Madhumita and Dinkar Agrawal built a technology consulting company in 2016, one business unit belonging to the electric vehicles (EV) segment. As the business grew, the husband-wife duo acquired hands-on experience in the entire value chain of EV technology — from the battery management system and motor to charging infrastructure.

This gave them a holistic understanding of the technology trends, issues and gaps in the EV sector. They leveraged this knowledge and experience and established Oben Electric in August 2020.

Based in Bengaluru, India, Oben Electric designs, develops and manufactures electric motorcycles.

Oben Electric’s first model is RORR, which boasts a neo-classic design for the 21st century and beyond. It is designed, developed and manufactured in-house — not imported, retrofitted, or re-engineered.

“RORR is a sleek and futuristic-looking electric motorcycle, offering a top speed of 100kmph and accelerating from zero to 40 km in just three seconds. It can cover a range of 200kms (IDC),” claimed Madhumita. “It is fitted with a 4.4 kWh LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate) battery that is fully charged in two hours.”

RORR also boasts interactive, connected vehicle features, such as predictive maintenance, ride details, battery status, geo-fencing, geo-tagging, battery theft protection, charging station locator, on-demand service, and roadside assistance. It also gets more battery life cycles, withstands higher temperatures, and is environmentally friendly. The battery pack’s outer casing is made of aluminium diecast, which fortifies and prevents the battery pack from explosions in case of unusual incidents.

Also Read: The growth of electric vehicles is saving the planet, one trip at a time

“Its combined braking system makes RORR safe to ride even at higher speeds. In addition, its ‘driver alert system’ provides riders with visual and auditory cues, indicating when the two-wheeler is on, stationary, or requires maintenance. A new gamification feature is on the cards wherein a RORR consumer will be able to engage and communicate with another,” remarked Madhumita, an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Bangalore.

Besides, its proprietary MHX technology allows the heat to be evenly distributed across a larger surface area and ensures maximum heat exchange with the environment, thus keeping the battery pack cool during the ride.

The price starts from INR 125,000 (less than US$1,570).

RORR is available in three modes (Eco, City, and Havoc) and three colour variants (electric red, magnetic black, and voltaic yellow).

Unveiled in Bengaluru in March 2022, RORR will ride to seven more new cities across six States in phase I. Deliveries shall begin around the festive season in India.

“We aim to launch one new product every six months across different consumer segments. This will also be undertaken in a phased approach over the next two years. The intention is to sell one million units pan India and export in the coming years,” said Madhumita.

The startup has a 3.5-acre manufacturing plant in Bengaluru, with an initial manufacturing capacity of 300,000 units per year.

Oben Electric has secured US$2 million as seed capital from We Founder Circle, GVK Group, MD of Fortune 50 PE Fund and several CXOs of MNCs.

A market with massive potential

India is one of the world’s largest two-wheeler markets, reaching 15.2 million units in 2021 alone. Market researching company IMARC Group expects the number to reach 42.2 million units by 2027, growing a CAGR of 18.6 per cent.

Efforts are on at the national and State-level to shift this growing segment to EVs across India.

“The traction we have observed in the EV industry has predominantly been more across the B2B segment, last-mile delivery systems, and public transportation,” noted Madhumita. “The B2C segment is slowly accelerating. Very few qualitative offerings exist in this segment, and there is only a handful of products.”

In her opinion, OEMs (original equipment makers) need to build ICE (internal combustion engine)-comparable products to make the transition faster for a consumer to shift to an EV. The manufacturers also need to provide better cost-effective products and refuelling experience, which translates to a shorter or faster charging time in EVs.

Only a handful of electric motorcycle makers operate in India, namely  Tork Motors and Emflux Motors. Tork offers a maximum speed of 105kmph with a range of 180km, but it takes four to five hours to recharge the battery fully. Emflux, with more than 3x the price of Oben and Tork, is more catered to premium customers.

Also Read: Thinking out loud: Are electric vehicles as sustainable as we believe?

Ather Energy is leading the electric scooter segment, selling 2,389 scooters in July 2022, recording a 24 per cent y-o-y growth. Ola Eletric, from the house of local ride-hailing giant Ola, is another serious contender in the e-scooter segment. Early this year, several Ola Electric consumers reported incidents of their vehicles catching fire, forcing it to recall its 1,441 units. According to Madhumita, this is a new and evolving industry, and the whole technology is getting better with time.

“As I mentioned, India doesn’t have many e-motorcycle makers, and we at Oben intend to provide consumers with ICE-comparable EVs and help them through this seamless transition. It is also crucial that EV products are manufactured in India to meet the needs of Indian consumers, topography, and climate,” she stated.

