Of all the tech industries, the deep tech industry in Singapore has gathered a large amount of interest from the government in recent years. Earlier this year, the government announced a S$300 million (US$221 million) addition into Startup SG Equity as proof of its support for the deep tech scene.

There are many reasons for this excitement. One of them is because of the technology’s immense potential to solve real-world problems.

Dr Lim Jui, CEO at SGInnovate, defines deep tech as unique, cutting-edge technologies that demand a high degree of specialisation from both its inventors and practitioners. At a working level, it means technologies derived from relatively recent research with the potential for strong intellectual property (IP) protection

These are emerging technologies that could entail elements of AI, machine learning, and blockchain that have the potential to solve bigger issues surrounding the world. For example, medical devices or drugs that can increase lifespan, AI that can forecast natural disasters, or clean energy solutions that can help mitigate the risks of global warming.

“Let’s take Tesla and SpaceX in the US, and Creative Technologies in Singapore as examples. These companies have created industries where none existed before. That’s the power of Deep Tech. SGInnovate’s mission is to pave the way for the next generation of ‘Creatives’, ‘Teslas’, and ‘SpaceX’s’, creating high-growth, intellectually stimulating, and satisfying employment for our future generations,” Dr Lim says in an interview with e27.

Having spent most of his career in the business of innovation, Dr Jui says that he has seen firsthand how Singapore’s deep tech ecosystem has evolved.

“From research being licensed to foreign MNCs, to the emergence of digital startups addressing specific technological problems, to a vibrant community of startups spanning different areas of deep tech. There is now a much greater variety and depth in our startups, making for a richer ecosystem that has attracted more investors,” he explains.

Also Read: Beyond COVID-19: A new era for deep tech startups

While deep tech is a sector that has, over the past year, been largely funded by government organisations due to the volume of investment and risk involved, the tables have turned. Plenty of investors are now taking more interest in the technology.

Currently, SGInnovate has funded many deep tech startups. Some of which include digital therapeutics startup Biofourmis, wireless laser communications startup Transcelestial, and MedTech startup See-Mode Technologies.

To talk more about the state of deep tech in Singapore, Dr Jui shares insights into Singapore as a rising hub for this industry, the organisation’s initiatives to boost deep tech, investor perks, and more.

Why Singapore?

Singapore has all the key ingredients of success for deep tech growth – a strong education system with world-class universities, a robust pool of scientific and technical talent and thought leadership in medicine, finance, and engineering.

Add to this is a friendly business environment that has a track record of strong IP protection, and consistent leadership emphasis and financial support for the startup ecosystem, it is hard not to be bullish about Singapore’s deep tech prospects.

With the increasingly vibrant Singapore startup ecosystem, the overall investment climate and opportunities for deep tech in Singapore is set to grow in the future.

Also Read:  National University of Singapore to spend US$18M to launch 250 deep-tech startups

Investing in deep tech

Deep tech investment is a high-risk, high-return endeavour. Traditional roadmaps for a business model or market conquest may not apply. And that’s on top of the technology risk and typically higher capital requirements.

So due diligence needs to be married with imagination. Yet, the history of science and technology has proven that those willing to take the plunge early will reap the biggest returns.

The best way to attract investors to invest in deep tech companies is to show them that you can do good and do well. You can make money from deep tech investments.

Just as an indication of the investment demand for Singapore deep tech startups, SGInnovate has invested about US$36 million (S$50 million) into about 70 Singapore deep tech startups over the last four years, and these companies have gone on to raise over US$479 million (S$650 million) in venture capital.

I believe we have largely succeeded in demonstrating that high returns can be generated, and we count on a strong and growing network of co-investors both locally and internationally.

It is also worthwhile to note that the Singaporean government is very supportive of investors in the deep tech field. The government had declared a US$221 million injection into Startup SG Equity for deep tech startups during its Budget 2020 announcement.

A career in deep tech for the non-techie

If someone has an interest in a deep tech career but is unsure about where to start, there are talent programmes that they can take part in, to gain the needed technical and industry skills for the deep tech industry.

Even if one comes from a non-STEM background, there are general tech roles (such as in software or UI/UX development) and other business-critical roles available within the industry.

Due to the nature of the technology, technical roles are always essential as they build their solutions and continue to maintain momentum in their technology development roadmaps. But as these startups mature, they will also need to build up their core business functions such as sales, marketing, operations, and legal.

Also Read: SOSV, 500 Startups invest US$2.55M seed round in deep tech startup SEPPURE

It is essential to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset which means always having an open mind to try new things, learning and up-skilling, as well as being flexible and adaptable during challenges.

Be ready to embrace failures, learn from it and restart again.

Upskilling workforce for Industry 4.0

Since the beginning of the pandemic, SGInnovate has been prioritising efforts around creating more deep tech job opportunities to support the community, working closely with partners and government agencies to explore new initiatives.

Some of SGInnovate’s initiatives for deep tech job seekers are:

Summation Apprenticeship Programme: A programme that matches top talent with deep tech startups with projects in emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, IoT, robotics, quantum computing, and more

Infinity Series: A programme for undergraduates looking for roles in deep tech startups.

