With Malaysia being one of many countries that are highly vulnerable to global shocks affecting its food supply chains, both consumers and producers have been hard hit. Often, food consumers have to contend with limitations in supply volume and options, as well as the quality of goods.

On the supplier side, a lack of insight into the volume of demand for certain ingredients arising from market access challenges makes it difficult to plan, and order management and fulfilment are often done manually. Other factors influence these conditions, such as fragmented stakeholder linkages across the supply chain and rudimentary supply and demand monitoring, making it a challenge to see opportunities for optimisation quickly. Efforts to streamline food supply chain processes come at an opportune moment, presenting efficiencies, resource sustainability, and cost savings for both business buyers and farm producers.

One such solution is spearheaded by Secai Marche, a cloud-based farm-to-table B2B platform that links farmers and food businesses by building more economically viable and sustainable operations of small-scale farms as well as F&B retailers, hotels, restaurants, and cafes through improved access to good & delicious food. This is done through streamlining agricultural logistics, realising cost efficiency and product bundling across farmer suppliers that unlock more options for fresh food ingredients, through a process that enables transparency and optimised product value.

Bolstering the food supply chain

Headquartered in Japan with Malaysia as its first global branch, Secai Marche co-founders Ami Sugiyama and Shusaku Hayakawa have had personal experience in food supply chain pain points, running retail food shops and farms themselves for over a decade. In the past four years, they have built the company to address the pain points of scale challenges for farm operations through full-stack tech solutions from online marketplaces, order management, logistics and fulfilment, which also broadens the array of food options and SKUs that are available to hotels, restaurants, and cafes to choose from as their raw ingredients for their food offerings.

Also read: On a mission to reform and simplify cross-border supply chains

While they started as an online marketplace between food producers and food and beverage retailers, they have since expanded to include order fulfilment as that is what is lacking in current market solutions. Through a marketplace SaaS model, Secai Marche is also the first provider in the region to offer this solution, including cold storage, thereby mitigating food waste challenges in the current supply chain conditions of the region. Their key focus is to enable optimisation, making things efficient for businesses, lessening produce wastage for the farmers, and working with existing warehousing and logistics providers to enable this.

Using technology also generates information that can be used to further optimise the farm-to-table process, realising operational efficiency and greater convenience that benefits farmers, food businesses, and consumers. It also generates positive impacts on sustainability via mitigating the occurrence of food waste. Their data shows that the platform has minimised food loss and waste among their customers’ current supply chain by as much as 75 per cent.

B2B e-commerce for F&B retailers

To address market access and sales channel challenges for farmers, Secai Marche has its B2B online platform where F&B retailers can directly connect with them, much like an online grocery shopping experience for hotels, restaurants, and cafes. It further enables efficiency by providing order management and processing solutions, including streamlining payment collections, thereby addressing multiple collections and variable payment term cycles across buyers.

Also read: How accessible robotic solutions enable business efficiency

The platform also streamlines anticipated market demand, enabling feedback loops for food producers. It streamlines logistics and distribution as well by covering the fulfilment function from farm-to-restaurant through the pick-up goods, quality check, washing of goods, repacking, sorting, picking, and last-mile delivery to restaurants by combining goods with other products and bundling them into one order. Especially for perishables, Secai Marche has been focusing on operational excellence in cold chain facilities to ensure its produce does not lose the required standards — something which many players in the market find challenging to execute.

Through this end-to-end service, restaurants enjoy more product variety and freshness with lesser minimum order quantity requirements, being able to choose products through the online platform, receiving one invoice, and paying everything together, instead of dealing with multiple suppliers and invoices.

Formidable track record

What differentiates Secai Marche is its ability to power a shared supply chain with precision where the delivery needs of various food suppliers can be catered to. To date, they are working with 300 food producers in Japan and Southeast Asia, as well as 400 hotels, restaurants, and cafes, *processing monthly transactions of over USD100,000 (*as of publishing. The current monthly transaction ranges between USD200,000 as of August 2022).

The startup has since raised a total of 2.5M USD from its previous funding rounds to focus on growth by building out its technology stack further, bolstering its talent pool, and expanding its reach to more countries in Southeast Asia. Rakuten is an investor and serves as their strategic partner as well, being the biggest e-commerce company in Japan. Their experience in the field can accelerate Secai Marche’s journey to expansion.

Also read: Strengthening cybersecurity measures in the face of Web 3.0

The Secai Marche team is keen to engage with strategic partners to further accelerate their growth and impact in the markets that they serve, with Singapore as its next target country for expansion, followed by Thailand and Indonesia, and with possibilities of engaging more farmers across the region to source produce.

The startup is also gearing up for its series A raise, expanding its service key units to 3,000 products with transparency in sourcing, serving a growing number of consumers who are more conscious of food product sources. Secai Marche is bullish on its mission to build a better supply chain that connects producers and end users most efficiently, maximising value for them through new direct channels and fulfilment.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Secai Marche

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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Yes, you read that right. Historically, crypto has repeatedly undergone cycles of dramatic rises and abrupt falls. At one point in 2017-18, Bitcoin slumped by an astonishing 84 per cent after attaining a peak of US$20,000. And now, we have experienced another major crypto collapse.

First came the devastating Terra Luna crash. Then, major crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital was assuaged with major liquidity issues. This double whammy consequently led to a massive sell-off in crypto assets, causing crypto to enter a bear market territory, with Bitcoin (BTC) slipping by more than 65 per cent and Ethereum (ETH) by 75 per cent. 

“Crypto winter is here”, so the word goes on the streets. Some investors are even predicting that the slump could persist for at least two years.

But the present situation doesn’t spell the beginning of the end for crypto. The cogs are already shifting, poised to introduce a wave of change that will positively transform and strengthen the crypto ecosystem. Furthermore, major crypto companies Binance, Kraken, and Polygon are actually accelerating their hiring efforts with over 3,000 open jobs amidst the madness of layoffs and selloffs. 

