Since we launched ‘The State of ESOPs in Southeast Asia’ in mid-December 2021, I have been encouraged by the buzz of conversations on the topic of employee stock options (ESOPs).

I first discovered a strong interest in this topic when we received 60+ survey responses from startup founders, from pre-seed to Series B, within 48 hours of launching the survey in November. To date, more than 300 startups across Southeast Asia have downloaded the report to understand how to make ESOPs work for them.

Having had dozens of conversations with founders, employees and investors on this topic in recent months, I wanted to share some notable takeaways for startup founders who are thinking of designing competitive ESOPs in 2022 in order to attract and retain talent, as well as build culture.

(Thankfully, only one in three founders saw ESOPs as a way to ‘cut cost’– I am of the view that ESOPs are anything but cheap. Unlike cash which is fungible and can be earned through revenue or fundraising, company shares once given cannot be earned back.)

Make it accessible, otherwise, you are better off without

In the recent survey of 134 startups in Southeast Asia, almost half structured ESOPs strike price based on the price per share for the latest fundraising round. Furthermore, another one in two startups gives employees less than six months to exercise their options.

To put this in perspective, let’s take the example of Jane, who joins startup ABC as a senior product manager. Startup ABC offers Jane 0.5 per cent of total company shares in addition to her cash compensation, and structures ESOP prices and exercise duration in an aforementioned manner.

Also Read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 1)

Assuming Jane:

• Joins ABC after they have completed seed fundraising at a post-money valuation of US$4 million
• Has vested all her options
• Decides to leave ABC as a good leaver

Jane has six months to cough up US$20,000 to convert her stock options into shares (US$4 million x 0.5 per cent). Failing which, her stock options would be forfeited. In most countries in Southeast Asia (bar Singapore), US$20,000 could amount to almost an entire year’s salary in cash.

Furthermore, the upfront capital required to exercise stock options escalates dramatically with the startup’s stage of funding.

Stage of Funding	Median post-money Valuation (USD M)		Exercise Price (USD)
Seed	4	Assume employee has 0.5 per cent of total company shares	$20,000
Series A	34		$170,000
Series B	110		$550,000

Source: Median valuation data from PitchBook for Southeast Asia-HQ companies

From this illustration, an employee who joins a Series B startup would need more than half a million dollars to exercise their stock options, a setup that essentially renders ESOPs prohibitive.

As more employees start to learn about ESOPs and conversations increase, startup founders can no longer play the information asymmetry game and shortchange employees. Once found out, the startup risks irreversible damage to its employer brand, and loses competitiveness in the war for talent. 

Invest in educating employees on ESOPs

To avoid situations where employees feel shortchanged on ESOPs, it is then the role of founders to invest in educating employees. We start to see promising signs that founders in Southeast Asia have stepped up to this role. More than 9 out of 10 leaders make the effort to explain ESOPs to their prospective hires, mostly before they start work.

Also Read: How does startup dilution for founders work with ESOPs and investment?

To build on these positive intentions, here’s a non-exhaustive checklist founders can work through together with employees to ensure they have a sufficient understanding of ESOPs:

• Why are ESOPs valuable to me, as an employee of the company?
• What are cliff and vesting, and what are the cliff and vesting periods applicable?
• What is the strike price and what is the strike price applicable?
• What is the exercise period and what is the exercise period applicable?
• Are there good leaver / bad leaver provisions? In what situations will my vested options be forfeit?
• What happens when there is a liquidity event? Do I get accelerated vesting?
• In what priority will I receive the distributions from a liquidity event (e.g. my company’s investors will get distributions first, then the remainder will be allocated between founders and myself)?
• Are there any restrictions on my ESOPs?
• Who can I ask about ESOPs if I have further questions?

Step outside to understand local nuances

While the vast majority of startups we surveyed operate in more than one country, almost 4 out of 5 had headquarters incorporated in Singapore. Unsurprisingly, Singapore presents itself as a highly favourable destination for ESOPs, with clear legislation and taxation guidelines. 

Juxtaposed against the often-murky and non-straightforward legislations and tax guidelines, ESOPs outside of Singapore are comparatively more complicated. Employees in these jurisdictions are often employed under local subsidiaries, where the issuance of ESOPs in relation to the parent company needs to be established. A case in point was the recent reporting on how Grab employees in Vietnam had to liquidate their ESOPs prior to their SPAC listing due to local laws. 