The New Frontier: A talent showcase in October which offered over 200 job openings in more than 30 startups and organisations.

Power X programme: A full-time traineeship programme for Singaporeans that blends classroom and workplace learning to equip them with skills for a new career in deep tech space.

Founded in 2016, SGInnovate is a private limited company wholly owned by the Singapore government; it aims to build and scale deep tech startups into high potential companies with global impact. Its Deep Tech Nexus Strategy is focussed on adding tangible value to the deep tech startup ecosystem in two key areas: development of Human Capital and deployment of Investment Capital.

SGInnovate seeks to back entrepreneurial scientists through equity-based investments, access to talent, and business-building advice.

–

Image Credit: SGInnovate

The post Due diligence meets imagination: How SGInnovate plans to further support the deep tech ecosystem appeared first on e27.

VIISA, a seed-stage fund that invests in startups from Vietnam, today announced the two startups that have been selected to the eighth batch of its accelerator programme.

The selected startups will receive a follow-on funding of up to US$200,000 from VIISA Investment Track if they manage to obtain funding from an outside lead investor.

Other than that, the programme –which is held fully online– is also offering startups the opportunity to connect with corporate partners and prospective investors throughout the three months.

“It is truly inspirational witnessing Vietnamese founders remain thriving throughout the COVID-19 pandemic time. Their strong determination in working with VIISA programme has once more put more pressure on the value creation philosophy VIISA has committed to,” Hieu Vo, CFO of VIISA, said in a statement.

The startups of Program Batch 8 and other startups of the VIISA alumni will be showcasing their businesses in December 2020.

Also Read: Algorand Asia Accelerator debuts 10 blockchain startups that aim to innovate under Finance 3.0

The two startups selected for this programme are:

DoctorBear

A mobile app platform that enables users to consult with specialised doctors via video call and offers various test packages according to the treatment plan. The DoctorBear team consists of a group of medical doctors with over 15 years of professional experience and an in-house technology chief. It has a long-term goal to expand to Southeast Asian market.

DrobeBox

A fashion tech startup that offers clothing subscription service and uses AI to recommend clothes to women. In addition to renting the clothes, DrobeBox gives an opportunity for the customers to own any item they love after fitting. The team believes that AI technology “can recommend clothes to women better than themselves.”

–

Image Credit: VIISA

The post Meet the 2 Vietnamese startups selected for VIISA’s Batch 8 accelerator programme appeared first on e27.

At any given moment, at least half of the top 10 ranked cryptocurrency exchanges are Asia-based exchanges. A recent report found that Asian cryptocurrency users are responsible for over 31 per cent of all cryptocurrency transacted in the past 12 months.

China alone controls 65 per cent of Bitcoin global hashrate, making China the jumping point for most new Bitcoin activity. 

Asia has always been the most active and important region for the industry, as deep-rooted technology and gaming prowess create a natural fit for digital currencies. This has led to many exchanges, service providers, and ancillary companies being set up in Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and other top markets. 

Unfortunately, a consistent stream of regulatory pressure and security incidents has caused one blow after another for Asia-based exchanges in 2020. The landscape is clearly changing as regulators feel international pressure and sophisticated hackers look to exploit security loopholes.

During this time, Decentralised Exchanges (DEXs) have exploded in popularity, with daily volume exceeding some of the largest centralised exchanges. 

The implications of these changes are clear. Users want more control of their funds and are risk-tolerant enough to “gamble” their funds on decentralised finance (DeFi) yield strategies versus risking them on centralised exchanges that have control of a users’ private keys. We are witnessing a battle taking place between multiple stakeholders. 

Also Read: How bright is the future of cryptocurrency?

String of unfortunate events for Asian exchanges

On September 26, Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced that it had been on the receiving end of a major hack. As a result, its Bitcoin, Ether, and ERC20 hot wallets were compromised, leading to an estimated US$240 million loss of customer fund.

Kucoin took swift action, encouraging projects to conduct token swaps in order to deem stolen assets worthless. Most projects (Orion Protocol, Aleph.im, Akropolis, Velo Labs, etc.) complied, helping reduce the total loss. 

Interestingly, it wasn’t only centralised projects that came to the rescue. Some of the affected DeFi token projects also offered assistance, with varying degrees of community involvement that questioned the truly decentralised nature of such protocols.  

Just five days later on October 1, Hong Kong-based BitMex, one of the industry’s leading futures exchanges, was charged by the CFTC for illegally operating the exchange and allowing US customers to trade without the proper KYC/AML requirements.

A few weeks later, SEC Chairman Hester Peirce, nicknamed “Crypto Mom”, announced a warning to other global exchanges. This solidified the US’s stronghold on the industry, even for exchanges domiciled in Asia with the majority of their user base in Asia. 

Lastly, on October 15, Maltese-Chinese exchange OKEx halted trading after reports surfaced that the company’s founder was under investigation by the Chinese government. Similar to the other news, this caused a mild panic in the markets with Bitcoin dropping three per cent following the news break.