To understand why crypto remains firmly entrenched in the fintech ecosystem, let’s go back to the fundamentals of why crypto was created.

The guiding principle of crypto

The year was 2008. The world was reeling from the shock of the Global Financial Crisis, which triggered several bank failures and caused many economies worldwide to slow down. 

Crypto was created on the coattails of this disaster, as people began to question and doubt centralised institutions like banks and their involvement in the financial system. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to be created, serving as a means for people to directly control their money without relying on said central authorities. 

Herein lies the key draw of crypto: it is decentralised. It speaks to and encourages the notion of a free world where power is returned to the users, allowing payments to be made swiftly and securely without being hampered by regulatory roadblocks. The 21st-century version of ‘Power to the People’, so to speak.

Also Read: Are we prepared to embrace the possibilities of Web3 beyond crypto?

Let’s not forget this even as crypto nosedives into its current bear market situation. As with every other market that carries some measure of risk, crypto’s core values remain unchanged despite its ups and downs.

And it is these very core values that have spurred crypto to develop interesting use cases beyond just being a vehicle for investments. These use cases ensure that crypto endures well into the future. As more use cases are devised as answers to new problems, the longevity of crypto will be further prolonged.

Without further ado, let’s move on to examine some of the known use cases of crypto.

The use cases of crypto

While it’s easy to write crypto off as just an asset and occasional payment method, the reality is that it’s more than that: it has been used for other innovative purposes, ranging from lending platforms to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Let’s consider three distinct use cases of crypto below:

Lending

Crypto lending is one of the more popular DeFi use cases that have been around in the market for years, with billions of dollars of crypto assets secured across various lending platforms. Decentralised lending protocols like AAVE and Compound Finance allow users to lend, borrow and earn interest on crypto assets without the requirement of a third party or an intermediary. 

While crypto lending started out as a vehicle for crypto users operating in the decentralised space, both AAVE and Compound Finance have launched products to drive more institution adoption into the DeFi ecosystem. Known as AAVE Arc and Compound Treasury, respectively, these products serve as conduits for financial institutions and non-crypto native businesses to directly access decentralised markets.

Even amid the crypto bear market, lending continues to be a popular use case in the world of crypto. Recently in May 2022, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) entered the DeFi space via its digital venture arm SCB 10X, where it will use Compound Treasury for conversions between USD and the USDC stablecoin.

According to Mukaya Tai Panich, chief investment officer at SCB 10X, this is a key step in the right direction for SCB 10X’s institutional DeFi efforts. Despite the recent events, Panich believes that the accelerated education of regulators, board members, and top-level management has helped to mitigate panic reactions.

SCB 10X isn’t the only financial institution to venture into the DeFi space too. Crypto custody firm Fireblocks’ CEO, Michael Shaulov, noted that more high-end institutional clients are exploring DeFi, with AAVE Arc and Compound Treasury helping to ease their transition into this space.

Commodity storage

Centralised cloud storage services are a fantastic idea and have enabled businesses and digital services to scale effectively and efficiently. They store users’ data on the cloud, freeing them from the shackles of external hard drives.

However, this service often comes with a caveat: cloud services are monopolised by a few companies, who control prices, legislation, and even those who use these services.

Enter decentralised storage networks like Filecoin. These systems work to eliminate bad monopoly practices by incentivising storage providers to securely and transparently store their clients’ files. Now, this system may not sound feasible at first, but it actually works. 

For Filecoin, it rewards storage providers with Filecoins when they store data securely. Filecoin verifies such good practices via cryptographic methods. By earning these Filecoins over time, storage providers stand to benefit from block rewards doled out by Filecoin.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

And now we come to our last but most probably best-known use case, non-fungible tokens. You’ve probably seen these around on Instagram and Twitter, with owners and notable celebrities showing off their NFTs (ranging from Pudgy Penguins to Bored Apes) by using them as profile pictures. And NFTs are closely intertwined with crypto. 

Digital assets that represent real-world objects like art, music, in-game items, fashion and videos, NFTs operate on the same blockchains that host crypto. Also known as Layer 1 platforms, these blockchains serve as ecosystems that cryptographically secure NFTs. 

Also Read: Where is the future of NFTs and metaverse heading towards?

Of all the blockchains that NFTs operate on, Ethereum is the best known. It pioneered the ERC-721 token standard, which is currently the most commonly used standard for NFTs. 

While NFTs are typically used for art collectability, their potential doesn’t start and end there. Looking ahead, NFTs can be evolved for business use. This boils down to their ability to serve as immutable proof of ownership. Beyond art and games, NFTs could potentially be used to tie house ownership or even university applications to you. 

Furthermore, a key feature of NFTs is that they are transparent, which means you can track their full journey when you get involved in any transaction. Couple this with the encrypted nature of NFTs and the risk of identity theft and other identity-related risks are greatly reduced.

Regulating the unregulated

Although the manifold use cases of crypto point towards its survival into the future, we mustn’t overlook the white elephant in the room: the lack of appropriate regulation. This might seem ironic since crypto was conceived to be unregulated. 

Yet we can’t turn a blind eye to recent events that made it remarkably clear that some regulation is necessary; it’s pretty much a necessary evil. After all, during the Terra implosion, reports of people losing their entire life savings began to surface, causing them to rapidly lose faith. 

At present, the material value of crypto is impaired by the abuse of a lax system, alongside the wider lack of trust that the public has in it. Hence, when I talk about regulation for crypto, I’m really looking at putting up robust safeguards that regulatory authorities manage to make the overall environment safe for all stakeholders involved. 

Such regulation would theoretically serve as a safety net for investors when the wider crypto market undergoes an unfavourable downturn. This is especially important for less sophisticated investors or investors who have devoted a substantial sum of money towards crypto.

At the same time, we should use this opportunity to hold open talks with relevant stakeholders, educate users, and refocus the conversation on the intrinsic benefits that crypto provides.