Founders may be well-served to develop a nuanced understanding of ESOPs across key markets, especially those outside of Singapore. A two-pronged approach of firstly, speaking to trusted investors and fellow founders for firsthand learnings, followed by verification with legal and tax counsel, can help sidestep costly ESOP pitfalls.  

Know your competition well

With growing awareness and conversations around ESOPs among both founders and employees, it is critical to know what competition looks like. 

In The State of ESOPs in Southeast Asia report, we shared the ESOP ranges offered to leadership, senior and junior employees. In the follow-up conversations, we learnt there was a deeper desire for founders to have a more granular understanding of how ESOP varied across maturity– after all, a Series B startup may be better placed to offer higher cash compensation than one without any external funding, hence compelling the latter to offer more ESOPs at the same seniority. 

As such, we have segmented the ESOPs offered to employees across both roles and stages of funding. As ESOPs are most often associated, set up or topped up during new rounds of fundraising, we think this can be a handy guide for founders to understand what the landscape looks like. 

Also Read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 2)

 

Dare to differentiate, and share about it

While our report laid out the state of ESOPs in Southeast Asia as-is, founders should not be afraid to deviate from the ESOP canon and dare to create differentiation to stand out in the competitive landscape today. 

An advantage can be as simple as establishing monthly vesting structures (only one in three startups do so today, with the others vesting less frequently), or even a change in the typical cliff + vesting period.

Also Read: 12 legal considerations when drafting your ESOP

While the norm is for a 12-month cliff followed by a 36-month vesting period (adding up to 48 months), an increasing number of startups have decisively shortened this period and even removed the cliff altogether.

Hence, founders must not be afraid to lay out these differentiators and proactively share about it throughout the recruitment process, not leave it in an ESOP policy that is mostly unread.

ESOPs can be the lethal weapon in a startup’s arsenal to win the war for talent. Thoughtful structuring of employee stock options can not only move the conversation away from a negotiation of the numbers (cash, bonus, basis points) to a more holistic, thoughtful conversation but also be an organic promotion channel for prospective employees. Ultimately, the goal is to align the risks and rewards between founders and employees – and a well-crafted ESOPs plan might just be able to do that.

The production effort for the report was supported by Svested, RDF Strategies and BYRD Creative.

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ErudiFi, a startup offering tech-enabled education financing solutions in Southeast Asia, has secured a debt facility of US$15 million from Singapore-based fintech company Helicap.

The startup will use the funding to support the needs of students across the Philippines and Indonesia by offering them affordable tuition instalment plans.

This round comes close to a year after ErudiFi bagged US$5 million in Series A capital, co-led by Monk’s Hill Ventures and Qualgro in February 2021.

Also Read: How edutech is solving the global teacher’s crisis

Launched in 2018, ErudiFi helps students secure funding for higher education through partnerships with leading universities and vocational schools. It operates as Danacita in Indonesia and Bukas in the Philippines.

As of December 2021, ErudiFi claims to have served more than 12,000 students and partnered with over a hundred educational institutions in Indonesia and the Philippines.

“Our partnership with Helicap enables us to further our mission of expanding access to education in Southeast Asia. The need for an affordable financing solution is greater than ever, with the ongoing pandemic leading to an increasing number of Filipino and Indonesian youths deferring further studies due to financial constraints,” said Naga Tan, CEO and Co-Founder of ErudiFi.

David Z. Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Helicap (the parent company of Helicap Investments and Helicap Securities), said: “Education financing is a huge opportunity in Southeast Asia, and ErudiFi continues to shape and expand its trusted relationships with universities and partner institutions.”

Since 2018, Helicap has facilitated more than US$100 million in investments that improve access to financing for underbanked populations in Southeast Asia. As a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Helicap Investments uses its proprietary credit analytics technology to make high-impact investments and bridge the US$500 billion financing gap in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

According to HolonIQ, edutech is a growing sector in Southeast Asia, and the region has managed to raise a total of US$480 million in investment for startups operating in this sector over the last five years.

In Southeast Asia, there are many edutech startups such as Topica (Vietnam), Taamkru (Thailand), Ruangguru (Indonesia), and Classruum (Malaysia) that are helping plug the educational gap by increasing the quality or access to education.

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Singapore-headquartered digital container haulage platform Haulio has secured US$7 million in a Series A funding round led by Temasek unit Heliconia Capital.

New investors that joined the round are Ondine Capital (China), Cornerstone Ventures (Taiwan), FuturePlay (South Korea), Newtown Partners via the Imperial Venture Fund (South Africa), and XA Network.

