Earlier this week, Quest Ventures announced the promotion of two female investors in its team. Michelle Ng, with her promotion to Head of ESG and concurrently Director of Sustainable Impact Accelerator, was named in this announcement alongside Gwen Sim, who was promoted to Associate.

Ng is definitely not a new face in the firm –and in the startup ecosystem in recent years. Joining Quest Ventures in 2020, she has been driving their focus in Vietnam and Central Asia. She formerly headed the internationalisation focus at the Action Community for Entrepreneurship –the national trade association for startups in Singapore– and was with CNBC Asia prior to ACE. She also holds key office bearer positions in grassroots committees and non-profit organisations such as Social Impact Catalyst.

e27 readers may also be familiar with her writings through our Contributor Programme where she had published thought pieces on a wide range of topics from post-pandemic life to how the Russia-Ukraine war will impact ESG investing.

With this promotion, Ng is going to lead the firm’s focus on ESG –a vertical that is becoming understandably popular due to its urgency and ability to create a positive impact in the various aspects of the public’s life.

There are many different approaches to ESG investing with each venture capital firm looking at it from different angles. In this email interview with Ng, we discover how Quest Ventures is viewing this vertical and how their approach sets them apart.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

The centre of the problem –and the solution

Quest Ventures takes pride in being one of the earliest in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem to recognise the importance of ESG investing back in 2018. As time goes by and investment in the vertical becomes increasingly more important, the firm aims to double down its efforts.

With the announcement of her promotion, Ng states: “Total ESG assets in Asia have grown from a mere US$801 million in 2019 to US$7.9 billion in 2020, and global ESG assets are on track to exceed US$53 trillion by 2025. Investors have realised that people and social impact form the basis of ESG investing, and will no longer be considered in isolation from environmental and governance aspects.”

She continues, “Concerted efforts from the private and public sectors will hasten the integration of the social, technology and finance sectors in order to help socially-impactful enterprises scale further and faster.”

Ng further explains to e27 about the opportunities that the firm intends to pursue and why it requires some significant changes in its approach.

“ESG opportunities identified include the shift to Social (S) in ESG. The human-centricity of ESG investing will become more apparent and urgent,” she says.

She elaborated that with its focus on solutions addressing human-centred problems, the team will invest in and accelerate the growth of socially-impactful enterprises. To realise this mission, Quest Ventures has prepared several initiatives including the Sustainable Impact Accelerator, held in collaboration with raiSE (Singapore Centre For Social Enterprise).

Set to run from June to August this year, the initiative aims to support enterprises with a strong social impact angle and high potential to scale it up. These enterprises will receive funding and capability support to drive their next stage of growth, and gain exposure to investors across key cities in Asia as they work towards raising an institutional investment round in the next 12 months.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

In measuring the social-environmental of a potential investment, Ng explains the points that the firm is looking for.

“Social-environmental impact can be measured by the number of people who have access to adequate livelihoods, sufficient nutritious food, clean air and water, and healthcare & well-being. The geographical spread of the impact can be measured, as well as the speed at which it scales,” she says.

“There is also a need to value qualitative data collected through due diligence interviews, which will add colour to findings regarding social-environmental impact. The measurement framework that we have adopted and adapted is discussed at length in Impact Investing Framework for Early Stage Venture Capital,” she continues.

Bringing ESG investment to SEA

When asked about whether strong social-environmental impact always equals strong profitability in ESG investment, or if there has got to be a sacrifice, Ng explains, “Strong social-environmental impact will eventually lead to sustained outsized profitability, rather than a scramble for strong short-term profitability that will fizzle out. ESG-oriented investors look to identify and mitigate ESG risks and capitalise on value creation opportunities to improve returns in the long term.”

But in order for sustainability startups in the region to realise their potential, there are still challenges that remain. For example, Ng points out that, for climate tech startups in SEA to scale, there is a need for large scale financing of US$2 trillion to help the region “go green and stay competitive.”

“Quest Ventures looks to drive investments and capital reallocation into ESG and sustainable impact startups in this region,” she says.

In order to encourage more investment in ESG the SEA startup ecosystem, Ng believes that it can be done through pricing in externalities and re-allocating more resources and capital to help these ESG companies grow and scale.

For Quest Ventures itself, its ESG focus will be a foundation for its investment in the region.

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Med247, a hybrid O2O startup in Vietnam that operates on the concept of a 24×7 family doctor, has completed its oversubscribed US$4.5 million Series A round, led by Altara Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and Singaporean biotech firm MiRXES.

East Ventures, Venturra Ventures, and unnamed angels also co-invested.

The fresh capital further ramps up the expansion of Med247’s flagship clinics and 7-Eleven-like convenience family clinics network in Vietnam, which has slowed down due to the pandemic-induced social distancing measures in the past two years. The capital will also boost its R&D efforts and enable it to set up a training academy for doctors and nurses.