It’s also helpful to remember that crypto has a history of being highly volatile, going through steep climbs and sudden slumps throughout its intense 13-year life cycle. 

While seasoned investors would be unfazed by the volatility, the same cannot be said of inexperienced retail investors who were banking on a quick buck.

Singapore’s measures

Project Guardian

Singapore is taking the lead in piloting a project to explore viable methods of regulating the crypto market without being overly intrusive. Dubbed Project Guardian, this initiative is a collaborative effort between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the financial industry to explore the economic potential, harness the benefit of DeFi and value-adding use cases of tokenisation.

Under Project Guardian, a key objective is to manage risks to financial stability and integrity, precisely the core concern that arose following the Terra Luna crash. While nothing is set in stone yet, Project Guardian symbolises an enormous step in the right direction for the broader crypto ecosystem. 

Currently, crypto is risky precisely because of the absence of tangible safety barriers to protect investors from losing their investments. 

Also Read: Cryptocurrency, money laundering and KYC: Why are regulations important?

With initiatives like Project Guardian in place, we could potentially see the crypto ecosystem becoming less speculative and more secure for DeFi participants.

Tighter regulatory measures

At the same time, the MAS has also recently pledged to be “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on bad practices in the crypto industry. While this move has been called out for “not being friendly” by many crypto companies, I think it is, in fact, a step in the right direction. 

I don’t disagree that such tight regulations may hamper the operations of crypto companies. But if the Terra Luna crash has taught us anything, it is that without a clearer regulatory environment, it inadvertently gives space to bad practices that will actually be more harmful to the development of the crypto industry in the long run.

The MAS’ recent stance may be harsh, but it bears mentioning that this is consistent with its opinion that crypto is not for retail investors. While accredited investors are armed with a robust understanding of market volatilities and how to respond to them, retail investors often lack this fundamental knowledge.

I, therefore, believe that the MAS’ crackdown on bad practices will mould the crypto industry to be a better and safer environment for all participants.

Crypto is not dead

While crypto’s bear market situation is undoubtedly a cause for concern, we shouldn’t mistake it as a sign that spells the end for the broader crypto-universe. Key stakeholders are already in conversation to work out viable solutions to better manage the system for everyone. 

It’s also worth remembering crypto’s key selling point as a tool designed to empower the user. Swift and transparent, crypto transactions are not bound to the whims of a central authority; they are instead authenticated by the user. 

That’s why crypto isn’t dead. Given how compelling its principle of decentralising and freeing the financial ecosystem is, it’s hardly any surprise that people aren’t quite ready to give up on it.

That said, crypto is going through a rough spot that could persist for years. While I can’t say for sure when things will pick up again, the crypto community continues to believe in HODL (holding on for dear life) and maintaining diamond hands (refraining from selling crypto investments despite downturns). To this, I’ll add a caveat: only do so if you’re financially able to!

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The Masters of Cashflow Podcast is hosted by Andrew Senduk, and is all about venture capital in South East Asia. He interviews the leading investors in South East Asia, from prolific angel investors, upcoming VCs, and leading CVCs in the game.

Andrew Senduk is a serial venture builder, who raised $ millions of venture capital for his ventures, and is currently the Managing Director at Workmate, Indonesia. Workmate’s vision is to help companies simplify the hiring and management of their blue-collar workforce and by doing so make an impact on the millions of blue-collar workers across SEA. Senduk has built multiple high-growth companies from scratch since 2009 and is a global keynote speaker and author of Ignite Millennial Leadership (2018).

Nicko Widjaja is the CEO of BRI Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bank BRI, the biggest bank in Indonesia based on assets that launched its’ first US$250+ million venture fund. In November 2020, its second fund, called Sembrani Nusantara (SN), was launched, which is a mix of equity and venture debt funds.

Widjaja is an early tech investment pioneer, his career spans over 15 years in venture capital, corporate transformation, and startup ecosystem. He was formerly the CEO of MDI Ventures, a Telkom Indonesia-backed venture capital with investments in over ten countries. Under his leadership, MDI Ventures has become one of the most profitable venture capital firms in the region, with two international IPOs (ASX and TSE) and four trade exits in just four years since inception. 

Indonesia’s ever-growing stature

“Silicon Valley is the centre of innovation, South East Asia is the centre of opportunity, and Indonesia is going to be the centre of development and engineering.”

This is Indonesia’s 11th year of the tech ecosystem, and there weren’t a lot of “pearls” back then. There weren’t any “US$100 million funding” headlines or guaranteed unicorns in the making. Sure an angel check or seed round here and there, but nothing spectacular. It’s amazing to see how the ecosystem has evolved into the eight unicorns Indonesia counts at the moment (2022) and the massive value creation that is produced by homegrown companies.

Investment funds usually have a three-four year investment period and a five-six year harvesting period. This means the first full investment cycle has been completed. In other words, it’s the moment of truth for the ecosystem, and several homegrown startups have “made it” to the big league, unicorn status. On the day of the recording of this podcast, Grab went IPO via a SPAC with a valuation of US$40 billion. A major milestone for SEA’s tech ecosystem.

Corporate venture capital (CVC) vs traditional venture capital (VC)

CVCs differentiate because they follow a strict investment thesis and, therefore, usually are not agnostic. There should be synergy with the core business, and before CVCs invest, they usually ask questions like:

• Does the startup fall in the category of investment? 
• What stage are they in? 
• What market are they serving?
• What is the synergy with the core business?

Is it strange that a company like Grab can double the valuation in 18 months? 

Also Read: How AlphaJWC Ventures built Indonesia’s largest early-stage fund

No, because most companies are still undervalued. Compared to companies like SEA, many homegrown companies have not shown their full potential yet. Even though the pandemic has accelerated growth and digital adoption for many tech companies, there is still much room for growth.

Is there a shortage of money?