It is important to note that this is not the first time OKEx has been an under-reported investigation and these kinds of inquiries are not uncommon in crypto. Just a month earlier, Korea-based Bithumb had its offices raided twice by local police forces. While not unique, these events all happened within a six-week span, showing a more recently complicated landscape for exchanges. 

Also Read: 5 reasons why crypto exchanges need to be decentralised

Decentralised exchanges solve industry challenges

A decentralised exchange or protocol that has a single point of failure, be it through admin keys or a founding team at risk of SEC censure, is not sufficiently decentralised to survive. It was the risk of legal proceedings that prompted IDEX to enforce KYC for traders.

The move proved a death-knell to the DEX, which is now a shadow of its former self, having been usurped by Uniswap – the industry’s most popular DEX at the moment.

To solve this problem, and create a truly censorship resistant trading environment, a number of new DEXs have sprung up aiming to create decentralised platforms that can survive black swan events, be it litigators or hackers.

Chief among these is Injective Protocol, which is pioneering a layer-2 DEX for cross-chain derivatives trading and is debuting on Binance Launchpad this month. Its promise of high-speed non-custodial trading, including derivatives products, might be enough to tempt traders away from centralised platforms such as Deribit and BitMex. 

When thinking about DEXs, it is only natural to think about DeFi as both go hand in hand. Despite significant differences to centralised exchanges and their non-custodial and community governance nature, DeFi projects may still be susceptible to regulatory action, if deemed necessary, due to problems surrounding central authority and administration. 

Many DeFi projects continue to build up levels of decentralisation within their protocol, helping to protect against such enforcement. However, unless DeFi platforms including DEXs can sufficiently improve decentralisation across the full spectrum of their projects, significant, if not existential, threats remain.

On the bright side, the CFTC action serves to emphasise the importance of actual decentralisation, pushing cryptocurrency projects further in that direction to avoid regulatory risk. In a week where BitMEX was cut down to size and Kucoin suffered a massive hack, the need for a truly decentralised exchange such as Injective has never been greater.

Also Read: XanPool launches platform to enable P2P transactions from local currency to cryptocurrency in SEA

The goal is to bring the best of what the industry offers, including its users around the world, and make an accessible ecosystem that is borderless and safe. This is where the importance of the product comes into play. An exchange could have a flawless track record for years and still suffer from an unforeseen event that could jeopardise user funds in the meantime. 

Expect to see more DEXS come into play in Asia, with a more critical user base that understands the technology, including the limitations that a DEX might have below the surface.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Clifford Photography on Unsplash

The post Inside the changing landscape of Asian cryptocurrency exchanges appeared first on e27.

Klikdaily, an FMCG supply chain startup in Indonesia, is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the next three years, its Founder and CEO Amos Gunawan told e27.

The Tangerang, Banten-headquartered company is considering various stock exchanges in Southeast Asia for the IPO debut.

Also Read: What does Peter Thiel-backed Bridgetown’s IPO mean for SEA’s startup ecosystem?

The discussions are still in the initial stages, and the company is “actively communicating” with its investors and partners in this regard.

“At Klikdaily, we follow a culture of ‘don’t wait for the right time to do something as there will never be a right time. Just do it’,” stated Gunawan. “We hope to launch a successful IPO with the right support and business strategy and by expanding into many vital sectors.”

“Since the beginning, we have been focused on the right and strong business model and market fit, and we would like the public to support our growth even further. Supply chain is a vast market. By going public, we would like to bring the industry to the next level,” he shared.

Klikdaily is a one-stop solution for traditional mom ‘n’ pop stores to get various products from multiple brands with a competitive price. As on May this year, the firm claims to have served thousands of stores in 600 districts across Indonesia.

Klikdaily claims that its business grew more than 900 per cent in the January 2019-September 2020 period and its service is now available in every province, district and sub-district across Indonesia.

A few months ago, Klikdaily secured an undisclosed sum in Series A funding, led by Berlin-based Global Founders Capital (GFC). This round came less than a year after it secured pre-Series A from GFC, Pegasus Tech Ventures, FundedHere and Teja Ventures.

Also Read: ‘Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up’: Joseph Phua of M17

According to Gunawan, Klikdaily plans to execute three innovation strategies that focus on sustainability and National Economic Recovery. These strategies will be carried out through locally-produced products (private labels), through an effective and efficient supply chain ecosystem and by providing financial support for MSME partners.

In the near future, Klikdaily, together with strategic its partner producers, plans to launch 25 private labels.

“We believe in the importance of building a sustainable business that continues to provide solutions for people. Based on a data from Supply Chain Indonesia (SCI), the sector has more than 12 per cent of average annual growth that contributes nearly US$70 billion to the nation’s economy in 2020. This means there is a huge market in the supply chain sector,” he shared.

—

Image Credit: Klikdaily

The post GFC-backed Klikdaily plans to launch IPO in 3 years appeared first on e27.

