Blockchain will bring transparency to advertising

Blockchain is the basis of many of the technologies currently being developed. TechCrunch mentioned that Maersk and IBM pooled their resources to build a blockchain specific to shipping, showing the extent to which this technology has disrupted established industries and enterprises. Search marketing seems like the least likely place where blockchain would be utilised,  but understanding the benefits of the blockchain suggests that search advertising might be precisely where the technology is expected to shine.

In recent years, search marketing has grown into quite a lucrative field. As Shopify notes, more than half of online shoppers across the world buy from overseas retailers. Directing customers to a product is the core of search marketing. To ensure that we do this properly, we need to bring new technology in (like blockchain) to bolster our SEO efforts. From a cursory glance, it’s easy to imagine how blockchain will affect the world of search marketing.

Giving trust back to the consumer

Few people enjoy ads. The art of getting to know if someone wants a product is an invasive act sometimes. Blockchain offers a means of returning trust to the supply chain and offering customers peace of mind. Inc states that as much as 96 per cent of people don’t trust ads, and in a business where ads enable functionality, being able to bring that trust back to the consumer would be priceless.

Blockchain, thanks to the nature of their construction, ensures all records are unalterable. Supply chains can benefit from this by keeping their inventory numbers up to date, but customers can also benefit from this as they get to see where their product is in the shipping process. Additionally, it adds a layer of transparency to the transactions so that consumers don’t have to be mistrustful about the company or website they’re buying from.

Bringing transparency to advertising

Among the most significant problems consumers have with companies is how opaque some of their advertising is. By nature, a company’s advertising hinges on convincing the buyer that they need a product. Over the years, there has been a tendency for companies to rely on collecting user information to fuel their marketing efforts. The obvious downside is that users’ information sometimes leak to the internet, leading to scandals and potential lawsuits.

The blockchain offers a secure, safe, and trustworthy location for data collected from the customer. Additionally, to increase the consumer’s trust, the blockchain can even provide information about the company that one is dealing with and their impact of the business within the local economy. The more companies invest in the blockchain, the stronger and safer the technology becomes.

Blockchain-based advertising methods

The methodology of using technological advancements to fuel advertising is as old as technology itself. The blockchain is among the most recent adoptions of disruptive technology to change the face of online advertising. Block Geeks state that some companies are already incorporating cryptocurrency into their ad delivery system, paying customers that view ads through a blockchain-based currency system.

Also Read: Laos local bank partners Everex to facilitate blockchain-based cross border payments

Cryptocurrencies, when taken in the context of advertising, offer a secure method of payment that can make ads even more powerful. By combining this secure payment method with advertising, consumers can see a product they want and immediately buy it without having to go through a series of long verification processes for payment to be transferred. Furthermore, the blockchain actively records each transaction that takes place so neither party can falsify the information, ensuring a lower incidence of financial fraud.

Ad payment systems through blockchain

The blockchain’s power lies in its ability to develop custom agreements in the form of smart contracts that are scheduled to execute at a pre-determined time. Leveraging these contracts ensure that businesses can keep traffic coming to their sites without having to worry about if their payment system for ad delivery is being affected. The blockchain is likely to be a benefit for both ad buyers as well as ad suppliers, giving both more security in their business processes.

Blockchain browsers can change the face of ad delivery

Browsers that incorporate blockchain technology can increase user security online. Additionally, they can offer a more secure advertising experience. Ads that invade the privacy of the user will be a thing of the past as these browsers put user security first.

Also Read: How to avoid the pitfalls of starting up

As more users adopt a blockchain-based browsing experience, unscrupulous pop-up ads, and dangerous websites that erode the trust of the consumer will begin to die out. The removal of these questionable ads serves to help legitimate businesses appeal to customers. In turn, this increases consumer trust in the advertiser.

One technological advance among many

The blockchain has already made its way into several different industries across the world. and while it may take a while for blockchain to impact the online advertising world massively, its impact is inevitable. Blockchain-based technology is likely to change the face of the internet over the decade, and search marketing is one of the areas that it is expected to cause a massive shake-up. Knowing where the blockchain fits in search marketing helps us to deal with the incoming waves of technological change before they occur.

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Image Credit: kantver

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People used to talk about a Series A gap in Southeast Asia; now they’re talking about a Series B gap, says Santos

Wavemaker Partners is probably the most active early-stage VC fund in Southeast Asia. Originally founded by Eric Manlunas, the VC firm expanded operations into Southeast Asia in 2012. Paul Santos, a serial entrepreneur who has built half a dozen startups in the past, is heading the regional operations for the VC from its Singapore office.

