Of COVID-19 and funding winter: Why these 2 VC firms are bullish about SEA amid back-to-back crises
Intudo Ventures and Altara Ventures discuss how they view the recent crises and what to expect in the long term, and whether unicorns are to be celebrated.

VNG eyes Nasdaq debut, may offer 12.5%
The proceeds will be used to expand across different business segments and build a bigger presence beyond Vietnam; Tencent is currently the largest shareholder in VNG with 29.6% interest, while Singapore’s GIC holds 7.8% and Temasek 4.9%.

AC Ventures said to be raising US$500M across two funds
It is targeting US$250M for its early-stage Fund IV and a separate US$250M for a new ‘select fund’ to double down on growth-stage winners from its portfolio.

Animoca Brands banks US$75M+ more to fund strategic acquisitions, investments
Investors include Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, and 10T; Animoca will also use the money to secure licenses for popular IPs and advance the open metaverse.

Alibaba to lay off over 30% of investment team
This means that the strategic deals team, which has more than 110 members, will be trimmed to around 70. The layoffs will mostly affect mid-level and senior staff based in mainland China.

Lightspeed sets aside US$500M for India, SEA startups from US$7B global fund
The Silicon Valley-based fund has invested in several prominent startups in India and SEA such as Energy Exchange, Oyo, Byju’s, Grab, Acko, Razorpay, Udaan, and ShareChat.

3AC founders drop off the map, hinder liquidators
Lawyers representing 3AC founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies had previously informed a British Virgin Islands judge that the two intend to cooperate with the court’s order for the firm to liquidate, but those tasked to see the process through had not received any “meaningful cooperation” from the hedge fund.

KKday extends Series C round to US$95M for domestic expansion
Lead investor is TGVest Capital; KKday, an e-commerce platform for tours, experiences and activities, will roll out its SaaS solution rezio to manage bookings and inventory for merchants to 1,600+ merchants worldwide, reaching 2.7M travellers globally.

Temasek leads US$100M round of Indian fintech OneCard
This puts the startup in the unicorn club with a valuation of US$1.3B; OneCard is a mobile-first metal credit card; Its parent firm also operates a credit score tracking and credit management platform, OneScore, which reportedly has nearly 70M users.

Indonesia’s Doku buys Malaysian fintech firm SenangPay for US$7.5M
The acquisition will help SenangPay adopt new services – such as e-wallets, remittances, and offline transactions – that can help its merchants go from brick-and-mortar models into digital businesses.

Razer seeks US$7M from Capgemini for 2020 data breach
The breach resulted in leaking the personal information of more than 100K Razer users; Razer alleges that the breach was the result of a misconfiguration of the “ELK Stack,” caused by one of Capgemini’s employees.

Singapore mental health startup Intellect raises US$10M in Series A+
Investors include Tiger Global, K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, Insignia Ventures, and HOF Capital; The fresh injection will be used to scale Intellect’s commercial expansion plans and teams across Asia.

Axie Infinity sales bounce back after US$620M hack
Co-founder Jeffrey Zirlin said in a tweet that daily sales of Axies had reached 22K earlier this month, an over 3x surge from 7K a few weeks prior; He also highlighted that the Ronin Bridge is operational again.

Indonesian proptech startup Tanaku raises US$5.5M pre-seed capital
The lead investor is East Ventures; It will use the fresh capital to build the product, expand the team, acquire homes, and execute the go-to-market strategy; Tanaku aims to build a ‘pre-mortgage solution’ for owning a home.

Indonesia’s Imajin raises pre-Series A from Init-6
Imajin is a platform that bridges demand and supply in the manufacturing industry; In its home market, Imajin plans to expand to several cities in Java and the Riau Islands province.

Ex-Grab director launches firm for Indonesian influencers
Albert Lucius has launched TipTip, a digital platform aimed at monetising social media influencers; The company previously raised US$10 million in a seed round led by East Ventures.

TNB Aura funds ex-Grab founding exec’s brand aggregator
Tjufoo was co-founded in 2022 by TJ Tham, a former founding member of Grab, where he headed GrabBike Indonesia and was also the CEO of GrabWheels; Tham is bringing an “Indonesia first” approach to helping small businesses through equity capital.

1982 Ventures backs SG wealth management startup Hugosave’s US$4M round
Hugosave helps customers spend, save, and invest through its automated online platform; It said its platform has since acquired over 40,000 users.

Coinbase-backed Vauld files for 6-month moratorium amid growing liabilities
The company disclosed that it currently has US$330M in assets and US$400M in liabilities; The mismatch is mainly due to losses on Bitcoin, Ether, and Polygon trades, as well as exposure to failed stablecoin UST.

Why Buhler believes that collaboration is key to support the alternative protein industry
Dr Aparna Venkatesh of Buhler explains the important role that partnership plays in their mission to support the alternative protein industry.

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With the startup world undergoing a funding winter following a global recession caused by various macroeconomic factors, including the Russia-Ukraine war and inflation, the early-stage investment has tapered down. Many tech companies, including high-profile ones, have reduced their workforce in doves, anticipating a tougher fundraising climate and slower growth. The new crisis comes as a double whammy as the world has yet to recover from the onslaught of COVID-19. 

The collateral damage has not spared VCs either. They have become frugal and are now urging their portfolio companies to spend wisely and expect a long and hard winter. Many VCs, who have witnessed similar crises, including the 2008 economic slowdown in their previous avatars as founders/top executives, are seeing similarities between the recent crises.