Existing investors, including B7 Capital, ComfortDelGro, iSeed SEA, Iterative (US), and PSA unboXed, have also participated.

The fresh funds will be used to strengthen Haulio’s haulage capabilities, service quality, and product engineering and development. The startup is also following its regional growth ambition throughout Southeast Asia.

As per a press statement, Haulio is actively hiring top talent in strategic business functions to support its growth plans in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Also read: The first-mile container logistics is ripe for digital disruption. Here’s how Haulio is doing it

Founded in 2016 by CEO Alvin Ea and CPO Sebastian Shen, Haulio connects hauliers and shippers.

“Container shipping volumes are on the rapid rise, so there needs to be greater optimisation and streamlining of haulage trips, given the increasing shortage in equipment and drivers,” said Ea. “The complex and fragmented nature of our business continues to be a challenge, especially when container haulage has been a vertical that often gets left behind.”

Haulio boasts of having onboarded 90 per cent of Singapore’s hauliers and established presences in Indonesia and Thailand. In Thailand alone, it has aggregated more than 3,000 hauliers. For shippers, Haulio provides prime mover and trailer rental and leasing service and embedded financing.

In 2021, it partnered with fintech players such as Funding Societies and Aspire to offer faster pay-out and supply chain financing and with ComfortDelgro and Goldbell to offer leasing of prime mover trucks.

As of now, Haulio claims to have transacted more than two million containers, with over 50 per cent of the transactions completed in 2021 alone. The startup expects to triple its revenue by the end of 2022 as the global supply chain rebounds.

Haulio said it also helps reduce the carbon emissions from container trucking and unnecessary transportation of empty containers due to its effective job matching and resource pooling. So far, it claims to have optimised over 200,000 containers, saving over 3,000 metric tonnes of carbon emission.

Last year, Haulio raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding. In 2018, it netted US$741,710 in seed round.

According to a market study by Quince Market Insights, the global first- and last-mile delivery market reached US$ 493.2 million in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 13.8 per cent over the forecast period 2021 to 2030. Asia is set to grow as the top player in the global maritime trade arena, especially in the SEA region with trade volumes expected to increase by 130 per cent in 2023 to US$5,653 billion.

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Hongkong- and Thailand-based fintech startup Fraction has bagged US$3 million in a pre-Series A financing round led by East Ventures, it announced today.

The round also saw participation from Indonesia’s Emtek Group, Singapore-based Thakral (consulting and technology services company), V Ventures (Singapore), and unnamed regional investors.

With this, Fraction will establish its first fractional real estate offers powered by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and distributed ledger solutions based on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Besides, the company also plans to expand into various asset classes, services and countries, with the goal of democratising access to investments and money for millions of people who are now unable to participate in these wealth-generating activities.

Fraction previously secured an undisclosed seed round from conventional finance and technology investors such as Singha Ventures, Tanarra Capital, and Skystar Capital.

Also read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Founded in 2018, Fraction enables people to own and transact pieces of real estate in the form of NFTs that have a “real-world legal link” to the property. Its offerings include ‘initial fraction offering’ (IFO) of real estate tokens, a secondary market trading platform of fractional tokens between investors, and related intermediary services covering the complete end-to-end journey.

“We can now enable true financial inclusion letting small investors participate in attractive asset classes that were previously inaccessible,” said Eka Nirapathpongporn, Co-Founder and CEO of Fraction.

With Fraction’s plug-and-play platform, individuals and companies can invest, sell and manage fractional ownership of anything — from a small stake in a city condominium, beachfront resort, or art piece, to managing a private fund, assets and investors.

As per a press statement, Fraction obtained the initial coin offering (ICO) portal license (subject to activation approval) from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC).

Real estate is one of the largest markets on earth with a value of US$326 trillion in 2020, per a Savills report. London-born advisory and accountancy network Moore Global predicted that the tokenised real estate market would be on track to become a US$1.4-trillion market.

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SG IoT startup KaHa snapped up by Indian wearables brand boAt

India-based Imagine Marketing, the parent of wearables brand boAt, has acquired Singapore based smart IoT product development company KaHa.

The acquisition will enable Imagine Marketing to augment its wearable product offerings in terms of the concept, design, electronic firmware, algorithm development, Android/iOS applications, new feature integration, social engagement and analytics.

This acquisition will also allow Imagine Marketing to scale up its smart and holistic wellness wearables ecosystem.