The government is waking up

Over the past ten years, various promotional measures have boosted EVs. Government policies, subsidies, and incentives have been formulated and launched to augment the acceptance of EVs and strengthen infrastructure. The more popular and recent one is FAME II — Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric vehicles — a flagship scheme for promoting electric mobility.

State governments are also rolling out production and manufacturing-related subsidies and tax incentives for EV makers looking at setting up their manufacturing plants.

Besides this, the government has also opened foreign direct investment (FDI) to support investment in the EV sector, which is now a US$206-billion opportunity market.

Consumers are also transitioning to EVs due to rising fuel costs and trends.

Thanks to all these favourable factors, India is witnessing a growth in EV sales across B2B and B2C segments with two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers. “Our strongest assumption is that if EVs can be offered as comparable as an ICE vehicle backed by robust after-sales support and better refuelling options, the consumer transition shall happen seamlessly, backed with trust and faith in the industry,” she said.

More clarity is required about the incentives and investments, especially for startups with promising products. Besides, a nodal regulatory body needs to be set up to ensure the quality of products. In addition, consumer awareness needs more push as it is still nascent in terms of understanding the product they own and its handling. The right means of communication and information about the product are critical factors in ensuring the right EV way. Manufacturers should be transparent with consumers and work closely with the ecosystem to deliver a great product, she went on.

She also mentioned that there is enormous scope for a lot of R&D in the battery vertical. “What we are witnessing right now is the first-line generation of batteries whose composition is mainly Lithium. Alongside Lithium-based composition is also NMC (Nickle Manganese Cobalt). Various robust battery types bring a different output set, performance, and life cycle.”

“New storage solutions are being researched and tested across various countries. The next line generation of batteries will be sodium-based, while others may be hydrogen, metal air, etc. These are still being tested and may be commercially available in the future. Hence, better-performing EVs can be expected globally,” Madhumita noted.

The world is going through an EV revolution, and India is at the forefront. India offers tremendous opportunities for domestic and foreign players as a vast market. But understanding the local conditions is a must for them to survive. Oben Electric has all the ingredients to become a leading player, but many challenges remain.

Also Read: Emflux Motors aims to replace Ducati with its electric sports bike in India

“The EV ecosystem needs to get stronger and grow manifolds — be it components, battery technology, or supply chain. The industry has been facing challenges that are slowing the transition. Firstly, most OEMs struggle to scout for good quality vendors and component manufacturers. Secondly, there is a dearth of skill sets and a limited talent pool. Thirdly, there is low awareness about government schemes to support the production of EVs and OEMs,” she said.

If India can fix all this in record time, it can become the EV capital of the world.

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Image Credit: Oben Electric

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Southeast Asia’s population of nearly 700 million people, along with its tens of millions of big and small businesses, many in markets still considered to be developing, are ignoring one of the easiest post-pandemic digital transformation wins available to them: digitising paper invoices.

There are estimated to be more than 70 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the region, representing 99 per cent of operating firms, all of which send and receive dozens if not hundreds of invoices each month.

That equates to billions of invoices each year, many still in paper form with the rest in traditional digital formats such as PDF that are difficult to extract data from, requiring optical character recognition (OCR) software.

Whether in paper or PDFs, the reality is that both of these are old analogue standards designed for a pre-pandemic world.

The real challenge lies in extracting all the raw invoice data and then storing it in the cloud for easy and secure future access. We think of this as an analogue-to-digital transition business will have to make in the years ahead for greater resilience.

What we see on the ground is interesting because, while the concept of e-invoicing has been talked about for years, its actual implementation in day-to-day life for most of Southeast Asia’s businesses is only just getting started in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Technologies such as OCR and artificial intelligence (AI) are now maturing on a commercial basis and will help to automate much of this invoice processing, even in emerging markets.

Moving from analogue to digital invoices

Singapore is a pioneer in the region when it comes to embracing e-invoicing among the private sector, going as far as to mandate it for all central government authorities four years ago.

Just before the pandemic struck in 2019, Singapore had already adopted PEPPOL, an e-invoice standard that is generated, transmitted and processed digitally with little-to-no manual processing.

Also Read: COVID-19 and the wave of business digitalisation

In Thailand, since 2016, the government has implemented a new policy known as Thailand 4.0, which seeks to drive e-invoicing adoption, though it has not yet gone as far as Singapore in mandating it in the public sector.

Value added tax (VAT) parties in Thailand could send e-invoices and receipts voluntarily using the country’s e-tax system, while in the Philippines, a similar e-invoicing system was announced this past December.

As part of the Philippines’ Comprehensive Tax Reform Programme introduced by the ministry of finance, there is an ongoing push to digitalise tax and administrative systems with a pilot launched this July.