We spoke to two prominent and active early-stage VCs in Southeast Asia — Intudo Ventures and Altara Ventures — to understand how they view these crises.

There are several reasons why we believe their views are relevant in this matter. First and foremost, these two VC firms are actively investing in tech companies in the Southeast Asian region. As a player on the ground, they see first-hand the changes that are going on in the ecosystem and have taken steps to adjust to it accordingly. Their insights could provide us with a window to how to best approach startup investing in this climate.

Second, both VC firms are actively investing in the Indonesian market, with Intudo Ventures even putting it as its core focus. With Indonesia being the largest and one of the most prominent tech hubs in the region, we believe that whatever is happening in the market –and how investors are approaching it– will eventually determine where the regional tech ecosystem is going.

This article will look into how the two VC firms deal with this situation and the insight that we can get from it. Hopefully, this can help us prepare ourselves better for what is coming.

The VCs and the people behind them

We need to start by understanding the VC firms that we are talking to and the spokespeople representing them.

Intudo Ventures: Founded in 2017 by Eddy Chan and Patrick Yip, Intudo is an ‘Indonesia-only’ VC firm. It has launched three funds so far — Fund I, worth US$20 million (2017 vintage), Fund II, worth US$50 million (2019 vintage), and Fund III, worth US$144 million (2021 vintage). It seeks opportunities in agriculture, B2B & enterprise, education, finance & insurance, healthcare, logistics, and new retail & entertainment. It invests in the seed/pre-A stage with a ticket size of US$1-3 million, Series A with US$3-8 million, and Series B and beyond with US$8-25 million.

Also Read: Indonesia-only Intudo Ventures hits final close of Fund III at US$115M, to back 12-14 firms

The VC firm has invested in 25 companies, including Xendit, Pintu, BeliMobilgue (acquired by OLX Autos), Kargo, PasarPolis, Halodoc, Pinhome, Nalagenetics, Populix, Andalin, TaniHub, and Yummy Corp.

In this interview, we speak to the Founding Partner of Intudo Ventures, Eddy Chan. He works closely with top Indonesian “Pulkam SEA Turtles” and local Indonesian talent via professional and student associations. He has been featured as a speaker at the annual Harvard Asia Business Conference (2019-2022), MIT Asia Business Conference (2020-2022) and Southeast Asia MBA Weekend (2018-2022).

Before co-founding Intudo, Chan worked on venture investments in startups in the late 1990s, including PayPal, Palantir, and Affirm, founded and operated venture-backed technology companies with operations in Silicon Valley and Asia, practised corporate/M&A law and worked as an investment banker.

Altara Ventures: Singapore-based Altara is a US$130 million early-stage VC fund launched in 2020 by a group of tech and investment veterans, including Koh Boon Hwee, Tan Chow Boon, and Seow Kiat Wang. Its focus verticals are fintech, consumer, enterprise software, logistics, healthcare and edutech. Its average ticket size is US$3-5 million in pre-Series A, Series A and selectively some Series B companies.

The firm plans to support 20-25 companies operating primarily in the Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines markets.

Altara has invested in more than ten companies, including Tonik, Stasfin, Sampingan, Med247, FreeAgent, PolicyStreet, Clevai, Saturdays, Senseye and Oddle.

In this interview, we speak to Dave Ng, General Partner at Altara Ventures, where he focuses on working with promising entrepreneurs building for the region and beyond.

Previously, he was the Head of Southeast Asia for Eight Roads Ventures, where he led investment and portfolio activities for the region. Before that, he was Venture Partner at B Capital Group, where he helped launch the Asia office.

Over the past decade, Ng has partnered with many talented founders and firms, including Ninja Van, Carro, Akulaku, StashAway, Icertis, FreeAgent and LeadIQ. Besides investing, he has also spent many years building and operating within the technology industry. He was previously at Oracle, leading strategic activities in its Cloud business. He was also an early team member at enterprise SaaS pioneer Zuora. Before that, he was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.

Investment thesis

There are both differences and similarities in the way Intudo Ventures and Altara Ventures approach startup investments.

Intudo Ventures: Its mandate is defined by the three ‘Ins’ of Intudo: Indonesia, Independent, and Involved.

Indonesia-only: Intudo Ventures takes an Indonesia-only approach to investment. In its view, any successful venture-backed business in Southeast Asia must eventually go through Indonesia to be relevant. It only invests in Indonesian homegrown companies.

An independent firm: Intudo Ventures is an independent VC firm. Every LP is capped at no more than 10 per cent of the total fund size to ensure that Intudo acts as an independent firm that can invest in the most return-driven manner and ensure that all LPs are treated equally.

Involved/concentrated approach: It strives to take the lead/co-lead positions in almost every company it backs. It looks for non-consensus overlooked companies, emerging leaders, and undisputed category winners instead of trying to index the market.

Altara Ventures: The VC firm says it has seen many activities over the last ten years in Southeast Asia and is excited about the next 20 years. Several areas excite Altara. The first is the irreversible rise of the region as a sustainable tech ecosystem. This has been driven by a rising consumer middle class and hence, consumption power, which spurs the entire digital and Internet economy.