Wavemaker, which primarily invests in B2B and deep-tech startups, has just announced the first close of its third fund at US$60 million from several prominent names, such Pavilion Capital, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Temasek, family offices of the Co-founders of Microsoft (Vulcan) and Facebook (EE Capital). Wavemaker is in talks with more investors to close the fund at US$100 million.

In this interview, Santos shares more details about the fund and the Southeast Asian market.

Below are edited excerpts:

Most of your backers are well-known institutions and family offices from around the world. How did you win their trust to invest in your fund?

We are grateful for their trust. It’s something we don’t take for granted and do our best to keep. If I were to guess, it might be a combination of a few factors.

From a macro level, it helps that Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem has continued to mature. As compared to a few years ago, we don’t have to answer ‘why SEA?’ as much. That helps because then investors can spend more time getting to know us.

Also Read: He dropped out of school to travel around the world and is now founder of a startup with presence in 26 countries

At the firm level, it seems we’ve built a bit of momentum (as I shared in my blog post). We’ve been actively investing in Southeast Asia for more than seven years now. We’ve been consistent with our strategy. Who else in the region has 88 (out of 108) investments in enterprise and deep-tech? We’ve been able to show up rounds and exits.

We’ve assembled a solid portfolio of founders complemented by a strong network of LPs, advisors, and co-investors who help us support them. Our team has also grown and now our deal flow has never been better.

By when are you looking to make the final close of this fund? Do you expect the fund to be oversubscribed?

We have quite a few interesting ongoing conversations. Let’s see how it goes.

How is the third fund going to be different from your previous funds? Do you expect to cut bigger cheques moving forward?

Good question. When we had a smaller fund, we would end up leading US$1 million seed rounds with a US$250K-US$300K check because nobody else was as interested in enterprise and deep-tech. With the new fund, we can now write US$500K checks to start and add another US$1-2M in succeeding rounds. This will hopefully make fundraising easier for our startups.

Since launch in 2012, Wavemaker has invested in 108 companies, but very few are consumer internet companies. Was it a deliberate decision to not go after consumer internet and why?

Yes, it was. We felt that the consumer companies were well-covered by the market, so we could do that more opportunistically. The enterprise and deep-tech companies were underserved and we happened to find these companies interesting and potentially valuable. We continue to be committed.

You were an entrepreneur and founded six companies before turning investor in 2012. Which is more difficult — building a company or building a VC firm? Can you share your experience with our readers?

I actually see Wavemaker as an entrepreneurial endeavour too. I’ve survived enough mistakes in the past, so hopefully I can do a better job this time.

I think that if you strip away all the jargon and the hype, all businesses — whether they’re tech businesses or non-tech businesses or even VCs — are quite similar. I will always try to answer the same questions. Is the market opportunity attractive? Can we assemble the right organisation to pursue it? Can we build the right plan and get it financed? Can we define the key risks and manage them? Is the upside for doing all of these worthwhile?

If I’m happy with the answers, I go for it. Once I’m in, it’s all about execution and adapting to market conditions. This is where we’re at with Wavemaker right now. I think, so far so good.

How do you look at the evolution of the Southeast Asian market as a whole over the past seven years?

It’s certainly become more vibrant. The caliber of the founders we’re meeting and the quality of the companies they’re building have gone up. There are more successes emerging.

There’s also more capital being invested in the region coming from more places like Japan, South Korea, China, and India. Even large local families are participating now. People used to talk about a Series A gap. Now they’re talking about a Series B gap. VC fund sizes are growing as well.

In 2017, you launched a US$66M fund. How is this fund performing? How many investments did you make in Indonesia from this fund?

It’s doing well. We made 75 investments. In early-stage VC, it’s about finding a few big hits to carry your portfolio. As mentioned in our release, we have a few companies that have raised sizeable funding rounds already like Zilingo, ThinCI, Moka, and CashShield. Other companies that are probably less known but showing promising traction include Lynk, Wavecell, Red Dot Payment, Structo, Growsari, Igloohome, Zuzu and Silent Eight. We also saw recent funding rounds for companies like Saleswhale and Musiio.

Myanmar is “the new kid on the block”, given its huge internet penetration. Do you have aggressive plans to tap into this market going forward? Do you expect to launch an exclusive fund for this market?

No aggressive plans, and no intention to raise an exclusive fund.

You are also operating a healthcare fund called Wavemaker360. I am just curious to know why a separate fund is required exclusively for healthcare? Do you plan to take this fund to SEA? Or have you already invested in the region from this fund?

