’s online presence as brands work to give customers the best possible online experience.

The importance of building a strong online presence

There is no doubt that the Internet is taking the world by storm. This is why companies must work doubly to establish an online presence, enabling them to showcase their products and services to an unlimited number of customers as well as communicate and engage with those customers seamlessly. Moreover, according to Hubspot’s State of Marketing Trends Report 2022, social media was the top marketing channel in 2021, with Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook being the top 3 social media platforms marketers are using in 2022

There are over 2.14 billion unique online shoppers following the increased digitalisation ushered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Marketers also shared that their most common and effective digital promotional channels included social media and websites. Nevertheless, while the importance of having an online presence is widely accepted, the real challenge is to draw and sustain customer attention. With customer attention span becoming lower than ever on top of everything happening online, brands have to be easy for consumers to find, get info from and connect with, and all that can be streamlined through a functional and seamless website.

Also read: Meet the 100 nominees for Alibaba’s AsiaStar 10×10 campaign

However, building and running a website is a different struggle altogether. In the first place, the costs of building a website including web designing, functionality, domain, and hosting can range somewhere between $12,000 to $150,000 per year depending on the complexity of the requirements. Website maintenance services can also add another $400 to $60,000 per year, depending on the operation costs.

Additionally, for business owners who are not tech savvy, selecting and hiring reliable and competent web and app developers can be a huge headache particularly in light of a global shortage of software engineer supply. Once the website is set up, the owners must then continuously oversee its performance, update its content to optimise for search engines, and ensure the relevance and consistency of its brand messages and content over time. To do so, it needs another dedicated team of marketers who develop the content and tend to the customers’ online experience.

How HubSpot’s has revolutionised website creation and management

Considering the context, HubSpot was born with the mission to help businesses craft a strong online presence without breaking the bank or needing to spend a large amount of time and effort building and creating their website.

Established in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in the United States, after over 15 years in operation, HubSpot has grown into a leading CRM platform that provides software and support to help businesses grow better. HubSpot’s platform includes marketing, sales, service, and website management products that start free and scale to meet their customers’ needs at any stage of growth. Today, thousands of customers around the world including top multinational corporations such as Spenmo, EngageRocket, Peakflo, and grove among many others, use HubSpot’s powerful and easy-to-use tools and integrations to attract, engage, and delight customers.

Also read: Reimagining customer experience with Sendbird

Among HubSpot’s impressive offerings for customers, there are several services that stood out as the most valuable to both startups and global corporations. CMS Hub launched with the Pro and Enterprise (Apr 2020) versions meant for organisations with in-depth CMS needs, and subsequently, the Starter version (Aug 2021). Seeing the opportunity in the market, the team then launched the Free version earlier this year to equip businesses with a free and sophisticated suite of content management tools to build websites or upgrade with free hosting, visual editing features, and more. This makes it easier and cheaper than ever to design and implement remarkable CRM-powered websites.

The free CMS tools consist of advanced features such as theme library, cloud hosting, custom domain mapping, and intuitive data analytics to help create the most pleasant digital experience for customers and provide beneficial insights for businesses to improve their products and services, and target potential customers more effectively. Furthermore, the newly introduced free drag-and-drop website builder tool added significant value to HubSpot’s offerings. Thanks to this feature, marketers no longer need complex technical knowledge about coding to build the website, and they can visualise and preview the content before publishing the website to ascertain their desired look and functionality

HubSpot also goes to great lengths to ensure the security of the website with SSL certification and two-factor authentication at no additional costs.

How HubSpot empowers SMEs to thrive on the digital sphere

Since its inception, HubSpot has focused on democratising the digital sphere, facilitating businesses’ access to an online presence, moving their business operation and customer journey online, and leveraging the power of the internet to create compelling advantages. “SMEs are at the heart of Singapore’s economy and having a website is an opportunity for them to ‘share their business card’ to thousands online; aiding them to build awareness and credibility, and drive greater adoption and sales. At HubSpot, we are focused on helping companies grow better, carve new niches and better engage their customer groups,” said Simon Wong, Director, JAPAC at HubSpot.  