The second is the adoption of technology among businesses, both large and small. All companies must have a digital playbook or face disruption or irrelevance. Finally, SEA’s economic structure is shifting to become more tech biased. It has seen this in S&P 500 and will happen to IDX, SGX, KLSE and the likes. It is just a matter of the speed it is happening.

The opportunities they see

Before we can understand how they approach the incoming (ongoing?) crises, first we need to understand the opportunities that these firms are seeing –and seizing.

Intudo Ventures: Indonesia’s venture funding sector is entering a maturation stage, where capital, talent, and ideas are more abundant than ever. The influx of global capital has changed the game, with more investors looking at the market. We are seeing more capital and talent being recycled into the ecosystem, creating new companies and opportunities for growth.

For Indonesia, the underlying dynamic is the digitisation and transformation of traditional industries, a process that has only accelerated with the pandemic and correlating economic fallout. Technology enablement was historically a ‘nice to have’ for companies of all sizes. However, post-pandemic, it has become a ‘must have’. There will be a continuation in the scaling of ‘pick and shovel’ foundational businesses such as payments, logistics, and enterprise services to support e-commerce and key traditional economic sectors.

Digitisation is happening across the Indonesian economy, ranging from conglomerates, the government, SMEs, to small mom & pop businesses. We have witnessed this throughout our portfolio in the sectors in which they operate. Consumers have also flocked to digital offerings throughout the crisis, and many will continue to adopt technology to meet daily needs. This dominant trend will continue to be the driving force for the Indonesian venture market for the foreseeable future.

However, as optimistic as we are about the future of Indonesia, it has been a long journey to get here. Over the past decade, Indonesia has gone from a VC backwater to becoming one of the most compelling emerging markets for investors. For fundraising, founders had few options, with only a few mainstay firms to choose from at the early stage and even thinner in growth.

Also Read: Altara Ventures hits the final close of inaugural fund oversubscribed at US$130M

From an investor landscape perspective, Indonesia has evolved from a market dominated by corporate VC firms and regional fly-in investors to one where local investors have begun to dominate the landscape and gatekeep access to the market. Talent, still cited as an issue today, was even more scarce.

Awareness of Indonesia among investors has grown dramatically. When we started as a firm, some investors even laughed at us for the notion of setting up a firm to exclusively invest in Indonesia. We had to spend hours educating potential investors on Indonesia, including what now feels like basic market knowledge. Those days are gone.

Founders are now blessed with an abundance of options. Capital has become a commodity through the maturation of Indonesia’s venture market. With the market flush with capital, founders now want more than just money. Unless it is a global firm with significant brand power and know-how, founders expect their investors to offer concrete value-add deliverables—in particular in-country resources, access to customers and regulators and hands-on guidance. Gone are the days of fly-in fund managers.

Altara Ventures: It is looking to partner up with passionate folks who have the audacity, grit and right mindset to build for the future. It seeks to back companies that 1) meet the consumption, mobility, education and healthcare needs of the 650 million population, 2) in the digital transformation of businesses, logistics and supply chain and 3) groundbreaking deeptech.

It finds large domestic markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam especially interesting for consumption-driven models, solving large market gaps. It is also excited about Singapore’s potential in deeptech and healthtech. It also likes the creativity and regional mindset of Malaysian founders.

COVID-19 vs funding winter

So how should we approach these back-to-back crises?

Eddy Chan: The pandemic was an unprecedented crisis that permanently changed how people live and conduct business, underscored by mass digitisation. This is true for Indonesia, which experienced several shocks over the past couple of years, but has shown resiliency as a market and people.

These two events are interrelated cause and effect issues. The human toll– not just the lives lost but also the second-order effects — continues to play out, including the current market downturn, which is the fallout of monetary policy, supply chain shock, and geopolitical factors.

When money was easy due to pandemic-related policies, it was being doled out irrationally, creating bubbles along the way. As the spigot has been tightened, businesses dependent on easy money suddenly have to rely on operational fundamentals. 

Companies that took high valuations based on irrational investor demand will have to rationalise these valuations through changes in business strategy and a shift to sustainable growth.

In the early days of the pandemic, we believed that the crisis would compel the shuttering of many startups in Southeast Asia, and there were many examples. Still, the boom in fundraising masked many of these issues. Now that we’re on the other side of this process, we expect startups to struggle in fundraising. For those with means in our portfolio, it will be an ideal time to consolidate their market position and adopt an M&A strategy.

Also Read: Funding winter: VCs ask startups to focus on corporate funds from developed countries

Ultimately, we believe that there will be a greater appreciation for local expertise among founders and investors alike. Local investors are best suited to deal with in-market crisis events and have the tools and resources needed to support company growth in both good and bad times. Many regional investors with Indonesia exposure have tried to shore up their Indonesia credentials through junior hires over the past couple of years to mitigate in-market issues. 

For global investors who first tasted Indonesia during the recent bull run, it may be challenging to support founders as the market cools off and their attention is turned elsewhere. Indonesia is our sole focus, and we act as their eyes and ears on the ground for many global investors. We expect many investors who made their first investment in Indonesia during this period to visit the country and gain a greater appreciation for in-market dynamics.

Dave Ng: I have seen a few more cycles — the late 99 and 2000 iconic dot com boom and bust, the housing market bubble in the US in the mid-2000s and then the 2008-2009 recession. 

The impact of each of these is somewhat similar and comparable, although slightly different in the degree of severeness.