Startup Studio, the accelerator runs by the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Informatics (Kemenkominfo), announced the 20 startups that have been shortlisted into its programme.

Targetting early stage startups, Startup Studio said that it has received 668 applicants from 32 provinces in Indonesia. From October 5 to November 26, the startups will take part in a programme that includes a series of online events, such as one-on-one mentoring, brainstorming session, networking event, and a pitch day.

The startups are:

AgenKAN
An integrated fintech platform that aims to reach out to the underserved communities in Indonesia.

Biteship
A one-stop platform for inter-city courier service.

Career Support
A social enterprise that empowers schools by giving them career centres and helping their students.

Feedloop
A content-builder platform that enables users to create shareable, interactive stories.

Also Read: In brief: Silver Lake invests in Byju; Launcho Ventures launches startup studio in S’pore

Halofina
A mobile financial advisory app.

Jejak.in
A platform that enables users to plant a tree and monitor its growth to help fight climate change.

Justika
An online platform that enables legal consultation at a more affordable fee.

Keeppack
An e-commerce fulfilment platform.

Larik.tech
A code walkthrough platform built to simplify code understanding.

Moodah
A mobile accounting platform for SMEs.

Nectico
A platform that aims to enable the digitalisation of cooperatives in Indonesia.

Rakamin Academy
A platform that helps professionals to get training and networking.

Also Read: Singaporean film distribution startup Viddsee is becoming a production studio

Rekosistem
The startup provides consultancy services that focus on waste management projects.

Payo Kepasar
A mobile platform that enables on-demand shopping and delivery service of fresh produce.

PTS.SC
A platform that enables end-to-end supply chain management.

Schoters
A platform that helps international students to prepare for their study abroad.

Tumbasin
A platform to help customers shop in wet markets.

Verihubs
A platform that uses AI to help with the customer identification process.

Waterhub
The startup builds drinking water refill station that is connected to a mobile app.

Also Read: This Asia-based startup has just teamed up with three major Hollywood studios

Woobiz
A platform that helps users to sell goods online and offline.

The Startup Studio programme followed the launch of other initiatives by the ministry to support the local startup ecosystem, including Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup and Next Indonesia Unicorn (Nexticorn).

In the latest edition of Nexticorn, Minister of Research and Technology Bambang Brodjonegoro explains how Indonesia wants to support startups differently in 2020. While previously, the task of working with startups was dominated by Kemenkominfo, starting Q4 2019, Ministry of  Research and Technology (Kemenristek) will also take part in it.

“We are more upstream, responsible to create as many startups as possible. Kemenkominfo will be more on the downstream and infrastructure,” he said.

—

Image Credit: Uray Zulfikar on Unsplash

The post Startup Studio names the 20 Indonesian startups in the first batch of its accelerator programme appeared first on e27.

Temasek, ABC World Asia join v2food’s US$55M Series B

The story: Temasek and ABC World Asia, an Asia-focused PE fund dedicated to impact investing, have participated in the Series B funding round for Australian plant-based meat startup v2food.

Other investors participating in this round include Altitude Partners, China Renaissance, Esenagro, Horizons Ventures, Marinya Capital, Main Sequence Ventures, and Novel Investments.

Plans: This round, which takes v2food’s total funds to US$80 million, will enable it to expand its team and production facility in Wodonga, Australia, as well as launch its products globally into new markets including Asia, and bring its affordable meat alternatives to more consumers worldwide.

What does v2food do?: Founded in 2019 as a partnership between Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures and Competitive Foods Australia, v2food’s goal is to create a ‘version two’ of meat. The company uses protein extracted from legumes to create ‘mince’ that looks, tastes and cooks like quality meat.

Also Read: German firm LikeMeat’s founder launches plant-based meat startup Next Gen in Singapore

Made entirely with simple, natural ingredients without genetic modifications, v2food’s plant-based meats provide consumers with convenient, tasty and, best of all, cost-equivalent alternatives.

TurtleTree Labs emerges global champion for Entrepreneurship World Cup 2020

The story: TurtleTree Labs, a biotech startup in Singapore that creates milk sustainably using cell-based technology, has emerged the winner of the 2020 Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC), concluded at the fifth edition of the Misk Global Forum (MGF).

The startup also received US$500,000 in cash prize.

What is EWC?: It is a pitch competition and support programme for the next generation of entrepreneurs, with 175,000 entrants applying from 200 countries in 2020.

The EWC Top 10 finalists competed at the Global Finals for a share of US$1 million in cash prizes — US$500,000 for first place, US$250,000 for second place and US$100,000 for third place.

In addition, a cash prize of US$50,000 will be awarded to one top scoring startup from each of the following categories: idea stage, early stage and growth stage.

Each of the EWC finalists will also receive a package of in-kind services valued at US$850,000 each.

Also Read: Unable to find good milk to make her dream cheese, this founder created one from stem cells

All Global Finalists are enrolled in the GEN Starters Club, providing a global peer network, mentorship and other support services to help members, especially after the EWC, reach their full potential. Other partners may be engaged to provide post-EWC support.