HubSpot’s product quality is highly proven as demonstrated by its customer satisfaction and the impressive success stories experienced by its customers. Businesses have found various applications and benefits from adopting HubSpot’s free CMS and other services to streamlining sales and marketing activities, launching more personalised marketing campaigns, integrating data, generating more leads, and increasing conversion rates.

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

“We use Hubspot’s CMS hub to create and manage the content of our website. It is straightforward and easy to use, which means almost everyone in our company can operate it. Aside from allowing us to create a visually appealing and professional website, it is an all-in-one system that provides us with content features to help our company grow. Top it off with its comprehensive analytic features, we’re able to benchmark our performance to understand and scale TyrAds’ online presence” said Zino Rost van Tonningen, CEO at TyrAds, a performance marketing agency based in Singapore.

With a user-friendly interface, easy-to-use built-in tools, and the company’s strong desires to assist customers with the most innovative and relevant solutions, HubSpot’s free CMS Tools can usher any new startup into the digital age. 

For more information, visit the company’s website here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Hubspot

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Despite the latest delay from Google, when it comes to the demise of the third-party cookie, it is a question of not ‘if’ but ‘when’. While the cookie has for many years been the bedrock on which online advertising is built, its phasing out should be welcome news to advertisers and publishers alike.

While third-party data allows advertisers to target a wide range of audience segments, it lacks the precision that modern marketing demands. First-party data, on the other hand, offers a scalable solution to the loss of the cookie that allows online campaigns to attain maximum reach while addressing audiences at a more granular level.

So, when it comes to media buying, working with first-party data solutions will guarantee advertisers accurate targeting at scale. In the post-cookie landscape, publishers are at the forefront of first-party data solutions.

Publishers are, in fact, in a strong position to collect first-party data thanks to their direct relationship with their audience. User IDs, on-site activity and sign-up details can be gained with user consent and provide advertisers with rich audience insight.

Despite the wealth of publisher first-party data available, it is reported that as much as 78 per cent of brands in Asia Pacific and Japan rely on third-party data for current marketing strategies, missing out on more precise targeting methods.

It is, therefore, vital that advertisers also embrace these data solutions to deliver accurate campaigns at scale. Building and implementing an effective first-party data strategy means that when the cookie does finally crumble, a solution is already in place.

Partnership with supply-side platforms

The increasingly privacy-focused media landscape has led many advertisers to consider restructuring their buying strategies in favour of cookieless browsers. But there are other methods for gaining the scale and performance required without going back to the drawing board.

One way of doing this is by partnering with a supply-side platform (SSP). SSPs help publishers manage and maximise yield from their ad inventory by making it available to many potential buyers through ad exchanges, ad networks and demand-side platforms.

Those platforms with integrated data capabilities can further help publishers harness the power of their first-party data and enhance audience segments.  In return, advertisers gain a fuller understanding of their ad buys and the audience they are targeting.

Adopting a one-to-many approach

A one-to-many approach can help brands navigate the new privacy landscape where reach and addressability are reduced. One-to-many (or one advertiser-to-many publisher) is where an advertiser diversifies spending across multiple publishers while using the same buying platform.

Also Read: 5 customer experience (CX) trends to consider in 2022

Not only does this help maintain precise targeting, as the buyer can define audience parameters with their SSP, but it also means they can deploy digital campaigns at scale across numerous publishers, formats and browsers for broader reach.

Combining an SSP and the one-to-many approach can help advertisers strike the perfect balance between scale and precision.

Leveraging private marketplaces and deal IDs

Google’s decision to remove third-party identifiers is part of a larger shift towards an ecosystem with data privacy built into its core. Tightening restrictions globally, like China passing The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and Singapore revising its Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) act in 2021, alongside Apple’s recent iOS changes, also point towards a world that aims to protect the consumer.