This time, we are talking about inflationary pressure much higher than we’ve seen before. If we draw a comparison, it takes us back to even the inflation in the 70s and 80s.

It will cause the capital to go up, especially on the debt on the lending side of things. Imagine your business (large and small) leveraged many times; your cost of doing business will go up substantially with the increase in interest rate. All this will have a trickle-down effect. 

Therefore, we are already seeing that many large tech companies are tightening their belts, either by slowing down or stopping hiring or, even to some extent, starting to trim down or organise their workforce and laying off people. 

We have seen that even in our ecosystem here in Southeast Asia among some tech startups. This will have a ripple effect across the economy. 

The worry here is we get into a stage of stagflation, meaning that you have high inflation and very little growth. So you’re stuck in that state, and we don’t want to be in that situation. 

Should we celebrate unicorns?

For many years, in the global startup ecosystem, there has been heavy emphasis on the unicorn status. This has led to many companies (and investors) rushing to be (and invested in) the next unicorns. But is this a worthy cause, especially as more companies are encouraged to be more sustainable these days?

Eddy Chan: Unicorns are a proxy for success but are not successful in themselves. There are many examples of companies that have flopped after gaining market accolades and attention due to valuations and fundraising amounts.

Global attention comes with these companies as proof points for market viability for the market as a whole. It generates considerable pride among employees, investors, and local stakeholders to show that Indonesia can build such calibre companies.

So, celebrating unicorns is not unwarranted, but chasing unicorn status can lead to unhealthy business and investment practices. Unicorn chasing is often a FOMO game, and it’s not the space we operate in as an “early-stage” investor.

As early-stage investors, we aspire to cut through the noise and hype to look at ideas and founding teams that have the potential to shake up the market and create new business models and categories in their own right before they take off. We are naturally very excited when our companies raise money and gain market attention, validation, and share in their success.

Conversely, some deals we’re most proud of may never reach unicorn status. Still, they’re successful businesses already, generating positive income, providing employment, and creating value for Indonesian society. Some of them were once considered “unfundable” before Intudo put money in and raised capital from top global investors. With a consensus return to fundamentals across the market, we believe that investor mindsets may coalesce around more sustainable business models and fundamentally strong teams.

Also Read: Funding winter? Indonesia marches on … and why it will survive the gloom

Dave Ng: In the early days of coining the term ‘unicorn’, it was all about companies achieving certain milestones. For example, a SaaS company gets to US$100 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue), or a consumer company’s net revenue reaches a substantial level. It was the point when most companies crossed the billion-dollar valuation.

So I am always for celebrating positive milestones. It is important for founders to recognise every little milestone they achieve because starting and building a company is challenging. It’s also crucial for investors investing or partnering with companies to celebrate and help them celebrate every little milestone. 

However, I think there has to be a balance. We shouldn’t disproportionally celebrate milestones that are pretty on the surface but have no real substance. 

So it’s important to celebrate every milestone, which could sometimes be non-financial related. Sometimes it could be people-related, culture-related, or product-related.

Wrapping up

Globally, VC investment is under severe stress or, in other words, undergoing a course correction. There are many reasons to be anxious about this. First, nobody is sure what will be the outcome of the ongoing financial slowdown. Apart from that, experts have also warned that the winter will likely last longer than expected with even the biggest companies having their valuations inflated. How many unicorns with inflated valuations will remain unicorns when things are finally settled? What will happen to the rest of us?

The answers to these questions remain elusive. However, we also like to point out that this is not the first time a crisis has happened.

If we have survived one before, there is a likelihood that we might survive the next one.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

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KKday, an e-commerce platform for tours, experiences and activities, has secured an undisclosed sum in additional funding led by TGVest Capital to bring its total Series C round to US$95 million.

The first tranche of US$75 million came in September 2020, led by Cool Japan Fund and National Development Fund.

The new capital will be used to expand KKday’s team globally and deepen its domestic footprint, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

A portion of the capital will be used for innovation to “meet the increasing demands” of online travel agencies (OTAs) and local activity and experience providers (local merchants).

Also Read: 3 learnings from KKday CEO and Founder on how his travel startup overcame the pandemic

“Hyperlocalisation and digitisation will be our north star for scaling and building our user and merchant base. Over the past year, we have laid the groundwork and seen our domestic travel business growing steadily in key markets like Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Southeast Asia. We plan to double down on our current initiatives, including partnering with our merchants and OTAs to digitise their businesses in anticipation of pent-up demand for tourism and travel,” said Ming Chen, CEO and Founder of KKday.

Founded in 2015, KKday is an online platform specialising in local in-destination tours and guides. Through a collection of curated experiences, it provides travellers with an avenue to find off-grid activities and book them through the platform.

KKday said it is rebounding swiftly due to growth in its domestic travel and new business verticals. It is rolling out its all-in-one SaaS solution rezio to manage bookings and inventory for merchants on multiple channels) to over 1,600 merchants worldwide, reaching 2.7 million travellers globally.

In June 2022, KKday’s GMV surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. The firm also claimed that it lowered its user acquisition costs to one-third of its costs pre-pandemic.

During the pandemic, KKday’s domestic travel business has been the main driver of growth across key markets, including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. KKday also expects strong domestic business growth in Japan, particularly off the back of its acquisition of Activity Japan, a tours and activity OTA in Japan.

Business momentum is also expected to pick up in markets like Korea and Singapore, where international travel is returning.