IoT Tribe announces cohort 2 of deep-tech accelerator

The story: Singapore-based global equity-free accelerator, IoT Tribe, has unveiled its second cohort of 12 startups.

Held in partnership with Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board on the Global Innovation Alliance initiative, the accelerator will assist deeptech startups on their expansion into and across Asia, using Singapore as a springboard.

The hybrid programme will feature eight weeks of virtual capacity building workshops, events and webinars, followed by a 4-week soft landing in Singapore set to commence at the start of 2021, subject to public health advisories.

The programme will help startups hone their business strategy, perfect their product-market fit, access Asian markets, scale up their processes and teams, as well as raise their next rounds of investments.

The 12 startups selected are:

Aromatec, which offers gentle and efficient ‘cold’ concentration processes to disrupt traditional production processes in the food & beverage industry, from Singapore.

CHECKTOBUILD, a construtech startup that uses IoT and drone systems to provide an autonomous inspection service and business intelligence for large-scale construction projects, from Madrid, Spain.

Cognicept Systems, which provides human-in-the-loop (HITL) error handling with its telerobotic networking technology and remote robot trainers, making unpredictable applications reliable and enabling previously impossible use cases, from Singapore.

Dot Incorporation, which has invented a revolutionary and affordable full-page ‘tactile display’ that can display braille text and tactile graphics simultaneously, from Seoul, South Korea.

LexaTexer, a software company that can build enterprise-scale AI and data-driven applications more efficiently and cost-effectively than alternative solutions, from Berlin, Germany.

Macco Robotics, a startup specialising in creative and user-friendly applications for humanoid robots in the food & beverage, leisure and hospitality sectors, from Sevilla, Spain.

Neuron Soundware, which reshapes machine diagnostics and predictive maintenance by using advanced AI-based analyses to recognise sound patterns in real-time and provide early warnings of mechanical failures, from Prague, Czech Republic.

QLUE, which implements AI-powered smart workforce management to improve workforce response time and productivity, from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Quadible, which offers an AI solution that continuously authenticates users without the need for any user input, by learning their behavioural patterns, from London, UK.

Themis Industries, a startup using innovative technology as an advanced waste treatment solution that can reduce operational costs and eliminate pollutant emissions, from Milan, Italy.

Vyobotics, which offers affordable robotic solutions with plug-and-play modules to serve the needs of various sectors, based in Singapore.

Wild Immersion, the world’s first virtual reserve that harnesses new technologies to create 360° immersive experiences showcasing wildlife in their natural habitat, from Paris, France.

Bangladesh’s B2B commerce platform ShopUp raises US$22.5M Series A

Investors: Sequoia Capital India and Flourish Ventures (lead investors), VEON Ventures, Speedinvest, and Lonsdale Capital (Singapore).

What is ShopUp: ShopUp offers small businesses easy access to B2B sourcing, last-mile logistics, digital credit, and business management solutions. This helps these neighborhood mom-and-pop sellers achieve more profit with less effort, allowing them to focus their efforts towards engaging with their customers and business expansion.

Also Read: Why Bangladesh is the next frontier for tech investment

The startup opened its office in Bengaluru, aiming to expand and hire talent aligned to the company’s vision and goal. E-commerce platform Voonik also recently merged with ShopUp, with both founders of Voonik joining ShopUp as co-founders.

LINE launches social banking platform in Thailand

The story: LINE Corporation has launched LINE BK, a ‘social banking’ platform, connecting the social media platform to KASIKORNBANK.

Under the slogan ‘Banking in Your Hand’, LINE BK lets customers transfer money, open savings accounts, apply for loans, and make payments easily and conveniently from the LINE app.

LINE BK is operated by KASIKORN LINE, a joint venture between LINE subsidiary LINE Financial Asia and KASIKORN Vision Company, a subsidiary of Thailand’s KASIKORNBANK.

Beginning October 15, LINE BK was launched under the Wallet Tab in the LINE app in Thailand.

From this link, users in Thailand can sign up for LINE BK, open as many as five savings accounts, and apply for a debit card, without having to install any additional apps. LINE BK also offers high interest rates for saving accounts and unlocks a range of banking services including personal loans for freelancers and individuals without fixed incomes.

LINE plans to expand banking services into other countries, including Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

—

 

The post In brief: TurtleTree Labs wins Entrepreneurship World cup 2020; IoT Tribe accelerator announces new cohort appeared first on e27.

As purchasing behaviours change over time, so does the landscape that solution providers operate in. In 2020, we are spoilt for choice. Power now lies with the consumer – but consumers are short on time and often overwhelmed by choice.

Correspondingly, the balance of power for businesses has shifted in favour of those who can provide these consumers with a seamless service that meets not one, but multiple, needs.

The concept of a digital business ecosystem is now becoming widespread, and companies in Southeast Asia have begun to recognise the importance of meeting new and diverse needs under one single umbrella. Digital ecosystems are eminently suited to provide a marketplace for consumers and businesses to interact, connect seamlessly around products, payments and other important functions, and enable accelerated corporate collaboration in the digital age.