Other key markets in the region that are seeing a national push towards digital invoices include Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Vietnam’s ministry of industry and trade’s e-invoice system, for example, was originally planned for 2020 but only launched this July after many delays, and provides services at an official online portal and via the country’s e-tax-mobile app.

The government has said it aims to create a transparent and fair business environment, more streamlined administrative processes, and higher productivity, all of which are integral parts of Vietnam’s national strategy for digitalisation.

The e-invoice system in Indonesia, known as e-Faktur Pajak, became mandatory between 2015 and 2016 and is based on a clearance model where all invoices issued must be first approved by the tax authority before being sent to customers.

Finally, Malaysia plans to introduce gradual e-invoicing starting next year, according to the ministry of finance’s 2023 budget statement, even though e-invoicing has been permitted but not mandatory for seven years already.

It’s time for Southeast Asia’s businesses to go digital on invoices

Given the priority digital invoices are taking on the national agendas of all these economies, it’s important that businesses big and small get behind the push and start preparing for the shift as part of their own internal strategies.

Also Read: Bizzi bags US$3M to expand its invoice processing automation solution beyond Vietnam

In the short term, this means investments into new digital and cloud infrastructure that can support their move away from paper and formats such as PDF towards truly modern digital standards.

Over the longer term, with government support, these investments will pay for themselves by delivering real cost savings, reducing carbon footprints, and increasing resiliency in the face of unexpected future economic shocks.

Based on our own research, businesses that have made the transition to fully-digital invoices on average save hundreds of man-hours per month by using a mixture of cloud, AI, and OCR technologies to automate processing.

If I were to highlight two markets outside of Singapore that I am particularly excited about, I would choose Thailand and the Philippines as having huge potential for the transition to digital invoicing.

If I were to name some sectors that I think need the most urgent help, I would say maritime and shipping, construction, and real estate have all lagged on digital historically and must now look to catch up as part of their post-pandemic recovery strategies.

In Singapore, where we have our regional headquarters, plenty of local businesses plan to expand into regional markets over the next 12 months and are now ramping up their investments into digital to support these efforts.

I would encourage digital invoicing and its benefits as part of broader digital transformation strategies to be on their radar as they do so.

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Leading SME lending platform Funding Societies has announced a US$50 million credit facility from HSBC Singapore.

Funding Societies (aka Modalku in Indonesia) will be able to channel the funds via its range of tailored financing solutions across SME segments.

At the same time, the deal will enable HSBC to extend its global capabilities by tapping on the underserved segments across the region. Furthermore, it will act as the structuring bank, lender, facility and security agent in providing a flexible, scalable and pan-regional financing solution to support the fintech firm’s expansion.

Regina Lee, Head of Commercial Banking of HSBC Singapore, said: “As a leading SME digital financing platform, Funding Societies is playing an important role in contributing to Southeast Asia’s new economic growth by driving broader financial inclusion and supporting homegrown companies which are the building blocks of these economies.”

Also Read: Funding Societies enters neobanking space with investment in Indonesia’s Bank Index

The HSBC deal comes on the heels of Funding Societies’s most recent acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp.

Licensed and registered in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia and operates in Vietnam, Funding Societies provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises. It claims to have disbursed over US$2.6 billion through more than 5.1 million transactions across the region.

The SME lender achieved several other milestones, including its Series C+ equity raise of US$144 million in February, its recent investment into Bank Index in Indonesia, and market entry into Vietnam, its fifth market.

Its other backers are SoftBank Vision Fund 2, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Endeavor, EDBI, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures.

SMEs make up 97 per cent of all enterprises in Southeast Asia, bringing 40 per cent of GDP value across the region. In Singapore, the Department of Statistics released in its 2021 report that 99 per cent of enterprises are SMEs, contributing to 44 per cent of the nominal value added at approximately S$212 billion.

Commercial lending in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5 per cent, generating a revenue of more than US$7 trillion by 2028. This makes up about 25 per cent of the global market size of US$27.4 trillion.

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Image Credit: Funding Societies

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One of the Facebook Community Accelerator’s last cohort finalists from Indonesia Peri Kertas Nusantara Community launched their development plan projects and shared 2,000 free papercraft kits to celebrate Indonesia’s 77th Independence Day Celebrations.

Peri Kertas educates and promotes Indonesian culture through 3D model artwork. In this first phase, they serve up to 10 provinces in Indonesia: DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Papua, East Kalimantan, and NTT. 

Every package of the papercraft consists of landmarks, traditional closets, and traditional houses (rumah adat) from each of the provinces that can be crafted into a diorama. This series also includes information about the cultures of every papercraft they crafted. 