With an influx of domestic and international travellers expecting to return, an increase of local activity providers have adopted rezio to help digitise and scale their businesses and get access to manage their bookings on multiple OTAs.

With the new funding, KKday also plans to scale and build new rezio features to automate and streamline solutions for merchants. rezio has also partnered with major OTAs such as Viator to deepen its merchants’ channels and footprint globally. The partnership allows rezio to integrate its API to enable merchants to manage their products on Viator and Tripadvisor on top of its existing sales channels.

Also Read: Taiwan’s KKday raises Series B+ from LINE Ventures, Alibaba to expand globally

KKday also plans to relaunch its in-demand owned and operated signature tours that provide travellers with curated quality local experiences as borders reopen.

“Traveller demand is rebounding at a fast pace as borders reopen. Ming and his team’s relentless focus on innovation and providing long-term value to its ecosystem of travel operators, activity providers, and users has proven paramount in weathering the COVID-19 wave,” said Claire Lai, Managing Director of TGVest Capital.

In November 2018, KKday had secured an undisclosed amount in Series B-plus, co-led by LINE Ventures and the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. This round came close to six months after it raised investment from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and launched a flagship store under Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s travel portal in China.

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Singapore-based insurtech startup Ancileo announced that it has raised US$3 million in seed funding from Fermion Group. In a press statement, the company said that the move is expected to help insurers improve and modernise their insurance distribution models, as well as forge the way towards a global insurance ecosystem in travel and banking.

With this strategic investment, Ancileo will gain access to some 230 banks and 150 insurers to offer digital transformation solutions in the area of embedded insurance. By extension, Fermion’s global footprint will expand to 26 markets, and the company will bring its proven insurance ecosystem solutions into the travel and lifestyle market.

“This seed investment is important as it will support our immediate growth needs but what we are really excited about is the prospect of pooling our respective assets together and building unique value propositions that help insurers grow their portfolio in the Travel and Banking ecosystem,” said Ancileo Founder Olivier Michel.

Ancileo’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform aims to power embedded travel insurance distribution for some of the most recognised travel brands in the world such as Etihad Airways, Scoot, One Vasco and 15 other partners that it described as “one of the top three global credit card scheme, one of the top three Chinese OTA, and one of the top five global hospitality group.”

Also Read: The power of insurtech: Reshaping the insurance industry in 2022

It delivers customised digital solutions that aim to bypass existing insurer legacy systems and empower them to partner with any distribution ecosystem creating entirely new growth opportunities.

Fermion Group provides end-to-end digital engagement powered by data and an ecosystem. It serves any entity that has insurance in its roadmap for growth, and for others, helping them understand how to leverage the opportunity.

From its headquarter in Singapore, it operates from locations across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE. Working with over 150 insurers, Fermion builds primary ecosystems, which include health and wellness, property and casualty, long-term savings and protection as well as travel and lifestyle.

Peter Miller, CEO of Fermion Group commented on the investment, “Ancileo’s entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, as well as their technologies complement and enhance our own business proposition. Our combined strengths will enable us to serve banks and insurers everywhere such as to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient at establishing new distribution ecosystems.”

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Image Credit: Fermion Group

 

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It’s crypto winter. While holders warm their hands at the bonfire of flaming digital asset prices, established projects move back to building from schilling. Many infant projects deferred their mint, intending to hibernate through the bear market.

Despite the FUD, some projects braved no man’s land, trying a different approach in the face of uncertainty: the free mint.

Web3 is trimming the fat, and mints must do the same if they want a fighting chance. The trend is not to promise anymore. Projects like Moonrunners, WZRDS, and Goblintown, are jumping straight to delivery, skipping steps and challenging conventional wisdom, committing to less of a product than ever before.

They’re sticking to their story with no plan on hand. It takes hubris to launch in a bear market, especially with a loose strategy, but the bear is biting.

Their communities live on Twitter. They’ve bypassed the mess of management that Discord demands. They’ve foregone whitepapers and roadmaps, letting their lore do the talking. One project mocks the concept of utility altogether. They’ve embraced the degen, uniting flippers and collectors alike as a wave.

The free mint experience revitalises the NFT space with a welcome sardonic enthusiasm. Despite a dip in trading, they all hold more than enough value to make their free mint worth it. Free mints are a breath of fresh air, if not a glimmer of hope for everyone collecting precious jpegs in these dark times.

The value of sacrifice: “Protect the Moonrunners at all costs.”

Moonrunners feature majestic 16-bit Web3 wolves vying for survival. The crises that beset their dwindling population mirror IRL FUD in a hopeful way. Holders make real sacrifices to serve the pack, and noble martyrdom reaps rewards from the rich community narrative.

The Moonrunners project encourages participation in the history of Primordia in a meaningful way. Primordia just recently emerged from a great war, resulting in the loss (and very real burning) of many Moonrunners.

The free mint nature of the project eases loss. The team has memorialised many lost Moonrunners and rewarded their holders with airdrops of loot and tools to weather future catastrophes.

Also Read: How Southeast Asia is embracing the Web3 era

The emerging story has holders at the edge of their seats, awaiting the next vote or decision that shapes their shared universe. The cost to participate grows even without a clear promise of things to come, but that doesn’t matter much to Moonrunners’ earliest holders and free minters. They all wait patiently for the next chapter, proudly participating in an evolving chronicle, while their token floor value holds.

