In 2017, Bartolome Bordallo struggled with his cryptocurrency portfolio owing to a lack of trading knowledge. But he quickly realised he was not alone in facing this situation. It occurred to him that a platform connecting users with expert investors could address this problem.

That was the starting point for Zignaly, an online platform that connects everyday consumers with the world’s top, proven crypto investors in a trusted, facilitated system.

“We started with a bare-bone ‘signal providing platform’ aiming to turn signals into trading actions. This concept caught on, with several investors and expert traders signing up on the platform, giving birth to a passionate and thriving community,” Bordallo told e27.

Founded in 2017 by Bordallo (CEO), David Rodríguez (CMO), and Rafay Gadit (CFO), Zignaly is an expert-managed social investing marketplace. It allows consumers to reap the expertise, leverage, and scale of top traders and funds handling their trading in return for a portion of shared profits.

Also Read: The way of the DAO could be the future of work

“The platform has evolved and innovated the social investment space, initially with the copy trading solution and further refining it with a profit-sharing solution (built upon the Binance broker programme),” he added.

Anyone can sign up on Zignaly.com, connect to one of its top traders, and earn staking rewards on their ZIG token holdings in a few clicks.

The startup claims the platform provides “unprecedented” access to new sources of funds and followers for professional traders and funds.

According to the company, over 300 professional traders currently serve over 430,000 users on the platform who have allocated over US$125 million in crypto assets.

Limitless opportunities in SEA

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most poverty-stricken and underdeveloped regions, which means unequal opportunities for millions of people. Zignaly sees tremendous opportunities to effect a change here.

“We envision a world with financial freedom for all, and in this regard, Southeast Asia is one of the most important markets for us, and we continue to work on expanding there,” Bordallo stated.

“The idea is to get the word out to regional investors on how they can avail multiple streams of passive income from Zignaly. Whether leveraging on our profit-sharing service providers, earning those staking yields on the Zignaly vault, or one of the other products, Zignaly can help elevate the people living with financial constraints,” he explained.

The firm has onboarded several ambassadors from Southeast Asia who will soon share their stories with the community.

Launching ZIG DAO

Close on the heels of its US$50 million funding from Luxembourg-based GEM Global in March, Zignaly announced its foray into DeFi (decentralised finance) with the launch of ZIG DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation).

With ZIG DAO, said Bordallo, Zignaly unlocks the power of its platform and community to extend the range of Web3 investments available to include crypto investing without the constraint of centralised exchanges, NFTs, metaverse real estate, DeFi staking and LPs.

“Why stick to just trading when money managers can help you get the best of yields, make a killing in NFTs or turn up a profit on those S&P500 synths? All that is achievable only if we venture into DeFi, and here we are taking our first step towards our vision to remove boundaries from your investment portfolio,” he shared.

Moreover, the company has always taken community feedback seriously; most of its products are thoroughly vetted and tested by its power users before reaching the community. “Community-driven governance has always been at the forefront of our strategy since the ZIG coin was launched. With the ZignalyDAO, we empower the ZIG token holders with their say in project governance,” he maintained.

Also Read: The Shark Tank of Web3: How this DAO is bridging the funding gap for women founders

He also added that combining new DeFi features with a community-driven roadmap will enable new forms of social value exchanges between people, groups and organisations (large and small). It will empower self-formed hedge funds, decentralised marketplaces, and crypto & Web3 investment consulting.

“Imagine creating your own hedge fund with friends. ZIG DAO allows that. Also, it enables you to participate in a decentralised marketplace curated by expert traders, fund managers, and crypto investors with transparent reputation stats and track records. Plus, people can collaborate freely around a passive investing model where both sides are incentivised to share the profits,” he went on.

“Other than this, if you’re good at crypto investing, now you can offer your expertise to Zignaly’s community members without creating your solution for managing the accounting of what belongs to who or having to market your services,” he said.

Bartolome has set a growth target of US$10 billion in total value locked (TVL) and 100 million+ monthly transactions by Q4 2023. He believes that the ZIG.DAO, utilising the ZIG token, will generate US$3 billion or 30 per cent in returns from the targeted TVL annually. “This projection stems from Zignaly’s plans to expand investment options far beyond just trading. Zignaly will integrate many vehicles such as DEXs, yield farms, NFT market platforms, and lending/borrowing platforms.”

Zignaly vs DEX

On the difference between investing via Zignaly and via a decentralised exchange (DEX), Bordallo said that while the former allows crypto investors to leverage the expertise of pro traders, a DEX has no pro traders for users to look up to.

“There is always someone to look after your financial interests at Zignaly. At the same time, you’re on your own on a DEX. On a DEX, only the fittest survive, and the weak are liquidated. On the other hand, the fittest lead at Zignaly, while those not well-versed with investments follow them,” he elucidated.

In addition, Zignaly provides a one-window solution to a user’s investment needs. “While DEXs cater to the users’ need to swap tokens or add liquidity to pools, Zignaly goes above and beyond,” he said. “Be it portfolio management via the marketplace, staking on Zignaly vault, NFT whitelist raffles, or investing in IDOs on the ZIGPad, we cover it all, with the ZIG token empowering our products.”

Besides, he added, Zignaly is more secure than DEXes. It has multiple layers of security; users do not have to worry about hacked wallets and honey pot schemes on Zignaly.

Zignaly has a global team with over 35 members across 15 different countries. It has users from around the globe, including Turkey, Europe, Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the subcontinent.

“Our mission has always been about more than just broadening access to alternative assets; it’s about a passive income revolution for everyday investors. Rather than agonising over every trade or consulting so-called ‘crypto influencers’ for help reading the tea leaves, Zignaly empowers everyone to profit off the investment moves made by experts with transparent performance histories,” Bordallo concluded.

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There is a revolution in the e-commerce market: Direct-to-Consumer (DTC). Without knowing what DTC means, you might have already been aware of one or more DTC brands. Within the Asia Pacific, Omnidesk in Singapore and Benithem in Malaysia are prime examples.