Money is overflowing in the region, it’s becoming a commodity instead. Money is not the challenge. The challenge is more on the founder’s side, from who will they accept the money? Investors are increasingly thinking about how they can convince founders to accept their money.

The myth of being an investor is that any startup will take their money. But if that’s the case, you’re not a good investor, because clearly, you’re fishing in the wrong startup pond. Investors need to create stories and make sure they work for startups, and not the other way around.

Role of (hyper) growth nowadays

Growth is not a matter of metrics anymore, it’s about the founder’s vision. Will they stick with the old playbook, or can they evolve into a multiple-arm strategy? Look at how Gojek or Bukalapak have evolved into mini conglomerates.

Comparison between the investment space and the music space

• Investors are the record label
• Startups are the artists
• Verticals (i.e. e-commerce, logistics, fintech, edutech) are the genres

It’s the investor’s goal to make their artist into top-selling artists!

Listen to the full podcast episode here. Check out the podcast on Spotify and Apple.

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Singapore-based fintech startup FOMO Pay today announced that it had secured a US$13 million investment for its Series A round led by Jump Crypto. Other participating investors include HashKey Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Ab Initio Capital, and Republic Capital.

In a press statement, the company said that with the injection of fresh funds, the firm will accelerate its growth and will invest in talent acquisition and its infrastructure. It will also strengthen research and development capabilities, expand geographically, extend its client base, and diversify product offerings following the crypto adoption curve, including working closely with regulators on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) projects.

“2022 has so far been a breakout year for FOMO Pay – we are seeing significant growth across all business lines. Our volumes for the first half of 2022 have surpassed the full year 2021 levels, and our client pipeline is extremely strong. We attribute this success to the hard work of our team and their effort always to put customers first,” said FOMO Pay Founder and CEO Louis Liu.

“This is a milestone year for us as we turn eight. We will continue to strive hard toward building Asia’s first licensed payment ecosystem with interoperability between fiat and crypto currencies, and we are grateful for the unwavering support and belief from our investors, stakeholders and partners. We are extremely proud and grateful to be one of the front-runners in this industry in Singapore.  Singapore has been at the forefront of innovation with a world-leading licensing and regulatory framework. Our goal is to work in harmony with all stakeholders on both developmental and regulatory approaches to achieve the vision of Singapore as an innovative and responsible global digital asset hub,” further added Liu.

Also Read: News Roundup: Singapore’s online hiring demand dips due to COVID-19; FOMO Pay forays into Malaysia

Founded in 2015, FOMO Pay is a payment institution that aims to enable the digital economy with global virtual banking solutions for financial institutions and enterprises. Its flagship solutions help institutional clients connect to e-wallets, credit cards, cryptocurrencies, and more with its global banking solutions.

It was the first firm in Singapore granted approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for Digital Payment Token Services. It is licensed to provide Merchant Acquisition Service, Domestic Money Transfer Service, Cross Border Money Transfer and Digital Payment Token Service.

The company said that it is working with several thousands of clients across Web2 and Web3 industries. Over the past year, FOMO Pay has announced several strategic partnerships with firms such as Circle, Acentrik (​​initiative by Mercedes-Benz), and Ripple.

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Image Credit: FOMO Pay

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The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged many creative individuals to come up with solutions to tackle different challenges in our everyday life –including those that may not seem to have a direct correlation with the pandemic. Natural Trace, a Singapore-based biotech startup, is one of those companies that is providing an innovative solution inspired by a tool that is commonly used during the pandemic: the PCR testing system.

The company is developing NaturalTag, which it describes as a world-first DNA-based food-grade tag to protect supply chain integrity. Simply put, this solution is in the form of powder or liquid that is added in minimal amounts to food products and ingredients. Businesses can later use the traces of these additions to track every ingredient in every product along each stage of the supply chain.

In the status quo, businesses use solutions such as blockchain, barcodes and serial numbers, as well as other external, non-food-grade tags, to track ingredients in the supply chain. What Natural Trace is offering is believed to be a better solution because, in addition to being food-grade, it is also tamper-proof.

“With a minimal quantity of NaturalTag microbial identifiers, each containing a natural and unique DNA sequence, the unique serial identifiers are captured into a traceability report, which generates origination information of each ingredient in a food product. Stored in Natural Trace’s cloud solution, companies and growers can retrieve the traceability report with fast turnaround times. This tamper-proof technology makes authenticating the origin of every single ingredient in a food product possible,” the company further explains.

By creating this solution, the Singapore-based startup aims to tackle the food safety, compliance, and integrity issues of the global food supply chain.

To understand better how the product functions, and the work that the team had done to create it, e27 speaks to Natural Trace co-founder Dr Chantal Roth. In this article, we will also look at what is coming up for the biotech startup.

Also Read: How Secai Marche champions farm-fresh food in Southeast Asia

Understanding where our food comes from

Natural Trace was founded by Switzerland-based Dr Roth and New York-based Prof. Lukas Muller, two scientists who specialise in genomics, and several angel investors at the height of the pandemic.

In our interview, Dr Roth explains how they came up with the idea for NaturalTag, starting with the problem that industries are facing when it comes to tracing food origins.

“There is a lot of ambiguity around the origin of raw foods. There is also quite a large percentage of counterfeiting going on. Apart from that, there is also the question about supply chain integrity, product integrity, and compliance … and it is quite a large percentage of the supply chain that is affected. We are talking about the market size of approximately US$3 billion,” she explains. “As you can see, there are existing solutions that are well known. For instance, barcodes or holograms, but they are externals,” she continues.

Dr Roth gives the example of vanilla exports from Madagascar to the US, an expensive product priced at about US$500 per kilogram. The problem with existing solutions such as external tags is that they can easily tamper. “With an external label, you can swap the product with a cheaper product … you can imagine that it makes a huge difference. Clearly, we need to be able to tag the product itself,” she says.