That is primarily a US-focused fund. The team has deep experience in the space and excited by the opportunities in front of them. That said, they have co-invested with us in Savonix. We have 12 other healthcare-related investments from our SEA funds.

India has been a fast-growing market, not just for B2C but B2B as well, and almost all global VCs have operations in this country. Don’t you think you are missing out on a massive opportunity by not turning your focus here?

We currently have nine portcos with operations in India. They are: Zilingo, Konigle, Exborders, Hardskills, Hospals, Lynk, MyDoc, SourceSage and Yulu. We potentially have three more in the pipeline.

That said, India is a huge opportunity just like San Francisco, New York, or China are huge. We aren’t directly in any of those markets either. The first question we ask is if the market is underserved. The next question we ask is what kind of deal flow can we get? Quality deal flow is the lifeblood of a VC. What right do you have to compete for the best deals in a market? Can you spot them? Can you get in them? If you can’t, then you’re just wasting time and money.

The primary way we get access to high-quality opportunities from India now is through credible partners. We are grateful to firms like Blume, Spiral, and Leo who’ve shared exciting deals with us. The reasons they seem to be inviting us would be our enterprise and deep-tech experience and expertise, as well as the networks we’ve built through offices in Singapore and Los Angeles.

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Image Credit: Wavemaker Partners.

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Kincir CEO Giring Ganesha talks about juggling superstardom and startup life, and his secret recipe for productivity

While the Indonesian public might recognise Giring Ganesha as the lead singer of pop music sensation Nidji, and a man who has starred at several movies, he has recently added a new entry to his resume: A startup founder.

In 2013, he launched Kincir, a social media platform for fans to interact with their idols. On Wednesday, he expanded the platform by launching Viral, a news platform targetting youth aged between 15 and 25 years.

“We learned that managing a user-generated website is a very tough challenge. How can we get more users? If people want updates from celebrities about their daily activities, there are already platforms for that,” Ganesha says, explaining the reason behind the expansion.

“I’m also a big fan of pop culture. Star Wars, DC, Marvel … And I noticed that the Indonesian media, when they are covering entertainment, they still focus [a lot] on gossip. No one is focussing on the niche and fun aspect [of pop culture] yet,” he adds.

e27 sat down with Ganesha to talk about what it takes to juggle two jobs, and his approach to building a more productive team.

The following are edited excerpt of the interview:

Also Read: Kakao buys music streaming service MelOn for a sweet US$1.5B

Tell me how your new career began!

It was on 2010, and my wife was eight months pregnant. We were obsessed with investing our money. Then I received an invitation to Mark Plus Conference (a marketing conference in Indonesia) and I decided to go there with my wife.

At the conference, I met Danny Wirianto. I was so starstruck; I just had to take photos with him. He was talking about Kaskus (a website similar to Reddit), and his speech was amazing! Especially since I’ve been on Kaskus since 1998. Seeing porn stuff in there, they don’t have it anymore, eh? (laughs).

But when I approached him backstage for a photo, he was like, “Hey! It’s me who’s supposed to take photos with you!”

That was the beginning of our beautiful friendship. Then he told me, “Giring, I am currently leading Merah Putih Incubator. If you have any [business] ideas, please just tell me about it!”

So I told him about my ideas for Kincir.

What motivated you to get into the tech industry?

I understood that in the future, no one [would be able to] live without tech. Back then it was enough to live with clothes, food and housing, but now you need to add the Internet too. It has become a necessity.

Also Read: RoadGods, PindropMusic selected for GHV’s acceleration programme

How do you manage your time between your band, movies, and the startup?

Very easy. I wake up early at 5AM. I get to the office by 7AM and my team is already there. Then we have a breakfast meeting until 8AM. [The rest of the morning] is meetings and the like.

By lunchtime, if I don’t have any agenda with Nidji, I continue until 4PM, then go home. Usually, all Nidji-related activities are happening after lunchtime. That’s how I manage my time.

Having a company that starts business at 7AM turns out to have many benefits.

One, my employees are freed from [dealing with] traffic jams. Two, they are still fresh. We used to start at 10AM, and by the time everyone gets to the office they all looked like they just got back from a war. Then comes lunchtime and after everyone has rice they end up feeling sleepy.

At first they were shocked when I announced we are starting at 7AM. But I told them, “Just give it a try, man, just one month!”

The result was amazing. They are happier, and they actually have a life because they can leave by 4PM.

I have an engineer who lives far away from work. During his performance review, he actually thanked me [for the new regulation], as he now has more time to spend with his wife.

I literally cried when I heard that.