With 60 per cent of consumers in APAC saying they are bothered by a lack of data privacy, there’s no doubt that the advertising ecosystem should be championing this reform. However, it does leave some questions when it comes to targeting.

Private marketplaces (PMPs) and Deal IDs can provide a viable solution as they allow for more curated and transparent media trading. In a private marketplace, publishers offer inventory packages to selected advertisers. The direct and more private nature of PMPs also means that publishers have more control over who is accessing their first-party data.

This kind of deal puts privacy first, protecting publisher data while allowing for more reliable audience segmentation, which in turn helps publishers sell their inventory at the best price. In addition, advertisers stand to gain several benefits, from better targeting to access to brand-safe inventory and, ultimately, better ROI.

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Singapore-based hospitality & travel-focused VC firm Velocity Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in New Zealand’s enviro-tech company CarbonClick.

The startup will use the funds to boost its expansion into Asia, with a regional office in Singapore scheduled to open in 2023.

Founded in 2017, CarbonClick aims to make carbon offset simple for businesses and their customers. It provides the full details of the offset by ensuring a receipt is emailed to each customer, showing where and how their contributions have been used with a “track and trace” feature.

The startup has made inroads into the aviation, travel, and airport sectors and works with over 1,000 brands. The firm works with companies such as Etihad, Amadeus, and London Stansted Airport.

In Southeast Asia, CarbonClick currently supports Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, a project in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan which protects 65,000 hectares of peat swamp, avoiding more than 130 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Also Read: Velocity Ventures to back distressed hospitality & travel startups with the new US$20M fund

“More consumers now demonstrate greater awareness around sustainability and choose airlines and travel providers that align with their environmental values. We are dedicated to ensuring our credits stand up to the highest level of scrutiny and have implemented a stringent framework to ensure that the offsets companies offer to their customers have a real, measurable impact on reducing climate change,” said Dave Rouse, CEO of CarbonClick.

Nicholas Cocks, Managing Partner of Velocity Ventures, added: “As travel rebounds, the travel and hospitality industry has many long-term assets such as aircraft and hotels where significant emissions reduction simply is not immediately possible. Carbon offsetting for such companies offers an immediate solution while transitioning to reach net zero goals. For example, airlines gradually replacing their existing fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft can participate in voluntary carbon offsetting efforts to make a difference. Pricing the negative externality of carbon emissions and providing quality carbon offsets is vital to galvanize immediate action rather than prolong collective inertia.”

Velocity Ventures invests in growth-stage tech-enabled companies across five verticals: travel services, transportation, accommodation, F&B, and experiences. Its investments include Aigens, Food Market Hub, TableVibe, TripGuru, and Hyper Robotics.

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Hi, this is Wan Wei, CEO and Co-Founder of IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective (IMC). Singapore Management University invited me to do a post specifically on my startup journey, so I am thankful to be able to take the time to reflect and share my journey here!

I am currently also a guest trainer at Singapore Management University Academy and lecturer at Aventis Graduate School, specialising in topics on Web3 and the metaverse. 

IMC counts NYSE-listed Nutanix, Philips, Hitachi, DBS, Crypto.com and non-profit alliance ChangemakersXchange as some of the key clients and partners in its portfolio.

As one of the leading media, education and Web3 collective in the Southeast Asian region, we work with corporations and governments to bridge knowledge and resource gaps in Asia’s metaverse industry so that they can integrate these solutions into their processes seamlessly.

Our story

Folks are sometimes curious why we chose to set up IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective. IKIGUIDE was registered as a business entity since 2014, when I was in Finland doing my Masters in Public Relations, all the way in Finland.

Naturally, at that time, IKIGUIDE was focusing on startup consultancy and publicity. Eventually, we pivoted into metaverse and Web3-related consulting because we spotted a sweet spot we could bridge in the Asian metaverse spaces. 