In the market today, there are other solutions such as chemical markers, but they certainly came with their own problems. For example, many of them are not made of food-grade ingredients. “That is one of the big concerns that partners have voiced to us. They told us that they have looked at different products, but nothing is food grade, and that is our big advantage, because our product is completely natural,” Dr Roth says.

Together, Dr Roth and Prof Muller have a combined experience of 40 years in the genomics industry, with a deep understanding of DNA sequencing and the advances in detection technology. Throughout the pandemic, they witnessed how testing tools are becoming more sensitive, affordable, and easy to use. It seems like the right momentum to try implementing the same concept, with all its advantages, for a different purpose.

The founders harvested the microbes that are being used in NaturalTag from food products such as yoghurt, milk, or cheese; once they are able to identify it, then they add a trace amount to the food product that they wish to track. After that, they use the existing PCR technology to detect the tag.

“We have both the short-term and long-term plans. As the technology evolves, we can also adapt our strategy, but in the short-term, we are using the PCR technology for the detection process as it is already well-established,” Dr Roth says.

Also Read: How digital technology can transform the food and beverage industry

As a B2B solutions provider, Natural Trace works with agents worldwide who are reaching out to companies that are looking for a tamper-prrof method of authenticating the origin of their products.

Moving towards the future

In June, Natural Trace announced the launch of its global headquarter in Singapore. In a press statement, the company dubbed Singapore a “natural choice” due to its food innovation and R&D ecosystem, which it saw as a conducive environment for a biotech startup.

It has also secured a partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS) since September to conduct various experiments and testings for its food supply chain traceability solution. An example of food products that they are testing through the partnership includes red wine and how the solutions aged after a while. “We want to make sure that the tag is still detectable after, say, it sits on the shelf for six months,” says Dr Roth.

Beyond the existing partnership, Natural Trace has many big plans for 2022. First and foremost, the company is looking for a professional CEO –a position that is currently held by Dr Roth. The new CEO will join a team that consists of six core members, plus another group that is working on marketing and legal.

Second, Natural Trace is currently fundraising for its latest funding round. After successfully raising seed funding to kickstart operations in Singapore, which counted angel investor CL Goh from Blue InCube Ventures as one of its backers, the company is raising US$3 million in seed funding to support its expansion.

“A large percentage [of the funding] will go into production fixed costs. Another part will go into R&D; it is really important because we are in here for the long haul. So we want to make sure that we can develop our product for the next five to 10 years, make it better and better,” Dr Roth says. “There are also packaging and distribution and some other business functions.”

In terms of the characteristics of investors that they are looking for, Dr Roth says that they are looking for those with the same vision and ideology in building trust and increasing the traceability and transparency of the food we eat.

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Now that we’re clearly in a recession, many investors are closing the door on blockchain plays for time being. The ‘crypto winter’ we now find ourselves in is largely to blame.

However, I urge investors not to paint with ‘too broad a brush’ in dismissing blockchain-based opportunities. Instead, try to recognise the far broader relevance of blockchain to our future, rather than just looking at it as mere architecture for cryptocurrencies.

In May, one of the market’s largest stablecoins, TerraUSD, lost more than 90 per cent of its value in just one week, despite being touted as a coin that’s “pegged to the US dollar.” This triggered a proper crash and losses of more than US$300 billion for investors across the ecosystem.

At the end of June, Coinbase shares plunged 75 per cent before Goldman Sachs downgraded it to a sell rating.

Reports around that time also indicated that Goldman was looking to raise US$2 billion from investors to buy up distressed assets from troubled crypto lender Celsius. Simultaneously, industry stakeholders discussed a possible deal to see crypto exchange FTX buy out crypto lender BlockFi for pennies on the dollar.

Incidents like the TerraUSD crash are not exactly isolated, with the price of Bitcoin dipping sharply over the past few months. Back in June, its price hovered around US$20,000, 32 per cent lower than the month before and far from the all-time high of US$69,000 in November 2021.

But 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.

Embracing decentralised ledgers

In the context of financial services, blockchain offers a variety of disruptive possibilities. The first and most apparent is bolstered transparency. For nearly every financial service company today, all business activity is built on transactions within a traditional corporate database.

Also Read: Helping crypto native companies navigate turbulent waters

Lots of ink is spilt in the press about ‘what blockchain is’ and ‘how it works.’ If you’re not already in the know, let me sum it up concisely: blockchain tech, while among other things, the foundation of crypto, on a much broader scale, does away with consolidated silos of power by replacing them with decentralised ledgers.

Perhaps the more powerful point is that it enables far frictionless and generally less expensive transactions of all sorts.

Decentralised ledgers are automatic records of transactions maintained across many computers (nodes) that are linked in a peer-to-peer network. For anything to be recorded or executed, a consensus is required across all nodes.

This simple concept is the basis of three global financial revolutions, all taking place at the same time. Apart from crypto, the others are decentralised finance (DeFi) and Web3.

DeFi is a term used to describe peer-to-peer financial services on public blockchains, primarily Ethereum. Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the internet itself, based on blockchain. Like the other two, it incorporates concepts like decentralisation and token-based economics. We can save explanations of things like NFTs and DAOs for another time.

Another important component of blockchain is lowering transaction costs. The financial services sector is chock full of intermediaries (such as banks) that enter the equation to create trust between transacting parties. Blockchain is a way to create trust without such middlemen.

For example, if you’re a lender seeking to verify the creditworthiness of a potential borrower, running data through a dispersed network of parties on a blockchain for consensus may be more attractive than putting all your eggs into the basket of one credit reporting agency. In such a case, blockchain cuts out the go-between in favour of the crowd and lowers your cost of doing business at scale.

For investors and entrepreneurs alike, these are just a couple of down-to-earth examples of how blockchain can be used to build a better future for everyone.