Also Read: Music streaming firm Guvera raising US$100M for Indian expansion

Does your celebrity status come with any challenges of its own?

The good thing is that it is easier for me to build a network. I can meet with the big bosses without having to introduce myself.

The challenge is actually the investors. They all asked the same question: How do you manage your time?

The only way to face [that question] is by proving myself.

Any advice for those who would like to switch careers to tech?

I do not think I am in a position to give advice, but I would say just pursue your dream. If you have an idea, put in on paper, test the market. And if the market likes it, then expand.

Beside, in this day of age, everyone is an entrepreneur. We are an entrepreneurial generation.

Image Credit: Kincir

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Singapore-based Go-Jek customers can now pay for rides with DBS PayLah! for both Android and iOS users

Go-Jek riders in Singapore can pay for their rides via DBS PayLah!, following the partnership expansion of the payment service in Singapore with Go-Jek, according to a press statement.

DBS PayLah! feature has been made available in the app for both iOS and Android users in Singapore. The customers can add DBS PayLah! as a preferred payment method for their rides after standard authorising and setting up in the app.

Go-Jek shared that only 35 per cent of its daily ride-hailing transactions are paid for in cash, which brings the opportunity to explore other means of payment especially for those who might not own any debit or credit card.

“Through integrating DBS PayLah! in the Go-Jek app, riders will have the flexibility to choose their preferred payment methods. This is the latest benefit that we are bringing to our users in partnership with DBS,” said General Manager of Go-Jek Singapore, Lien Choong Luen.

Vice versa, the companies said, Go-Jek will be integrated within the DBS PayLah! app over the next few months.

Also Read: Laos local bank partners Everex to facilitate blockchain-based cross border payments

With digital payment integration, Go-Jek’s driver-partners can also make unlimited real-time withdrawals of their earnings from their Go-Jek’s wallets. Payouts are deposited directly into their bank accounts through API-based DBS IDEAL RAPID.

In addition to Singapore, this partnership can be explored further with the possibility of rolling out new services such as cross-marketing initiative in Indonesia in the future.

“Following the success of DBS and Go-Jek’s partnership in Singapore, we have also entered the next phase of our partnership in Indonesia considering it to be our key growth country,” said Shee Tse Koon, Singapore country head at DBS.

Ride-hailing company Go-Jek is originally founded in Indonesia, while DBS currently has more than 460,000 digibank customers in the country.

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The two Singapore-based blockchain companies merge to create Crypto One Stop Solution

Arax, a fintech and blockchain startup in Singapore has merged with COSS, Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchanges.

The companies announced that they will adopt the Crypto One Stop Solution brand that will allow users to trade, store, transact, and spend their digital assets from one platform with one ID.

The utility tokens of both platforms merge into one token that powers one ecosystem. It is called COS. The company claimed that the COS token currently surpasses all existing exchange tokens in the market in terms of utility.

Arax offers a multi digital asset storage and utility product, providing support for several blockchains. Users remain in full control of their private keys while being able to send, receive and spend digital assets on utilities like mobile top-ups (which is supported in 160+ countries), access instant digital asset exchange and make GPS-based transfers.

COSS was launched in mid-2017 and has slowly built its feature stack to support a secure smart contract enabled wallet management system. It also supports five stablecoins, fiat payment gateway for international currencies, listing over 90+ listed digital assets and providing a Fee Split Allocation feature, which lets token holders receive 50 per cent of all trading fees generated by the exchange, distributed through a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation).

Also Read: I made my employees start working at 7AM – and they love it: Giring Ganesha

“Our focus has been crypto adaptability for the masses. Now users who used to storing it on one platform, trading it on another, and sending it to another for every way they wish to spend it will no longer require to do so,” said Sankalp Shangari, Group CEO of COSS and Founder of Arax.

Rune Evensen, Co-Founder and Chief Product & Strategy Officer of COSS, continues by highlighting that COSS will be open still to partner with more providers that wishes to offer its products and services through the newly merged ecosystem.

The token swap to merge the COSS and LALA tokens begins on June 25, 2019 on COSS platform.
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Today we have updates from government agencies and social media giants

Singapore, UK sign MOU to deepen govtech collaboration and exchange – Press Release

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 13 to strengthen collaboration in the design and delivery of digital government public services.

The signing took place at No. 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. Representing the agencies to sign the MoU were Kok Ping Soon (Chief Executive of GovTech Singapore) and Kevin Cunnington (Director General of GDS UK).

For GovTech Singapore, the MOU is the first it has signed with GDS UK.