Also Read: The IoT opportunity is right outside your door

Founded in 2015, KaHa has capabilities in developing products in the IoT space. It has a technology-focused platform for wearables through patented AI and ML capabilities, end-to-end smart wearable solutions (hardware and software), and data-driven smart IoT platforms, providing solutions and analyses for multiple use cases.

KaHa has developed its proprietary COVE IoT platform. With in-built artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, COVE provides users with actionable intelligence and personalised experiences across a range of consumer verticals: health & wellness, sports & fitness, digital payment and safety. The platform includes electronics design, printed circuit board assembly, application frameworks for iOS and Android, cloud services, data analytics and smart after-sales service tools.

KaHa has offices in Singapore, China, India.

DeCloud picks majority stake in blockchain firm Ascent Solutions

Singapore-headquartered DeClout has announced the completion of 70 per cent of Ascent Solutions, a company specialising in IoT and blockchain solutions.

Ascent Solutions is an Internet of Things (IoT) smart connectivity firm that provides digital solutions for smart city infrastructure and end-to-end visibility and intelligence across the entire supply chain for both governments and private sectors.

Since its incorporation in 2010, it has developed iTrust, a blockchain and IoT solution for trade financing in 2018, and implemented a real-time IoT monitoring solution to track in-transit petroleum products for the Ghana authorities in January 2020.

Also Read: How play-to-earn is fueling the next wave of blockchain adoption

Headquartered in Singapore and established in 2010, DeClout invests in, incubates and scales companies to become global or regional market leaders. The group’s companies comprise of fast-growing trade technology firm GUUD, ICT solutions provider Aeqon, green-tech service provider ARCO, neutral hosting solutions provider dhost, and its corporate venture arm DeClout Ventures.

DeClout is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exeo Global, the regional headquarters of Stock Exchange-listed Exeo Group.

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eFishery, a digital cooperative for fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, has completed a US$90 million Series C round of financing, co-led by Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India.

Its existing investors Northstar Group, Go-Ventures, Aqua-Spark, and Wavemaker Partners also returned to co-invest in this round.

Also Read: Go-Ventures, Northstar Group co-lead eFishery’s Series B round

eFishery will use the money to scale up its platform, strengthen its digital products, and expand regionally, targeting the top 10 countries in aquaculture, such as India and China. It aims to acquire one million farmers in three to five years. “This funding will gear us to hire aggressively, especially for engineering and product development talent. We aim to recruit a thousand new employees this year,” Gibran Huzaifah, Co-Founder and CEO of eFishery said.

Based in Bandung, eFishery provides tech alternatives to traditional farming methods to improve outcomes for fish and shrimp farmers. It offers an end-to-end platform providing farmers with access to (i) technology, (ii) feed, (ii) financing, and (iii) markets.

Since launching in 2013, the company claims to have deployed thousands of smart feeders, serving over 30,000 farmers across 24 provinces in Indonesia.

eFishery’s latest suite of cutting edge products includes eFarm, and eFisheryKu app. eFarm is an online platform that provides farmers with comprehensive and easy-to-understand information about their shrimp farming operations. At the same time, eFisheryKu is an integrated platform where fish farmers can purchase their farming supplies, such as feed, at competitive prices.

Farmers can also apply for a loan through eFund, which links fish farmers directly to financial institutions. A key component of eFund is Kabayan (pay later).

Also Read: eFishery, Shiok Meats co-founders on MIT Technology Review’s list of emerging innovators from APAC

To date, more than 7,000 farmers have been supported by this service, with the total loan approved exceeding US$28 million.

Since its Series B round of funding, eFishery has grown its headcount 3x, with more than 900 employees now onboard. Prior to this, it had raised a pre-Series A round in 2015 and a US$4-million Series A round in late 2018.

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Crowdo, a Singapore-headquartered neobank for SMEs, has attracted S$8 million (~US$5.9 million) in pre-Series B investment in convertible notes.

The financing was co-led by existing shareholders Gobi Partners and iVest Capital (a Southeast Asia-focused family office), alongside SEEDS Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore).

Along with this, Crowdo has also bagged debt financing from Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) through its WLB4Climate, the fourth issuance in its innovative Women’s Livelihood Bond Series.

The fresh capital injection will enable Crowdo to expand its ESG (environmental, social and governance)-driven financing products for underserved SMEs. It will launch a new ESG financing product this month targeting women-led enterprises with a plan to disburse up to S$16 million (US$11.8 million) during 2022 alone.