A rational entrance

Here in Asia, our firm has already begun making in-roads into the global blockchain game by investing in a company called NOBI, one of Asia’s top asset management platforms for crypto assets. The startup helps casual investors who want to diversify their wealth with crypto but don’t exactly know how.

Also Read: Does investing in Bitcoin still make sense?

We believe in this company because it comes with strong fundamentals, addresses a real and long-term demand, and is not dependent on market hype, speculation, or a paper-based valuation.

That said, even with the recent meltdown, at the time of this writing, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours was still worth around US$915 billion. Meanwhile, the global crypto market is estimated to surpass US$6.7 trillion by 2025. We believe investors and founders who shy away from it now will lose out in the long run.

If you do have cold feet today, don’t worry. You’re not alone. After all, crypto is volatile. But now is actually an ideal time for investors and founders to venture into the blockchain. Recessions breed rationality.

As a venture capitalist, I look forward to the next few quarters, as blockchain deal prices will be quite reasonable. While formal financial institutions tighten their purse strings, the blockchain ecosystem can leverage opportunities that emerge from this disruption.

Keep in mind that the fluctuating value of crypto is part and parcel of the game itself. Even when prices were at their record highs in 2021, daily price changes across all tokens were not uncommon.

For example, even Bitcoin faced multiple drawdowns before the crash of this year, with six dips of 50 per cent or more from 2012 to 2021. With this in mind, those who can stomach such swings will gain in the long run.

Thesis-driven blockchain in Asia

Ultimately, blockchain is here to stay. We already see clear signs of the crypto market trying to pick itself back up.

For those of us in Southeast Asia, blockchain will continue to transform our financial sector in fundamental ways.

Some countries in the region already recognise the potential of crypto and are willing to welcome it. Singapore, for example, enacted stricter guidelines on cryptocurrency advertisements and passed a bill that provides regulatory frameworks for crypto companies, demonstrating its readiness to adapt to the new financial paradigm.

At the end of the day, smart investors put money on the table shortly after a correction. That time is now. Institutional players should start looking today at Asian venture funds that are thesis-driven on rational blockchain plays.

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Singapore-headquartered Graas today announced that it had raised US$40 million in a Series A funding round led by Galaxy (Kejora-led SPV), Performa (multi-billion European Asset Manager-led SPV), Integra Partners, Yuj Ventures (Xander Group) and AJ Capital.

According to a press statement, some Southeast Asia (SEA) and India’s “best-known angel investors and industry leaders” across deep tech, retail, adtech and private equity have also participated in the round.

In addition to the funding round, the company also announced that it had acquired Indian D2C and data specialist Shoptimize and SEA marketplace specialist SELLinALL. Following the acquisition, the founders of both companies have joined the board of Graas and will continue to be a part of the combined entity.

The funding will also support the expansion into SEA and India.

Graas was founded by serial entrepreneurs and martech veterans Prem Bhatia and Ashwin Puri.

Also Read: Alpha JWC leads Filipino parenting e-commerce startup edamama’s US$20M Series A round

Its proprietary platform integrates previously siloed e-commerce data to reduce operational complexity and enable real-time decision-making. The AI engine helps predict trends and deliver actionable recommendations that span marketplace storefronts, social and conversational commerce, performance marketing, inventory management, warehousing and last mile logistics.

Graas said that it already serves over 250 customers today, and its AI predictive engine processes over 45 million data points every month across more than four million stock-keeping units (SKUs).

The company is run by over 350 employees across 11 offices in seven countries.

“While India and SEA are the fastest growing regions for e-commerce in the world with US$200 billion in GMV, they still account for less than 10 per cent of all retail in the region. There is significant headroom to grow, however, brands are finding it increasingly difficult to manage profitability. Given the increase in number of marketplaces, revenue shares with various platforms, advertising and customer acquisition costs (CAC) and fluctuating warehouse and last mile costs, margins are under threat. Doing business has become more complex and Graas is here to offer the solution,” said Prem Bhatia, Co-Founder & CEO of Graas.

“Graas’ vision is to demolish data silos, increase brands’ speed to market and create a streamlined, informed approach to marketing, inventory and content management – all in one dashboard. Our plugand-play algorithmic solution gives brands the equivalent of an in-house data scientist. As a result, we are already seeing exponential increases in our clients’ growth via our solution and that’s why we have defined a new category for Graas: ‘Growth-as-a-Service’,” added Bhatia.

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As an institutional VC for over a decade and a startup guy before that, I’ve learned a few hard lessons about building companies across economic cycles. Churchill once said, “Never waste a good crisis,” and for startups, a recession is a great time to build.

Necessity is the mother of invention

When I graduated from university in 2003, the US had yet to emerge from the tech winter which followed the dot.com boom and bust. I distinctly recall interning in the tech M&A group of a Silicon Valley investment bank where I came to work one day to learn that all of my colleagues in the private equity team had been dismissed.

We all thought the world was coming to an end. And yet, while many unsustainable Web1 e-comm companies like WebVan and Pets.com went bust, emerging platforms like Google developed defensible technology (e.g. search algorithms) to create business models that could scale profitably, raising substantial funding in a challenging climate.

Many years later, as I graduated from business school in 2010, the world was again reeling from the Great Recession. I spent half my MBA summer interning with a private equity fund where we were buying and levering up sunset assets like newspapers at deep value discounts, and the other half at Microsoft Xbox where cloud gaming was beginning to upend traditional boxed software.

My colleagues and I all wondered when the economy was going to turn back to growth. And yet, while some over-leveraged financial institutions like Lehman Brothers shut their doors, new cloud-based Web2 platforms emerged in digital payments, social media and content delivery to generate tremendous value, startups like Facebook and games-as-a-service pioneer Zynga, which I joined as a PM, staying through their IPO.

Expect the best, prepare for the worst

There is no question that we are now in another tech winter. The Nasdaq lost 25 per cent in YTD June 2022 before bouncing back slightly, and multiples are predicted to compress another 25-30 per cent, suggesting valuations will come down further.