Peri Kertas Community is the biggest papercraft community in Indonesia, with more than 20,000 spread across 43 different regions all over Indonesia. Nusantara Papercraft Kit was one of the community’s initiatives in this region.

Also Read: Growth and changing landscape of 5G and data

Last year this Paper Craft Community was selected as one of the top 19 finalists of the Facebook Community Accelerator in the APAC region launched by Meta and run by e27 as the accelerator partner from 2020 to 2022. The program offers selected community leaders worldwide to turn their impactful ideas into action.

Peri Kertas’ launch event at Trans Studio Mall, Cibubur, on 17 Aug 2022 was patronised by the representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Jakarta Library, Nusantara Nature School, RWYC (Reconnecting With Your Culture) Indonesia, and e27.

At the event, the attendees shared how papercrafts are impactful not only in promoting Indonesian culture but also in how creative economics can bring business values to the Indonesian economy. Based on the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy’s records, shared from the Kominfo page in 2019, the creative economy sub-sector of Indonesia contributed 7.3 per cent of the total Indonesian GDP in 2019.

Moving forward

A community cannot exist without collaboration. While each of the communities come with their own unique vision and mission. We start to see more and more exciting community collaborations that will happen not only between one community with each other but also between governments and corporations, spreading from one region to also across regions as well. 

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Jay Olos, who was ousted as the CFO of Y Combinator-backed PayMongo in May 2022, dismissed the allegations of financial irregularities and employee harassment against him, saying he never stole money from the fintech firm.

In a LinkedIn post, Olos, however, apologised for his remarks against female employees.

“Few days ago, my name was mentioned in an article which reported my departure from PayMongo some months ago. Several people reached out to ask about it and check if I am OK. I am OK guys. Still fighting albeit silently and away from spotlight. Though to be honest, it’s taking a toll on my mental health (sic),” he said in the post.

There are no financial irregularities, he added. It’s just that some don’t understand accounting, the scope of work, entitlement, and a CFO’s obligations to the shareholders. Also, governance policies and related internal control apply to all staffers regardless of their ranks and the stage of the business. “In my 17 years as a finance professional, I never stole from any company that I worked for because I value integrity so much.”

Also Read: Tinder founder’s JAM Fund invests in PayMongo’s US$31M Series B financing round

Regarding the allegations of harassment, he noted that he is a conversationalist, talks a lot and can be tactless at times. He asks a lot of questions, gives inputs and insights and jokes and makes fun of himself. “Sometimes, included in those jokes are green jokes or adult jokes that I only blurt for those people whom I think I am close to. It’s my way to build rapport in a remote work setting and to show the human side of me (as a finance guy, I am tough they say). Unfortunately, I learned that some female colleagues found it not funny particularly in a WFH set-up when calls and chats are subject to interpretation. A lesson learned for me, and I take responsibility for it. I apologise to those people whom I have offended. Rest assured that I continue to work on improving myself on that area (sic).”

Olos said he respects the privacy and confidentiality of the ongoing investigation at PayMongo.

PayMongo was recently in the spotlight when TechInAsia published a story about various issues in the company, including the fallout among top leaders, the firing of two co-founders, and allegations of questionable spending by co-founders and employee harassment. As per the TiA report, Co-Founder and CEO Francis Plaza allegedly splurged money on extensive trips to Europe and the US and bought a luxury Porsche car. Some of his business class flight trips and a company loan taken to finance a property rental in the Philippines are also under ongoing investigation.

The PayMongo board, chaired by co-founder Luis Sia, has opened a formal investigation against Plaza, who is also a board member.

Founded in 2019 by Plaza, Luis Sia, Jaime Hing, and Edwin Lacierda, PayMongo empowers online businesses to accept the full range of payment options, including credit cards, e-wallets, and over-the-counter payments. It provides an easy-to-integrate PayMongo API and e-commerce plugins. 

In addition, PayMongo Links and Pages products enable businesses to provide a simple digital checkout for their customers, even without a website.

Though the startup caters to businesses of all sizes, it emphasizes underserved small (and micro) and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (account for 99 per cent of businesses in the Philippines).

In February this year, PayMongo secured US$31 million in a Series B round of financing from investors, including JAM Fund (founded by Tinder founder Justin Mateen) and local VCs ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Kaya Founders. Previously, the fintech firm bagged US$12 million Series A led by Stripe in 2020 and US$2.7 million seed round from investors, including Y Combinator, in 2019.

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Not everyone gets access to healthcare in Indonesia. The country only has 0.4 doctors for every 1000 residents. This problem is further complicated by the traffic jam in big cities like Jakarta and having to deliver healthcare to residents on over 17,000 islands across the country.