WZRDS, razing stakes: “CoWZRDs will be burned.”

WZRDs encapsulates the comical tragedy of mages failing badly at pursuing happiness. Despite each vibrant expression of dishevelled discontent, there’s no telling what will happen in the world of WZRDs without lurking on Twitter.  Cryptic and ominous announcements thrill holders at the prospects of power and consequence in and around the city of Tyrol.

Holders stake their wizards to commit their choices on the blockchain. The project is fomenting conflict between staked WZRDs and unstaked CoWZRDS. Multiple alt Twitter accounts paint a picture in stark contrast as one side digs at the other while stating its case.

The developing plot is entertaining. Holders’ decisions will have lasting effects on their digital assets, and they’ll have to pick sides and they may have to put their WZRDs on the line.

Each WZRD is valued well over the gas holders spent on their free mint, but the lore is sustaining both the interest and the floor price of this promising project. The whole market is anticipating the fates of these disgruntled WZRDs.

Gobluminati

Aping into a project is risky, but you can usually count on the better judgement of the holders you’re aping. Degen is what most NFT traders will blame for their most costly mistakes.

That unique mix of FOMO and Monster Energy Drink has left many holding the bag. Goblintown is a celebration of the bag, the Degen, the FOMO, the Monster, and all the piss that comes after.

Truth Labs, the founders of two previously successful NFT projects (Illuminati and the 187), touched a nerve with Goblintown and its unconventional marketing.

Only around NFT NYC did Goblintown founders finally dox themselves, letting speculation on their identities drive interest. Truth Labs and their Illuminati community pulled off the stealthiest of viral mints with the drop of Goblintown.

Also Read: Web3 marketing: Building a cult-like community

The self-deprecating humour of Goblintown tastes precisely like the burning boot at the bottom of the crash. With their introduction and launch, the NFT community is laughing again, roleplaying the spirit of Degen at Goblintown’s infamous Twitter spaces.

It takes the load off all the losses and helps investors and founders make light of a dire market. Everyone is eager to participate: Goblintowns floor price can only skyrocket. If that wasn’t enough, they just served free McGoblin Burgers to holders that might be taking interviews at McDonald’s.

Goblintown is only the first of the 187 universes up Truth Labs’ sleeve. It started with Nagunda Gobberbun and escalated into mayhem we won’t soon forget. There’s some stellar talent at Truth Labs, and we’re eager for what’s next.

Final thoughts

These projects are a product of the market they are serving. In a downturn, everyone is looking for uncorrelated or negatively correlated gains. By selling stories without a promise, these projects might have a place in a bear market portfolio.

But it’s not just economics. Each project tells a story of perseverance, optimism, and levity. These might be the intangibles that get through hard times.

As project best practices fall to the wayside, time will tell if there’s more to these projects than bravery and comic relief. Their cumulative royalties should offer enough rope for these teams to macrame something magical, or they could just take the money and run. They never really promised anything.

One thing is for sure: Creators will create.

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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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Nellie Akalp is the Founder/CEO of NetCorp, which helps people start companies and manage legal issues. She started a business with her husband, grew it for nine years, sold it to a publicly listed company, and then started NetCorp with him a few years later. They still run it together after 11 years, and we talk about how to work together well with your spouse.

In this episode, you will learn:
– When did you know you wanted to work with your spouse?
– How did you decide what kind of company to start?
– Were there any boundaries or splitting of roles from day one to help?
– Did that line ever blur?
– Was it possible to prevent the blurring of work and romance?
– Why you should seek a couple’s therapist?
– Why you should set boundaries?
– Why saying no is okay.
– What did you do to not get on each other’s nerves by spending so much time together?
– What did you learn from this experience?

Also Read: Partner in business and in life: Advice on running a company with your spouse

Talk with other entrepreneurs on our Discord server.

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The content was first published by We Live To Build.

Image Credit: cc0collection on 123rf.com

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As simple as it may sound in theory, expanding business in any new market is not an easy feat. It is crucial to understand which market to choose and why. It is also important to have a clear picture of business and fundraising opportunities in the new market, have solid strategies on how to quickly and effectively scale, and have an understanding of the main challenges and considerations in doing business in the new market.

Owing to a host of factors including tax benefits, ease of doing business, free market, and favourable policies such as visa-free entry policy for overseas investors from 170 countries as well as eligibility for 100% ownership rights of a company for foreigners, Hong Kong serves as a competitive destination in the Asia Pacific region for many entrepreneurs, VCs, and startup founders. 

In partnership with Globalization Partners, we explored why Hong Kong is an ideal destination to expand your business in a webinar titled ‘Why and How Should You Expand Your Business To Hong Kong’. This webinar is a part of the Market Access Series where we highlight different markets in the APAC region and get in-depth insights from experts on the benefits, challenges, and considerations of bringing your business there.

The Hong Kong Market Access Series webinar featured Arshad Chowdhury, Managing Partner at Betatron Venture Group; Jayne KC Chan, Head of StartmeupHK at InvestHK; and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific at Globalization Partners; in a panel moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

First things first: Why Hong Kong?

Jayne from StartmeupHK at InvestHK opens the answer to this question with a simple but extremely significant point: sales opportunity. “Any company looking to expand to any new market needs one fundamental thing — the opportunity and scope to sell their business,” she said. “Plus, if you are a startup looking to raise capital, there is no dearth of VCs and other funding avenues [in Hong Kong],” she added. Jayne further emphasised that Hong Kong has a relatively small but sophisticated and tech-savvy audience and thus, the country can serve as an excellent destination to test out products and services before launching full-throttle across the region.