The ultimate disruptor

Although Southeast Asia has seen a creeping level of digitalisation over the past decade, particularly among fintech and financial service providers, many of the older generations have remained entrenched in their ways as consumers or as small business owners.

Now, change has become imperative as COVID-19 travel bans, lockdowns and safe distancing protocols have been implemented across the globe. Not only have consumers and businesses needed to change their ways, but governments also have had to adapt and offer support to communities that find themselves shut off or unable to access goods and services in their physical form.

Also Read: How theAsianparent aims to help reduce stillbirth rates in Southeast Asia

On the one hand, COVID-19 has hastened the urgency to move away from physical functions; on the other, it has also meant that mutually beneficial business ecosystems now have the potential to reach a far broader customer base than previously imagined.

As digitalisation across all aspects of our lives becomes more common, we are experiencing a rapid shift across industries; and corporations are battling each other to try and become the dominant player in their respective markets.

Collaboration between players, for enabling greater innovation between businesses – from startups to incumbents – is, therefore, more important than ever before, and prioritising technology investments that effectively differentiate between vendors and ecosystem partners is key.

A changing landscape for success

Despite fintech being at the forefront of the digital revolution in finance, creating an innovative solution by itself has not been enough to succeed. Without group adoption and support from multiple stakeholders to empower and enforce these interoperable systems, fintech companies have often struggled to bring about significant change in the industry or to bring on board the volume of customers needed to make their business successful.

Consumers are looking to choose from a handful of dominant ecosystem drivers for each domain in their lives to give them end-to-end journeys across products and services, and there will only be space for a select few.

An open-source sandbox model is one such answer to this question, allowing participants on the platform to bolster innovation without compromising on ethics or parting with sensitive, competitive data and information. Platforms such as Singapore’s API Exchange (APIX), a not-for-profit enabler of these ecosystems, creates partnerships between highly innovative organisations such as fintech companies, with incumbents such as AMTD Digital, BNY Mellon, IFC, and Mastercard and others, which can allow them to prove their value and become a part of a greater whole.

Also Read: 5 reasons why 2020 is the right time to invest in fintech

Enablers such as APIX allow problem statements to be published, relevant Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to be uploaded, and optimal solutions to be arrived at by harnessing the creative power of fintech and innovative solution providers to solve industry problems.

Since the beginning of 2020, the number of solutions uploaded onto the APIX platform has increased by 180 per cent – a clear indicator of acceleration within the industry.

Another key focal point of these collaborations for many solution providers and corporates is the valuable data that becomes available in such partnerships. As the value of data has increased in the past decade and the science around leveraging it has improved, these data stories have become a key pillar in many corporations’ growth strategies.

Working together in a digital ecosystem model allows participants to make better use of this data through analytics to drive efficiencies, make their offerings more appealing to consumers and ultimately create a seamless customer experience.

Collaboration brings strength

As we move into a new decade, effective collaboration through business ecosystems is crucial to ensure survival. Ecosystems will allow mutually beneficial solutions to service the region, creating opportunities for fintech and financial institutions alike.

We can expect to see more and more corporates and solution providers joining together in an attempt to meet this demand for integrated ecosystem offerings, and as savvy consumers continue to vote with their wallets, we can expect to see the consolidation of dominant ecosystems in every domain.

Also read: How fintech is disrupting the Southeast Asian payments market

In the dynamic markets of Southeast Asia, digital solutions have the potential to create impact far and wide; often serving those who may not have previously made the digital shift. To effectively reach these businesses and consumers, fintech solution providers and financial institutions should use these digital platforms to pursue collaboration opportunities and partnerships, creating innovative solutions that can have lasting impact on their markets of interest.

These solutions already play a role in the region to minimise cross-border barriers and encourage collaboration between the private and public sectors; a trend which will greatly accelerate in the coming months.

In short, those who collaborate will have a natural advantage over those flying solo in this competitive regional landscape.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Rémi Walle on Unsplash

The post Collaboration is the key to success for evolving digital ecosystems in Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

This article is published via a special e27 partnership with StackTrek– a company specialising in using algorithms and data to build and scale programming teams for tech companies. Each week, StackTrek Founder & CEO Billy Yuen talks with top executives about startups, culture, and tech hiring.

Amazon Web Services is the most comprehensive cloud platform that offers a plethora of data tools for its customers with over 165 services catering to literally millions of customers. I chatted with AWS technical evangelist Ian Massingham about data-driven hiring practices, bar-raising, and ultimately, the culture of customer obsession.

How does AWS hire developers?

So Amazon and AWS use the same kind of hiring practices. There’s a couple of different characteristics that I personally feel are unique. The first is, we hire on the basis of something that we call Amazon Leadership Principles and you can find these listed on the Amazon website actually.

There are 14 of them and they describe different behaviours that we think are important for success at Amazon. The most important and the first one of those things is customer obsession. So we’re always looking for team members that obsess every customer needs and have a desire to solve problems for customers and help customers seize opportunities.