DTC refers to merchants that sell directly to their customers instead of going through wholesalers, marketplaces or retailers, and it is growing at a pace like never before.

We are looking at DTC e-commerce sales in the US projected to reach US$175 billion by 2023, a 56 per cent growth from 2020. In India, the market is forecasted to multiply three-fold from 2020 to 2025, reaching a projected US$100 billion in sales.

There is a very good reason why DTC is growing so quickly. DTC players sell directly to the end consumer, bypassing third-party retailers, offering a slew of benefits that make it very attractive and lucrative for both ‘well-established’ and upcoming retailers operating in SEA.

This provides larger profit margins, greater control over the brand image, and the ability to tailor payment solutions specifically to the preferences of the unique and local markets they operate in, thereby improving consumers’ shopping experience.

As the e-commerce landscape in Southeast Asia heats up with 75 per cent of the population going online and a digital economy set to double to US$363 billion by 2025, the time is ripe for local merchants to look beyond their borders and expand into the wider region.

Also Read: Can Singapore truly become a cashless society with payment 3.0?

Bearing that merchants are playing in a crowded marketplace, those looking to grow their business must move fast and embrace new ways of operating to stay ahead of the curve, and payments are an integral part of the plan.

Challenges to tackle

DTC merchants fresh to the game face unique challenges, unlike unestablished brands when expanding into new markets. Given economies of scale, the high transactional and FX fees, and complexities in sending and receiving payments in multiple foreign currencies, they may not have the resources to manage multi-currencies.

Delving deeper into the specific regional challenge of transacting within each unique market, risk and regulations is another area where merchants must grapple with unexpected and foreign challenges and compliance.

When expanding into new markets and tailoring specific payment solutions to the preferences of their target audience, they have to consider offering local payment methods to cater for their new market growth and encourage customer conversions.

Lastly, as with any new business starting out, a major challenge would be access to working capital. It not only acts as a float when supporting daily operations but also enables businesses to capture fast-moving opportunities in a highly dynamic space.

This includes advertising to a wider audience, venturing into new markets and scaling the business further, all of which require funds.

Unifying commerce by consolidating payment

Shaping a growth plan for a DTC business involves expanding into all digital and in-person channels that customers frequent.

Underscoring this plan is the inclusion of a holistic payments strategy that not only provides customers with choice at checkout but also enables the business to: enable cross-border selling (i.e., local payment methods, multi-currency accounts, language capabilities); achieve consistent payment experience across channels; consolidating funds across the marketplace and direct sales channels; and above all, ensure seamless integration of the payments solution with their channel or e-commerce platforms.

Powering payments, then growth

It may prove to be overwhelming to a business that is starting, so having the option to partner with an established payments provider can help these businesses tackle the initial challenges, such as making mass payouts at scale to their sellers, freelancers and suppliers all over the world in the currency and payment method of their payee’s choice.

Also Read: Why smart businesses will prioritise smart payments acceptance

Ideally, payment processes such as cross-border mass payouts, receiving funds and making payments to suppliers, multi-currency accounts, FX optimisation, payment acceptance for direct-to-consumer, and accessing working capital can be synced on a secure single platform for a snapshot view of all their monies.

In all, the empowerment of a payments provider is integral in future-proofing the business to connect in the global digital economy and ensure a customisable, integrated and seamless payments experience.

A prime example of a DTC player optimising a partnership to deliver solutions by embracing a streamlined and unifying process to manage payments is Shoplazza.

They recently announced a partnership to integrate checkout solutions into their web stores to start accepting payments directly from customers worldwide, consolidate their funds across its marketplace and direct sales channel, and use their funds to pay for business expenses such as digital advertising.

This collaboration in the financial solutions space has created greater financial inclusion by removing barriers and complexities to entry to cross-border digital payments for merchants and consumers.

Getting payments right is a pivotal step to empowering independent brands in the region to capitalise on evolving consumer habits in a post-pandemic world and drive business agility.

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In recent years, the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region made remarkable strides in accelerating Industry 4.0 adoption.

In fact, according to GSMA Intelligence, a definitive source of mobile industry insights, forecasts and research used around the world, “countries in the Asia Pacific have established frameworks on a national level, recognising the potential of Industry 4.0 to help prepare economic structures for greater productivity and resilience” with dedicated official task forces in various markets including Japan, Korea and Singapore.

The same report provides a summary of Industry 4.0 visions in several nations, listed below:

• Australia has instituted an Industry 4.0 Taskforce that works through its Testlabs initiative to collaborate with the industry to improve the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry.
• Japan’s Society 5.0 focuses on mobility, healthcare and caregiving, manufacturing, agriculture, food, disaster prevention, and energy.
• Malaysia’s Industry 4.0 policy framework focuses on labour productivity growth, manufacturing contribution to the economy, innovation capacity, and high-skilled jobs.
• Singapore’s key strategies include transforming facilities and operations, R&D partnerships to develop new talent, and collaborating with manufacturing communities.

Evident in many of the national Industry 4.0 priorities stated above, the manufacturing industry across the region is poised to benefit significantly from the Industry 4.0 vision, which places a great emphasis on innovation-driven manufacturing.

To efficiently capitalise on what Industry 4.0 technologies offer, design and manufacturing enterprises across the region are beginning to move away from legacy systems and traditional processes to take advantage of next-gen technology to automate, improve and streamline processes.

A study by Deloitte supports this transition, reporting that digitally mature companies enjoy a wide range of specific benefits from their digital transformations that go well beyond the bottom line.

As a substantiation, Deloitte’s 2020’s digital transformation study found that companies with higher digital transformation maturity reported 45 per cent net revenue growth.

Elevating performance in core manufacturing workloads

Cost, product quality, and productivity are the three core pillars in the manufacturing industry; greater efficiency across all three pillars will be a never-ending journey. Advanced technologies and services can have a transformative effect across all three pillars, substantially increasing the bottom line for manufacturing companies.

