Malaysia-based NFTapir recently announced that they are looking to onboard 100 local artists over the next few weeks into their NFT marketplace. The platform is especially looking for contemporary artists who might be hesitant to enter the digital realm –due to the perceived complexities of the NFT space– as their solutions offer a simplified process that tackles the issues that artists are facing.

“There is a renaissance in the art scene where artists who are ready to embrace digitisation and showcase their artworks online are earning more than they ever have,” NFTapir Co-Founder Zang Tan explains in a press statement.

“We are excited to empower local artists on their journey into the metaverse and our goal is to decomplex the NFT journey thus allowing both artists and collectors to trade art with minimal prerequisite knowledge of blockchain technology. This further creates new opportunities for artists to continue to display their art digitally regardless of movement restrictions that have kept artists and collectors from physically trading at galleries throughout the pandemic.”

NFTapir is developed on the Polygon Blockchain based on feedback gathered from the Malaysian artist community. These artists demand a marketplace that can help them navigate the volatility of selling artwork in the digital space while also providing a near-zero gas fee experience for both the artists and collectors.

NFTapir also stated that it is the first curated NFT marketplace in Malaysia that supports the PHYGITAL framework. This means that, regardless of the mediums that the artists use, every piece can be digitised and listed as NFT. In addition to that, collectors can also own the physical form of the artwork and have it delivered upon request.

With their gallery currently running on exhibition mode, NFTapir aims to enable its marketplace function in April once they hit the goal of onboarding 100 artists.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Behind the paintings

A self-funded platform, the NFTapir core team consists of Zang Tan, JS Tan and Hanzo Chin.

In an email interview with e27, Zang Tan explains how the platform began when the NFTapir team observed how the watercolour arts community in Malaysia was highly active while their market access to collectors was very limited. This is especially the case during the COVID-19 pandemic when the lockdown measure as implemented in the country pushed artists to take their works to platforms such as Facebook Groups to conduct digital sales. This effort is certainly not sustainable.

“By digitising their artworks, artists now have access to a 24/7 digital gallery to showcase their works. In addition to that, there is better business resiliency in case of any future lockdowns as traditional means of showcases would be affected. Other benefits of digitising their artworks also include Better Preservation of Value, Record of Ownership and Royalties function which are all enabled by the beauty of blockchain technology that is seen as a value add for artists,” he says.

But it was the US$69 million transactions of Beeple artwork in March last year that inspired them to build this platform.

” … as a collector of some renowned pieces by Khaw Sia, Tan Choo Ghee, Yeong Seak Ling, it got us to start thinking how physical artworks could also be a part of the NFT realm –as it was primarily catered towards Digital Arts at that time,” Zan Tan says. “Over the months we had engaged with the community, primarily speaking to artists and collectors of fine arts where the consistent problem statement we identified was ‘they were highly interested in NFTs’ but wasn’t sure how to get into it … with much intricacies for the end-users to learn this new knowledge depending on their digital maturity level.”

The team then introduced NFTapir after noticing this window of opportunity.

Also Read: NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

When asked about the specific issues that they want to solve, NFTapir stated that their main goal as a platform is to “decomplex” the NFT journey for its users. They detailed the challenges that the users are facing –and the solutions they offer– in the following image:

“By offering true-gas-free minting, we have reduced the clutter typically required by artists to mint their very first works. With NFTapir, there is no need to scout for a crypto exchange to purchase tokens which usually involves familiarising with another complex tool … where we only require artists … to set up a wallet address (using Metamask), apply for onboarding through a simple form. Artists that are successfully onboarded will have their accounts enabled for true-gas-free-minting where the Create button shall appear after they login,” Zang Tan elaborates.

Also Read: You’re not really diversifying your investments by buying altcoins

“True-gas-free-minting was coined as opposed to ‘lazy minting’ –a blockchain method commonly adopted by major marketplaces– whereby NFTapir will mint the NFT tokens on the artist’s behalf. It is sent to the artist for their safekeeping, empowering them with full ownership and authority which makes us truly different,” he continues.

Engaging the community

When it comes to onboarding artists on the platform, NFTapir views collaboration with the arts community as the core of what they are doing. It is committed to monitoring industry trends and is working with leading associations to conduct focused events to help onboard artists onto the ecosystem.

For the year, they will continue on focusing on onboarding more artists.

“Our focus for the year will be to onboard the artists in Malaysia, mainly targeting the watercolour, oil paintings and local crafts to digitise their artworks, giving them the digital NFT certificate. Allowing them to enjoy all the benefits … and to reach a wider audience by having an NFT attached to their artwork onto the blockchain,” Zang Tan closes. “Moving forward, we will be looking for potential partners and investors in helping us with the mission to expand regionally into other countries bringing the mission of digitising crafts globally.”

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Image Credit: NFTapir

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In the past few months, the metaverse has captivated web enthusiasts worldwide. From defining the concept of the metaverse to hypothesising its potential ability to transform the way our lives are lived, the metaverse is now being thought of by many as the future of the internet.

Yet, for a concept that could change the world’s relationship with the digital universe for good, not much has been said about how an individual could navigate this brave new world.

The metaverse is expected to be built on technologies that define Web3, such as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). But how exactly will such frontier technologies enable us to realise the full potential of the metaverse?

Verifiable data is our gateway into the metaverse

Individuals will likely navigate the metaverse as digital avatars, whether these be actual full-blown virtual reality customisable avatars, or whether these are just simple access requests from an electronic device.

With this additional layer of anonymity, how will stakeholders in the metaverse ensure their exchanges with other digital identities are true with the intended individuals?

An individual’s identity in the metaverse is a combination of who they are, and what they have. This means that to identify who a person is in the digital space; specific personal data points can be furnished to “prove” the person is who they are.

For example, data such as medical records, educational attainments, vocational qualifications, and other credentials that an individual may have, can help serve as personal data points that “prove” an individual is truly who they say they are.

It is also important to note that these “proofs” must also be verifiable. If identities used to navigate the metaverse are not verifiable, then there will be little additional value the metaverse can bring beyond its Web2 counterparts, online social games like Second Life and The SIMS, as information exchanges cannot be guaranteed and secure.