Also Read: Web3 marketing: Building a cult-like community

Today, we focus on providing specialised market intelligence and education to corporations and governments related to the metaverse industry in Asia, which includes China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. We also offer strategic consulting services spanning focus groups, partnership selection, Go-to-Market strategy, and customised data analysis.

We’re fully bootstrapped and incubated by Singapore Management University Business Innovations Generator (BIG) Programme. They are currently accepting applications now, so do remember to apply!

What problem do we solve?

According to JP Morgan, the metaverse industry will present a US$1 trillion industry by 2030. Goldman Sachs predicts that the metaverse has “as much as US$8 trillion opportunity on the revenue and monetisation side”. Morgan Stanley sees US$8 trillion metaverse market in China alone.

Extensive research projects that the global metaverse market will grow from US$61.8 billion in 2022 to US$426.9 billion in 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate of 47.2 per cent. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region for the metaverse market over the next five years, with an average annual growth rate of 49.6 per cent. 

Yet, it is important to note that the metaverse discourse is currently very Western-centric. Many of us have heard of Western Big Tech companies like Microsoft doing the US$69 billion of Activision Blizzard, Facebook rebranding to Meta and then doing Horizon Worlds, or Roblox and Fortnight. 

Yet, why haven’t we heard of China’s Xirang (by Baidu) or South Korea’s Zepeto’s collaboration with K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, which led to a worldwide social media frenzy? Those are huge! And aren’t the massive populations already highly engaged in esports/gaming worlds in the Asia Pacific, the very people who will lead the mass adoption of other metaverses?

The reason for the relative lack of information and discourse is mainly because the Asian region is still highly fragmented due to language, regulatory and cultural barriers. Having said that, this is also a huge opportunity, so we wanted to do IKIGUIDE as a leading metaverse collective for the region. The three-pronged verticals that build up our collective are:

• Education
• Media
• Consulting

Why a collective?

Our IKIGUIDE metaverse “collective” community, fuelled by the willingness of our progressive and competent community members to support one another, is what we enjoy the most. It also follows the Web3 ethos.

Our collective is in its infancy, and we aim to build it with and to over a hundred engaged firms and excellent founders in Asia. Consider this collective as having the backing of many of the top founders and thought leaders in Asia’s metaverse industry, who are all net-givers in our ecosystem.

In essence, we work hard to establish open access to knowledge and resources that each of us wished existed when we started our Web3 and metaverse journeys, respectively. 

A collective is essential in a Web3 space because we are fundamentally all about collaboration, relationships and experiences, which is different from a typical Web2 closed organisation. We’re closer to running a movement over a business, where we work hard to curate members in our collective to ensure that members are community and contribution-minded.

Also Read: More than hype: 3 reasons why NFTs are here to stay 

This, however, does not mean that the entity is not bottom-line driven. It does, however, mean that the entity is the antithesis of transactional. True to the Japanese spirit of Omotenashi (表裏なし), we deeply care about the experience of each contributor and client in our collective and serve passionately as net-givers in the ecosystem.

So, a collective means that we all profit, serve each other wholeheartedly, and win together through Web3 tools like NFTs. By our ethos and design, the IKIGUIDE ecosystem is diverse, equitable and inclusive, and our core values are openness, growth mindset, and a sense of having fun together. In addition, community leaders need to have passion for their respective local communities, which is how we scale and embark on decentralisation. 

It is also important to clarify that our collective is not a cult. The key difference is that we encourage independent thinking and robust discussion within our IKIGUIDE collective, with succession and decentralisation actively planned within the design. A cult demands obedience to a single leader. 

1 + 1 > 2 in a collective due to how we leverage high-quality information and network because together we are very much stronger.

Where do we go from here?