Also Read: Making smart manufacturing a cost-efficient reality for SMEs

In a general sense, manufacturing firms are turning to High-Performance Computing to support various workloads within the manufacturing domain, including Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) workloads.

High-performance computing can help manufacturers at every stage of product development, from running advanced design simulations to automating processes and predicting maintenance issues. There are multiple solutions with different capabilities to suit very specific workloads.

In AMD alone, customers can choose from our EPYC processor family, our Ryzen Threadripper PRO family, and the AMD EPYC 7003 processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology.

Data centres powered by AMD EPYC processors help deliver incomparable performance and scalability for CAE and EDA workloads of virtually any size. AMD EPYC processors are designed to increase the computing throughput of engineering simulation workloads such as CAE and EDA by reducing latency impacting design cycle time and contributing to better, higher-quality product designs.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors deliver up to 64 cores for multithreaded simulation and rendering, with the advantage of high-frequency capable cores for lightly threaded workloads, helping organisations rip through the most demanding design projects.

The best is only getting better with the launch of the AMD EPYC 7003 Processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology, raising the bar once more for breakthrough performance on targeted technical computing workloads relevant in the manufacturing industry such as FEA  and computational fluid dynamics (CFD):

• CFD workload (analyses fluid dynamics faster): Up to 82 per cent maximum speedup on computational fluid dynamics with Ansys Fluent.
• FEA workload (Finite Element Analysis): The 64-core, AMD EPYC 7773X processor can deliver, on average, 44 per cent more performance on Altair Radioss simulation applications compared to the competition’s top-of-stack processor.

That being said, to find the most optimal balance between cost, product quality and productivity, it is essential for business leaders to identify the various workloads in your specific manufacturing process, evaluate the extent to which each workload is used and invest in workload-specific tools.

However, as mentioned earlier, with a great many solutions and products out there, business leaders can easily be flummoxed as to what specific tool would be ideal for their unique business needs.

Evaluating the extent to which each workload is used in the organisation would enable business leaders to identify the right workload-specific tool to enhance overall business operations. This is where expert consultants would be an investment with significant ROI.

Other considerations

While the afore-mentioned points delved into the technical aspects of the manufacturing industry and the role of technology in elevating multiple workloads, various other considerations could lead to a better cost-quality-productivity balance, including energy efficiency and security considerations.

Reduced Power

The reduction of power is a key consideration with a significant long-term positive impact not just on the environment but also on the organisation’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Also Read: Get to know these movers and shakers in India’s logistics industry

To illustrate, AMD EPYC 7003 Series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache use up to 30 per cent less power. They will enable you to save an estimated 123.53 Metric Tons of CO2 which is estimated equivalent carbon sequestration of 49 acres of US forests annually.

Not just that, the power efficiency provided by the AMD EPYC 7003 Series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache, uses up to 30 per cent fewer servers and reduces three-year TCO by up to 30 per cent compared to servers without V-Cache technology.

Security

Enhancing security is an ever-evolving venture with no finish line, especially for the manufacturing industry. As smart factory initiatives continue to proliferate across the global footprint of manufacturers, cyber risks are expected to continue to increase.

In fact, according to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI), forty-eight per cent of manufacturers surveyed identified operational risks, which include cybersecurity, as the greatest danger to smart factory initiatives.

The study also states that many manufacturing companies are seeing an increase in cyber-related incidents associated with the control systems used to manage industrial operations.

Since many smart factory use cases are still in the planning and early stages, now is the time to harmonise these projects with cyber risk programmes. Design and include the appropriate end-to-end security controls, and start from the processor level. Identifying the right security solution without performance compromise is key.

Built-in at the silicon level, AMD Infinity Guard offers the advanced capabilities required to help defend against internal and external threats and help keep your data safe with virtually zero impact on system performance.

Final thoughts

The COVID-19 pandemic initially slowed digitisation efforts not just in APAC, but on a global scale. About 38 per cent of manufacturers surveyed by Deloitte pressed pause on smart factory investments as of August 2020.

Nevertheless, by 2021, 80 per cent of manufacturers reported that smart factories are key to their future success, according to a Plex report.

The investment will likely continue to pour into the sector, and it is time now, more than ever, to invest in the right tools and resources to elevate the manufacturing sector in line with Industry 4.0 goals.

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Spurred on by a flourishing community of users, gaming today is far from isolating. Gaming has become a social experience, with a new breed of creators transforming how games are made, played, and monetised.

Growth in the gaming market

The gaming industry is riding a growth wave. In 2022, global revenues from consumer spending are likely to reach US$203.1 billion, a 5.4 per cent rise over the previous year. Player numbers are seeing an uptick and could breach the three-billion mark by year-end.

Moreover, gaming is no longer a solitary pursuit. Users today are not only playing video games but also interacting with each other. Although the socialisation possibilities have been around for a while, the pandemic lockdowns gave them a timely nudge.

Confined at home, people discovered they could connect with the like-minded through their favourite video games. The virtual interactions became a habit that stuck.

Engaged users drive the creator economy

Gamers do more than just play games: Users participate in or follow game streams.

They converse with other gaming enthusiasts on forums. They also create games, avatars, gifts, and entire virtual worlds. User-generated content (UGC) is a space worth watching and is gaining traction among enthusiasts.

In the traditional business model, gaming companies exercised full control over new game releases, from content and production to the final distribution phase. But the rise of UGC has opened up the creative process, and big legacy publishers are no longer holding the reins.

Consider the case of indie games. Developed by smaller game studios and individual creators, indie games have no major funding from big publishers and hardly any marketing outlays.

Yet, despite their low budgets, indies are having a moment. The year 2020 witnessed the release of 9,722 indie games, marking a 25.6 per cent increase over the 7,740 games announced in 2019.

Professional game designers and developers are just one part of the creator economy. Also in the mix are regular users who play and share games, sell virtual products like avatars and skins, host and moderate gaming tournaments, and develop vibrant creator communities.

All of this engagement goes above and beyond the mere passive consumption of a video game. And game publishers and platforms are rewarding these users by offering monetisation opportunities.