Just like that, the potential of the metaverse is all but erased, as it will then be another unreliable and untrusted platform for information exchange, dashing the hopes of web enthusiasts for the me where key transactions with real-life implications can be facilitated and conducted easier than ever before.

This is where verifiable data, enabled by DLT, play an important role. Information that has been written to the ledger cannot be modified or destroyed, thus creating an everlasting record that can serve as a reference check for identity “proofs” presented on the metaverse.

This means that verifiable data should drive information used for metaverse transactions to ensure stakeholders’ ability to authenticate key information of every individual.

Also Read: The transition is now: these Web3 apps are transforming global finance

Artificial intelligence can also be built into authentication processes, where an individual’s movements, behaviours, and actions on the metaverse are assessed to verify digital identity.

With DLT-based verifiable data, cryptographic hashing and the potential to act on a zero-knowledge proof basis can assure metaverse users that their data is protected and secure.

Cryptographic hashing allows data obfuscation, which deters malicious actors from siphoning an individual’s personal data. Zero-knowledge proofs allow authentication without having to reveal information that could be compromised.

This means individuals have complete data ownership and the autonomy to decide what information to share, whether it is a simple yes or no answer, and with who, securely.

DLT-based verifiable data also allows interoperability of an individual’s digital assets, such as NFTs and verifiable documents.

This means individuals can transfer their digital assets from metaverse to metaverse, unlike traditional online social games.

Not only does this enable individuals toto transact across metaverses meaningfullybut it also has implications on an individual’s digital identity.

The decentralised nature of DLT-based verifiable data unlocks the potential for users to create a single identity that can be used to access multiple metaverses through decentralised authentication, especially since an individual’s digital assets, which may serve as identifier data points, are metaverse, transferrable.

This means individuals no longer need to create multiple “accounts”, if you will, to access different networks created by different communities.

By enabling individuals to operate with one single digital identity, the individual’s digital identity grows as their personal data points accumulate, creating a stronger, unique digital identity.

Over time, as metaverse participants deepen their interactions with the metaverse, the community will collectively improve the ability of Web3 technologies to authenticate identities and facilitate transactions.

Also Read: To infinity and beyond: Why 2022 will be the year of Web3

Metaverse gaming: an example of verifiable data applications

Gaming in the metaverse is rapidly gaining momentum in digital economies like South Korea. The advent of play-to-earn metaverse games is an example of how DLT is facilitating the world’s entry into the metaverse.

DLT-based digital currencies, verifiable and non-fungible, enable metaverse game developers to incentivise gamers by enforcing play-to-earn tokenomics, where in-game currency earned can be traded on exchanges.

Through the use of tokenomics, entire economies are currently being built in the nascency of the metaverse and this number will only continue to grow as we move forward with Web3.

These currencies, aside from their utility, also form part of the individual’s digital identity equation of what they have. Here, we see verifiable data as a way to drive gaming participation, build metaverse economies, and also reinforce digital identities.

The trading of assets is a recurring gaming concept that has also found its way into metaverse games. Gamers are familiar with trading, they have been trading gaming assets for real-world currency for decades, either via over-the-counter trades or popular platforms like G2G, Zeusx, and Kaleoz.

Traditionally, peer-to-peer trading has always been highly dependent on trust. A common dilemma faced by gamers would be the order of the transaction, does the seller send the assets first, or does the buyer send the payment first?

The reason for such a dilemma to exist in the first place is because such transactions occur in two different planes, the gaming universe and the real physical world. In the metaverse, such dilemmas may continue to exist, especially when it comes down to trading digital assets for physical ones.

The good news is that smart contracts, which are self-executing programs based on pre-defined requirements, built with DLT, powered by DLT-based digital currencies, and secured by verifiable data, can create a trustless transaction that cannot be compromised.

Only when the required commitments have been completed in full by both parties, will the transaction be executed.

The potential of metaverse gaming to facilitate financial transactions underlines the looming impact the metaverse would have on the world as we know it. This is even before considering the exploration that still needs to be done in the realms of metaverse advertising, entertainment, supply chain management, and so on.

Also Read: The different ways the Web3.0 is enabling marketplaces

Yet, one thing remains in all of these possibilities: the fact that DLT-based verifiable data will be the bedrock for most metaverse exchanges.

There is still work to be done in preparation for Web3

The biggest issue today with the adoption of Web3 and its offspring, such as the metaverse, is the technological gap between Web2 enterprises and the Web3 ecosystem.

Most of our information and data currently exist in Web2 databases, systems, and enterprises. These typically do not have the technical capability or risk appetite to participate in the Web3 ecosystem, and herein lies the biggest leap the world has to make to adopt Web3.

To stay on the curve, organisations and governments will need to find ways to port legacy information and data from traditional formats into outputs that are compatible with the new digital ecosystem. This includes transforming centrally-stored data into digital, verifiable, decentralised data pockets owned by the individual.

For Web2 firms that have the foresight to recognise this but lack the technical skills to implement change, frontier technology providers, such as Accredify, can help them apply enterprise-grade solutions to enable workflow integration for outputs that are in Web3 compatible formats.

In this manner, these enterprises can transform their data and information into decentralised, user-owned data stores where users can readily utilise this data in the Web 3 ecosystem.

Nobody is certain of how far Web3 will go to replace Web2, but we have learnt enough to know that the world should already start bracing for the impending wave of change that is to come.

Organisations can begin preparing by letting verifiable data drive their processes, it is what will power almost every transaction in Web3. By doing so, organisations will futureproof their enterprises by ensuring their processes, outputs, and ways of working, remain relevant and compatible with the new digital ecosystem.

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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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E-commerce brand aggregator Rainforest today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Millenium Enterprises including its flagship baby care brand NatureBond.

In an email statement to e27, Rainforest Co-Founder and CEO JJ Chai wrote: “It was a 100 per cent acquisition of NatureBond and its parent company Millenium Enterprises for a significant seven-figure amount. Rainforest will continue to double down its efforts in acquiring promising brands to assemble a compelling portfolio of products for the modern mum segment.”