“The MoU will facilitate greater sharing of experiences and expertise in the development of digital platforms and services to better serve our citizens and businesses. It will also allow mutual exchange of officers to build capabilities and explore opportunities for collaboration to strengthen the digital partnership between the two organisations,” Kok said in a press statement.

Indonesia cancels plan to prohibit discounts for ride-hailing services – The Jakarta Post

Indonesia’s ministry of transportation announced that it would not prohibit ride-hailing companies, particularly those offering motorbike-based services, from giving tariff discounts, according to The Jakarta Post report.

On Thursday, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi told the press that the ministry “would discuss it” upon request from stakeholders.

The statement followed an announcement that the ministry made last month on minimum and maximum tariff regulation for ride-hailing companies. The regulation itself was issued after a series of rallies by motorbike taxi drivers that demanded increased tariffs for their welfare.

Weeks into the trial of the tariff regulation, ride-hailing giants Go-Jek and Grab have given customers discounts amid complaints about the rising tariffs.

Grab Indonesia President Ridzki Kramadibrata said the ride-hailing company was open to discussion with the government over such a regulation.

Also Read: How Singapore’s GovTech is building a robust public e-services ecosystem

Facebook’s new cryptocurrency attracts investors – Wall Street Journal

Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra has attracted investments from big names such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Uber, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report stated that the companies will invest around US$10 million each in a consortium that will govern the cryptocurrency.

Facebook itself will use the money to fund the creation of the cryptocurrency, which is said to be fixed to government-issued currencies to avoid swings.

The cryptocurrency is set to be unveiled in the following week.

Bytedance hires ex-Facebook executive to strengthen TikTok – Bloomberg

Chinese social media giant Bytedance has named Blake Chandlee as the first head of strategic partnerships for its app TikTok, with the official title of vice president, global business solutions.

Chandlee was previously known as an executive in Facebook, who spent about a decade working on the social media giant’s business partnerships in Europe, Latin America and the US.

According to a Bloomberg report, the recruitment is part of the company’s “big recruiting push” to expand the TikTok brand and compete with the likes of Facebook and Snap. It had recently recruited executives from YouTube.

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How a unified approach to payments can ensure a seamless experience for users and enhanced profitability for the e-commerce industry

e-Commerce is a consistent driver of industry growth. 2018 marked the year of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, highlighted by rising incomes, increased mobile adoption, and improved logistics. According to the latest e-Conomy report by Google and Temasek, the region’s digital economy hit an inflection point in 2018 and will reach $240 billion by 2025, which will exceed earlier projections by $40 billion.

Despite this growth trajectory, Southeast Asia still lags behind the rest of the globe in terms of digital and mobile payments penetration. While the region is popularly lauded as being “the next 600 million”, referring to the scale of the population, at least 60 percent remains unbanked or underbanked.

Recognising this gap, innovative fintech startups across Southeast Asia are leveraging tech to meet the needs of consumers who do not have access to traditional banking services such as access to credit, digital payments, and online transactions.

The mobile and digital payments connection

The proliferation of fintech start-ups creates a ripple effect as there is a supply-and-demand dynamic between payments and e-commerce. The pervasiveness of smartphones and faster mobile data connections has driven the growth of mobile commerce. This, in turn, influenced the development of mobile wallets or contactless payment mechanisms. The increased accessibility to cashless payments influences growth in e-commerce and m-commerce, thus leading to a cycle of growth and innovation.

eMarketer, a market research company that provides insights and trends related to digital marketing, media and commerce, projects that within this year, more than half of smartphone users in the Asia Pacific region will pay for goods and services through their mobile devices. By 2022, 56 per cent of payment volume in this region — as well as a staggering 82 per cent in Singapore — is expected to be cashless, according to Frost & Sullivan.

The challenge of digital payments

As digital payments grow, so will concerns over the ease of payments and the security of transactions. The challenge therefore lies in empowering both businesses and customers alike with tools that make digital payments as convenient and secure as paying cash.

According to Cybersource, a global payment management platform from Visa, key trends that businesses should consider when going digital include:

• Integrated frictionless payments;
• Omni-channel, unified commerce and automated checkout;
• Virtualised credentials – embedded everywhere and anywhere.

Reduced transactional friction increases profitability

The ultimate consequence of having high-friction on an e-commerce store is that people buy less because of the added difficulty of completing the transaction. Research shows that around three quarters of e-commerce buyers abandon their shopping carts when it is too difficult to checkout – and this is true across different devices whether on desktop or mobile device.