At the moment, we are recruiting Web3 and metaverse evangelists to build our IKIGUIDE Metaverse media arm in the classic omotenashi style. So if you know any suitable candidates, please send them our way!

Personally, I am very excited about our future. If you want to be part of our movement, please feel free to join our LinkedIn Group on “Metaverse in Asia”, and our “Metaverse: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” Group. 

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Image credit: IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective

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SG’s virtual clinic and healthcare startup Speedoc snags US$28M
The investors include Bertelsmann, Mars Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India; Speedoc’s services include home visits by doctors and nurses, video consultations, virtual hospital wards, and remote health monitoring.

Departures at HK’s Shopline after US$183M Joyy-led takeover
A LinkedIn search shows that most of the 80 exits took place in the first half of this year and that the firm’s top executives in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore had departed.

BRI Ventures hits final close of Sembrani fund at over US$25M
The CVC has also secured the first close of its Sembrano Kiqani fund; It is set to close its latest fund, the US$50M BVI-Fundnel Secondaries Fund in early 2023.

Founders of Kenangan, AyoConnect unveil new angel network in Indonesia
Kopital Network, which will focus on Indonesia, targets early-stage startups from all sectors, with investments as a group ranging from US$100,000 to US$1M per deal.

Meta to axe over 11,000 employees
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company had significantly increased its spending in anticipation of a “permanent acceleration” in e-commerce growth and the number of people going online; However, this didn’t play out the way he expected.

Wavemaker Impact hits first close of its debut fund
The details are undisclosed; At the time of its launch in Oct 2021, it said it targeted raising US$25M for its first fund; The climate tech venture builder has launched four new companies so far.

Former Venturra exec raises US$8M for new VC firm
Ansible Ventures, an early-stage VC firm that Valerie Van Vu has founded in partnership with Alto Partners, will invest in 15 pre-seed and seed-stage startups focusing on Vietnam.

Jobs and recruitment platform FastCo raises US$7.4M Series A
The investors include OSK Ventures, Cento Ventures, and Kairous Capital; FastCo is the company behind the non-executive job portal FastJobs and the Singapore-focused flexi-work recruitment app FastGig.

Grab digibank head Reuben Lai to exit post
Before GXS was established, Lai was the head of financial services at Grab Financial; started out at Grab in 2015, serving as chief of staff to the group CEO’s Office.

DBS Indonesia lends US$6M to auto-financing firm Broom
Broom provides car dealers with access to short-term loans with their used-car inventory as collateral; It will use the debt facility to expand to more cities in Java before the year ends and gain 5K car dealers as its clients.

Razer Fintech launches carbon-neutral e-commerce checkout solution
With the feature, Razer can help e-commerce players estimate the carbon footprint that would occur in a specific transaction and provide a traceable carbon offset for that purchase.

AI-powered SEO content creation startup WriterZen bags US$1.35M
The lead investor is Wavemaker Partners; WriterZen provides tools to help digital content creators streamline their SEO workflow and produce content efficiently and competitively.

Animal-free dairy startup Phyx44 raises US$1.2M
The investors include Better Bite Ventures, Shiok Meats CEO Sandhya Sriram, Ahimsa VC, PeerCapital, and Spectrum Impact; Phyx44 has already made whey and casein proteins, which can be used in ice cream, cheese, and baked goods.

Filipino circular economy startup Humble Sustainability raises US$750K
The investors include iSeed Ventures, Ula’s Alan Wong, and Sagar Achanta, ex-Product Leader at Amazon; Humble was started with a vision to create a community where any item can be brought back into circularity.

Binance cancels deal to buy FTX
The crypto exchange major was looking to fully acquire its US-based peer FTX; However, that deal is now off following “latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations”.

Hodlnaut assets hit by FTX debacle
The Singaporean crypto lender, which is under judicial protection after halting withdrawals on August 9, may face further losses due to solvency issues at FTX, where it had S$18.1M in assets as of October 27.