And that’s customers of all types, whether it’s an Amazon retail customer or an AWS customer, of course. And then we’ve got 14 of those things like hiring and developing the best itself is a leadership principle, insist on the highest standards, bias for action, deliver results, dive deep. So we have 14 of these different leadership principles that we look for in every candidate that we’re looking to hire.

And then the second of the unique characteristics that we look for is something that we call bar-raising. And the idea here is, when we hire new talent in the organisation, we’re constantly looking to improve the average of the capability level that we have in the teams.

So we’re always looking to hire above the midpoint for that particular pool of expertise in that particular role It’s this idea of constantly ratcheting up the midpoint by hiring more and more capable people.

Also Read: Collaborative platforms are the way forward for future-ready enterprises

Are there any characteristics in candidates that you consider red flags?

We’re looking for people that are bar-raising against these leadership principles that we define. So any candidate that we would evaluate which didn’t demonstrate that they were exceeding that type of capability for that particular role, for that particular seniority level would be a candidate that we wouldn’t necessarily take forward.

But of course, we have opportunities to put candidates into different pools and maybe take a second look at a candidate, if they don’t match for the initial role we’ve looked into. So I wouldn’t describe it so much as red flags, but we do use a very data-driven approach to our hiring practices to try to ensure that we are always hiring and developing the best people that we can.

Are there any specific challenges in terms of hiring tech developers?

In my team, which is the developer of Evangelism, which is the developer relations type of role you might be familiar with, we’re looking for a particular combination of skills.

So those skills are pretty common in isolation, but when you think about combining really strong technical skills, the ability to build with software developers and convey knowledge and transfer value to software developers through the creation of content, through a presentation, maybe demo building which helps developers move forward with their objectives with the cloud, gaining the combination of skills, in the right individuals, in the right locations with the right language skills … you’re looking at a pretty small overlap amongst the few different sites on the Venn diagram.

That can be quite a challenging thing to do.

So, Amazon and AWS have many different teams all over the world. How do you make sure everyone is on the same page?

Yeah, so we use a lot of collaboration tools, as you might guess, inside AWS and Amazon to help our teams collaborate. Using two things like arrow messaging and video conferencing service which we call Amazon Chime, and we have a lot of other tools and systems internally that teams can choose to adopt in order to help them collaborate across different geographic regions.

There really are all ranges of tools available. And in fact, one of the things that we always love to do within Amazon and AWS is taking the good tools that we build internally and make them available for customers to use externally within tools like Amazon Web Services.

So good examples there would be things like Amazon WorkDocs. This is our document sharing collaboration platform that we use internally and we also make available for customers to use so they can collaborate around document work files. There are all kinds of different stuff that we have for them.

Also Read: Diversity in the workforce: Where do we go from here?

Although the thing that I would say about AWS is with our customer-obsessed mindset, we’re always looking to put our teams in the places where our customers need them. So we’re very often, for example in opening new offices or opening new AWS data centre clusters which we call regions, we got one of them opening in Jakarta in 2020, so there’s also a constant cycle of geographic expansion for our teams as well and that’s something that we have a lot of support for in the organisation as well.

Seeing as you have teams in several different geographies, diversity is certainly a topic. Talk about the diversity in your team and in your company.

So the most obvious example of diversity is gender diversity. So trying to make sure that you’ve got an appropriate balance of different genders within the organisation. And that’s something that can be relatively challenging to do with software engineering, where the candidate pool is quite heavily skewed towards people who identify as male.

So you have a hiring challenge, but we do take proactive steps to try to ensure that we’re considering diversity in candidates at every stage of the process.

Working on things like sourcing, trying to make sure that we’ve got the right gender mix at the beginning of the pipeline, as well as making sure that we don’t favour one gender over another, so we’re doing things like candidate assessments. So that’s something that we actively work on. Then the second area, of course, is the diversity of thought.

So it’s about finding people from backgrounds, coming from different ethnic or racial groups, or people who have different educational backgrounds.

Counterintuitively, it might not actually be the best idea to staff your team with a set of carbon copy computer science grads, it’s helpful to have people who’ve entered software development, and a variety of different backgrounds. This is actually really important in the development relations role where we are working with software developers that themselves have really strong diversity characteristics.

And some developers want to engage with developer evangelists, relation professionals that are similar to them, that have similar characteristics. So it’s something that I and my team really spend a lot of time focusing on.

Also Read: TNG Fintech faces lawsuit from minority shareholder in fintech startup Tranglo, failing to materialise the latter’s Series A funding

Is there a tip you’d like to share with people who are looking to build a successful team?

Yeah, I would say don’t compromise on hiring. So insist on the highest standards as one of our leadership principles. It’s better to wait to get the right candidate than it is to hire quickly and make a mistake hiring somebody that you either have to reverse a hiring decision –which is time-consuming and costly – and that obviously can be detrimental –not only to the organisation, but also to the individual that you’ve hired.