Transactional friction also includes slow load times and e-commerce pages not optimized for mobile displays. The answer here is to speed up and simplify the shopping and checkout process. Solutions can include reducing page load times through lighter code, server-side improvements, and optimizing on-page copy for better readability even on small displays.

An omni-channel approach to retail improves sales

As part of reducing transactional friction, digital retailers should also consider an omni- or multi-channel approach to sales and checking out. This involves having the ability to service both online and offline customers across both digital and physical channels. For instance, you can allow for online payment, but in-store pickup or collection.

One concern is that an omni-channel retail approach might result in loss of control over where the sale actually happens. For instance, consumers often channel-hop, choosing the most convenient way to buy a product or service. These are platforms not controlled directly by the retailer, such as messaging or social media apps. This means the control of the user experience shifts from the retail business towards the consumer.

For businesses engaging in e-commerce, the key here is to simplify payment mechanisms, which can enhance the user experience, improve loyalty and increase repeat customers. Incorporating solutions such as machine learning, AI, along with social logins and one-click payments can help enhance customer experience, grow revenues and mitigate risks.

Payment credentials are becoming more sophisticated and yet simpler for users

There is a wide disparity of preferred technologies and payment mechanisms across Southeast Asia. For example: Singapore shows a rapid growth in cashless payment technologies. In Malaysia, debit and credit card transactions dominate. Meanwhile, bank transfers and cash are the most popular in Indonesia, although local mobile wallets are starting to gain traction. Cash-on-delivery are still the most popular means of payment in Vietnam and the Philippines.

Such a disparity might make it difficult for e-commerce and m-commerce businesses to address all the nuances of each market in the region. However, this also presents an opportunity, in terms of the need to streamline the payments technology. One trend that Cybersource has identified is how tokens will play a stronger role in securing card data, which is being virtualised. With payments infrastructure moving toward a tokenised approach, credentials become virtualised and can thus be embedded anywhere.

What this means is that a transaction can take place either online or offline, or both within the confines of an e-commerce platform or even across a different platform such as messaging or social media app. User and payment credentials still remain intact due to the tokenised nature of the transaction – ensuring a unified user experience across these different channels.

The takeaway

The retail environment is increasingly shifting toward omni-channel, driven by a focus on technology and user experience. Expect consumers to channel-hop across online and physical stores, aided by smartphones, tablets, and social media, whichever is most convenient.

For a digital retail business, the key to success lies in capturing the benefits across all these channels. This means facilitating the deal from any touchpoint, thus completing the sale regardless of where the user makes the purchase. Here, a secure and efficient payment network can streamline and unify the process, ensuring optimal profitability for businesses and better convenience for users.

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Image credit: 123rf.com / ID 53804229

 

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The funding is the extension of its Series B funding announced last year, led by Kakaopay corp.

Marketplace lender based in South Korea PeopleFund announced that it has raised an additional US$5 million for its Series B round, continued from last year, bringing the total equity raised to date to approximately US$21 million. The Series B round last year was led by Kakaopay corp.

PeopleFund claimed to be the first “Korean marketplace lender” that has secured foreign funding. The startup also said that the US$30M in debt financing will be used to scale up its lending business.

In laymen’s terms, the company connects buyers and lenders to provide customers with more diverse financing options and lenders with an additional revenue channel.

In its official statement, PeopleFund mentioned that Korean government designates fintech as a top priority on the nation’s economic agenda. This initiative, the company believes, has helped propel growth of the marketplace lending sector.

Along with the funding, PeopleFund also appointed three new advisors that will be focussed in providing strategic counsel for the company’s expansion plans beyond Korea.

Also Read: Fintech startup Arax Wallet merges with crypto exchange COSS

In Korea alone, there are currently 150 marketplace lenders in Korea, in which only 50 are operational and only the top 5 players, including PeopleFund. The sector serves more than 60 per cent of the market.
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Becoming an accomplished entrepreneur isn’t just about creating a great product

Being afraid to lose. Thick skin. The patience to queue for hours. While these traits form part of the (stereotypical) Singaporean’s DNA, such qualities might not make for a successful entrepreneur.

Instead, what traits would be required? The best way to find out is naturally to ask people who are successful entrepreneurs themselves. That’s what Dr. Lillian Koh, CEO of fintech education provider FinTech Academy, did in a “The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship” panel discussion at the Young NTUC’s recent inaugural LIT DISCOvery conference, which involved veteran entrepreneurs such as:

• Christopher Yeo, CEO of artificial intelligence platform Sentient.io,
• Rachel Lim, co-founder of fashion e-commerce store Love, Bonito, and
• Entrepreneur and investor Teo Ser Luck

Drawing from their wealth of experience, they shared their thoughts on five traits that Singapore’s entrepreneurs need to develop to excel in their business ventures.