To address this challenge, Doddy Lukito founded Halodoc in 2016 together with his Co-Founder Jonathan Sudharta with the mission to simplify healthcare for Indonesians.

They’ve grown from 6 million patients per month in 2019 to serving over 20 million patients in Indonesia every single month in 2022. That is almost four times the size of Singapore’s population!

I had an enjoyable conversation with Lukito and was excited to learn how telemedicine technology can be used to set up drive-through vaccination centres during the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest challenges when running a health tech platform, and valuable advice on how to deal with the ongoing tech winter.

Start with why: Focus on the problem you’re trying to solve

Lukito opened up about the biggest wake-up call he had while running Halodoc. A few years back, Halodoc launched a new product. The team built the product, prepared the operations team, and the launch was even covered by the media.

Yet, after all the effort and resources and waiting one entire month, there were only two users! This major setback made the team realise that they jumped directly into the solution without “thinking about whether the solution solves the pain point of the users”.

Also Read: Desperate times, desperate measures: How to extend cash runway by reducing cloud costs

Since then, for every new initiative, the team often starts by answering the question, “What is the pain point that we are solving”? They believe that with the focus on solving critical problems, the “product-market fit will be there, and business will flourish”.

Yet, the nature of the problems is often dynamic and influenced by changes in the world. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Indonesia, Halodoc used its technology to help Indonesians book COVID-19 tests and rolled out a drive-through COVID-19 testing service.

In the following year, when vaccinations were available in Indonesia, Halodoc expanded its appointment service and centres to help Indonesians book COVID-19 vaccinations.

The message is clear: If we are constantly solving real problems, we are generating value at work, and this translates into how relevant and valuable we are as businesses and tech workers. On the contrary, if we do not start with the why and fail to solve a problem, it does not set up for success.

Lukito’s advice on dealing with tech winter for the first-time entrepreneurs

Having been in the technology industry for more than 18 years, this was not his first tech winter, and he came from a place of experience.

When asked how Halodoc was dealing with it, Lukito shared that since their Series B round, they have already committed to investors that they have a roadmap to being a sustainable business. This means that every service that they launch needs to have a positive unit of economics.

Also Read: Winter for tech startups is here? Here’s how to deal with it

I shared with him that there were some of my peers in their 20s and 30s who were experiencing a downturn for the first time. Their stock-based compensation dwindled, crypto savings crashed, and some of their friends in the industry had also been impacted by layoffs.

Lukito shared several actionable steps one could take to protect themselves.

One of his advice was to learn as much as possible and “don’t stay in your comfort zone”. This echoes Warren Buffet’s advice at the end of the Great Recession, where he shared that the best thing to do during those troubling economic times was for people to invest in themselves and learn new things.

He also emphasised twice on the importance of focusing on productivity. This advice echoes that of leaders at big tech companies like Meta and Google, who have highlighted the same to their workers.

Convincing others to adopt new ways of doing things?

When I asked Lukito about some of his biggest challenges running Halodoc, I was not expecting this answer. The biggest challenge is convincing stakeholders such as patients and healthcare providers that they could use telemedicine without sacrificing quality.

He shared that some Indonesians were initially not used to talking to doctors online and still believed that “If I am not being touched by my doctor, I can’t recover”. We all need to convince stakeholders at work and in our lives. Lukito shared three useful pointers on how we can win others over.

• Give proof that you can understand and solve their problems first.
• Change needs to be incremental. They started with one drive-through centre and added more over time once they proved the impact.
• Use data to your advantage. Gather the data, analyse it, and present it to demonstrate impact. Win trust and expand more facilities

Overall, I enjoyed the conversation with Lukito. Whether you work in tech or just started your own company, I am sure you would have a lot to learn from his story and lessons in running the largest healthtech startup in Indonesia.

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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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All the excitement of the Web3 movement reminded me of the 2010-2012 period in Southeast Asia. There were abundant opportunities in the region, and everyone was doing something interesting.

Every other meetup excites you and further motivates you to push harder in your own work areas. Startups are pitching not just to raise investments but honestly to share the excitement and the raw passion that they have in solving that problem with their proposed solution.

With an overall emerging market outlook, there was massive potential in many sectors for which entrepreneurs and founders are looking to create solutions. This statement is now true for the Web3 movement.

Caring for Web3

e27 has been starting to shift our content focus into Web3 since the start of 2022. The main reason is the idea that Web3 is a powerful and life-changing concept and definitely means more than crypto tokens and exchanges.