Co-founder Tuan Truong told e27: “Med247 would actively contribute to implementing the country’s telehealth sandbox and other national and local programmes supporting health centres’ digitalisation.”

In 2019, the firm bagged an undisclosed seed funding joined by KK Fund and the former senior executive of Singapore’s Parkway Healthcare Group, Dr Goh Jin Hian.

Also read: Vietnamese healthcare startup Med247 gets seed funding from KK Fund, broadens users coverage 

Co-founded by Truong and Thao Nguyen in 2019, Med247 aims to become a one-stop-shop for primary and preventative care, pharmaceuticals, clinical services, and telemedicine. Regardless of the patient’s needs, it aims to provide patients with a comfortable family doctor-style treatment by connecting them quickly to trusted doctors of their choice.

Med247 employs remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) technology coupled with AI predictive analytics to screen patients’ vital signs through their smartphone cameras. It also collaborates with the Singapore-headquartered MiRXES to bring next-generation microRNA technology into the Vietnamese healthtech market.

MiRXES’s patented miRNA biomarker platform in the screening and diagnostics of disease early detection will empower Med247 to achieve their goals in providing primary and preventive care to and ensuring the well-being of their patients.”

Med247 also operates wholly-owned flagship clinics in major cities with links to a network of satellite clinic partners in cities, provinces, and districts. Each clinic provides multi-speciality healthcare and expert and technology support for eight to ten satellite clinics in residential areas.

Besides, Med247 enables hybrid care services, including remote telehealth consultation, no-wait health clinic appointments booking, electronic health record (HER) requests, home prescription delivery, online payments, and home medical tests. It also allows local general practitioners who directly conduct initial examinations for patients at satellite clinics to run joint consultation sessions remotely with specialist doctors from flagship polyclinics.

After establishing four clinics, the firm plans to expand its network to more than 70 clinics by the end of 2022, with 80 per cent being satellite clinics residing across the country.

Reinventing the fragmented Vietnamese healthcare system

According to Statista data in 2019, Vietnam had around 8.8 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in Vietnam, compared to the OECD average of 36 physicians per 10 thousand population.

“Moreover, Vietnamese people are not familiar with a family physician or primary family care. They often go straight to national hospitals when contracting common illnesses, resulting in significant overload in large hospitals,” added Truong.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese spent around US$17 billion on healthcare in 2019, equivalent to 6.6 per cent of the country’s GDP, with per-capita healthcare spending doubling over the last decade. The expenditure is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.7 per cent to US$23 billion in 2022, according to Fitch Solutions. This is mainly attributed to the growing concern over health issues of the country’s fast-growing middle-class and ageing population.

The mounting demand creates a fertile ground for the private healthcare sector, which makes up 32.2 per cent of total outpatient services and 6.3 per cent of inpatient services. However, Truong and his team recognised a significant quality gap between high-calibre hospitals and clinics privately held by physicians.

“Initially, we intended to build an app for clinic management,” Truong said, “but the pain point is not about technology but processes and standards for healthcare provision, especially in the private medical sector.”

This is concerning given that there were about 35,000 private clinics across the country in 2018, nearly triple the number of commune health stations and regional polyclinics within the public sector, as per a World Bank report.

Fortunately, the situation is improving, thanks to the emergence of the digital transformation accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak. Medical centres are urged to adopt digital tools and technologies such as telemedicine and virtual care for patient treatment.

Riding on this tailwind, Med247 digitises clinic management and diagnostic processes. It synchronises them for the whole chain, giving its medical team oversight to ensure proper care and quality control at each step of the patient experience. It also facilitates ERH of patients on its platform, allowing two to three physicians to collectively diagnose and supervise a patient and prescribe suitable treatment and medicine.

Also Read: BuyMed nets US$8.8M to develop a healthtech e-commerce platform, expand beyond Vietnam

“Regular virtual joint consultation sessions through the Med247 platform will help iron out the quality discrepancy between flagship clinics’ specialist doctors and satellite clinics’ practitioners, who often lack experience, expertise, or associated soft skills,” Truong emphasised.

“Med247 system also releases daily reports to give appropriate guidance and alerts to support practitioners inpatient follow-up treatments.”

During the pandemic, Med247 claims it delivered nearly 400 consultations sessions per day to more than 11,000 patients from 21 provinces and cities in Vietnam. The consultation covered not only COVID-related treatments but also other healthcare needs, especially mental health and chronic disease management. The firm boasts of having registered a 500 per cent revenue growth and a 700 per cent growth in pharmacy orders within the last 18 months.

So far, through its mobile app and clinics chain, Med247 has served around 50,000 users, with an average of 2.47 visits per unique patient every three months, noted the firm.

Thao describes a typical customer journey as when a patient calls or books an appointment with a doctor via app right when they receive initial symptoms. This will significantly reduce screening time, increase treatment efficiency, and ease costs and burdens for patients. Doctors will then consult patients to visit a clinic for tests and examinations and follow up with them regularly via digital channels.