Following the acquisition, Millenium Enterprises founder Jeffrey Chua will be an advisor at Rainforest and NatureBond’s existing team will join Rainforest.

Rainforest will also support the brand’s marketing, pricing, supply chain, sourcing, product development and cross-border expansion levels. Apart from NatureBond, it already has over 13 cross-border brands in the mother, kids, baby care, and home categories.

According to a statement, NatureBond was recently ranked by The Straits Times and Statista as one of the fastest-growing companies in Singapore. Founded in 2016, it currently holds 31 patents globally and distributes its products to over 10 million consumers in 22 countries. To date, the brand has received over 40,000 positive product reviews and testimonials.

“We are immensely excited to welcome Naturebond into Rainforest’s growing family of brands for the modern mum. In a short time, NatureBond has established a reputation for creating fresh, distinctive and insightful products in an industry that is sometimes conservative in its innovation. This aligns well with our portfolio strategy as we continue to assemble compelling international brands targeted at the modern mum. I believe this partnership will accelerate both Naturebond’s global growth and the growth of our current baby brands and I am very excited by the opportunity ahead of us,” Chai said.

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

As an e-commerce aggregator, Rainforest works by acquiring consumer e-commerce brands, enabling them to provide entrepreneurs with a healthy exit and support brands in their growth journey.

Last year, the company secured a US$20 million Pre-Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. It plans to use the funding to acquire brands and has used it to buy out six e-commerce brands on Amazon marketplaces.

In the same email, Chai said that it intends to deploy over US$100 million this year towards further acquisitions to grow its portfolio. It also claimed that in the second half of 2021, the company’s brands grew three times faster than the US e-commerce market.

Brand aggregator is one of the most promising e-commerce branches in recent years, especially when seen from the funding round that companies in the verticals have raised.

In November 2021, Hypefast, an e-commerce brand aggregator in Indonesia, secured US$19.5 million in a Series A round of investment –also led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. It is set to compete with Singapore’s Una Brands and Rainforest.

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Image Credit: Rainforest

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Last week, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) made a landmark decision as 175 countries agreed to establish a legally-binding Global Plastics Treaty.

The largest multilateral international agreement saw on the entire plastics value chain, ‘from source to sea,’ this treaty holds the potential to generate a huge surge of demand for innovation.

While the final agreement will not be ready for another two years, it is already referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for plastics’, about the COP21 treaty that agrees to limit global warming to ‘well below’ 2°C.

This treaty represents a huge opportunity for global cooperation but more than that. It charts a clearer path for entrepreneurs looking to solve the urgent issue of the plastic pollution crisis.

The need for this is clear in Southeast Asia, where the abundantly visible plastic pollution crisis has already inspired hundreds of entrepreneurs to collect, sort, and innovate plastics at every stage of the manufacturing process, from waste pickers (​​the people who derive an income for picking material from waste streams) to researchers and startup founders.

A clear(er) opportunity for our entrepreneurs

The exciting opportunity of the Global Plastics Treaty lies in clarifying and unifying a  fragmented policy landscape.

By now, news about the plastics pollution crisis is no longer surprising, nor are the attempts to solve it. Where nations have lacked waste management infrastructure, informal waste pickers have collected, sorted, and managed plastic waste for decades.

In fact, they are responsible for 97 per cent of PET bottles collected for recycling, a formal part of the waste management system, which means they often don’t receive social and economic protections. 

Each nation has different goals, metrics and approaches to tackle the plastics pollution crisis. Not to mention how regional initiatives (such as the ASEAN regional action plan for combating marine debris) often sit separately too.

The Global Plastics Treaty has the opportunity to create a single framework and reporting system for all stakeholders to align with. This will greatly benefit entrepreneurs, as a clearly defined problem to solve makes for a better target for innovation. 

Across Southeast Asia, entrepreneurial individuals are already applying themselves to the plastics pollution crisis.

Also Read: Why interest in cleantech lags and how startups can overcome

For example, Vietnam-based ReForm Plastic currently empowers over 20 informal waste workers while operating six decentralised factories across Southeast Asia via a social franchise model with over 100 tons of non-tradable plastic waste processed in 2021.

The startup currently empowers 10 informal waste workers while operating four factories across Southeast Asia, with 85 tons of plastic waste diverted in 2021.

With a global treaty that clearly outlines the steps toward tackling plastic pollution, the markets for solutions to these issues become a lot clearer.

In turn, this de-risks the innovation opportunity for entrepreneurs. Starting your venture involves an element of luck but creating one that meets a clearly defined problem with legally-binding goals makes it an opportunity that is both more secure and stable to explore.

When we de-risk innovation, we open the doors wider for a more diverse range of entrepreneurs to enter the market.

Enabling more sustainable livelihoods

Plastic pollution disproportionately impacts the poor and the marginalised. Innovating today is not just important but urgent.

Limited choices and incomes restrict households to rely on single-use plastic packaging, while underdeveloped infrastructure can leave communities drowning in plastic waste.

Yet these communities are not simply victims of plastic pollution; they had played a critical role in tackling this crisis before the treaty was even on the table.

It’s exciting to see that stakeholders across the plastic value chain are not just advocating for the voices of some of these unheard voices. The efforts of waste workers and the informal sector were explicitly named in the treaty, so we hope their interests and voices will be represented in the final agreement.

Also Read: Why corporates and investors must climb the mountain called sustainability

These perspectives, and expertise, are critical to ensure solutions meet the needs of affected communities, and innovations will be built with, not enforced on, those on the frontlines.

While anyone can innovate, not everyone has the resources. When entrepreneurs face fewer risks or resistance, they’re more likely to start pursuing their innovation – and succeed. 

At The Incubation Network, we have the privilege of supporting an incredible number of entrepreneurs innovating for the better on a daily basis.

One fantastic example in Indonesia is Reciki Solusi which has launched a new project to improve the livelihoods of women waste workers and the impact of waste banks by establishing a buy-back centre for rigid plastic.

Women at their centre will have the opportunity to be formally employed, be enrolled in the national social security and health insurance program, and be given opportunities to upskill.

A compass, not a map

The foundations of the treaty have made one direction clear: the entire plastics value chain, from source to sea, needs to be revisited. If we want to reimagine the whole lifecycle of plastics, we need to take a holistic approach and come up with circular solutions.