“One of our flagship products will deliver up to US$50 million in financing to women-led businesses and companies over the next few years to promote gender equality and increase women’s access to financing,” said Crowdo CEO and Co-Founder Leo Shimada.

Also read: How debt financing, crypto, SPACs keep the climate-tech funding momentum in SEA

Founded in 2017 by Shimada and Nicola Castelnuovo, Crowdo offers two online platforms to digitise SMEs’ operations to boost productivity and understand and access financing and banking products.

“Crowdo is already catering to under-served SMEs in emerging markets and wants to boost our social impact with specially-tailored financing products with ESG impact in mind,” added Shimada.

So far, Crowdo claims to have disbursed over S$100 million (~US$73.8 million) in financing since its S$1.4 million Series A round. The startup said it recorded a 5x monthly revenue growth rate during 2021.

Crowdo is licensed by the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) for digital lending in Indonesia and registered with the Securities Commission Malaysia.

In Malaysia, where Crowdo offers equity financing to high-growth startups, it closed 2021 having facilitated close to S$10 million (US$7.4 million) in equity investments.

In Indonesia, it has formed multiple alliances with digital banks, multi-finance institutions and conventional banks, offering its tech-driven acquisition and onboarding infrastructure and artificial intelligence-driven credit assessment technology for SME funding.

Also read: The journey ahead: Singapore startup ecosystem becoming Asia’s Silicon Valley

Crowdo boasts of achieving group profitability since mid-2020.

According to a McKinsey report, the share of consumers in Asia–Pacific emerging markets actively using digital banking increased sharply from 54 per cent in 2017 to 88 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile, the digital adoption rates among consumers in developed Asia–Pacific markets have remained stable at approximately 90 per cent.

 

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2021 was a landmark year for the growth of the voluntary carbon market. There has been a boom in demand for carbon credits– mainly driven by corporations setting net-zero targets in the face of consumer scrutiny.

According to Ecosystem Marketplace, the value of the global voluntary carbon market topped US$1 billion in 2021.

What was formerly a buyers’ market is now in the seller’s hands, driving project development financing, which will be particularly important for projects innovating to deliver negative emissions above and beyond net-zero targets.

While the growing demand for carbon credits signals the market is moving towards maturity, key issues continue to plague the voluntary carbon market, notably the lack of standardisation and transparency, ensuring that the credits are of high quality. This translates to retail mark-ups and low-quality credits without clear provenance or credibility.

Not only did 2021 show enormous growth for the voluntary carbon market and steps towards more excellent market governance through the global Taskforce on Scaling the Voluntary Carbon Markets, headed up by UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney.

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

This private sector-led initiative has over 250 member institutions representing buyers and sellers, standard setters, financial sector participants, market infrastructure providers, civil society, international organisations and academics.

It is a clear step to acknowledge that market participants must work together to create a mature and trustworthy marketplace that has a real global impact on decarbonisation.

Of course, one cannot discuss the carbon markets in 2021 without mentioning COP26. Some might have hoped for a watershed moment, but instead, COP26 provided little clarification beyond the ratification of Article 6.

This means that the Paris Agreement is now fully operational– giving certainty to market participants as countries look to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

As net-zero targets continue to be at the forefront of consumer expectations of corporations, big corporations will have to engage more thoroughly in the voluntary carbon markets.

Multinational organisations are in the strongest position to participate in the voluntary carbon market, offset their emissions alongside reduction practices, and create a positive impact on a global scale.

Also Read: Fireside chat: Racing to net zero with the voluntary carbon market

Cyberdyne tech exchange in 2021: A year of transformation

This year, Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTX) as a business has seen an enormous transformation, gaining two new licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore,  a Capital Markets Services Licence and a Recognised Market Operator licence– solidifying its position as a regulated digital asset exchange.

CTX also sold the first tranche of a new asset-backed Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT), which resolves one of the most challenging aspects of carbon credit trading– the ability to properly account for and track carbon credits using its proprietary protocols and blockchain technologies.

Using this technology, market participants can be certain the credit is of high quality, tackling the issue of double-counting that plagues the voluntary carbon market.

CTX’s Chairman, Dr Bo Bai, received the Entrepreneur 100 Awards accolade from the Singapore Association of Trade and Commerce, acknowledging CTX’s achievements and contributions to the industry, community and nation.