The promise of decentralisation and a community-first model seems to make perfect sense in a world of mixed opinions, capitalism and its zealous growth march, which are detrimental to its own environment. Thus, we are taking a closer look at this space to understand where the innovations are and how they could impact and assist our current tech community, which is made up of Web2 companies. 

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

For the past seven months, I have been spending time researching, speaking to new and old friends, learning the basics of the crypto jargon and what terms like “shilling” actually meant and going into multiple rabbit holes of NFTs and tons of discord channels. Dabbling with DeFi, I was also amazed by the number of projects that were attracting tons of money (before March).

Web3 events

As a community platform, events are part of our core, organising and attending events. 

One of the key events I’m looking forward to attending is Coinfest, which will happen next week in Bali. The Indonesian government has done much to encourage the growth of the digital nomads, and a portion of these communities are crypto and Web3 related.

The area where I’m personally interested is going deeper into DAOs and Web2.5 models and concepts. Web2.5 is a small movement where innovative concepts and technologies are created to bridge the ever-dividing gap between the Web2 and 3 models.

There’s plenty to learn more from the agenda with two separate tracks targeting the Web3 natives and the learning general technologists, startup founders and businesses that are attending the event next week.

I’m most looking forward to sessions on how Web2 companies transition to Web3 and how to build Web3 companies. I’ve spent a few months studying this trend and would like to hear from others in the ecosystem on how they think this transition will come about. What are the practical applications of Web3 beyond crypto, and how can conventional Web2 companies embrace the new world order?

Coinfest Asia has a stellar set of speakers from the key well-known exchanges, L1 blockchain representations, banks and investors and most importantly, key support from the Indonesia Ministry of Trade, with Vice Minister Jerry Sambuaga officiating the opening ceremony for the event. Check out the entire agenda and speakers and get involved here. 

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We all communicate with everyone based on our acquired or ingrained philosophies and worldviews. Nonetheless, in a diverse organisational setting, we must tap into our capacity for empathy and be mindful of our language. Vocabulary that may seem innocent to some may be abhorrent and isolating to others. 

From personal experience, I can say any institution can leverage all the advantages of its diverse crew with an inclusive environment that encourages people to bring their knowledge, experience, opinions, and mindsets to the workplace. 

What is inclusive communication?

Inclusive communication uses words or terms that avoid vernacular, biases, expressions, and slang that discriminate against people or groups based on age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, and ability. 

Inclusive communication is not just restricted to daily dialogues but also amplifies the message to more people, making a blog post, job description, or website copy more accessible than before.

Principles of inclusive language

People first: We are more than our descriptors

Use people-centric language that reflects people’s individuality and doesn’t stereotype somebody based on their association or identity with a group or culture. 

Mentioning of personal attributes or characteristics like gender, sexual orientation, religion, racial group, or ability should be context and relevancy based.

Example: Instead of “It’s not that black and white”, use “It’s not that clear.” 

Medical conditions and ability terms: Recognise and be sensitive toward 

“Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)”, “Bipolar,” “PTSD,” and “ADHD” are real-world mental health issues. Spreading ableist language (Ableism is discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that common abilities are superior) or using such words interchangeably describing day-to-day behaviours undermines the impact of someone’s experiences with a mental disorder. 

Example: Avoid using derogatory terms relatable to mental health issues, like “crazy.” Instead, use “outrageous” or “unheard of.”

Universal phrases: Results in transparent communication

Acronyms, idioms, jargon, and even colloquial expressions or metaphors specific to just one culture or class have become part of most companies’ vocabulary. These can be alienating and impede effective communication for new joiners, candidates, or global teams. 

Example: Working majorly with startups that need quick results, I often use the term “Low hanging fruit”.  Instead, I am consciously practising using “executing easy things that can help make progress toward an objective.”

Gender-neutral language: The most obvious, but is it? 

Let’s take a step back first, Sex and gender are dissimilar. Sex is given at birth, while gender is how an individual identifies. Gender is a broad spectrum.

Now, the most basic way to avoid gendered language in English is by employing gender-neutral phrases when addressing groups of people, their professional titles or when talking about family members to prevent heteronormative language.

Also Read: Why we cannot talk of diversity without inclusion

Example: Instead of “a woman entrepreneur,” use “a woman who is an entrepreneur” or replace “Husband/wife” with “spouse” and Good Morning, Everyone/team/people!” instead of “Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen!”. When unsure, you can always be respectful, introduce yourself and the pronouns you are comfortable with, and ask the same to make whoever you are communicating with feel welcome.

Not sure? Ask around

Inclusive language is subtle. The nuances can be confusing at the least and offensive at worst. The following questions have often helped me be neutral and inclusive:

• Is it essential to refer to a person or group’s inherent characteristics? 
• If so, are the references to personal characteristics couched in inclusive terms? 
• Do the framed considerations reflect the diversity of the audience? 
• If so, is the material accessible to the intended audience? 
• Are you, by any chance, excluding people in the design and delivery of your communication?