In fact, as per research by Statista, in 2020, around 90 per cent of Hong Kong’s population were using the internet and the penetration rate is set to increase to over 94.5 per cent by the year 2026.

Also read: Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion

Another unique advantage of Hong Kong is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) which comprises the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and the nine municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province. This adds to a market of 86 million people, just 14 minutes away, housing a cluster of tech giants and an extremely tech-savvy audience. A 2019 KPMG survey also found that the majority of Greater Bay Area consumers identify as ‘tech-savvy’.

Furthermore, while talent continues to be a challenge faced by Hong Kong, as with the rest of the world, the quality of talent available is still far better, owing to the fact that Hong Kong is home to 5 of the world’s top universities.

A technology-enabled labour force with a market ripe for digital disruptions

As per a PwC report, the talent pool in Hong Kong is keen on upskilling and learning technological abilities. In a survey, 61 per cent said they are confident about learning new skills or even completely retraining to adapt to technology.

Ferguson from Globalization Partners added that Hong Kong has access to excellent R&D talent. “The government of Hong Kong has been increasingly focused on STEM education for the last four years with STEM internship schemes, launching technology-enabled talent pipelines. This has raised the local labour force’s level of technology enablement,” he explained. Ferguson argued that strategically, Hong Kong is phenomenal as it sits in the centre of the region.

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Betatron Venture Group is a Hong-Kong based VC firm focused on early-stage B2B tech companies across Asia, excluding Mainland China. Climate change is one of the main factors that Betatron focuses on. Arshad from Betatron said, “In our portfolio, we have seen successes in B2B companies that are operating across a wide range of industries. Hong Kong is ripe for finding customers across various industries — from corporate services to logistics to hiring and training platforms owing to the nature of the community; Despite digitalisation and innovation, many family-run traditional businesses are looking to modernise. There is a lot of scope for SaaS startups and SMEs,” he said.

From seed to IPO: A bustling fundraising scene

Hong Kong is home to six unicorns including some of the biggest in the world. With such a promising startup scene, the country has a rich and diverse fundraising ecosystem. 

In early 2019, there were more than 400 VCs in the country according to the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. By late 2019, the entire combination of assets managed by VCs in Hong Kong was at USD 1.5 trillion. The landscape is a mix of formal as well as informal processes. Many established VC funds, including Betatron, are open to cold emails and remote transactions, however, for Angels, most businesses have to be here to close deals. 

Arshad suggested that while there is a lot of money here, the business has to match the appetite of investors. Arshad explained that culturally, Hong Kong is a lot like New York. “Investors here are focused on the business model. They ask questions like ‘what’s your burn rate? Does the economic model make sense?’ and so on,” he explained. 

Overcoming challenges and taking the next big step

Finding the right product-market fit and understanding the market are some of the common concerns that startup founders have when looking to expand into a new market. Amidst the pandemic, one of the blessings in disguise has been the emergence of virtual events and this enables people from all over the world to attend top-notch events and get a clear and better understanding of niche industries. 

The panel emphasised the importance of networking. Jayne said, “you have to leverage your network and communicate with as many peers as possible to get a first-hand understanding of the market and industry trends.”

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

Ferguson also explained the importance of having local talent on the ground. “Locals have the know-how of the market, the culture, and the capacity to help build better relationships with existing customers as well as help expand the market by reaching new clientele. In addition, a local team helps businesses build a high-quality global workforce that can help contribute to the company’s global growth goals.

Hong Kong is open for business with its free trade policies, tax benefits, and a tech-savvy population ripe for embracing everything modern that digital transformation can bring. Suppose you are planning to scale and look at an ideal next stop. In that case, Hong Kong has a lot to offer: great sales opportunities, fundraising avenues, and most importantly, a warm hospitable attitude towards foreign business. So, don’t wait, go!

To learn more, view the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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As one of the leading names in the alternative protein industry, Buhler has teamed up with several organisations and institutions in the industry to help propel it forward.

In this interview with e27 for the Asia’s Alternative Protein Showcase, Dr Aparna Venkatesh, Collaborative Innovation Lead at Buhler, explains the important role that partnership plays in their mission to support the alternative protein industry.

Also Read: Bühler invests in Big Idea Ventures’s New Protein Fund; to invest in up to 100 plant- and cell-based firms

Dr Venkatesh also shares with us some of the most important milestones that the company has made as of July 7.

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This article was produced in partnership with Brinc for Asia’s Alternative Protein Showcase. Asia’s Alternative Protein Showcase brings together the region’s alternative protein ecosystem of startups, professionals, and investors to share their latest innovations and developments, while also inspiring one another, driving further growth and adoption.

Image Credit: inspirestock, 123RF Free Images

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Animoca Brands, a leading digital entertainment, blockchain and gamification company based in Hong Kong, has completed a capital raise of US$75.32 million.

This is the second tranche of the US$359 million funding round led by Liberty City Ventures announced on 18 January 2022.

Investors in the current tranche included Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, 10T, SG Spring Limited Partnership Fund, Generation Highway Ltd, and Cosmic Summit Investments Limited.