Also Read: How to survive a recession and thrive afterward

Moreover, high inflation is disincentivising savings and investment. Federal funds reached 2.25 per cent in July and is expected to hit three per cent by the end of year, leading to the highest borrowing costs since 2019. Technical recession is two quarters of negative growth, and on a macro basis we are absolutely in the thick of it.

However, startups are all about micro execution bucking macro trends. In addition to the examples above like Google, Facebook and Zynga; here in Asia, Alibaba and Taobao were forged in the midst of the Asian Financial Crisis while Grab and Uber were both founded during the Great Recession.

In the Southeast Asia of 2022, we have the benefit of a young, regional population, rising middle class purchasing power and strong and growing employment (as does the US which despite everything, just added 528,000 jobs in July).

Certainly, many fledging SEA companies will fail, but startups with strong leadership and a path to profitability have the potential to thrive. Some may even gobble up their competitors, establish market leadership, disrupt incumbents and accelerate the transformation of the industries in which they compete.

Three tips on how to build stronger in this recession

I expect that founders and management teams that do the following will be best placed to succeed:

Use inflation to maximum advantage

Where possible, increase pricing. For services businesses, wage inflation tends to trail consumer price increases, so inflation can increase short term margins. Where price hikes are not possible, lock customers into longer tenure contracts at prevailing pricing, and use that demand visibility to manage costs by batching or building inventory ahead of input price hikes.

Also Read: How small companies can prepare for recession

I recently spoke to a resourceful entrepreneur in the Indonesian food sector who shared that as his input prices such as seed costs increased, he shifted product mix toward lower cost and lower quality vegetables, and in doing so defended margin without passing price hikes on, enabling him to take share. These are the teams who know what it takes to succeed in tough environments.

Obsess about the balance sheet and statement of cash flows

In good times, most startups tend to focus on the top half of the P&L, specifically GMV and revenue. In tough times, cash is the only king. Financially savvy operators keep a tight rein on unit economics and the cash flow cycles of their businesses.

Cash management entails delaying payables and collecting receivables aggressively, even if it means causing friction with vendors or customers unaccustomed to tougher terms, or giving away some margin to factoring costs. Tight control makes for longevity.

Capitalise creatively

Companies that don’t follow the fairy tale of successive up rounds can often be shunned as failures rather than lauded as survivors. Savvy founders know to identify and avoid these external and internal biases, starting with openly acknowledging that raising at a flat or down round is a sign of maturity and adaptability and by finding VCs who share the same mindset.

I’ve heard some SEA VCs express they would rather make a new, small “club” bet on a seed team going after the same challenged business model than do the hard work of recapitalising a struggling or pivoting Series B startup that has fallen out of favour. Until you’re profitable, runway is crucial to survival, and you want VCs who are fighters, not cheerleaders, in your corner.

When the macro is correcting 25-30 per cent down, down rounds and recaps are necessary parts of fortifying the capital base; rather than fight it, partner with an experienced institutional VC willing to do the cap table surgery work, even if it means restructuring, giving up more dilution at a lower valuation or potentially causing friction with earlier investors unaccustomed to having their shareholdings substantially diminished.

Seize the moment

At the end of the day, opportunity is greatest during times of volatility. As Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.”

For those with that attitude, this is a great time to build. At Altara Ventures we look forward to building Southeast Asian startups with resourceful founders who like getting creative as they face the challenges and opportunities ahead.

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Supply chain has a problem. Several of them, actually. The most recent being those that the COVID-19 trade disruptions have revealed such as the need for digital and paperless trade procedures to facilitate cross-border movement of critical goods during global health emergencies while maintaining open trade regimes for equitable access to essential goods.

But while global supply chains have largely bounced back as economies reopen borders and rebound, the supply chain issues have not gone away.

Trade costs continue to rise, with international shipping costs recently surging to an all-time peak according to the Asian Development Bank. This may further disrupt the international supply chain with its heavy reliance on sea freight transport.

But rising costs have a larger snowball effect on inflation in countries that import more, as well as those who typically pay higher freight costs including island states such as Indonesia.

Solving global logistics pain points

The archipelago nation has birthed many logistics startups, but most of these only operate in one vertical or a subset of the global supply chain. Not Andalin. The startup, which was founded in October 2016 by Rifki Pratomo (CEO), Ivhan Famly Gunawan (CTO), and Saut Tambunan (COO), aims to simplify international trade in Southeast Asia through a single platform that integrates international shipping, financial services, distribution and procurement services.

Speaking to e27, Pratomo said: “International trade is the backbone of the world’s economy. However, it’s a complex and very fragmented industry that is built upon three main activities: movement of goods (shipping); procurement and distribution (buying and selling goods); as well as financial and insurance services. Each of these activities has its challenges.

Also read: How accessible robotic solutions enable business efficiency

“In international shipping, businesses face unpredictable shipping schedules and space availability, inconsistent and volatile pricing, and inefficient management through manual coordination via hundreds of emails, resulting in lack of traceability.

“In procurement and distribution, there is no single comprehensive platform that provides a curated list of trading partners with online transactions, that is also integrated with shipping and trade service capabilities. Thus, buyers and sellers have limited options when looking for new trading partners.

“On top of that, international trade finance is still heavily dominated by conventional banking infrastructure, which lacks flexibility and speed to address the high dynamics of international trade requirements,” Pratomo illustrated.

Andalin believes that Southeast Asia is ripe for revolutionising, given that its intra-regional trade accounts for 25% of global trade, a massive market with a huge economic potential to capture.

Evolving into digital freight forwarders

International trade and international shipping have always been managed manually through multiple chains of emails between 12-15 different stakeholders for a single transaction.

Andalin co-founders got together in 2016 to start building the platform, starting with digital international shipping solutions, and in 2017 launched a marketplace connecting freight forwarding companies with cargo owners.