Indonesia plans to task OJK with crypto market regulation
The use of crypto assets as a means of payment is illegal in the country, but transactions for investments are allowed in the commodities market.

Japan’s NTT Docomo to set up US$4B Web3-focused firm
The development is not NTT Docomo’s first Web3 push; Earlier this year, the firm announced that it had opened up a unit dedicated to the metaverse; Qonoq was last said to have 200 staff.

Indonesia’s Stockbit rolls out crypto trading app
The company provides crypto trading services through Coinbit Digital Indonesia; The company said users can trade crypto without incurring platform fees on the app.

HashKey secures virtual asset trading license in Hong Kong
With the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong’s approval, the company said it has become the first firm to have virtual asset licenses to operate in HK and Japan, as well as a capital market services license in SG.

Listing via RTO is simpler than IPO: MoneySmart CEO
MoneySmart believes when the market is volatile, listing via reverse takeover presents an excellent opportunity for well-capitalised companies to pursue strategic acquisitions.

How climate tech startups can create an impact on green recovery
For climate tech startups, success in growing their business can begin by understanding the potential hurdles customers might face when accessing climate-friendly products and services.

Try to look at the world through a beginner’s eyes: Joey Alarilla of Playfix.io
Playfix.io’s Head of Content Joey Alarilla talks about how he is championing crypto for creators, blockchain for good, and Web3 for a better world.

Is traditional currency failing us?
Fiat money loses purchasing power over the years because goods and services get more expensive yearly, in other words, inflation; In addition, the supply of fiat currency is not fixed.

Why is the cryptocurrency market growth in Eastern Asia slowing down
While it remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, China saw its cryptocurrency transaction volume fall by 31 per cent compared to the previous year-long period; even neighbours like Japan more than doubled. transaction volume.

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Vickers Vantage Corp. I, the first blank-cheque company (special purpose acquisition company or SPAC) of Singapore-based VC firm Vickers Venture Partners, has merged with Scilex Holding Company, a majority-owned subsidiary of US-based Sorrento Therapeutics.

Scilex is a revenue-generating company focused on acquiring, developing and commercialising non-opioid pain management products for treating acute and chronic pain.

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

The combined entity will operate as Scilex Holding Company on November 11, 2022. Its shares of common stock and warrants are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbols ‘SCLX’ and ‘SCLXW’, respectively.

Scilex Holding Company will ring the Nasdaq opening bell at 9:30 am ET on Friday.

“We believe Scilex is a company with excellent non-opioid pain management therapies. This deal is significant in the current landscape. However, we didn’t compromise the quality of a target company in a rush to merge, and kept to our philosophy of investing in deep tech companies that can create a better world,” said Dr Jeffrey Chi, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of VCKA and Vice Chairman of Vickers Venture Partners.

“Scilex is entering an exciting phase as the resources of the public capital markets will be available to enhance our business growth and enable us to continue to fulfil our mission to address patient pain management needs,” said Henry Ji, Executive Chairman of Scilex and Chairman and CEO of Sorrento.

Jaisim Shah, President and CEO of Scilex, commented: “As a public company, we aim to accelerate our mission to increase access to prescription non-opioid therapeutics by further commercialising our two FDA-authorised non-opioid pain management products, expanding public and private payer adoption, and advancing our pipeline of innovative opioid sparing products.”

Also Read: Can SPACs avoid another reverse merger crisis?

Scilex launched its first commercial product in October 2018, in-licensed a commercial product in June 2022, and is developing its late-stage pipeline, which includes a pivotal Phase 3 candidate and one Phase 2 and one Phase 1 candidate. It aims to become the global pain management leader committed to social, environmental, economic, and ethical principles to develop pharmaceutical products to maximise the quality of life responsibly.

In October this year, Singapore-based clinical-stage biotechnology company AUM Biosciences signed a merger agreement with Delaware-based publicly traded SPAC Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. to go public in the US.

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