Image Courtesy: Inclusive Language for powerful communication by KarmaV

Conclusion

We are all constantly learning. So I’d say there are two key things to remember when practising inclusivity in communications:

First, anyone can make a mistake, no point in harping over it. Rather, sincerely apologise, correct yourself, make a mental note for future reference and move on. 

Second, the underrepresented are not obligated to explain the context behind their pronouns, how they perform their gender or the nuances of their sexuality. They shouldn’t be considered a token of their diverse community. I reckon the best approach is to ask questions you would consider answering without any discomfort.  

For me, inclusive language is not about alarming the ‘woke-meter’, encroaching on freedom of speech, or even being politically correct; it is about respectfully conveying your message. 

Verbiage is fluid. The intention and connotations of words can alter rapidly. It just needs one to be mindful of showcasing value, be inclusive, and empower all audience members.

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FOMO Pay raises US$13M in Series A funding round to accelerate growth
FOMO Pay aims to diversify product offerings following the crypto adoption curve, including working with regulators on CBDC projects. It will also strengthen research and development capabilities

Graas acquires Shoptimize, SELLinALL following US$40M Series A funding round
Singapore-based Graas was founded by serial entrepreneurs and martech veterans Prem Bhatia and Ashwin Puri. It has revealed its plan to expand further into Southeast Asia and India following this funding round.

MiyaHealth raises additional Pre-Series A funding to expand global footprint
The funding would be used to drive MiyaHealth’s aggressive growth strategy in product development, hiring and expansion of operations globally. MiyaHealth is also planning to kick off its Series A fundraise in the next six months to develop its product suite further.

Exclusive: Bukalapak founders’ fund backs early round of Indonesian coding test firm
Founded in 2021 by Elfino Sitompul and Melinda Wardiman, Algobash offers a tool that helps employers filter top-quality programmers through coding test solutions and pre-employment assessments, according to Tech In Asia.

East Ventures leads Indonesian sustainable proptech firm’s seed round
Founded in 2020 by its CEO Fred Moeis, Kabina simplifies the building process through prefabrication and modular construction. It also uses wood from sustainable sources as its main material, writes Tech In Asia.

Quona Capital secures capital commitments worth US$308M so far for its third fund.
DealstreetAsia reports that the fundraising only reflects the amount raised from US investors.

How the pandemic inspires Natural Trace to create a food supply chain traceability solution
What Natural Trace is offering is believed to be a better solution because, in addition to being food-grade, it is also tamper-proof.

How to venture into blockchain during a recession
Despite the market’s current doom-and-gloom outlook, blockchain as an agent of change remains key to the world’s digital and financial future. Investors should gather their wits and start shopping now, during this market correction.

How to never waste a good a crisis and survive the recession
At the end of the day, opportunity is greatest during times of volatility and this is a great time to build for those with that attitude. So this is how we can grow stronger during the recession.

Is the crypto market dead again?
Given how compelling the principle of decentralising is, it’s not a surprise that people aren’t ready to give up on crypto yet.

Early days of the Indonesian VC landscape and why VCs are like music labels
Southeast Asia is the centre of opportunity, and Indonesia is going to be the centre of development and engineering. But is there a shortage of money in the market?

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Image Credit: © inspirestock, 123RF Free Images

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From plummeting prices to high-profile layoffs and bankruptcies, the crypto bear has fully emerged from hibernation amid high summer. Yet one sector remains bullish, the blockchain gaming industry is, in fact, experiencing explosive growth and thriving in the proverbial crypto winter.

According to a report by DappRadar, in the first quarter of 2022 alone, investors have poured US$2.5 billion into blockchain games, a significant and substantial increase from the US$4 billion raised in the whole of 2021. 

This corroborates strongly with the view from many experts that gaming is truly the best use case for crypto, and blockchain gaming activity has surged 2,000 percent in the last year. 

This isn’t too surprising as the gaming industry is known to be very resilient and, in some ways, “recession-proof”. The idea is that during a recession, people will spend more time at home, seeking inexpensive forms of entertainment or generally look for video games that operate on a longer-tail business model, representing good value for money. 

But with such a meteoric rise comes the question of sustainability. How can game developers efficiently scale up to effectively meet the rising demand for new blockchain gaming experiences, and ensure that their ecosystem is effectively future-proofed?

While demand for blockchain gaming is surging, there remain many challenges that hinder the long-term viability of the space. To drive mainstream adoption, the user experience must be good.