“Leveraging telemedicine’s ability to deliver timely care, our vision is to improve active healthcare monitoring and management for Vietnamese families, consisting of three generations: children, parents, and grandparents,” Thao added. “Med247’s model aims to provide everyone with quality, accessible and affordable healthcare products and services. This is to help reinvent the traditional healthcare experience from a single clinic visit to annual care packages that go beyond sick care to primary care, preventative care, and well-being for Vietnamese families.”

Bain’s 2019 Asia-Pacific Front Line of Healthcare survey found out that 50 per cent of patients expected to use digital health tools in the next five years and 91 per cent of consumers would be willing to use digital health services if the costs were covered by an employer or insurance provider.

“Thanks to Vietnam’s high smartphone penetration rate, we have the potential to bring this simple, intuitive, and holistic healthcare solution into nearly any household in the country,” said Thao.

In the future, Med247 aims to capitalise on smart devices to improve electronic health data through real-time tracking and monitoring of healthcare indices, allowing doctors to give timely and personalised diagnoses for patients.

“We believe that this is the good timing for Med247 to scale up as the pandemic has sharply increased customers’ willingness to use telehealth, accelerated service providers’ adoption of telemedicine, and bolstered regulatory changes in support of greater access and reimbursement for digital healthcare,” stated Truong. “However, considering that the Vietnamese market still needs more time to adopt this concept, Med247 will carry on the strategy of not only connecting practitioners with patients through a digital platform but also supporting clinics’ standardised O2O operations with advanced technologies and solutions.”

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Indonesia-based one-stop platform for content creators TipTip today announced that it has raised US$10 million in a seed funding round led by East Ventures.

This funding round included the participation of Vertex Ventures, EMTEK, SMDV, and prominent family offices.

In a press statement, TipTip said that it will use the funding to accelerate its entry into the content creator economy in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region which also included talent and user acquisition.

The company is currently preparing its upcoming invitation exclusive launch in April 2022, followed by a public launch in Indonesia “shortly after.”

TipTip was founded by Albert Lucius who was known for being the co-founder of Kudo, the O2O e-commerce platform that was later acquired by tech giant Grab in 2017 and rebranded to GrabKios.

The company operates in Indonesia and Singapore and is run by a team of more than 70 employees.

Also Read: Ilham Habibie on what it takes to bring the Indonesian startup ecosystem to the next level

TipTip enables content creators to monetise through personalised video sessions, the sale of premium digital contents, and direct interaction opportunities with their followers. The platform also aims to serve as the solution to fill the massive features gap faced by content creators across emerging economies throughout Southeast Asia, such as lack of monetisation opportunities, limited local payments and KYC integrations, as well as challenges related to content creation and distribution over mobile devices.

In SEA, content platform continues to remain relevant with notable investments in the vertical included the undisclosed Series C funding round raised by Philippine-based Kumu in October 2021. This funding round puts its total raised funding to more than US$100 million.

Commenting on the investment, Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures said, “We believe in the potential of the content creator economy in the region, especially in how it has been accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is obvious to us that some of the consumer behaviour that formed during the pandemic will stay beyond the pandemic, TipTip is well-positioned to capture that. This is a product for the post-pandemic world, that was designed during the pandemic.”

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As nations across the globe continue to sanction Russia in condemnation of their invasion of Ukraine, companies have now joined the movement to exclude the Russian government, and sometimes Russians, from their list of clients.

Some of these companies have decided to ban them as a recommendation to the international sanction provisions from The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Others have taken this decision as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. However, not all fintech companies are placing blanket boycotts on Russian citizens.

The most notable holdouts are Binance and Kraken, who cite the argument that banning “innocent Russians” goes against the philosophy behind cryptocurrencies.

So, let’s go through the reactions of fintech companies to the Russian invasion and explore how they affect the socio-economic climate in Russia and the rest of the world.

VISA

According to Statista, VISA owns 12 per cent of all credit payment cards in the world (335 million credit cards), accounting for about 50 per cent of the overall market shares.

The company reacted to the Russian invasion by halting all its operations within Russia and banning Russian VISA cardholders from processing transactions.

According to VISA’s official statement, the company is “taking prompt action to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions and is prepared to comply with additional sanctions that may be implemented.”

The VISA Foundation has also donated a US$2 million grant to the US Fund for UNICEF to provide the Ukrainian people with humanitarian aid.

Mastercard

Mastercard has maintained the same ironclad stance as VISA on the Russian invasion. The credit card company has reportedly forfeited about four per cent of potential revenue by excluding Russians from its services.

Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach released a statement saying that the company has ceased operations in Russia, as well as banned certain Russian banks from the payment network.

Miebach also affirms that the company has sent a US$2 million humanitarian fund to the Red Cross, Save the Children, and employee assistance.

Amex

American Express has also joined the ranks of Visa and Mastercard in suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.

According to the memo from American Express CEO Stephen J. Squeri, the cards issued on the Russian territory will no longer work in Russia or outside the country.