The company also recently signed an MoU with BSI China (of the British Standards Institution Group) on implementing carbon neutralisation and green financing standards on CTX.

The agreement includes BSI carrying out the carbon footprint verification and certification for listings on CTX’s platform and the promotion and implementation of green finance standards.

All these support the Green Finance Action Plan of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and the ultimate goal of net-zero by 2050.

CTX will continue to leverage innovation and technology to enable organisations of all sizes to enhance their sustainability goals.

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PropertyScout, an online marketplace for buying, renting and selling residential properties in Thailand, has raised US$2.5 million (THB 82 million) in a pre-Series A round led by Hustle Fund. 

AngelCentral, Swiss Founders Fund and Asymmetry VC joined the round. Proptech angles, including Simon Baker (former CEO of REA), Marc Stilke (former CEO of Immobilien Scout24), and Brian Ma (founder of San Francisco-based proptech unicorn Divvy Homes), also co-invested.

Ma invested through his Iterative accelerator programme.

Besides, returning individual investors from the seed round also participated. They are Tim Marbach (Asia Venture Group), Jakob Angele (Foodpanda), Ross Veitch (Wego), JJ Chai (Rainforest, ex Carousell, ex- Airbnb), Zenos Schmickrath (ex-HMlet), Kiren Tanna (Una Brands and ex-Rocket Internet), Amarit Charoenphan, and Gokul Rajaram (DoorDash).

Bangkok-headquartered PropertyScout will utilise the capital to enhance its technology platform with artificial intelligence and expand into property sales. It also has plans to double the size of its product and tech team in the coming months.

Co-Founder and CEO Mario Peng said PropertyScout would scale quickly into other Southeast Asian markets once the platform and processes are optimised and validated in Thailand. This will be followed by a Series A funding round.

Also read: The world of proptech and its fate in a post-pandemic world

PropertyScout was founded in 2019 by Peng (who earlier co-founded and sold a Singapore-based online travel platform), Salita Kamnerdsiri (CSO), and Marco Barth (COO). Barth also serves as a startup mentor at Silicon Valley-headquartered early-stage startup accelerator Plug and Play Tech Centre.

The proptech startup aims to build a real-estate platform in Southeast Asia for hassle-free transactions and rentals of homes. The firm says it owns one of the largest portfolios of frequently updated and available rental properties in Bangkok alongside over 300 co-broker partners and in-house property consultants.

Despite the pandemic-induced market setback, it boasts of achieving a 15x growth from Q1 2021.

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Singapore-based Carb0n.fi, a blockchain solution providing carbon offset NFTs, has closed a seed financing round of US$600,000 led by cryptocurrency VC firm Owl Ventures.

The co-investors include blockchain VC firm Blockseed Ventures, Lancer Capita, Antler Singapore, a prominent Chinese family investment office in Dubai, and CryptoFOMO.

The round also included an angel consortium of 13 fintech and crypto individuals, including Byron Grigoratos.

The funds will allow Carb0n.fi to strengthen its blockchain platform and accelerate product development.

The funding round was completed in the lead-up to Carb0n.fi’s initial dex offering (IDO) on the CardStarter launchpad scheduled for January 19th, 2022.

Also Read: Bambooloo on creating everyday low carbon footprint products that save the planet

Carb0n.fi is an ASEAN-focused blockchain solution firm aiming to establish a carbon-zero world for the people, by the people. It combines investments, allows its users to reap the benefits from these investments, and at the same time contributes to environmental sustainability all at once.

Its platform allows users to put their crypto to work and be rewarded with carbon offsets and the project’s governance token $ZRO. For this, the firm leverages DeFi 2.0 to enable ownership of a new asset class in the form of carbon offset NFTs. Doing so will allow users to track and estimate their carbon footprint and offset it on time.

Users can also buy and sell carbon offsets on Carb0n.fi’s offset exchange and benefit from discounted transaction fees by holding $ZRO.

According to Carb0n.fi Co-Founder and CEO Bree Yek, the lack of transparency, double spending and high barriers to entry are some challenges faced by companies and individuals when trying to properly access carbon trading markets. In addition, there are also few existing incentivisation mechanisms in place to increase the participation levels for carbon-reducing activities. “Carb0n.fi was set up to change this. We believe that DeFi naturally incentivises good actors and is an efficient way to own new and growing asset classes, including carbon offsets.”

“Our fundraising is the first step to making carbon markets accessible for a lot more projects and contributing to the fight against the climate crisis,” she added.

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