I plan to write some thought pieces every other month to document the activities that are happening in the Southeast Asian tech startup –ones that we did not get to publish as a feature or news article. It would be a neat way to wrap up our editorial calendar for a month, enabling us to look back and understand what the month meant for us.

For September, the highlight seemed to centre around the return of events in many Southeast Asian countries.

In Indonesia, we attended the NXC International Summit, where we witnessed notable announcements such as Indonesia’s upcoming plan to launch a crypto exchange.

Meanwhile, to say that the last two weeks were intense in Singapore is an understatement.

There was the Singapore F1 weekend for the rest of the community, but the event also happened to be in conjunction with several major tech events in the country. We went to TOKEN2049 to speak to three global Web3 companies on their strategies to win over the Asia Pacific market. In the same week, we also received invitations to at least five other events in the Web3 space.

Our friends at Tech In Asia also hosted their conference just the week before.

We can even say that September was the month when the MICE industry in Singapore was making its comeback as the borders reopened and the world started turning again. But what does it mean for the tech startup ecosystem?

Also Read: Echelon 2022 to discuss the state of the SEA startup ecosystem

As the world keeps on turning

Last week did come with its own disadvantages as Singapore recorded 6,888 new COVID-19 cases following the return of F1 Grand Prix to the country after two years of absence. There is no doubt that this part is unfortunate. It reminded us that the fight against the pandemic is not entirely over.

But for the tech startup ecosystem, perhaps this is a moment where we can be a little bit hopeful.

Every event has its own uniqueness, and startup ecosystem members go to events for different reasons. I recently spoke to some founders about attending events; some believed it remains a great opportunity to promote their works and secure sales. But in principle, the advantage of attending events is its networking opportunities.

Personally, by visiting just one event in the past two weeks, I was able to secure leads for many of our projects from the Contributor Programme to regular feature articles. Seeing the startups that exhibited their booths at the event and the sessions on the stage gave us a glimpse of what is happening in the ecosystem.

(It also felt great to be able to reconnect with familiar faces after two years of not meeting in person.)

But in the context of Web3 space, the hosting of TOKEN2049 and similar events in the last week of September did help to get the word out about the Web3 space. Because let us face it: There are still several people out there who are still questioning the legitimacy of this vertical. The great homework industry players have in growing it involves advocating and educating the masses about its prospects and advantages, and events –especially ones that coincide with major events such as F1– are the right opportunity for it.

This is the kind of hopeful moment that we needed as we enter the final quarter of the year, closing in the works that we had done before –and preparing for a new one.

I want to close this note by reminding you that Echelon 2022 is set to happen at Resorts World Sentosa on October 27-28. This will be a great opportunity for us to reconnect. I cannot wait to see more familiar faces at the event.

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