And that can also consume a lot of cycles for a management and team perspective as well. So my number one tip for hiring is to maintain high standards and don’t rush the hiring process. It’s better to wait and get the right people than just seize an early candidate because it’s easy to do so.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page

The post AWS technical evangelist Ian Massingham shares how Amazon hires developers appeared first on e27.

Algorand Foundation announced today that it has launched a 12-week accelerator programme for blockchain startups called Algorand Asia Accelerator. The programme is operated by LongHash Ventures, a global blockchain accelerator and venture capital fund.

Largely focused on blockchain, Algorand Asia Accelerator will tap into innovation within Finance 3.0, a financial ecosystem designed and built on the blockchain.

The programme will run from October until January 2021 and will support the selected startups with a seed capital of US$15,000.

Other support in the form of mentorship and training will also be provided across the spectrum of strategy formulation, go-to-market execution, and subject matter guidance across technological mentorship, token economics, marketing, and fundraising.

Algorand’s notable mentors include cryptocurrency company Tether, Securitize, and blockchain-focused VC fund Fenbushi Capital.

In a press statement Fangfang Chen, COO of Algorand Foundation, said, “The ambition of our projects encapsulate the maturing trajectory of the technology, and there is an urgency for the industry to recognise and meet these needs in tandem. Algorand is well-positioned to empower these startups as they take the next step to realize the promise of Finance 3.0, whether it be the strength of our technology, community or network.”

Also Read: In brief: Singapore’s blockchain accelerator Tribe goes virtual for batch 3

The selected startups for this programme are:

StakerDAO

A platform for governing financial assets in a decentralised, secure and compliant manner.

MugglePay

The startup provides SDK for merchants to accept crypto.

DEXTF

It provides a decentralised traded fund protocol for professionals to create and manage digital native funds effortlessly.

Neutron Finance

The startup offers a full suite of DeFi (decentralised finance) products or services including a non-custodial protocol and decentralised exchange.

xbullion

A settlement layer for physical gold, allows users to access physical marketplaces without ongoing custody fees.

LawCoin

Blockchain platform for tokenised investment in litigation and legal claims.

Obsidian Labs 

Blockchain company focussed on developer tools and services.

Also Read: TechCrunch founder’s VC firm leads US$3.7M in ex-Golden Gate employee’s blockchain startup Persistence

Eastern Blu Music Ecosystem

A public system for registration, licensing and distribution of royalties for all players in the music industry.

VeriTX

A digital commerce marketplace for Industry 4.0, to buy and sell digital and physical assets, as well as maintain trusted maintenance and lease records

Yieldy Finance 

A decentralised platform that allows instant payment of goods and services for retail shopping using the buy now pay later mode.

–

Image Credit: Algorand Asia Accelerator

The post Algorand Asia Accelerator debuts 10 blockchain startups that aim to innovate under Finance 3.0 appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based proptech startup Propseller today announced a S$1.7 million (US$1.2 million) seed funding round from a list of investors that include Iterative, Hustle Fund, XA Network, Rapzo Capital, Stein Jakob (Lazada co-founder and former CMO/CFO), Ben Neve (Dot Property Founder), three undisclosed “highly strategic investors”, and existing private investors.

The startup plans to use the funding to support talent acquisitions and product development. In a press statement, it said that it aims to triple its team size within the next six months.

Propseller combines the use of an online platform with in-house, salaried property agents to help ease property sales and rent for its customers. Despite being founded in 2018, only in 2019 that the company began implementing the model.

The services that they offer range from indicative valuation and sale with a standard commission of one per cent instead of the usual two per cent.

“A real estate transaction is someone’s most important financial moment, yet most of it is still happening offline, handled by traditional freelance agents who close on average only one sale and six rentals transactions per year,” said Adrien Jorge, Founder and CEO of Propseller.

Also Read: What Myanmar’s proptech industry is doing to stay afloat despite COVID-19

“At Propseller, we believe that consumers deserve an incomparable experience and full transparency for a fair price. It happens that technology is capable of helping to achieve this: we sell homes two times faster than average and our service is rated 4.8/5 on average by our clients. Since our agents close 60 transactions per year each, nine times more transactions than the agents of traditional agencies, we are able to pass part of the savings to our clients hence we charge only one per cent to sellers – half the standard fee – while providing premium service,” he continued.

Propseller said it is currently transacting S$75 million (US$55 million) worth of properties per year.

In June, as per a TechInAsia report, the company was revealed to be one of the eight startups at the first cohort of Iterative programme.

In our special feature in July, Gobi Partners Managing Partner Kay Mok Ku told e27 that the real estate industry in Southeast Asia will “return to its previous glory.”

“If we look at the past long-term property trends in Asia, it has always come back after demand shocks. This might be a testament to the fact that Asia is still urbanising and the long-term demand for property and the related proptech sector is still trending upwards,” he explained.

—

Image Credit: Propseller

The post Propseller raises US$1.2M in seed funding to ease property sales through a combination of tech, property agents appeared first on e27.