Security and legitimacy are also important considerations due to an evolving business model which challenges who really holds the value in blockchain games. Scams, hacks, and misleading projects are rampant and discredit the good work that has been ongoing to upgrade gaming infrastructure.

We have seen high-profile cases, such as what has been dubbed the “largest exploit” in the history of the space, when popular blockchain game Axie Infinity’s Ronin network suffered an eye-watering loss of US$625 million earlier this year. This presents a huge roadblock to onboarding users. 

Game developers are also well aware of these challenges. For many long-standing AAA publishers from traditional gaming, they will have to manage their reputations, as well as protect their intellectual property (IP), so they have understandably been hesitant about diving headfirst into blockchain technology. 

Fun first

Beyond the barriers of entry, however, a significant pain point to address revolves around the actual gaming experience, and whether it provides something simple, yet seemingly elusive according to critics: fun. 

Too many blockchain-based game developers and publishers today tunnel vision on their monetisation models, project tokenomics or emphasise a play-to-earn model with game mechanics geared heavily towards earning rather than playing.

Also Read: Why the Web3-enabled gaming world still has hope

It’s simply not scalable. Focusing on monetary rewards without prioritising gameplay does not motivate users to continue playing the game. The attempt to financialise gaming without regard for the spirit of why we play games simply turns a fun, recreational activity into a job. It causes the fractionalisation of a player base, turning a community driven by gameplay into one where users are seen as mere market participants. 

This is the fundamental reason why there is still so much apprehension from conventional gamers and gaming platforms, who view blockchain gaming as a cash grab and the antithesis of everything they stand for. 

As it currently stands, games on the blockchain are generally not fun. This is not necessarily down to the aspiring and well-meaning game developers, but perhaps the limitations of current blockchain architecture.

This is very simply how games are judged to be “fun” or “good” in the blockchain. Nobody wants to pay high gas fees to execute actions within a gaming metaverse or wait for 15-seconds to five minutes for a transaction to be confirmed. 

Current consensus mechanisms are geared so much towards decentralisation, security, and privacy that they can come at the expense of speed, performance, and cost. For blockchain-powered solutions to be attractive to game developers and succeed in winning the hearts and minds of players, they need to be highly scalable with high transaction speeds and low/zero gas fees for users. They must have a well-designed user interface, be fully optimised for performance, and be interoperable between various multiverses. 

Bridging two worlds

Another issue for the flagging interest in blockchain gaming is that there has been very little buy-in from major gaming brands, developers, and studios from the traditional gaming world thus far. The process of IP development for blockchain games is complex, and major IP holders are right to be concerned about how their brands are deployed, monetized, and used on a blockchain. 

When we examine how traditional IPs are created, they are usually a derivative of mass-consumed media. For example, Mickey Mouse was popularised by the Steamboat Willie movie, and Gundam mechas have pretty much defined a genre since their debut in the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.

However, in the Web3 world, without the long-established credibility and brands such as Disney and Bandai Namco, IP conceptualisation begins with creation for a limited number of people, using NFTs as a limited-edition product.

Also Read: Exploring the creator economy in gaming

This means that many NFT developers are spending big on branding to increase the value of their collections rather than investing in-game mechanics, functionality and interfaces in the hopes that their husk of a game will move on to join the mass market.

It is clear that for blockchain gaming to succeed, it cannot do so alone. Rather it must acknowledge its limitations and embrace the value and expertise that traditional gaming brands can offer. 

What we’re seeing now is more and more buy-in from traditional game developers and gaming companies, who are now realising the tremendous value that blockchain gaming offers to players and developers alike.

For instance, the Oasys project, which was just only announced this year, has already been backed by the likes of Bandai Namco, Ubisoft and SEGA – huge brands and stalwarts of the traditional gaming industry, and some of the biggest game companies in the world.

Not one single company holds the key to surmounting the aforementioned problems. Rather, an ecosystem approach is necessary.  Just as more institutional investment legitimised crypto over the years, the interest and participation of traditional gaming company brands will also help accelerate the growth of blockchain gaming.

The Oasys project has quickly recognised this paradigm and quickly brought in as many partners, validators and investors across a wide range of Web2 and Web3 leaders. Aside from working with the aforementioned gaming developers, Oasys also recently partnered with ConsenSys to produce an industry-first, gaming-optimised wallet for players, as well as announced a collaboration with Mythical Games, a leading crypto-native games developer, to serve as an initial validator.

By leveraging the strengths of different stakeholders, there is a more efficient use of resources and industry expertise to propel growth. The time is now for all of us collectively in the blockchain gaming industry to dig deeper and build a robust gaming architecture that can not only ride out winter but also emerge from it stronger.

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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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