Role of gaming platforms

Gaming platforms are where enthusiasts go to play. Furthermore, these platforms provide creation tools whereby users can build themes, games, and game elements for sale. Any revenues are shared among the developer, creator, and gaming platform.

The latest innovations feature the use of blockchain-based digital currencies such as Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) too.

Also Read: All hands on deck: How Iron Sail strengthens blockchain gaming ecosystem through collaboration

It is worth noting that fans have been creating games and game elements for many years, usually with no expectation of financial gain. But in recent times, game publishers have realised the value of rewarding UGC with cash.

Talent has long been a bottleneck for gaming companies. But the outsourcing opportunities provided by the creator economy minimise the need to locate the right people for the job. The people they need are already here.

Creators in the gaming industry generate content that creates value for their followers. While they aren’t looking for a nine-to-five position, they certainly appreciate the chance to make money through their love for gaming. Helping them achieve this goal are platforms like ours at EsportsXO.

To support the creator economy, we collaborate with two types of creators: first, the creators who are already doing well and with large followings across social media; second, the creators with smaller followings who have great content sense. EsportsXO manages over 100 creators at present.

When partnering with creators, we provide comprehensive hardware support as well as guidance to shape their channels and grow their fanbase in the best possible way. Some of our creators have gained over a million followers within a very short period.

The creator economy is finding its footing

Creators in the gaming industry perform many essential functions: They compile listings of popular games, recommend new releases, share their experiences, and make it easier for users to discover and play more games.

Developers can connect directly with players and tweak their products to generate more revenue. Influencers can build communities and groups where fans can come together to play and socialise.

Since gaming professionals and fans are eager to create, gaming platforms must provide them with the tools and monetisation opportunities to do so. This would open up the gaming market to an engaged community of creators and enable scaling of the design process.

Who wins here? Everybody does. Gaming companies and creators get a new revenue stream when the creator economy expands. And this also works out perfectly for players, who gain access to a much wider selection of games.

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Malaysia-based ethical investment and social finance platform operator Ethis Group has partnered with renowned VC firm Gobi Partners to launch a US$20 million Shariah-compliant seed fund.

Once launched, the joint fund will invest in Shariah-compliant startups globally with an initial geographic focus in the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) and ASEAN regions.

The partnership aims to capture the growth of startups in the Halal economy, where startups adhere to Shariah law, and thus their products are built to serve a large Muslim community.

Furthermore, the fund’s focus on the broader ethical investment agenda resonates well with the post-pandemic emphasis on environmental, social, governance and sustainable investments that also stretch beyond the Muslim community.

The fund aims to make the first close by the end of this year.

Also Read: Ethis Global closes US$1.7M Pre-Series A funding round to accelerate global expansion effort

This is Ethis Group’s first move into the venture investment space and Gobi’s first-ever fully Shariah-compliant fund. The collaboration combines the venture guiding acumen of Gobi Partners (which has US$1.5 billion of assets under management across North Asia, South Asia and ASEAN) with Ethis’s growing fintech investment and crowdfunding platforms in Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman.

“Establishing this joint fund will allow us to channel investments into tech startups driving change and making an impact. Venture capital is in high demand and suitable for ethical investment,” said Mohamed Shehzad Bin Mohamed Islam, CEO of Ethis Investment Platform.

Founded in 2002, Gobi Partners (dual-headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong) supports entrepreneurs from the early to growth stages and focuses on emerging and underserved markets. It has raised 15 funds, invested in over 320 startups and nurtured nine unicorns, including Carsome.

In 2016, Gobi launched its TaqwaTech vertical, which focuses on investments in Islamic ventures and the global Muslim economy.

“Muslim consumers represent a US$2.2 trillion market opportunity, and the Muslim community is anticipated to make up more than 31 per cent of the world’s population by 2060. However, the community’s digital needs are largely unmet or underserved. Through this partnership with Ethis and the creation of this dedicated fund, we will now be able to fund, nurture and support even more Muslim entrepreneurs,” said Gobi Co-Founder Thomas Tsao.

Ethis Group operates crowd-investment platforms approved by regulators in Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman. Its platforms serve ordinary people, high-net-worth individuals, corporates, and government entities.

It recently launched EthisX, a cross-border ethical private capital market platform. EthisX aims to address the lack of availability of Shariah-compliant and ethical alternative funding and financing in emerging and developed non-Muslim countries with sizeable enough Muslim populations.

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Funding winter: “Focus on corporate funds from developed countries”
For companies currently fund-raising, it’s best to raise for a minimum of 24 months runway, say VCs; It is risky for them to raise for a 12-18 months runway; Funds from developed countries such as the US will likely flow into Southeast Asia.

Singapore-based neobanking firm Stashfin bags US$270M in Series C
Lead investors are Uncorrelated Ventures, Fasanara Capital, and Abstract Ventures; With nearly 10 million registered users, Stashfin operates in India and Southeast Asia.

Zilingo Philippines delays salaries amid company’s uncertain future
Staff at the beleaguered company have not been paid salaries for nearly two months now; Its HR team said that it plans to sell office assets and production equipment as an alternative means to pay salaries should the delay continue.

Carsome hits brakes on US, Singapore listing plans
Carsome has reportedly suspended work on the offerings and will resume the plans next year if market conditions improve; The decision was made due to concerns that deteriorating macroeconomic conditions could affect the company’s valuation.

Ekta secures US$60M to build infra for connecting blockchain with the physical world
The investor is US-based GEM Digital; Ekta builds an NFT marketplace, a hybrid exchange, and NFTs backed by the real-world utility to improve lives and communities.

D2C social e-commerce firm RPG Commerce raises US$29M Series B
Investors are East Ventures, UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures SEA & India, and RHL Ventures; RPG is a multi-brand D2C company that launches and operates a suite of e-commerce brands via a ‘shared backend infrastructure’ approach.

Vietnam’s fintech startup Finhay secures US$25M in Openspace, VIG-led round
Finhay allows users to make micro-investments in financial products starting from US$2.15; The platform currently has 2.7M+ registered users; Finhay has also acquired local securities brokerage firm VinaSecurities.

