SEA’s farmers can now monetise livestock through blockchain
The story: Singapore-based fintech startup InfoCorp has launched Sentinel Chain, an international platform to accept the use of livestock as collateral via a consortium blockchain.
The platform allows investors from around the world to finance smallholder farmer via livestock-backed financing companies.
About the market: Southeast Asia’s poultry production is expected to reach 12.3 million metric tons (mmt) by 2028 from 9.2 mmt in 2018, up to 80 per cent of which is provided by smallholder farmers.
One of the limitations faced by smallholder farmers in collateralising their livestock includes the lack of a systematic approach to verifying their ownership of livestock. There is also no verified system to help convert the value of livestock into dollars and cents.
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This leaves farmers helpless in the face of uncertain times such as the COVID-19 pandemic when they require bank loans but are unable to provide legally recognized collateral in return.
What does Sentinel Chain do?: It addresses this issue by creating a digital system to quantify, identify and verify livestock ownership at the local market level, enabling unbanked farmers to finally unlock the value of their livestock assets.
This, in turn, paves the way for them to receive livestock insurance and collateralizable loans. Coupled with a pool of offshore investors, access to credit becomes cheaper and faster, providing these farmers with a comprehensive suite of financial services that empower them to partake in the global economy.
EduSpaze, Kaplan join hands to support Singapore edutech startups
The story: EduSpaze, a Singapore-based edutech accelerator supported by Enterprise Singapore, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kaplan, a large and diverse education provider, to support the edutech startup community and provide real-world learning opportunities for students in this sector in Singapore.
Also Read: Why edutech is becoming an investor favourite this season
The objectives: With this partnership, both parties seek to collaborate to provide a group of over 20 Singapore-based startups with the opportunity to learn about innovative edutech solutions that can help them with different significant aspects of their business, including on-boarding, better logistics and operations, and eventually help them scale.
The partnership will tap on Kaplan’s expertise in developing industry-ready talent to grow the local talent pool for edtech entrepreneurs and professionals. Where appropriate, Kaplan will leverage its global presence to help these Singaporean startups expand and grow overseas.
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