As part of Amex’s “Do What is Right” code, the company has pledged US$1 million to humanitarian organisations to provide relief to people in Ukraine affected by this horrendous war.

PayPal

Despite being under no obligations to react, PayPal has taken the initiative to join other world-renowned payment services in halting all operations in Russia until further notice.

Dan Schulman, PayPal CEO, released a statement saying:

“PayPal supports the Ukrainian people and stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine. The tragedy taking place in Ukraine is devastating for all of us, wherever we are in the world.”

Also Read: How is the Russia-Ukraine war changing the talk in ESG investing?

He goes on to add that despite banning Russians from using PayPal’s services, the company will still provide support for Russian citizens within its workforce.

Payoneer

Payoneer’s reaction to the Russian aggression was to stop all issuance of cards to customers with postal or residential addresses within the Russian Federation.

According to the company’s updated FAQs, Russian citizens with Payoneer cards issued outside Russia can still conduct transactions without restrictions.

Upwork

In an open letter to freelancers, Upwork CEO Hayden Brown reiterated the company’s mission to help improve people’s lives, highlighting how “Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine” hampers that goal.

As a result, with over four per cent of registered freelancers from Russia and Belarus, Upwork has suspended operations and has shut down support for new business generation in both countries.

To this end, the changes will take full effect on May 1, 2022, leaving freelancers and clients in Russia and Belarus unable to create new accounts, initiate new contracts, and appear in searches.

The platform also donated US$1 million to Direct Relief International to support Ukrainian citizens caught up in the war.

Revolut

As a company with a Ukrainian co-founder Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut has provided unwavering support for the Ukrainians suffering from the war.

The current CEO Nikolay Storonsky, born in Russia to a Ukrainian father, released an open letter, categorically condemning the war, saying that “this war is wrong and totally abhorrent” and that “…not one more person should die in this needless conflict.”

In a statement titled “The War on Ukraine: Our Response,” Revolut has affirmed its dedication to uphold and impose sanctions placed on Russia.

As part of its support to Ukraine, Revolut has removed transfer fees for every transaction going into the country. The company has also pledged to match every donation made to the Red Cross Ukraine appeal.

Paysera

Paysera has released a comprehensive list of financial restrictions on Russia and its allies involved in the Ukrainian invasion.

Here is a list of the actions taken to impose these sanctions:

• Russian citizens will no longer be able to use Paysera (this restriction does not apply to Russian citizens with residency or work permits in other supported countries).
• All current accounts belonging to Russians will be closed.
• Russian and Belarusian companies are banned from using their Paysera accounts.
• All current business accounts belonging to Russian and Belarusian entities will be closed.
• Transactions to Russian and Belarusian banks between private individuals will continue but must go through rigorous verification procedures.
• Paysera will roll back all money transfers from Russian and Belarusian banks received on Monday (February 23 and later).
• Paysera users can no longer exchange to Russian Roubles (RUB).

This list is only one part of the extensive regulation changes for Russian citizens and banks.

Western Union

On March 10, 2022, Western Union issued a press release announcing that all the company’s operations in Russia and Belarus will be suspended with immediate effect.

For the people of Ukraine, Western Union has created a donation portal to address the humanitarian and refugee crisis, according to Elizabeth Executive Director of the Western Union Foundation.

Also Read: Financial literacy is a basic life skill. And this fintech startup is aiding millennials with it

The money transfer company has pledged US$500,000 to provide humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people. To donate to the Western Union Foundation, visit their official website.

Wise

Before the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian war, Wise (formerly TransferWiser) had already placed a US$200 limit for Russian account owners.

With the current swathe of sanctions, the remittance and payments company has doubled down on its restriction for individuals and businesses within the Russian Federation and its (illegally) occupied territories.

Find a detailed breakdown of the restrictions according to the company’s Help Centre below:

Here you’ll find answers to the most common questions about Russian Rouble (RUB) transfers.

• You can only send RUB to private bank accounts or cards in Russia.
• You cannot send RUB to government agencies in Russia.
• You cannot send RUB to Crimea or Sevastopol.
• You cannot send USD or EUR to accounts in Russia.

These conditions may change as the conflict develops.

Remitly

Remitly is a P2P service that allows immigrants to send money across borders. Since the company’s core demographics (immigrants) are closely aligned to the plight of Ukrainian refugees, it is no surprise that they’ve also banned Russia.

Remitly, through a spokesperson, has communicated its dedication to upholding this ban according to the EU and US sanctions.

Zepz

Zepz (formerly WorldRemit), has released a list of countries on its banned list, including Russia and Belarus.

The company also released an updated list of transaction conditions, showing that Russia is on the blocklist until further notice.

The bottom line

The Russia-Ukrainian war has plunged the entire financial sector into a new reality. We are witnessing an unprecedented situation.

Numerous companies that aren’t obliged by law or sanctions, take the initiative to leave the Russian market. These decisions cost each of them a significant part of revenue, yet they demonstrate the willingness to pay this price in order to help stop the atrocious war.