Ethis Group, Gobi Partners to launch Shariah-compliant US$20M seed fund
Once launched, the joint fund will invest in startups globally with an initial geographic focus in the MENA and ASEAN regions; The fund aims to make the first close by the end of this year.

Tiger Global leads US$8M round of HK social commerce firm SleekFlow
SleekFlow plans to use the fresh capital for product development and expanding its presence in SEA; SleekFlow aims to streamline communications for firms; It serves 5K+ businesses, including brands like Nars Cosmetics, Bossini, Lalamove.

Openspace leads Philippine fintech firm Lista’s US$5.1M round
Lista aims to help Filipino merchants and individuals better manage, save, and grow their finances; The app lets users track the flow of their money and see their profits and savings in real-time.

Used-car marketplace Carro to expand to Japan
It already has a strong presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan; The firm is backed by SoftBank and other Japanese investors who can help Carro grow and accelerate penetration there.

Helicap raises US$5M from Tikehau Capital, PhillipCapital
Helicap is a fintech-driven investment firm specialising in the alternative lending space in Southeast Asia and Australia; Since its founding, the Singaporean firm claims to have arranged US$150M in volume in over 300 completed deals.

Y Combinator leads Vietnam fintech startup Afin’s US$4.8M round
Angel investor Clement Benoit also participated; Using tech-enabled profiling and risk assessment tools, Anfin will provide a platform that allows credible investors to share ideas, strategies, and trades.

Tokopedia injects US$3.9M into its subsidiary investments subsidiary
About US$1.2M of the amount was channelled into ASL, the company that runs a fulfilment service named TitipAja; TitipAja is a JV between Tokopedia subsidiary Roda Bangun Selaras and publicly listed transportation company Adi Sarana Armada.

Sequoia’s Surge raises funding ceiling to US$3M
The current range is US$1-2 million; The increase is aimed at making the accelerator accessible to more founders, including those who have already raised seed funding.

Delivery Hero Ventures backs SG data management firm Staple’s seed round
Staple helps businesses automate document processing using AI; The firm currently serves a diverse set of enterprises – financial institutions, online grocery retailers, and professional services firms.

Singapore approves 3 crypto licenses
While MAS did not name the awardees, Crypto.com said that it was one of the recipients. The two other recipients are reportedly Sparrow Exchange and Genesis.

PH startup makes bold bid to provide satellite-based Internet to remote areas
Quicksilver Satcom Ventures said it wants to work with local governments as well as private clients to set up service areas, and then help leverage Internet connectivity into greater economic development.

Bukalapak founder’s VC backs Indonesian edutech firm Dibimbing
Dibimbing provides digital skills training and career acceleration services for job seekers through a solution called school of career; The startup said it works with 450 hiring partners and companies, including edutech platform Zenius.

Web3 browsers are a gateway to the decentralised world
Web3 browsers allow for more functionality by granting a window into a plethora of interconnected services that aren’t siloed by exclusive or centralized technologies, says Jorgen Arnesen, the VP of Web3 at Opera.

Tencent’s WeChat wants no more talk of cryptocurrency and NFTs
China’s ban on cryptocurrency mining – and general dislike of any form of blockchain-based assets – has seen web giant Tencent clamp down on discussion of the subjects on its massive WeChat and Weixin messaging platforms.

Scams in GameFi: How to identify toxic NFT gaming projects
When choosing a GameFi project, it is worth considering the marketing and technological component: How actively the project is promoted, and what benefits the project’s token bestows upon its participants.

Web3 and the future of medicine
With how Web3 promises to connect users in secure, online, real-time environments, patients would easily and securely gain access to healthcare options from all around the world.

Zuckerberg details his plan to move your digital items across the metaverse
Facebook Pay has officially become Meta Pay; With this, it’s working on something that will let users manage their identities, items, and payment methods while making their way through the digital world that Meta bets will be the future.

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With global inflation creating a tech market correction of 2021’s fundraising hype and even crypto boom, resulting in what continues to be a difficult funding environment for startups in Southeast Asia, the uncertainty may seem to bode only a long night for early-stage startup investing.

But it is precisely during these uncertain periods and “long nights” that winners become clearer, smarter cash begins to find untapped opportunities (as opposed to riding bandwagons), and enduring companies are able to take off, oftentimes thanks to competition falling by the wayside or their focus on a blue ocean.

For venture capitalists and other early-stage investors, this presents an opportune moment to back such promising ventures from day one and to secure a front-row seat to the development of the ‘next big things’. The growing list includes the metaverse, decentralised Web3, and the like.

Amidst the talent shifts with some tech companies laying off massively and others hiring aggressively with fresh funding, there’s momentum for the maturing talent pool of startup operators to find “star” tech companies to land on as demand for their expertise skyrockets on the back of this upward trend.

Yet, for operators and aspiring investors looking to find these stars amidst a seemingly darkening landscape successfully, they must first learn how to take off.

Navigating the many facets of venture capital is an art that spans numerous disciplines; discerning and capitalising on emerging market trends, identifying competent founders, forming interpersonal relationships and leveraging value-adds beyond mere capital are several of the many tools of the trade.

Adding to the complexity is the lack of concrete historical financial data in the early stages of a startup’s business cycle. As a result, early-stage investors often find themselves having to draw on their own unique experiences and intuition in assessing investment opportunities, which generally takes no less than a number of years in a related role, think fund manager, a C-suite executive or even a founder, to hone.

Also Read: Insignia Ventures backs seed round of ex-Tokopedia exec’s parenting app Tentang Anak

Especially for angel investments at pre-seed or seed rounds where startups have only just conceptualised a business idea or developed their minimum viable product, the tenacity, flexibility and conviction of founders in their vision are critical factors in the investor’s decision to back these ventures.

Naturally, this begs the question: how then can the perceivably high barriers to early-stage investing be lowered for interested parties, especially for those who might not possess the requisite experience or qualifications traditionally expected of investors? How best can venture capital education be democratised and made available to the masses while still cultivating a culture of smart, disciplined value investing?