Pratomo recounted, “As we grew, we found that marketplace approach is not the right scalable model for this region and acquired the license to operate as a freight forwarder. In 2020, we launched our digital freight forwarding business, developing our platform to simplify and synchronize the shipping process for our clients, our team and our partners.

Also read: Strengthening cybersecurity measures in the face of Web 3.0

“The successful combination of the right technology, process, and human capital has allowed us to provide superior service which resulted in our continuous growth till today, gaining the trust and business of over 150 medium to large sized enterprises in Indonesia.

“From Day 1, Andalin does not consider itself to merely be a logistics provider. Unlike the current solution in the market which tends to provide service only in a single domain (e.g. freight forwarding solutions focusing on international shipping services only), Andalin views the international trade problem, solution and opportunity holistically,” Pratomo emphasised.

“In the future, we will explore and introduce other services into the platform, which potentially includes trading, financing and insurance services, to fulfil our vision of providing an end-to-end platform for international trade in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Make it simple and easy

Andalin aims to reform and simplify the complexity of international trade activities through its integrated end-to-end digital platform – also on mobile via the Andalin Go launched in May 2021.

Through its in-house developed technology customised for international supply chain needs, Andalin has provided better service levels compared to industry standards. For example, Andalin can issue price quotations to clients within 24 hours, compared to the industry norm of five to seven working days.

The digitisation of otherwise cumbersome manual tasks and shortened time taken have resulted in Andalin clients benefitting from up to 50% reductions in manual administrative work and at least 15% lower costs compared to their previous freight forwarding service providers.

“Our shipping schedule and price integrity, supplemented by our platform’s transparency, have enabled Andalin clients to better plan for their supply chain activities, minimising the risk of manufacturing downtime and/or delayed distribution,” Pratomo said.

To date, Andalin’s freight forwarders have covered shipping routes to over 160 countries in the world, with the most popular routes in the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia. Its clients include well-known names such as Wings Group, Kawan Lama Group, Kino, Rentokil, and REDAChem.

The next building block, integrated solutions

As Andalin’s profile continues to grow, Pratomo and his team have been on a launching spree over the past year, rolling out services that are targeted at different supply chain pain points, while continuing to integrate global trade markets.

In May 2021, Andalin Go was launched, empowering customers to operate and monitor their shipments on the go, get instant quotes, and discuss operational technical details with the Andalin team in real-time. 

This was followed in November 2021 by Andalin Get, which addresses the scarcity of container cargo along the busy Indonesia-U.S. trade route. Andalin Get converts shipments that were previously FCL (full container load) into several smaller shipments (LCL or less container load), to ensure delivery of goods is not hampered. Andalin also guarantees LCL space availability as well as on-schedule departures.

The results? From February to December 2021, Andalin’s monthly revenue grew by 690%, while recording a 10.6x increase in total containers shipped.

Also read: Optimising business solutions through customer-centricity

These innovations quickly drew the attention of investors, and in February 2022, Andalin secured a US$4 million round led by Intudo Ventures. Two months later, Andalin signed an MoU with Vietnam’s leading industrial developer Becamex IDC Corp, to boost trade between Indonesia and Vietnam.

To build a complete foundation of doing international trade activities, Andalin has just recently launched the Andalin Trade platform in June 2022. The platform enables manufacturers and distributors across Southeast Asia to buy and sell from each other. Through Andalin Trade,  manufacturers and distributors simplify the process of sourcing, supplying, and negotiating for products with international counterparts. Users can bid and transact online, and instantly procure Andalin Shipping services from the platform.

“The integration does not stop there, as we will open our platform to collaborate with other businesses and institutions which provide services related to international trade, hence allowing us to reach our grand vision of establishing a one-stop integrated platform that simplifies international trade activities in Southeast Asia,” Pratomo said.

To explore Andalin’s various trade and logistics offerings, visit andalin.com

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

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Singapore-based health tech startup MiyaHealth today announced that it had raised an undisclosed sum in additional funding from HealthXCapital, Central Capital Ventura, and SEEDS Capital after raising S$6.5 million (US$4.8 million) in Pre-Series A in February.

In a press statement, the company said that the funding would be used to drive MiyaHealth’s aggressive growth strategy in product development, hiring and expansion of operations globally.

“Following our successful Pre-Series A fundraise, we are delighted to onboard new investors to further scale our product capabilities and expand our operations globally, starting with Europe and Southeast Asia,” says Dr Ramesh Rajentheran, CEO & Co-Founder of MiyaHealth.

“The pandemic has accelerated the need for governments, corporates, and insurers to contain health costs and improve health care outcomes. Patients are also more aware of and are increasingly vocal about the quality of their healthcare journeys. Having built our technology and established strategic relationships with ST Engineering during the pandemic, we are benefitting from this increased focus from payors and patients post-pandemic. At Miya, patients are at the heart of what we do, and that patient-centricity comes through in the products we have built.”

The company is also planning to kick off its Series A fundraise in the next six months to develop its product suite further, expand its operations globally and continue embarking on collaborations with key stakeholders moving forward.

Also Read: Traveloka ex-CMO’s healthtech startup Diri Care closes US$4.3M seed round

Since its inception in 2019, MiyaHealth has launched a suite of products that include MiyaPatient, a patient navigation platform with a predictive and personalised system that helps patients with chronic diseases cope with daily challenges; MiyaPayor, a platform that incorporates AI-driven claims processing, provider network management and predictive analytics to reduce costs for payors; and MiyaProvider, an upcoming product that improves patients’ experience in hospitals and clinics.

The company said that MiyaPatient is currently being deployed in Europe, and MiyaPayor and MiyaProvider platforms are being deployed in Indonesia and the Philippines. This follows the commercialisation of the MiyaPayor platform in Malaysia last year.

It has partnered with over 3,000 medical providers and 12,000 physicians to date for its flagship platforms, including its partnership with a leading hospital group in Indonesia.

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