The circular economy promotes closed-loop production, think reduce, reuse, recycle. Instead of a cycle of extraction and waste, we follow a cycle of sustainable resource usage.

Tackling such a visible and prominent problem like the plastics pollution crisis could help carve a path for other industries to consider a circular economy approach.

While the finer details and deliverables of the Global Plastics Treaty are being discussed, entrepreneurs have a clear remit to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. Those who move ahead of the treaty’s legally binding requirements stand to gain from a first-mover advantage once it is finalised.

The details may not be clear, but the sentiment is: there are opportunities for innovators at every stage of the plastics value chain and space for new players to emerge.

There is already a growing swell of energy and interest in the opportunities that a circular approach to plastics and waste could offer.

In the last two and a half years alone, The Incubation Network has worked with upwards of 200 solutions looking to do just that and will continue to build on the ecosystem’s momentum to further progress. 

Policies can be an important innovation catalyst. The Global Plastics Treaty presents an opportunity to put an overdue target on our region’s plastic pollution crisis. Bringing attention to the entrepreneurial gap is critical to inviting more stakeholders and startups into this space. 

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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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Techstars, in partnership with Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), has recently concluded pitch days for the two cohorts under the Founder Catalyst Program. 26 startups from the two cohorts — Cleantech and General (Global-scale), pitched to over 300 potential partners and investors during the virtual pitch day held last March 3 and 10, respectively. 

During the pitch days, startups met with potential investors, partners, and customers in a virtual networking event. While the virtual and remote setup has limited the networking opportunities for them, participating startups with e27 Pro accounts have continued to connect with potential investors on the e27 network after the pitch day. 

Providing opportunities to build investor networks

Since the launch, e27 Pro has facilitated over 10,000 connections between startups and investors through Investor Connect. Recently, e27 Pro member X0PA AI, an AI-powered hiring solutions company in Singapore, raised Series A funding in a round that included  XCEL NEXT, an investor they met through Investor Connect. 

Also Read: X0PA AI bags US$4.2M Series A to scale its SaaS recruitment solutions

e27’s Investor Connect has over 400 active and verified investors in the region which the startups from the two cohorts of the Founder Catalyst Program can connect and engage for fundraising matters. (Not a Pro member yet? Start here.)

e27 is used to organize offline events which connect regional ecosystem players. This brings opportunities to founders to build their networks. As we move towards the new normal, having a platform where you can connect with investors virtually is a big help to those who would normally meet investors in physical events. 

With e27 Pro, we’re going back to our roots and helping startups with their fundraising by providing a platform that allows not only discovery but a tool to begin conversations with investors and update them on their progress.

Meet the 26 startups from the Cleantech and Global Scale cohorts

Those who missed the pitch days and virtual networking can still connect with the startups through e27 Startup Connect. Startup Connect allows investors or potential business partners to connect directly with startups for collaborations, knowledge sharing, and investment opportunities.

Cleantech Cohort

1. Aonbarr Inc. – Founded by Shigetoshi Sakurai, who also acts as the company’s CEO, Aonbarr uses the magnesium collected in seawater to produce hydrogen. The company focuses mainly on the energy sector and is still at the pre-seed stages.
2. Acoustic Innovations Co., Ltd. – As part of the Autotech industry, Acoustic Innovations seeks to transform the driving experience by minimising noise in vehicles through vibration absorption technology. Apart from convenience, the business also highlights the effects of its services as possibly improving vehicle safety and prolonging the vehicle’s performance.
3. PJP Eye Ltd. – The business offers sustainable energy solutions by producing plant-based carbon batteries, called “Cambrian.” Such sustainable solutions will hopefully aid in the movement against climate change.
4. Water Design Japan – Water Design Japan makes use of UFB Dual technology, or technology that expedites cleaning, ensuring a mess-free and cost-saving process. The business is primarily in the Cleantech and sustainability sectors.
5. Hair Clinic Reve-21 Co., Ltd. – Hair Clinic Reve-21 offers everything to do with hair care but also goes beyond this to tackle issues of water purification and other health and Cleantech concerns.
6. Kyoto Fusioneering – Under the Cleantech and energy industries, Kyoto Fusioneering develops advanced technologies for commercial fusion reactors to produce tritium production and generate power.
7. Fermenstation – Focusing on sustainability, Fermenstation makes use of unused resources to produce functional cosmetic ingredients, animal feed, and fertilizer. The company is headed by its CEO, Lina Sakai and is currently at the Series A stage.
8. AC Biode – Two of the business products have already been mainstreamed in the market. These are CircuLite, which upcycles ash into antibacterial materials, and TRL9, which mainly focuses on waterless composting toilets. AC Biode has already sold around 3,000 of its waterless toilets in Asia.
9. Welltree inc. – Welltree’s biotechnology aims to deliver efficient service to users, particularly those in the healthcare industry. Welltree also expands its expertise to the wellness industries by allowing users to check their biome and order products from a centralised app.
10. Fast Space inc. – Fast Space addresses the cost-efficiency of wind turbines. Providing high-rise lightweight towers for wind turbines, the company is currently at the pre-seed stage and focuses on the energy sector.
11. C’s Techno Inc. – This energy-focused startup is breaking barriers in the production of graphene-based materials. Through its innovations, the company has great potential to transform the field of electronics, particularly its use of graphene materials.