Animoca Brands will use the fresh infusion to continue to fund strategic acquisitions, investments, and product development, secure licenses for popular intellectual properties, and advance the open metaverse, including through its efforts to promote digital property rights for online users.

Animoca Brands is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse. The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products, including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilising popular IPs including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP, and Formula E.

Also Read: Web3 is going to redefine labour in Asia in a big way: Animoca Brands’s Yat Siu

Using technologies including blockchain and NFTs, Animoca Brands is working to deliver true digital ownership of users’ virtual assets and data, enabling various DeFi and GameFi opportunities (including play-and-earn), asset interoperability, and an open framework that can lead to greater equitability for all participants in the open metaverse.

It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, and TinyTap. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, and Star Atlas.

In 2021, Animoca Brands raised US$216.28 million to power its vision of digital property rights and the open metaverse, while its subsidiary The Sandbox completed a capital raise of US$93 million.

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “Digital property rights represent a society-defining generational shift that impacts everyone online and will set the stage for the emergence of the open metaverse.”

Emil Woods, managing partner of Liberty City Ventures, commented: “Over the next decade, humanity will discover and embrace the game-changing power that blockchain-based digital ownership of assets will bring to countless aspects of daily life.”

The global video game market was estimated to generate US$180.3 billion in 2021 (source: NewZoo), while the metaverse market size is expected to grow to around US$829 billion by 2028 (source: Emergen Research).

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Asia is home to nearly half of the world’s population with cancer, with 9.5 million new cancer cases and 5.8 million cancer deaths reported in 2020. This can be traced to population growth, ageing population, and lifestyle or socioeconomic changes.

With a burden estimated to double by 2040 to 30.2 million cancer cases,  swift prevention, detection, treatment and supportive care programmes are critical to saving lives.

Pathologists from the core of cancer care delivery for cancer detection and treatment and oncologists (doctors who treat cancer). Pathologists are specialists who examine diseased cells and tissues for the presence of cancer (i.e. malignancy) and help decide the further course of treatment. The pathologist’s investigation impacts nearly 70 per cent of clinical decisions.

Challenges in pathology

The rising cancer trend and the backlog of cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic have brought the need for trained pathologists to the fore. With advancements in R&D, more effective pathology tests are now available for cancer detection and evaluation.

However, their application requires an experienced workforce. Insufficient inputs can cause delays in cancer diagnosis, consequently impacting patients’ treatment and survival.

Key challenges in this sector include an overall shortage of pathologists, a lack of a trained workforce (it can take up to 15 years to train pathologists) and increasing complexity of analysis, all of which need to be addressed to ensure the quality of cancer detection and staging remains uncompromised.

Under these circumstances, pathologists continue to face tremendous pressure and concerns, such as the possibility of burnout.

Digital pathology facilitates remote diagnosis

Depending on the tissue being analysed, a pathologist performs tests and typically views the tissue on a glass slide under a microscope to arrive at disease-specific scores or diagnosis.

Digital pathology, in simple terms, allows scanning of the slides or whole slide imaging (WSI) so they can be viewed on a computer monitor. Thus, high-resolution images can be conveniently viewed from remote sites without travelling and can even be shared to facilitate consultation with other specialists.

Also Read: MedHyve raises pre-seed round to make medical procurement easy for small hospitals

While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digitalisation in several other sectors, its use in pathology is still nascent.

As digital adoption accelerates, the digital pathology landscape in Asia will continue to evolve. By 2027, it is estimated to reach US$125 million from US$74 million this year.

Integrating AI into pathology

AI involves computers that mimic the processes of learning and interpretation by the human mind. AI-integrated digital pathology can help streamline workflow, enhance efficiency, and improve diagnostic concordance.

On the one hand, it can help automate several complex tasks. For example, computer-based analysis of the digitised tissue images can assist with time-consuming yet essential diagnostic tasks (e.g. counting the total nuclei or classifying tumour tissue), easing the overall workload of pathologists.

Conversely, AI integration enables the system to ‘learn’ image analysis per pre-established parameters, thereby supporting the pathologist’s diagnostic acumen. For example, AI has shown to be capable of assessing features indicative of high-risk colorectal cancer from tissue images.

AI-based digital imaging analysis also helped detect metastatic areas (cancer which has spread to other organs). It showed great sensitivity in scoring certain markers that predict survival in breast cancer.

Hence, it can be used as an effective screening tool for detecting malignancy and metastases and evaluating prognosis. These assistive technologies help improve efficiency, freeing up pathologists’ time for other important tasks requiring specialised input.

When associated with pathology, deep learning (a more complex subtype of AI) can assist with diagnostic evaluation (e.g. differentiating between diseased and normal tissue, grading cancer or distinguishing cancer types) and offer deeper disease insights.

This includes predicting the status of gene mutation, outcomes and disease recurrence. The synergy of human and AI-based insights in cancer pathology no doubt opens avenues for early cancer detection, with the potential to offer patient-specific disease assessment and treatment. Ultimately, this inflicts less strain on the healthcare system and enhances patient care.

Future perspectives

Lastly, managing pathologists’ perceptions of AI and enhancing their adoption is critical to aiding this transformation. Educating and supporting pathologists using such cutting-edge technology can help alleviate pressure on the system and manage the rising disease burden.

AI-integrated digital pathology can thus work in synergy with the pathologist to deliver optimal patient-centric care, right from detection to the treatment of cancer.

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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.

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

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