United in an effort to protect democracy, they have put human values above their economic interests.

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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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Insitor Partner today announced that it has completed a US$42 million first close of its Insitor Impact Asia Fund II (IIAF II), with a target to reach US$70 million by the end of 2022.

This funding round includes the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) as well as two core investors from the firm’s previous fund: the UK government’s British International Investment (formally CDC Group) and Insitor’s founding family offices.

With the closing of this fund, Insitor also announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CDC Capital Group recognising their IIAF II fund as the first 2X Pioneer Flagship Fund in Asia.

2X Flagship Funds are an initiative under the 2X Collaborative, the global industry body for gender lens investing that was created after the launch of the 2X Challenge at the G7 in 2021. Its objective is to mobilise US$15 billion to support projects that aim to empower women.

Insitor plans to make 12 to 15 investments in high growth and scalable ventures across its core investment themes: Better Health, Sustainable Living, and Economic Growth.

Also Read: Why family offices can be another facet of venture capital, and how they can impact startup investments in Asia

It plans to invest at the Pre-Series A to Series A stage, and provide follow-on funding as portfolio companies scale. The new fund is also expected to collaborate with Limited Partners to co-invest in larger deals.

“With the 2X Flagship Fund status, Insitor is committed to investing with an explicit gender lens to ensure at least 30 per cent of its portfolio meets the 2X criteria. Insitor further commits to ​promoting and maintaining gender balance as a fund manager. Insitor is female-founded and led, with 50 per cent female employees in both senior management roles and across the overall employee base,” the firm stated.

Since the first closing, Insitor has made three investments in the following companies:

Trellis (Pakistan)
A housing finance provider that uses a fully-digital origination platform to accelerate deployment of housing finance;

MedKart (India)
A low-cost, high-high quality generic drug B2C distributor in India, which allows patients with chronic illness to save an average of 85 per cent on their drug treatments.

Taleem (Pakistan)
The first financial institution that serves the education system in Pakistan, providing affordable funding options to schools, teachers and households. The company aims to grow its active customer base by 25x using Insitor’s funding.

Also Read: How Gunung Capital CEO puts sustainability agenda at the forefront of an age-old industry

Launched in 2009, Insitor described itself as the first impact fund manager with a local presence in Cambodia and Myanmar, and an early player in India and Pakistan.

The company said it has so far made 27 investments across the region, creating 14,000 jobs, and transforming the lives of more than 40 million low-income consumers served by its portfolio companies.

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Navigating the dynamics in the corporate world can be challenging. This is especially true for women. From the wage gap to the social expectations gearing women for a domestic life rather than a career-driven one, it can be an uphill battle to succeed in the boardroom. In the fields of venture capital and private equity (PE/VC) in the Southeast Asian region and across the continent, this is reflected in four key areas: culture, recruitment, advancement, and leadership.

The dichotomy between staying at home and caring for one’s family versus excelling in their chosen profession is primarily what forces women to choose between one or the other, making them settle for background roles or leave their careers behind completely. Difficulty in securing maternity leaves and the lack of flexible work hours further aggravate the challenges women face — and this is true for most sectors, not only in the corporate world. 

However, Southeast Asia has been shifting towards shrinking the gender gap in recent years, and many are taking advantage of the positive change. Despite the expected slow turnaround of complete gender parity, women are taking the region by storm, especially in the tech industry. Of course, none of these welcome changes is happening by mere coincidence. There are real hardworking people actively trying to change the status quo and ultimately build a better, fairer future for women.

Overcoming barriers when it comes to opportunities for women

Erika Dianasari Go, value creation partner at Alpha JWC is one of the women turning the gender gap on its head in the region. Go’s role in the venture capital firm is to grow firm capacity, as well as advise startups on how to scale up their capabilities. In an interview with e27, Go shares that getting to where she is now was no easy feat. Growing up in a home environment that didn’t encourage women empowerment, Go pursued higher education to land a job in a firm that valued women’s voices.

Also read: oVice, a virtual office platform, uses innovative technology to redefine remote work

“I joined a private equity operating firm company which is a very male-dominated industry,” Go explained. From there, she secured another position in the automotive industry, which was more male-dominated than her last job. However, instead of deterring her, Go used the experience to gain new insights and perspectives on her position as a woman in the corporate world. In fact, she was able to maximise her unique viewpoints as a woman to help improve company culture. “I realised, being a female role in a very male-dominated environment is good because it helps provide a different overview and influence when the firm is willing to listen and learn,” Go shared.

In 2015, Go began to take notice of the growing startup industry in Indonesia and found her passion in helping grow these up-and-coming companies. It was also around this time that an opportunity to join Alpha JWC came. She believed that the firm’s values of guiding entrepreneurs towards upscaling their businesses aligned with her own vision — improving businesses and helping empower people. The rest is history.