General (Global Scale) Cohort

1. Onikle Inc. – Onikle has developed a search platform of the same name, offering easy access to aspiring Computer Science researchers. The search platform, built on Artificial Intelligence, will find papers, allow researchers to organize them in a library, and share these within their scientific community.
2. Vox Japan – The retail company Vox offers a personalized vending machine that gives easy access to daily essentials. The service allows retailers to install these products in customers’ homes for all-day access.
3. ListenField – ListenField aims to improve farming productivity with its crop modelling technology. Through constant monitoring of soil and climate conditions, the business technology will hopefully increase agricultural production and promote collaboration among all stakeholders.
4. Wayfarer – The hospitality industry could possibly see fewer costs and more efficient, decentralized operations through automation with Wayfarer. The company caters to hotel owners whose aim is to streamline their hotel management brand.
5. Tablecross Inc. – Tablecorss’ byFood is a food entertainment platform that promotes global connections through its bilingual offers. While the company started out as a food booking platform donating meals to schools, byFood has since grown in the travel and food industry.
6. IDDK Co., Ltd. – Developing a one-chip observation technology, IDDK focuses on developing microscopic observation devices for the technology industry.
7. Kyoto Meditation Center Co., Ltd. – The company’s SanZen application mixes Zen practice alongside the demands of everyday work. The app lets users enjoy short meditations while simulating a peaceful experience through relaxing videos.
8. Citadel AI Inc. – Citadel AI ensures users in the machine learning sector that their Artificial Intelligence operates at optimal performance. The company provides monitoring, testing, and governance tools to help users oversee the development of their own technology.
9. yocto Co.,Ltd – yocto aims for digital transformation in the wellness industry through the use of IoT technologies.
10. Cellid, Inc. – Cellid aims to improve UX by developing display modules using Artificial Intelligence and nanotechnology. The company is focused on the AR industry and is currently in the Series A stage.
11. Canaan Advisors, Inc. – ZeniHub is the company’s real estate investment platform. The platform allows real estate properties in emerging economies accessible and affordable for potential investors.
12. Isha Health – The business connects patients with care providers through its chatbot concierge. The platform allows users to have the best experience and be matched with the most appropriate care provider using digital health.
13. Younode, Inc. – With its PULP platform, Younode will allow users to share their music and discover new tracks organically. In this way, the business aims to provide a more collaborative form of social networking.
14. RUN.EDGE Limited – The business makes use of sports technology to provide a more interactive experience for users. Using its PITCHBASE and FL-UX for professional basketball and field sports respectively, the company has just concluded fundraising of pre-series B.
15. Archelis Inc. – Archelis offers a glimpse at the future of work through its development of an exoskeleton suit for workers and professionals who engage in work that requires standing for long hours. The business aims to address the strains that standing work entails.

Interested in connecting with these startups? Simply click their profiles in the companies mentioned section in the upper right corner of this page. Connecting with these startups is free and only requires an updated personal and company profile.

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Treehouse, a Web3 company that aims to transform on-chain data into meaningful metrics to help decentralized finance (DeFi) investors make informed financial decisions, recently secured an US$18 million seed funding round.

Led by an undisclosed large fintech investor, the funding round included the participation of notable names such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Binance, MassMutual Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Jump Capital, GSR, Wintermute, Do Kwon of Terraform Labs, and senior executives from SoftBank Vision Fund.

The company managed to secure this funding round within just 11 months since its founding. When asked by e27 about how they managed to do this, Treehouse CEO Brandon Goh said that in their early days, the company simply focused on executing its vision.

“Fundraising hardly crossed our minds as we were too engrossed in delivering! However, within six months of our inception, we managed to build a market-first working prototype with the little resources we had. Investor interests came in quite organically after that, and one thing led to another,” he writes in an email.

“That said, many strategic partners supported us early on when Treehouse was just an idea! Yusho (Co-Founder & CEO of Coinhako), and my ex-colleague Qijian (now the Co-Founder & CIO of Moonvault Capital) are two good friends who were extremely supportive in helping us start this venture.”

Treehouse has many plans with the new funding, but they are mostly centred around expanding its flagship product Harvest. The platform indexes blockchains and deconstructs users’ DeFi positions to present historical data, profit and loss (P&L), and risk metrics on a “seamless and highly intuitive” user interface.

The analytics platform provides information previously unavailable in DeFi and aims to establish a standard for users to analyse the DeFi risks associated with their current and historical positions.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

It was built as a reflection of the team’s commitment to financial inclusion. Since its founding in mid-2021, Treehouse says that it has grown exponentially to over 100 people and launched Harvest Beta.

DeFying the status quo

As a promising new technology, DeFi has been gaining praise here and there for its potential in reshaping the traditional financial system, as dubbed by CNBC. Undergoing massive growth in 2020 due to tech advancement and increased liquidity access, experts claim it as the “next big thing” in crypto when it only account five per cent of the industry at the moment.

When asked about the problem that Treehouse tries to solve, Goh points out that despite being one of the most disruptive technologies of the 21st century, DeFi is still in its infancy and lacks many of the essential tools required for the space to mature.

“While several existing portfolio tools are available, many of the world’s largest DeFi funds still elect to use Excel given how inadequate these platforms are. Our product differs in our focus to provide institutional-grade analytics comparable to tools found in traditional asset classes,” he says.

The company was founded after the team fiddled with portfolio tools for over a year while trying to navigate the early days of DeFi.

“We could not find a platform with the type of analytics, historical metrics, and accurate risk breakdowns that we were accustomed to, so we decided to build one on our own. Before Treehouse, our team worked in traditional finance and technology firms like Point72, Revolut, and BNP Paribas. I worked on the fixed income team at Morgan Stanley but was already long convinced to join the space by that point in time,” Goh says.

According to the CEO, users of Treehouse platforms are retail and institutional investors who are active participants in the DeFi ecosystem.

Also Read: The unrealised importance of DeFi in fixed-income securities investments

“Given how nascent the space is, both spectra of users want the same tools. Most of our users seek transparency, platform reliability, security, and meaningful data analytics. More importantly, we pride ourselves on being community-first. Fostering a community of users who can learn and grow with Treehouse in their DeFi journey is to us the most fulfilling way of acquiring and retaining users,” he says.

Bridging to the future

When asked about the prospects of DeFi in Southeast Asia (SEA), Goh points out the financial access inequality that is prevalent in many SEA societies.

“In today’s legacy financial system, the everyday person lacks access to financial instruments that should be available to all. This gradual widening in financial resource inequality perpetuates many of the issues faced by societies today. More than 290 million people are unbanked within the ASEAN region, and only 18 per cent have access to credit,” he elaborates.

“DeFi can help bridge this gap and solve these real-world challenges. Beyond that, DeFi in SEA has been growing its presence day by day, not just in terms of user adoption but also in investments and job opportunities. Last year, over a billion was raised by SEA DeFi startups, and this development is unlikely to slow,” the CEO continues.