Self-awareness

Self-awareness refers to being aware of who you are as a person, such as your interests, qualities, and shortcomings. With entrepreneurship being all the rage these days, being self-aware can help you decide whether this is what you really want for yourself before you take the plunge.

For example: are you keen on pursuing a particular business venture because you have passion for it, and believe it can – as Lim puts it – “make a dent in the universe”? Or was that business idea the first one that came to mind, and you’re charging in blindly because you see entrepreneurship as your ticket to fame and stardom?

When you start building your business, you’ll likely also have to build a team that can complement your strengths and weaknesses – assuming you know what these are in the first place.

“If there’s one thing I wish I had known earlier, it’s that I had known myself inside out,” shares Lim. “It’s only in knowing yourself and your values, what makes you tick, your motivations, what are the areas of the business that you can and want to focus on, that allows you to have that knowledge to bring the right people to come and team up with you. And the right people at the right time is everything.”

Business-mindedness

Let’s say you’ve exercised your self-awareness muscle, and decided that entrepreneurship is the right path for you. You’ve also decided that your business will be one selling your favourite snack: salted egg yolk fish skin.

However, imagine that we live in an alternate universe where absolutely no one will eat nor buy salted egg yolk fish skin. Do you go ahead with this business, even though you love salted egg yolk fish skin to bits?

Probably not. Remember, you’re running a business here. If you don’t have a product or service that enough people will pay for, you may face difficulties covering your expenses, let alone make any profits.

You can’t afford to be too romantic about your business. The longer you let a failing business drag on, the more money and time it’ll cost you, Teo says.

“If nobody’s paying for your services, or the products you’re trying to develop fail, or you can’t raise money, maybe you should review your business model, your products and services, and take a hard look,” he advised.

“Cut your losses [if you need to] and do it quick, then review if you can make a comeback.”

Salesmanship

To complement your workable business model, you need to be able to make sales. Your revenue certainly is going to materialize out of nowhere.

Based on his experience in the fintech industry, Yeo opined that the “biggest blind spot for entrepreneurs who are geeks and techies is actually in sales […] many of them are so deep into their tech that they think customers will just bash down their door to say ‘Let me buy, let me buy’.”

Also Read: A customer-centric and cross-channel approach to payments will drive growth for your business

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Having the world’s best product or service isn’t going to do your business any good if you can’t persuade people to open their wallets for it.

Yeo said that even if you don’t do the selling yourself, you’ll likely need to manage the sales team you’ve hired to close the sales. Naturally, you can’t do this well if you don’t have some prior sales knowledge or experience, so be prepared to brush up on your sales skills.

Avoid micromanagement

Congratulations! After a long search, you’ve managed to hire the right individuals who identify with your values and business goals, and have the required skills, to help make your vision a reality.

The next step is to give your team space to actually do their work.

“I like to empower my team members to make decisions without micro-managing them,” shared Yeo. “I think people appreciate that you trust them, and allow them to do their job without you looking over their shoulders all the time.”

Your business is your baby – we get that. It can be terrifying to see your business in the hands of others, because there’s a chance they’ll make a mistake that erases all your hard work. But remember that you hired these talented people because you trusted they could get the job done.

So learn to let go and let your team do what they were hired to do, Yeo advised. More likely than not, their competence and dedication to your cause will exceed your expectations by a mile.

Grit

In theory, starting a business is really easy. All you need to do is to engage a corporate secretarial firm to incorporate a company for you, and voilà! You can immediately put the title of Founder on your CV.

But growing and scaling your new business is the tough part. Every day, new problems will present themselves, shares Teo. You’ll need to have the grit to press on through these, even if others may just admit defeat.

Lim is no stranger to adversity. To start her blog shop (which later evolved into Love, Bonito), she dropped out of university and broke her government scholarship bond. And to repay the bond, she had to borrow a five-figure sum from her mother — wiping out her mother’s entire life savings in the process.

Also Read: How to avoid the pitfalls of starting up

“At that time, my dad had also just gone through bankruptcy so it was financially a very tough time for us. That gave me even more impetus to make sure I wouldn’t fail, that my business would do well, because I really didn’t want to waste my mum’s sacrifice,” recounted Lim, to applause from the audience.

You’ve heard from the experts. Now, it’s your turn.

You may be tempted to mug the five traits shared above like how you would for study for an exam back in school.  Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is not something that you can memorize your way to success.