Spearheading the VC education frontier

Enter Insignia Ventures Academy’s VC Accelerator, a 12-week immersive programme designed for aspiring venture capitalists and investors looking to back great companies in the Southeast Asia region.

Predicated on experiential learning, the programme makes the case that the venture capital practice thrives beyond the confines of the conventional classroom setting, and tailors its curriculum to incorporate real-world application to and interactions with the wider VC/startup ecosystem.

IVA was not an idea born overnight and it resulted from the confluence of various experiences and market observations over time. Tan Yinglan, the founding managing partner at Insignia Ventures, was educated in the US and became first Southeast Asia hire for Sequoia Capital. When he decided to venture off on his own and start Insignia Ventures in 2017, he recognised a lack of venture capital talent in the market.

And so, while the firm’s early team comprised individuals who did not necessarily boast extensive experience in the space, they had the potential to blossom into outstanding venture capitalists. The firm would train them from scratch, with Yinglan allocating time for the team to undergo training sessions and go through case studies to build their competencies, a very informal version of what IVA is today.

Over the next four to five years, the pool of startup talent in Southeast Asia matured. Just as Yinglan had seen in the West, operator talent would be pivotal in shaping the venture capital landscape of the region.

The market had grown since he founded Insignia in 2017, and he realised it would be advantageous to bring in people with operational backgrounds since they know what a well-run company looks like.

This coincided with an increasingly diverse pool of operators from across the globe looking to dive into startup investing in Southeast Asia, having seen the success of the region’s unicorns and with even more startups joining the unicorn club over the past year. Even Insignia Ventures itself saw more operators from varying backgrounds joining the ranks of its team.

Startup ecosystems in the US and Europe had met their wave of demand for startup investing and venture capital with programmes and fellowships to help professionals and startup operators shorten their learning curve, and Yinglan himself had been a part of the Kauffman Fellows, a prestigious VC and startup focused community.

Now that Southeast Asia was also seeing its own monumental influx of demand for venture capital, the opportunity was ripe to create an independent and institutionalized platform for VC education in the region.

Even with the existing VC courses and scout programmes in the region, there was still a clear gap to be bridged between the learning of fundamentals, and the actual track record and network that which great investor careers are built.

Such a platform needed to marry the instructive nature of a formal, institutional course with the on-the-ground experience typically afforded only to well-connected scouts. And this marriage had to be structured in a way that would be accessible to a diverse array of backgrounds, from big tech executives looking to become angel investors, to corporate professionals looking to start their own venture-backed companies.

Drawing from his learnings from more mature ecosystems vis-a-vis Southeast Asia’s momentum, the early days of Insignia Ventures, and his own experience as a venture capitalist, Yinglan eventually gathered a team to build this platform. And so, the seeds were sown for the part-time experiential venture capital accelerator programme, the first of its kind in Asia.

After several months of planning and coordination, the programme officially kickstarted in March 2021 with an inaugural cohort of 38 venture fellows from a variety of backgrounds, pioneering the platform for what Yinglan would often tout as the next generation of investors.

Close to a year later and with three graduate cohorts under its belt, the accelerator programme that was once a promising spark is fast becoming a blazing success.

Don’t miss out!

The programme boasts an exciting line-up of high-quality workshops and masterclasses designed around three core themes: understanding the foundations and workings of a VC, supporting the growth of portfolio companies, and building a brand and career in VC.

Also Read: Insignia Ventures, Visa join open finance platform Brankas’s US$20M Series B round

For many of these sessions, industry experts and mentors are invited to share their experience across a variety of topics in curated sessions ranging from ‘how to be an effective board member’ to ‘planning and strategising exit scenarios for portfolio companies.

Past guest speakers include Cathay Innovation investment director and exited founder Rajive Keshup, NYSE’s head of APAC capital markets Delano Musafer, SPH Ventures CEO Boon Ping Chua, former Sequoia partner Tim Lee, and many other seasoned investors, founders, and industry experts.

To complement the live sessions, resources including a venture capital handbook, in-house case studies, and a library of curated readings are also available for venture fellows to deepen their learning experience.

Through such asynchronous learning, venture fellows are able to better manage their time amidst their busy schedules. These materials were also developed to enable venture fellows to quickly get in the headspace of the experiential component of the programme (more on that below), and serve as a basis for discussion during live sessions.

Importantly, the program’s content is a “living organism”, as IVA’s Head of Content and Curriculum Paulo Joquino would put it, constantly updated to match the fast-changing nature of the startup and venture capital landscape, and given life through the ways venture fellows engage with it.

This means venture fellows are able to incorporate insights from the latest developments in the industry into their learning and gain perspective relevant to their current environment.

Put on your investor cap

The other major component of the programme involves venture fellows stepping into the shoes of a venture capitalist and experiencing the end-to-end investment process first-hand.

True to the mantra of ‘learning by doing’, venture fellows apply what they have learned and collaborate in teams to source promising startups, conduct preliminary due diligence to assess the viability of the investment, and consolidate their findings in a cohesive and coherent manner.

Each group of venture fellows is assigned a business vertical as their primary investment focus, and these verticals range from well-known sectors such as SaaS and proptech to emerging fields including blockchain and climate tech. The verticals for each cohort are selected on a rotating basis to expose venture fellows to new industries that they may be looking to explore and get into.

Along the way, the teams also have the opportunity to practice pitching to a panel of investors, who then provide valuable tips and feedback for the teams to refine and enhance their pitch.

The programme culminates in an Investor Demo Day where the teams pitch their respective startups to an investment committee, with a potential investment in the top selected startup being taken under consideration.

In return for their efforts during the programme, venture fellows are able to share in the financial upside of any investment company through a profit-sharing arrangement.

Find your tribe

Every cohort comprises a curated mix of individuals looking to break into venture capital, founders, startup operators, corporate executives, seasoned professionals, and even undergraduates/postgraduates.