And this is the opportunity that Treehouse wants to pursue. Goh states that for the company, this funding round is just the beginning of their journey: They have many big plans in addition to improving their infrastructure and hiring world-class talents.

“We plan to use the funds raised to build a one-stop-shop for users to manage, trade, and hedge their DeFi positions. Treehouse will enable users to act on real-time information with the ease of clicking a button. We will build an ecosystem of products to empower the everyday DeFi investor to be confident of manoeuvring and protecting their financial health!” he closes.

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This article is written as part of the Corporate Venture Launchpad programme. The SG$10 million pilot programme by EDB New Ventures aims to enable large, established companies new to corporate venturing to launch a new venture in Singapore within six months, supported by venture studios experienced in corporate venture building. Start your corporate venturing journey with us through the Corporate Venture Launchpad. Learn more here and connect with Rainmaking, an appointed venture studio of the programme here.

I am a father of an eight-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy. Being a parent puts me in several paradoxical situations; being friendly yet strict, critical yet supportive, adventurous yet cautious, and creative yet pragmatic. It all sums up in the age-old parenting paradox of holding tight and letting go.

As a corporate venture builder, I see corporates experience the same paradox of holding tight and letting go while building corporate ventures.

Step back and take a critical look at these two words in isolation: they are a contradiction.

At one end, we have corporates who are all about holding tight. They have a well-defined business model, a well-established set of business processes, a well-oiled method of deploying resources, and a well-evolved set of values and metrics that matter to the business.

On the other end, we have ventures who are all about letting go. By their very definition, ventures are amorphous, still discovering a business model, identifying the talent needed, defining their processes, and aligning on the metrics they should track.

How might we, the corporate venture builders, who transform an idea into an investable venture, bring these two universes together to create a strategically aligned corporate venture, a venture where the corporate is excited to invest its resources and can attract founders who are excited to invest their time and energy.

The keywords here are ‘strategically aligned.’ And therefore, the need for defining investability criteria.

Let us take screentime as an example. As a parent, I need to be strategic about how my children use screen time as it is inevitable.

I need to align with my partner on the objectives and boundaries for screentime while creating an environment for creativity, curiosity, and courage.

It is about us maintaining the paradox of holding tight while letting go because driving creativity, curiosity, and courage requires defining inspiring yet attainable objectives and outlining less constraining boundaries within the lines that we as parents are unwilling to cross.

Also Read: Why it maybe the opportune time to consider Corporate Venture Capital

Investability criterion is the paradox that corporate venture builders need to design and deploy from day one to ensure that the time, resources, and efforts are invested to focus on creating a strategically aligned corporate venture for the corporates and the founding team.

So, how should corporate venture builders think about investability criteria? It is a four-part process:

Step 1: Understand the stakeholders and their needs

As parents, we discussed why our children need screen time. We outlined the gives, gets, and risks and aligned them to our parenting values.

Invest time to deeply understand the corporate’s and founders’ needs across three dimensions: metrics, risk, and urgency.

Step 2: Define and align on the venture objectives

Think of this as setting the development objectives for the child. For us, the development objective of screen time was about triggering curiosity, learning new skills, and building self-control.

Think of objectives as the ultimate strategic and business goal the venture is designed to deliver. The objectives need to be SMART: specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic (therefore achievable), and time-bound.

Step 3: Define and align on the boundary conditions

Think of this as parents defining the rules and boundaries for the child. It is more than simply saying “No” or “Yes.” It is about creating the space for the child to explore, take risks, experiment, and build accountability.

For our children, the boundary conditions for screen time are listed below. And as a reward for self-control, our children get to watch a movie of their choice every Friday night.

Define the corporate venture’s boundary conditions across a matrix (below) of what the venture must, maybe, and must not do in terms of venture desirability, venture feasibility, and venture viability.

Step 4: Reference and iterate

Parenting is an ongoing process and requires continuous adjustments to reflect the interplay created by the objective and boundaries set.

The screen time criteria for our children have evolved since we set it because now my daughter is keen to get better at chess and wants to learn new songs to play using the guitar. At the same time, my son wants to learn about animals and learn the lyrics of his favourite songs.

Also Read: 5 things startups should know about Corporate Venture Capital

Similarly, investability criteria must be viewed as a line drawn in the sand and not as rules set in stone. And therefore, corporate venture builders must reference the investability criteria to inform the decisions taken during the formative stages of the venture and continuously review and shape them to reflect the new realities. It is not a one-time process.

Corporates, corporate venture builders, and founders must invest sufficient time in the first three steps to achieve maximum stakeholder alignment.

We must also dedicate time to step four throughout the venture building process. Achieving strategic alignment is like tightrope walking. Corporate venture builders need to be mindful to strike the right balance between aligning the corporate’s and founders’ aspirations and constraints.

Ultimately, as with the parenting paradox, objectives and boundaries must enable the founding team to take risks, fail often, and eventually thrive. And like parenting, this is an iterative process.

It is these paradoxes that make parenting and corporate venture building so challenging yet so rewarding. So the question is, how can you “hold tight and let go” in your organization?

To learn more about these steps, please watch this short video.

This article is written as part of the Corporate Venture Launchpad programme. The S$10 million (US$7.5 million) pilot programme by EDB New Ventures aims to enable large, established companies to launch a new venture in Singapore within six months.

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The future of work is changing, faster than ever due to the disruption of technology, aggravated by the pandemic.

While this is hardly a surprise, one need that remains constant or possibly even greater, however, is the need for effective leadership in the workplace.

I share a guide for business leaders looking to maximise their leadership impact. A result that has come about after my work with leaders from nearly 40 countries, this guide is your essential companion to developing agile leadership in our volatile world.

Before any business leader or executive dives right into the guide, it is important to first consider the definition of agile leadership. In my book titled ‘8 Paradoxes of Leadership Agility’, leadership agility (aka agile leadership) was defined as ‘the ability to navigate uncertainties and complexities with a sense of ease and authenticity.

As you lead teams and your organisation, there’s a high chance that you are also leading change, so take this opportunity to self-evaluate.