Empowering women to lead

Despite the challenging road ahead for women from entry-level to the C-suite, Go understands the potential for the industry to foster inclusivity and minimise the gender gap. A quick overview of the corporate blueprint of a majority of startups across Southeast Asia would show that the entrepreneurial landscape is still largely dominated by men. Go believes this is due to the challenges women face in the workplace, particularly in terms of balancing home life and work — especially in the case of working mothers. In order to solve this, Go believes that women are more empowered to take on larger roles when workplace cultures and environments become more conducive for women, and therefore, for working mothers.

Go understands these nuances as a mother herself. Coming from a place of understanding women’s experiences through her own life story, she is able to help uplift other women within her industry and outside it. The rest of the Alpha JWC executives hold similar values as family-oriented leaders, as seen in the strong pro-family culture within the company.

Also read: Game on with MongoDB: Challenges and insights on the future of gaming

However, despite corporate prospects for women, there are fewer women at the forefront of the industry. In addition, although women don’t feel the pay gap in startups and VCs compared to other workplaces, there is still a need to have more women lead teams in different fields. At Alpha JWC, women aren’t just given flexibility, they’re also given the chance to lead. The company achieves this by fostering both male and female employees’ abilities to match their skills with the position they’re best suited for.

Such a move is necessary not just at the firm level, but also on a systematic scale. Similar to her own experiences, Go pointed out that women need to be more actively involved in their own empowerment by providing a platform or community that allows them to build meaningful connections with each other. It is in this show of solidarity that women can draw the strength to empower themselves, and more importantly, empower other women.

Male counterparts can also help amplify women’s voices in the VC industry and beyond by being supportive of the needs of their women colleagues, such as the desire for genuine work-life balance, as well as being understanding of the specific and complex experiences that shape how they work.

Alpha JWC and filling in the gender gap

Go also mentioned that in Alpha JWC, the company fosters a culture of empowerment for all, providing co-equal team support — both for men and women on the team. Banking on the concept of “WE culture,” the firm levels off everyone on common goals and objectives to enable them to reach their full potential, as well as maximise the team’s capacity. In addition, the company fosters a communicative environment where everyone’s input is heard and given equal importance. 

On their end, the senior management of the company doesn’t put any pressure on staff to work past office hours, ensuring the work-life balance that many women look for to thrive in their careers without sacrificing their home life. New mothers are also encouraged and supported should they want to take extended maternity leave, and they can do so without feeling as though their careers will be impacted as the partners regularly have 1-on-1 catchups with everyone to chart and discuss their professional and personal development.

Also read: Seeding ideas, nurturing explorations with Leave a Nest Grant

Alpha JWC provides support to startups, both financially and in terms of portfolio management, taking on several approaches including finding the most suitable talents, brand building, and addressing strategic issues. Despite its progress, Alpha JWC believes in continuously improving its role in promoting gender parity in the industry and in the region, and is currently taking the steps to empower its employees to do the same. The company believes that while we as a society have made tremendous strides in creating a more inclusive corporate landscape, so much more can be done.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Alpha JWC

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Singapore-based online platform for designer toys and collectibles company Mighty Jaxx has announced the final close of its oversubscribed Series A extension round.

iDreamSky Technology and an undisclosed technology company “with rich intellectual property resource” invested in the new tranche.

This deal comes days after Mighty Jaxx announced the first close of a US$20 million Series A extension led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) with participation from Mirana Ventures. Other backers in the round are Easternwind International, Pan Solar Ventures, and Teja Ventures, besides existing investors KB Investment and Korea Investment Partners.

To date, Mighty Jaxx has raised over US$40 million from a global network of investors that also includes Greycroft, SGInnovate and Finewill Capital.

“We have observed a qualitative leap in the growth of the Chinese collectible market over the past few years, led by the rise of Chinese brands and new players. In this US$100 billion market, phygital collectibles will emerge as a key focus point in the drive for digital convergence and for the rise of the metaverse and the creator economy,” said Jackson Aw, Founder and CEO of Mighty Jaxx.

Also Read: Mighty Jaxx raised US$10M in a Tencent-led round to grow its designer toys and collectibles biz

As per a Morgan Stanley study, China’s total addressable market accounts for about US$8 trillion.

The new investments will allow Mighty Jaxx to deepen the expertise of its proprietary platform for tech-enabled collectibles in China, strengthening its ability to develop immersive and interactive phygital collectibles and content. It will also leverage the support of its new Chinese investors to focus on developing its extended reality and Web3 capabilities to bridge phygital collectibles with online, digital experiences.

In addition, the startup will look to deepen its capabilities in IP development to create stories and phygital products.

Founded in 2012 by Aw, Mighty Jaxx is an urban culture company that designs and manufactures collectibles and lifestyle products in partnership with global talents and brands such as Warner Brothers, DC Comics, Looney Tunes, Sesame Street, and Casio G-Shock.

It is building an integrated platform to empower future pop-culture brands with the end-to-end supply chain of collectibles, including artist development and incubation, proprietary IP operation, and providing global consumer access with new retail.