To ensure the quality and diversity of venture fellows in each cohort, Programme Lead, Gail Lau connects with prospective participants to understand their personal goals and motivations, and to evaluate whether they will be a good fit for the programme.

“We are looking for people who are genuinely passionate about VC and ready to take that next step, and who are able to contribute new ideas and fresh perspectives,” Gail shares.

Geographically, venture fellows are spread out across the SEA region. This melting pot of cultures and experiences facilitates increased access to different market landscapes, insights and deal opportunities within the region.

Also Read: The heart and science of venture capitalism and why its more relevant than ever

Ex-Bukalapak VP of Engineering, Mohammed Alabsi shares his experience on the On Call with Insignia podcast as a venture fellow in the inaugural cohort, “I would say the best part of the programme for me was the people. I met amazing entrepreneurs as well as investors, and I learned so much working with them through the hands-on experience of sourcing, evaluating and pitching startups”.

Community building

Community building is a cornerstone of the programme. Throughout the 12 weeks, venture fellows are highly encouraged to go the extra mile and forge closer bonds with each other and with alumni members, either through the Slack channel/Whatsapp group chat set up or in their own time.

As a result, the past cohorts have seen valuable friendships and connections maintained post-programme, some of the alumni members have organised meetups, co-invested in angel rounds, and have also agreed to come on board as mentors for future cohorts to pass on their learnings!

As an HR professional who has had experience building teams in various companies, Gail feels heartened and inspired by the growing community.

“The compounding network effect that the programme is achieving organically is amazing and is proof that we’re headed in the right direction,” Gail shares.

The latter half of 2022 is also gearing up to be an exciting period for the community as post-programme plans to provide further value and support to the venture fellows and alumni are well underway.

“We’re exploring several initiatives to complement the existing VC programme, and we can’t wait to share these with the community,” Gail further shares.

All roads lead to Rome

On a broader level, the program’s vision can really be broken down into two main themes:

• Educating and nurturing the next generation of leaders, founders and investors
• Disrupting the traditional pathways to a career in VC and angel investing.

On the On Call with Insignia podcast, current full-time startup investor/advisor, Andy Hwang comments on the VC accelerator programme helping to develop his investment acumen, “[My experience has] allowed me to learn and maintain the same level of discipline now that I’m investing my own capital and I’m not presenting to an IC… it has helped me introduce rigour to the investment process.”

“While there’s still a lot to learn for us in terms of building this platform for nurturing Southeast Asia’s next generation of investors, what’s been clear from the cohorts we have run is that there is no clear or defined route to invest in startups.

“You can be a founder, tech giant operator, corporate leader, or MBA student, it’s less about where you come from and more about your motivation and readiness to take charge of the path you decide to tread, and the willingness to support and work closely with founders as their early-stage investors,” Paulo shares.

Applications for Cohort 4 of IVA’s 12-week immersive programme or VC Accelerator are now open: Apply here on LinkedIn. 

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Singapore-based ShopBack has raised US$80 million in a funding round led by Asia Partners, with participation from existing investor January Capital.

This round brings the total capital raised to over US$230 million, the company said in a press note.

The capital will be used to develop new and innovative products for users and merchant partners and deepen its presence across the Asia Pacific region.

The announcement comes on the heels of the launch of ShopBack Pay, which enables users in Singapore and Australia to check out “conveniently” at more than 3,000 merchant outlets.

Also Read: Makan For Hope: Lessons on launching into new markets with Shopback co-founder Henry Chan

Launched in 2014, ShopBack provides cashback to users across fashion, beauty, F&B, electronics, travel and food delivery. Currently, it operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Australia, besides Singapore. The company boasts of supporting over US$3.5 billion in annual sales for more than 8,000 online and in-store merchant partners, including Taobao, Expedia and Shopee.

ShopBack recently appointed San Oo (formerly with Slack Technologies) as CTO and Hamish Moline (former Chief Commercial Officer of ASX-listed Zip Co) MD, Financial Services.

In November 2021, ShopBack acquired the buy-now-pay-later company hoolah for an undisclosed amount as part of its foray into financial services. A year earlier, it bought South Korea’s largest online cashback platform Ebates Jorea from Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, a backer of ShopBack’s US$45 million funding round in 2019.

“We want to help our users shop and save smarter, particularly in this inflationary economy with a recession looming. Each day, we send more than one million shopping journeys to over 10,000 partner merchants, where consumers can discover deals, compare products, get rewarded and pay for their purchases,” said Henry Chan, Co-Founder and CEO of ShopBack Group.

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RPG Commerce, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) social e-commerce company in Malaysia, has secured US$29 million in a Series B funding round led by East Ventures, with participation from UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, and RHL Ventures.

The startup will use the funds to future-proof its technology and development processes. The capital will also be used to develop and expand RPG’s brand portfolio.

“With this round of funding, we aim to rapidly expand our talent pool across the entire organisation and enhance our technological capabilities. In addition, we will expand our suite of brands to disrupt the consumer landscape further,” said Melvin Chee, Co-Founder and CEO of RPG Commerce.

Also Read: RPG Commerce nets Series A to build D2C e-commerce brands globally, names ex-Uber GM as new COO

Incorporated in Singapore, RPG Commerce is a multi-brand D2C company that launches and operates a suite of e-commerce brands via a ‘shared backend infrastructure’ approach.

Unlike the recent wave of startups seeking to roll up small e-commerce brands purely via brand acquisitions and selling on other e-commerce platforms, RPG primarily launches and incubates its native brands in tandem with acquiring brands.

The firm says it can develop, test and launch a brand with a lot less capital and, at the same time, scale each brand quickly.

RPG owns over ten in-house international brands, including apparel and homeware brands Thousand Miles, Bottoms Lab, Montigo, and Cosmic Cookware.

Its ‘shared backend infrastructure’ enables other businesses and brands to leverage its technology framework through partnerships.

In June 2021, RPG Commerce secured an undisclosed amount in a Series A round of investment from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and Joseph Phua, Co-Founder and Chairman of 17 Live.