How are you navigating complexities and approaching uncertainties? Do you inspire confidence in your team, or are you stressed out about having to provide answers that you don’t have at the moment?

Consider where you currently stand on this spectrum of “agile leadership” and dive into the guide below.

This guide is organised into five inner voices. The voices were crafted with the belief that to lead teams ‘out there’, change must begin ‘in here’.

Also Read: 3 leadership lessons for women in tech

Embracing these different voices and understanding their misconceptions help leaders develop an all-rounded leadership style that resonates with the diverse millennial and Gen Z workforce while also increasing their resilience, cultural leadership and overall innovativeness in the complex world.

Five voices of leadership

Captain

This voice guides leaders to know themselves first, as they focus on their own strengths and values before focusing on that of others. This helps leaders to change their perspectives from focusing on the gaps rather than celebrating the strengths of the team. 

Misconceptions: Some leaders think they are self-aware enough. However, the reality is that self-awareness is a lifelong journey.

One never stops developing it. Further, the people whom you work with will always be changing, and the best way to be others aware is to first be self-aware.

Visionary

This voice helps leaders to cast a compelling vision on their team. Rather than blindly repeating the same message and mistakes, leaders can learn to communicate important messages to their team once they develop empathy to address the team’s aspirations and visions.

The message matters, and being able to cast and align the team’s goals with that of the company is crucial.

Misconceptions:  Often, it’s not about having the end in the mind, because it might not be very possible these days. Think more of the impact and the values that undergird the purpose of the organisation.

Developer

This voice helps to ensure that younger employees who desire career progress, growth, and development achieve what they want in the agile organisation they work in. Whether it is through benefits and shifting visions, the developer’s voice helps leaders to reconsider the intangible rewards to share with their employees.

Misconceptions: Having the best intentions to help others grow is not enough. An effective leader in the VUCA world knows how to flex his style to suit the needs of his stakeholders. As the quote goes, “Teach me the way I want to be taught, not the way you want to teach me.”

Strategist

The voice of the strategist helps executives reflect on how they can help their organisation achieve and discover more with the diminishing resources available.

Working harder to deliver more is not sustainable, so the strategist considers how to meet increasing demands, retain talents by leveraging areas of the highest returns.

Misconceptions: This has little to do with working faster, but working smarter. It’s not thinking at the issue with the same level of consciousness. It’s also not a matter of IQ. Likewise, it’s a matter of reductionist thinking and stripping down the issue to the core, and reducing undesirable outcomes of diminishing returns despite working harder.

Agilist

The inner voice of the agilist helps leaders think in incremental steps. Instead of worrying about potential failures, the agilist voice informs the executive on how to navigate the next best way forward in any experiment with an objective perspective, changing course when needed.

Also Read: 6 leadership lessons I learned after we raised our seed round

Misconceptions: Again, it’s not about being fast. Sometimes, being an agilist means taking the slower path for now. It’s not about changing for the sake of change, but to have strong reasons why something needs to be stopped, taken away, or continued.

These voices might sound daunting, but there is something in common: everyone has the potential to grow their five inner voices. Being aware of the five voices helps executives and managers discern new ways to achieve their goals, whether it is at work or beyond.

Every leader might even have a dominant voice that they lean towards, and this can be discovered through my Agile Leadership Evaluator where you’ll get to measure your level of agility. Once you get to know your dominant voice, you’ll know your own preferences and motivations.

At the same time, you might also start seeing gaps. If you could consistently work on the other voices while reflecting on what others around you need, you might start seeing better results in future projects and experiments in your line of work. 

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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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Indonesia’s GoTo aims to raise US$1.11B in IPO
GoTo is the second Indonesian unicorn to get listed on the stock exchange, following Bukalapak’s IPO last year; Prior to this, GoTo’s rival Grab has made their IPO on Nasdaq in December 2021.

FinAccel, VPC Impact Acquisition terminate merger agreement
This comes on the backdrop of the volatility in the US market, triggered mostly by geopolitical tensions and rate-hike concerns; Following the mutual decision, VPC Impact is leading a US$145M investment in FinAccel.

Webuy acquires Indonesian social commerce rival Chilibeli
Under the share-swap deal, the company will take control of all of Chilibeli’s assets, including its brand, database, software, agents, and customers; Chilibeli mainly sells fresh fruits and vegetables as well as household items.

PropertyGuru public offer sees 59% SPAC redemption rate
SPAC redemptions allow shareholders to redeem their shares at the original IPO price, potentially leaving the combined company with less money for its future operations; A high redemption rate signals low confidence in a merger

Carsome acquires majority stake in Singapore’s CarTimes Automobile
CarTimes offers a suite of auto solutions ranging from new and used car retail, rental, financing, insurance to repair, maintenance and workshops; This deal follows Carsome’s recent announcement of completing its acquisition of iCar Asia.

Rainforest acquires baby care brand NatureBond 
Rainforest CEO JJ Chai said it was a 100 per cent acquisition and its parent company Millenium Enterprises for a significant seven-figure amount; Rainforest will support the brand’s marketing, pricing, supply chain, sourcing, product development.

SG’s smart lock maker igloocompany banks US$12M Series B1 to expand its footprint in US, Europe
Investors are Purpose Venture Capital, Kickstart Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, and Insignia Ventures; In July 2021, igloocompany set up an office in the US, where it aims to deploy 1M devices, garner 400 enterprise partnerships, and achieve 2.5x growth over the past 18 months.

Indonesia’s fintech UangTeman loses online lending license
The news comes amid the fintech startup’s struggle to find a white knight who can save it from collapse; UangTeman had stopped paying salaries and even disbursing loans from the end of 2020, as it dealt with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earned wage access startup wagely nets US$8.3M pre-Series A to grow in Bangladesh
Investors include East Ventures (Growth Fund), Integra Partners, GFC, Trihill Capital, and Blauwpark Partners; wagely also disclosed that it secured the backing of Central Capital Ventura, the VC arm of Indonesia’s Bank Central Asia

‘As workplaces rapidly change post-pandemic, the way people getting paid changes too’: wagely CEO
In this interview, he discusses how wagely solves the problems faced by lower- and middle-income workers struggling with unexpected financial expenses between paycheques.