Instead, you’ll have to practice these five traits throughout your entrepreneurship journey until they become second nature to you. And if you’re serious about being an entrepreneur, there’s no better time to start than now.

Good luck with your business, and godspeed!
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Image Credit: J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash

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The startup also offers a Bluetooth-enabled dive computer, called COSMIQ, which lets divers track and calculate important information, such as when they need to take a decompression stop

(Editor’s Note: Here’s a story from our archives we feel is relevant even today and deserves your attention)

In 2011, James Tsuei, a scuba diver enthusiast, decided to plan a vacation and get his Open Water Diver certification, an entry-level autonomous diver certification for recreational scuba diving. But the process of planning and finalising the trip took a whole month, which consisted of hours of internet searching for suitable destinations and finding the right dive operator, along with multiple postings on dive forums looking for advice.

“There wasn’t any centralised information resource on the internet for scuba trip planning, and all dive-related bookings required a long emailing back-and-forth process with clarifying details to accomplish,” Tsuei tells e27. “I saw a business opportunity here, and this led us to founding Deepblu, which aims to solve problems associated with dive trip planning and booking.”

As per some estimates, there are currently about six to eight million active divers (defined as people who make three or more diving sessions each year), and dive trips are big investments. Divers spend an average of US$1,000 on equipment and certification, and then even more money on dive shops (businesses run by dive professionals who provide training and tours), flights and accommodation. However, information about diving (destinations, quality of dive operators, etc) are all very fragmented online with no central location to assist divers with their trip planning process.

Founded in 2015, Taipei-headquartered Deepblu brings resources for divers onto a centralised platform. In addition to a social network for divers to share dive logs and photos with other enthusiasts, the startup also offers a Bluetooth-enabled dive computer, called COSMIQ. A wristwatch-like device, COSMIQ lets divers track and calculate important information, such as when they need to take a decompression stop.

“Divers can capture and record their dive experiences through the COSMIQ device. They can also capture all of their precious dive memories under their Deepblu profile stored in the cloud. It also enables them to share their dive adventures through social media posts on Deepblu with location tags,” he explains.

Divers are also able to ask questions or exchange opinions in the discussion groups on the social networking platform.

Also Read: As Southeast Asia pushes to digitise SMEs, Echelon is here to help facilitate the process

Recently, the startup rolled out Planet Deepblu, an interactive dive travel booking and planning tool. “Planet Deepblu is a marketplace, where dive shops can list their services on the platform, and divers can chat directly with dive shop owners, making for a personal experience. We position it as the ‘Airbnb for diving’,” he adds.

According to Tsuei, Planet Deepblu enables users to research thousands of dive spots throughout the world. The platform has accumulated over hundreds of thousands of user generated content (UGC) shared by its users about dive destinations including dive data, dive spot reviews, photos, and videos covering over 10,000 dive sites around the globe.

“Planet Deepblu already has over 500 dive experiences for scuba divers to discover and book directly with dive operators. Divers can directly contact the dive operators through the in-platform messaging feature to learn more about their services and book their trip,” he shares.

While the current focus is the North American market, the company plans to quickly scale Planet Deepblu to cover Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, which has the world’s most stunning dive sites.

Tsuei claims that the niche scuba diving market has a considerable economic scale. The total global spending in recreational scuba diving and snorkeling was around US$25-30 billion in 2017. The largest piece of the average diver’s spending on scuba activities outside of scuba travel-related expenses (transportation, lodging and meals) is on dive experiences, which is approximately 30 per cent of the total pie. This is the focused business of Planet Deepblu.

As of now, Planet Deepblu is a free-to-use platform. In future, as it matures, it will pivot into a commission model, wherein it will take a cut from booking transactions. The firm also plans to expand to a wider audience by moving into other water activities like snorkeling to earn additional revenues.

Deepblu recently raised US$3.9 million from Silverlink Capital, which helped it to bring COSMIQ to the market and build the Deepblu social platform. It is now raising its second pre- Series A and looking for strategic investors that will be able to help us to develop Planet Deepblu and its services to the next stage.

Currently, US based users account for the the largest user base for Deepblu, followed by China.

In the scuba dive booking space, Deepblu competes with PADI. But unlike PADI, Tsuei claims, Deepblu does not just provide a limited selection of expensive live board experience, but all kinds of diving experience such as wreck diving, shark diving, cave diving and even dive experiences for physically challenged divers.

“In emerging market like China and Southeast Asia, scuba diving is perceived as a trendy sport amongst young professionals and a great way to explore the world. We hope to leverage this trend to grow our platform,” he concludes.

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