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Biodiversity is intricately interconnected with functioning natural ecosystems, which are vital for society; we all depend on nature and the ecosystem services, including water, air, resources, and climate regulation.

The rise of “Nature-based Solutions”, biodiversity offset credits, and Nature Markets have provided avenues to monetise and channel funding towards conservation and restoration and promote the sustainable stewardship of natural capital.

However, to assess the effectiveness of current conservation and restoration efforts and fund quality projects, we need to measure biodiversity through more affordable, scalable, efficient, and accurate methods.

In the past few decades, researchers and practitioners have leveraged conservation technology and tools that enhance the monitoring and protection of wildlife, including established technologies like camera traps, acoustic sensors, tracking tags, and satellite imagery.

At the same time, newer technologies have been increasingly explored for their potential in advancing the field; a recent study led by WildLabs identified the top three emerging innovations with promising trajectories to be Artificial intelligence (machine learning and computer vision), Environmental DNA, and networked sensors.

The case for conservation technology solutions

We at Mana Impact and Silverstrand Capital perceive that there is room for technology, implemented through holistically-designed interventions, further to enable conservation and restoration in the following aspects:

Also Read: How the ‘Paris agreement’ for plastic is accelerating climate justice in SEA

• Measurement, reporting and verification
• Enforcement of protected areas through better monitoring
• Unlocking additional capital for biodiversity conservation

Enhancing measurement and evaluation

Conservation technology, such as solutions that measure and monitor biodiversity and ecosystems, has received relatively little funding than the environmental monitoring market (which focuses on health and pollution issues).

However, a key component of any biodiversity or nature conservation project is monitoring and evaluating the intervention to improve the effectiveness of the project.

A well-designed project involves a thorough baseline assessment of the ecosystem and biodiversity conditions in the area, measurable targets to track an improvement (or retention) in ecological integrity, and periodic evaluations to measure progress about the baseline conditions and project goals.

Monitoring positive impacts such as the return of a keystone or native species or unintended adverse consequences help inform how a project needs to adapt its approach.

Prevalent methods for biodiversity surveys involve on-the-ground data collection, such as line transects and point count surveys. Such manual methods can be labour- and time-intensive and are often more expensive in remote areas such as marine environments.

Technologies such as acoustic monitoring, camera traps, and drones allow for more data on wildlife to be captured and analysed and hence provide an avenue to scale up monitoring for larger areas through:

• Accessing remote and previously inaccessible areas via drones and sensors
• Improving the efficiency of analytical processes, e.g. sorting images via AI for species identification
• Enabling community-based monitoring and citizen science via mobiles apps where users can input data that are uploaded to cloud dashboards or open-source databases
• Alerting enforcement units to any illegal forest activities occurring through acoustic monitoring of forests or measuring and monitoring biodiversity
• Environmental DNA has emerged as a powerful tool to pick up on the presence of species in an area, both historical and present, based on trace amounts of samples

Enforcement and monitoring of protected areas

Tracking devices, camera traps, and other sensors can help enforce protected areas and track illegal wildlife activities through real-time monitoring and alerting rangers of any anomalies in the area.

The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) exemplifies using a technology platform coupled with conservation capacity-building activities to empower communities to manage conservation areas.

Unlocking additional finance for biodiversity conservation

Web3 generally refers to the next phase of the web characterised by decentralisation and distributed networks, particularly blockchain-based technology.

Blockchain has been promoted as a solution to enable transparency and traceability of restoration projects. In contrast, the sale of carbon or ecosystem tokens and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have been adopted as business models to raise funds for wildlife conservation.

Conservation technology is not a panacea: Challenges and limitations

A key challenge lies in the accessibility of MRV technologies due to costs and affordability, especially for newer technologies that have yet to scale commercially. Technologies such as eDNA are still prohibitively expensive for most projects; they are mostly used in academic research and are less accessible to lower-income communities.

Also Read: As the demand for energy soars, climate tech is here to save the day

These tools can also be inaccessible due to technical expertise and capacity gaps. For example, GIS software often requires specialist knowledge to generate analytical information.

Biodiversity measurement techniques and methodologies are just as important as the tools used. Compared to well-established protocols for manual data collection for forests or coral reef surveys, there is currently no standard for analysing some of the data from emerging technologies, such as eDNA.

Moreover, we are just beginning to explore and understand some of the unintended impacts of conservation technologies on wildlife and nature. For instance, there are (inconclusive) studies on how drones can result in behavioural and physiological changes in animals and debates regarding the invasive nature of biologging devices.

On the crypto front, there have been criticisms regarding the environmental impact of blockchain-based tokens, given that blockchain technology is energy-intensive and contributes to carbon emissions that need to be accounted for.

Additionally, given the distributed network of data input and verification, there is currently no standard ensuring that robust measurement methodologies are used. Quality data about the conservation or restoration project is recorded onto each “block” when creating tokens or NFTs.

Thus, third-party verifiers, standard-setting organisations, and regulators still play a role in standardising the quality of credits in the market.

Holistic frameworks and project designs are vital

Conservation technology presents an exciting opportunity for revolutionising how we measure and evaluate projects by providing new data, expanding the spatial extent of existing data, or providing real-time information for prompt intervention.

However, biodiversity conservation will require more than tech fixes; ultimately, the agency lies with the people who design and deliver the intervention. Community engagement and capacity building are core to project design and implementation and, eventually, a project’s sustainability.

Rather than seeking to replace manual data collection, technologies can be used to enhance community-based monitoring in project areas that are also home to local communities and indigenous groups.

Nonetheless, the race against the ongoing sixth extinction event demands that we act fast and catalyse scalable solutions for conservation and regeneration. Silverstrand Capital’s Biodiversity Accelerator+ is anchored on the belief that solving the biodiversity crisis will require both the adoption of nature-based solutions and technological innovation.

The three-month accelerator programme will support founders through coaching on topics from biodiversity impact measurement to fundraising and marketing strategies. Learn more and apply by 24^th June 2022 here.

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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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