How crypto savings startup Finblox attracted US$3.9M capital within just 4 months of launching
Investors include Dragonfly Capital, Sequoia India, Three Arrows Capital, Saison Capital, MSA Capital, and Coinfund; Finblox allows users to earn a yield on their assets passively, with no limits on minimum balances or withdrawal periods

Datature raises US$2.7M from Openspace to allow companies build breakthrough AI capabilities
Investors are Openspace Ventures and January Capital; Datature’s full suite of solutions provides teams with the ability to annotate, augment, train and deploy computer vision models, all without a single line of code.

SiCepat apologises for wrongful layoff procedure
The Indonesian logistics firm said there was a wrongful procedure in its recent layoff of 366 employees; Instead of dismissal letters, the company gave them resignation letters; In the last two years, SiCepat raised US$170M in investments.

Grab confirms Vietnam country head Nguyen Thai Hai Van’s departure
She stepped down to pursue a new career opportunity; The superapp didn’t disclose who will take over the role; Van joined Grab VN in Nov 2019 and was promoted to the position of country manager in Feb 2020.

Funding Societies launches US$16M ESOP buyback programme
Under the buyback, all eligible workers will have the option of selling their shares at no discount to Funding Societies at its series C+ preference share price; This is its 4th such programme, with its employees previously cashing out a total of US$3.5M in ESOPs.

Antler, Iterative back Indonesian B2B logistics firm Envio
Envio provides logistics solutions for the B2B segment; It currently has 35 air and marine transportation modes, 5,000 land vehicles, and 50 warehouses across the archipelago.

SG fintech firm Digital Treasures Center (DTC) gets regulatory nod for crypto services
With a license to offer digital payment token services, DTC can provide fiat-to-crypto pairing, which enables merchants to accept cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether – and convert them into fiat currency.

Animoca shuts down F1-based P2E game
The Hong Kong-based unicorn said it will replace the F1 Delta Time assets of current owners with NFTs for other games in its Revv Motorsport ecosystem, including MotoGP Ignition, Formula E: High Voltage, Revv Racing, and Torque Drift.

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The very term femtech was recently brought to prominence by the founder of a fertility app in reaction to her struggles in finding male venture capital investors who would find it difficult in understanding the specifics of her product.

However, with the industry forecast to total US$75 billion in value by 2025, there are plenty of indications that VCs are waking up to the potential of femtech. 

In Silicon Valley, there have been clear developments in the level of VC investment in women’s digital health since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States, in particular, has played host to a rise in the level of VC funds dedicated solely to investing in female founders and into startups focussed on addressing women’s needs. 

One of the most important factors behind the growth of femtech is the realization of the industry’s significant potential.

According to a report by the non-profit organization, FemTech Focus, the potential of the femtech market can total US$1 trillion, based on the fact that the 3.8 billion women around the world have a combined spending power of US$20 trillion per year whilst controlling around 85 per cent of daily household spending and making more than 80 per cent of healthcare decisions.

The report also noted that exits by female-founded firms increased 16 per cent year-over-year between 2019 and 2020, whilst male-founded exits fell by 2 per cent over the same timeframe. 

The femtech market is expected to grow at an exponential rate. As we can see from the chart above, North America and Europe are set to drive the market, whilst treatment-based technology appears set to dominate the industry alongside diagnostics. 

“The global femtech market was worth US$40.2 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow at an average of 13.3 per cent per annum from 2020 to 2025 to reach US$75.1 billion,” said Maxim Manturov, head of investment advice at Freedom Finance Europe.

“North America is the undisputed leader. Comprising almost 55 per cent of femtech companies, it far surpasses other regions. Europe is second with 25 per cent, followed by Asia with 8 per cent and MENA countries with 7 per cent.

“The US and the UK are the two countries with the largest number of femtech companies. Despite growing interest in recent years, the industry remains undervalued and has high growth potential.”

Battling under-representation in healthcare

The rise of femtech could bring far greater improvements for women’s health than the development of dedicated tech. The industry could generate a far better level of representation for women when it comes to gender-based variations in healthcare. 

Also Read: Breaking the glass ceiling: These 6 women are making their marks in deep tech field

Literature like Invisible Women (Penguin Random House, March 2019), Doing Harm (HarperOne, March 2019), and Sex Matters (Hachette Book Group, June 2021), modern medicine was developed around male physiology, with women often underrepresented. 

There’s also a widespread predisposition to the male body type within the field of medical training, diagnoses, and therapeutic development, which has impacted how physicians and scientists work on understanding the human body. As a result, women can often have very different health outcomes from men when undergoing treatments. 

Although this isn’t always the result of gender bias, for instance, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised against “premenopausal female[s] capable of becoming pregnant” being included in phase 1 and early phase 2 clinical studies, but it’s led to an increased need for women to gain better representation when it comes to health matters. 

Signs of market growth

The femtech industry has recently received a boost as German health startup Wellster Healthtech Group closed a US$20 million funding extension, which has brought the total level of funds raised to US$60 million. 

The company announced that it intended to use the revenue to launch a brand specifically within the realm of femtech, which is set to focus on developing software designed to aid insights into fertility solutions, menstrual tracking, pregnancy, and nursing care among other aspects of women’s health. 

“The funding comes at a key moment in our development,” said Co-Founder Dr. Manuel Nothelfer in a statement. “It reinforces our goal to be the leader in the European market and our offerings for personalized healthcare services to expand.”

Wellster’s impressive funding comes as the latest indicator of an industry that’s ready for exponential growth. The company’s shift towards the femtech sector illustrates the sheer volume of opportunities that companies can access in providing women with the healthcare solutions that they’ve been deprived of throughout their lives. 

With a projected market share of more than US$75 billion forecast by 2025, the firms that opt to expand into femtech are likely to be rewarded by sustained and ever-increasing custom from a market that currently spans some 3.8 billion people. 

With this in mind, venture capitalist interest may hold the key to a brand new frontier for women’s health. Although barriers still remain in a largely male-dominated industry, the future certainly looks bright for femtech and the companies that are working to serve their female audience.

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