The company claims so far, it has shipped millions of products to over 60 countries with diverse offerings in collectibles, gaming, lifestyle, and fashion.

Last March, Mighty Jaxx launched Nubbies: Sesame Street, a hyper-casual game title, in association with the new collectible series of the same name.

Valued at more than US$100 billion, the creator economy is undergoing staggering growth as it forms the focal point into which e-commerce, social media, and online communities converge. As the concept of a decentralised economy takes root alongside developments and the inevitable adoption of Web3, independent creators will undoubtedly rise in number and influence.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a flurry of activities on online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplaces. Initially locked down at home and later continuing to work from home, people spent a lot more time at home than ever.

Some turned from selling items at home to decluttering. Others turned to buy secondhand items for their temporary home offices, gaming, exercise, baking, and anything to make their stay home more pleasant.   

According to a McKinsey survey, transaction volumes of secondhand goods on both horizontal and vertical C2C marketplaces worldwide climbed in 2020, with some sites seeing more than 50 per cent growth between 2020 and 2021. 

This is not a short-term trend. Transactions on C2C marketplaces will continue to grow with consumers’ growing concerns about climate change. Gen Z, especially, is growing up to be more environmentally conscious than all previous generations and advocating for a more circular economy. 

To facilitate this rise, C2C marketplaces must build trust between the consumer, the platform, and the people making the transaction. Design is an important tool in this complex trust-cultivation exercise.

In this context, ‘design’ stretches beyond execution to something more strategic.

Before designers bustle over the right colours, layouts, graphics and user experiences, they go out to understand people and their needs and work with their teams to channel this understanding into solutions.

This is part of design thinking, a methodology many companies, including online marketplaces, leverage to solve users’ problems and drive innovation. 

One in three people in Singapore are users of our online marketplace Carousell. Design thinking is integral to building our product and marketplace and helping our community feel safe when they buy and sell secondhand items through us. 

As the broader C2C environment evolves in the years ahead, the exact problems to solve may change, but trust will always be a fundamental need. It is thus important that the solutions we design for trust remain effective and seamless.

Design from the inside out

Many components are needed to ensure the trust is cultivated and resilient, and designing for trust is much more than the visual cues we place in the user interface. It begins with designing how the platform should work based on research into the users and their needs, as much as the needs of the business.

Having an identity verification process to know about the platform’s user is a good first step toward cultivating trust. This could be through account verification via SMS, email or social media, and in Singapore, we have SingPass, our national digital identity. The knowledge that the platform is aware of its users goes a long way towards reassurance.

Also Read: How to set up your business processes for scaling your growth

The reviews feature key too. Platforms like Airbnb and Uber have two-sided reviews where service providers and users rate each other after their transactions.

This way, both parties know they have a reputation to maintain on the platform and would act in a prosocial manner to earn positive reviews.

The caveat to this is that the review system cannot be too easy to game or too punishing when recovering from a negative rating. For instance, it could be reset regularly, similar to seasonal competitions for video gaming or the demerit point system for vehicle drivers.

Safety nets matter

A third feature that helps cultivate trust is the chat function. This is the space for people to understand and get to know each other before deciding on the next steps.

At Carousell, users tell us that they pick up cues on the kind of person on the other end, like how fast the other party responds, how many details they offer, etc.

We also have technology that detects patterns that might raise a red flag. A system message is auto-generated to warn either party to beware when this happens.

Should an unpleasant experience occur, the platform needs to be counted on for users to fall back onto through its policies.

For instance, Airbnb has host damage insurance and host liability insurance to insure against the event that their property is damaged by their guest and the event that they are liable for a guest injury on their property.

Carousell Protection is an escrow payment service offered in Singapore and Malaysia so that if any disputes occur, the platform can facilitate a resolution. It comes in handy, especially when users cannot meet up and transact via shipping.

Finally, the platform needs to clearly state its values, such as anti-discrimination, and encourage community policing.

An incident happened on Airbnb where an Asian American guest showed up at a host’s house and was rejected based on her ethnicity. Airbnb went on to remove the host from its platform and, in doing so, proved that it stood firmly for inclusion.

Similar incidents have happened in Singapore where landlords indicate race preferences in rental listings or sellers display offensive behaviours.

When we receive such reports on Carousell, we impose an account restriction on the user such that they are not able to start new chats or list new items until they amend their listings or agree to refrain from offensive behaviours.

Also Read: Using design sprints to solve COVID-19 business problems

The design should be intuitive enough for users to report offensive behaviour or material. This is a way to demonstrate to the online community that they can also help to regulate the marketplace and prevent others from encountering unpleasant experiences.

Trust in the design process

Ultimately, what matters most is that time and money are continually invested in research to understand a platform’s users and their needs. This will then inform what features it will have and how they can be helpful to the users.

These steps: identity verification, reviews, chat function, policies and stated values, are just five areas to consider before creating the interface and working on the experience design.

There is no one size fits all solution. At the end of the day, trust can only be successfully cultivated if the user feels the platform has created a safe, reliable and useful space for transactions to take place.

C2C marketplaces started as a place for anyone to sell secondhand items but are growing rapidly to include sought after items such as luxury bags and collectibles and digital goods such as in-game items and NFTs.

As more people come online to sell more goods, and as technology supporting marketplaces evolves, we will have new opportunities to cultivate trust around the item, the people, and the marketplace.

By adopting design thinking as a practice, platforms can keep themselves grounded on their users and fulfil their users’ needs for trust.

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Philippine-based e-commerce startup GrowSari, who builds a platform to help digitse local small businesses known as sari-sari, today announced a US$77.5 million Series C funding round that brings its total funding to US$110 million, according to various media reports.

Led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and KKR, the Pavilion Capital of the Temase Group also participation in the funding round.

This funding round followed an undisclosed Series B funding round that the company announced in June 2021.

In a statement, GrowSari CEO and Co-Founder Reymund Rollan said that the company plans to use the funding to support its expansion plan.

“Not only will this funding allow us to fuel our growth, but this will also help us bring top global quality talent in Operations, Technology, and Data Science into the startup ecosystem of the Philippines,” he said.

The startup said it is also in talks for its next round of funding.

Also Read: Meet the 22 notable startups that have brightened up the Filipino tech ecosystem

Founded in 2016, GrowSari aims to help sari-sari store owners transform into comprehensive service hubs for the nation’s grassroots communities. It intends to grow the stores’ potential to be the biggest and most accessible distribution channel in the Philippines by driving efficiencies in route planning while collecting valuable insights on store behavior.

Sari-sari stores can access better pricing for more than a thousand fast-moving store stock-keeping units (SKUs) from the largest brands across all the major FMCG categories through the GrowSari app.

The startup also provides microfinancing support and assistance, and other e-services including telco, bills payment, and remittance.

GrowSari said that from a base of 1,000 sari-sari stores in three cities back in 2018, it has grown to service more than 100,000 stores in over 220 municipalities across Luzon.

It has also expanded to the Visayas over the last 12 months and will soon also be in Mindanao.

In addition to existing services, it will also begin offering financial services and logistics.

In Southeast Asia, startups that are working with mom-and-pop stores is one of the verticals that have been getting investors’ attention recently. In Indonesia, companies such as Kioson have listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange, being one of the first tech startups to do so, while Warung Pintar has recently been acquired by SIRCLO Group.

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Could blockchain have been used to help people fleeing the ongoing Russia-Ukrain conflict?

Blockchain could have eased the lives of many of the people fleeing the Russa-Ukraine war, believes Michelle Chivunga, CEO and Founder of Global Policy House (GPH), an organisation aiming to close the digital, identity and finance divide, primarily in Africa.

Speaking at a panel session on the first day of the Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai, Chivunga said that blockchain is all about people and can be used to support people during various calamities such as war, conflicts and pandemics.

“One of the biggest challenges the victims of the ongoing conflict in Europe is leaving their homes with almost nothing; they have no access to wealth. But most of them have their mobile phones. If they had cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin available and accessible on their phone, they could have used them to pay for things,” she said in the session “Embracing Social Responsibility in the Blockchain Industry”.

Also Read: Thai bank SCB’s venture arm launches new US$50M VC fund for blockchain, DeFi, digital assets

During the war, digital assets could have benefitted many people displaced by conflicts. We must start thinking beyond the financial aspects of blockchain and use it to support the refugee communities.

“So the role of these digital assets is starting to evolve. You’re starting to see these digital assets used in non-conventional environments, not just in the traditional finance industry. What I mean is that these currencies will evolve and will be utilised in trade and other areas, even in conflict situations.

From a social impact angle, one of the most transformational things about blockchain is that it helps build social capital, meaning we can get people working and collaborating. Because of the nature of blockchain and how it helps make things a bit more trustworthy, it could bring transformational change. “We’re starting to see blockchain used in social and sustainability sectors, not just in the financial industry,” she said.

The panellists also touched upon the other critical use cases of blockchain, such as in supply chain and trade finance: “We are starting to see more use cases coming within the trade and supply chain areas. It will benefit, for example, small and medium enterprises in addressing the sustainability issues.

Also, we can apply this technology to eliminate corruption and money laundering, etc. It can also deliver on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, reduce poverty and hunger, and promote education. We, at GPH, have invested in women-led businesses to educate them on crypto and blockchain and how we can use digital assets and blockchain to act and create work for themselves. So, with blockchain in place, we can start to measure social impact. In other words, we must contextualise how we can use blockchain to bring benefits to people.

GPH’s goal is to evaluate, educate and empower through cutting-edge emerging technology innovations, providing digital, financing and policy solutions that are inclusive and sustainable. It also focuses on the development and reskilling of people, including women, youth and underrepresented marginalised groups’ development and empowerment.

(The writer is currently on a visit to the UAE)

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