Singapore-based Osome, which has developed an accounting and corporate compliance app for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has raked in US$25 million in a Series B round from investors such as Illuminate Financial, AFG Partners, and Winter Capital.

The firm plans to expand its Asia operations, primarily in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Also Read: What any founder needs to know about the art of accounting

This announcement comes as Singaporean banking giant OCBC has launched a digital banking partnership with Osome to give businesses a one-stop shop for their financial needs.

Established by Ukrainian Victor Lysenko (who founded RocketBank and sold to payment provider Qiwi in 2017), Osome helps SMEs set up through a simple platform with easy-to-use software and an expert accountant to take care of financial admin.

It leverages Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques, combined with the experience of human experts, to solve the problem of time-consuming administrative tasks, such as payroll and secretarial work. This way, it aims to disrupt the fragmented accounting and corporate services industry.

Osome claims it has seen revenues double since its previous raise.

This year, the company launched a comprehensive accounting platform to complement its accountant offer.

Also Read: Fintech startup Osome snags US$3M funding led by Target Global, preparing Hong Kong’s, UK’s expansion

Osome now integrates with eight e-commerce platforms: Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Lazada, Esty, Shopee, Square, and Wix.

Ivan Ong, Principal at Osome investor AFG Partners, commented: “Osome is addressing a central issue in back office management for entrepreneurs and SMEs globally. In a short time, it has positioned itself as a market leader in a space that has significant growth potential.”

In June 2021, Osome secured US$16 million in Series A funding from Target Global (Berlin), AltaIR Capital, Phystech Ventures, S16VC, and Peng T. Ong of Monk’s Hill Ventures.

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Hong Kong-headquartered open metaverse company Animoca Brands has acquired a majority stake in the music and gaming startup Pixelynx through its controlled subsidiary.

The transactions details remain undisclosed.

Through this deal, Animoca aims to build, invest in and acquire studios, infrastructure and technologies that will power the future of the music industry through integration with gaming and Web3 technologies and communities.

Animoca Brands earlier invested in Pixelynx’s seed funding round in December 2021.

Los Angeles-based Pixelynx was founded in 2020 by musicians and technologists deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) and Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), along with music and gaming industry veterans Ben Turner, Dean Wilson, and Inder Phull.

It creates a physical and digital ecosystem for artists and fans by building products that blur the lines between music, gaming, and Web3. The ecosystem provides artists control over how they build experiences with fans, partners, and platforms to create new ways for music lovers to develop, share, and monetise music.

Also Read: Animoca Brands rakes in US$125M from Temasek, TGV, others

The startup’s upcoming debut game Elynxir is a next-generation mobile gaming platform that will bring fans closer to their favourite artists through exclusive music content, in-game collectibles, and playable immersive experiences. It leverages advanced AR and geolocation for players to discover games, music, artists, collectibles, and community-made content.

Elynxir will be integrated into the Animoca ecosystem with an emphasis on interoperability, open standards, and new interactive audio-visual formats.

Pixelynx also operates LynxLabs, a new investment programme to develop the next wave of music and entertainment ventures by offering them access to funding, artists, celebrities, token design, and technical support.

The lab has already invested in Volta XR and Oorbit.

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands, commented: “Pixelynx is one of the new wave of companies that are paving novel pathways for the music industry amid a major technological shift from centralised to decentralised ownership.”

Inder Phull, CEO of Pixelynx, commented: “Animoca Brands has established itself as a dominant player in building the shared vision of an open metaverse. This deal marks the beginning of a new era in the music industry in which Web3, gaming, and transmedia content will unlock new formats, revenue streams, and business models that support artists, fans, and labels.”

The global music revenue is expected to reach US$131 billion by 2030 (source: Goldman Sachs, 2022). From a strategic fit perspective, Animoca Brands and Pixelynx will focus on developing new formats of music consumption that can be scaled across the metaverse to unlock new revenue opportunities through the access that both companies have to a global network of platforms, infrastructure, and rights-holders in the field of entertainment.

On Wednesday, Nikkei Asia reported that Animoca Brands plans to set up a fund worth as much as US$2 billion to invest in metaverse businesses.

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At e27, we have kickstarted a new article series called work-life balance to learn more about tech enablers and executives and their lives beyond working hours.

Will Fan is the Head of School at NewCampus, where he is reinventing management training for hypergrowth leaders in Asia.

Over the past decade, he’s empowered over 15,000 students across Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East. Fan has worked with scaleups, corporates and universities to make leadership development accessible and impactful.

Outside his life’s work, he is found writing for Forbes, practising headstands at yoga, and obsessing over his indoor plants.

He is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read his thought leadership articles here). 

In this candid interview, Fan talks about his personal and professional life.

How would you explain what you do to a five-year-old?

I love this question. I am an owner of a school that teaches bosses how to become better bosses. My students often learn in groups of 25 to 50. They learn together on a computer and sometimes watch videos too. The students get to practice fun activities that help them become better bosses.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

Running a startup is already hard. Running an education startup is like doing it in hard mode as it is one of the slowest industries to reform (pre-pandemic). Founders in this sector have to balance everything — from appealing to multiple stakeholders and building a grassroots brand to creating a profitable, cockroach-type business over time.

It’s taken my team and me almost eight years to build a repeatable flywheel. It took countless years of learning, from selling to universities to governments to consumers. It’s been rough, but I’m proud to say that the accelerator is here.

It’s also critical now that the team switches mindset from “survival mode” to “growth mode” and capitalise on the momentum we have.

Ultimately, we want to build a brand that changes how people learn, work and live. There’s no proven formula to get there.

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

I’m eight years into a twenty-five-year journey, building the next hundred-year-old brand. My driver is to design what modern leaders represent and how they should be nurtured over time.

Growing up, I had very few role models, especially coming from an immigrant of Asian descent. So it’s vital for me to constantly build communities and ecosystems that provide such access and exposure.

Also Read: Cultivating an honest culture: Why leaders should be transparent

My superpower is being able to connect with people.

In the early days, it taught founding students; now, I am working closely with clients and partners who want to evangelise our mission.

Moving forward, it will be more of the same, hopefully scaling to new tribes of entrepreneurs and educators beyond Asia and creating a global footprint for NewCampus.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

Besides your usual suspects (Zoom, Slack, Hubspot), which is usually fundamental for a b2b startup, it’s also the bread and butter for NewCampus as a remote team of thirty-something people.

We’re spread across China, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. A core part of our workflow is ensuring that project management is well-documented and asynchronous conversations are cohesively written.

Personally, I’ve been very excited to incorporate Artificial Intelligence into my work. For example, this interview was transcribed by a speech tool, as I prefer sharing my thoughts verbally rather than in writing. 

For my creative hobbies, I’m diving deep into AI art and exploring ways to incorporate that into NewCampus content and storytelling.

It’s a huge opportunity to revolutionise many industries, and evolving your personal or professional toolstack is key to staying on top.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I’m incredibly introverted! This usually surprises many of my clients, investors and even team members who have never met me in person.

You’ll often find me presenting to large crowds or swimming through networking events, but I need personal time to reset and reflect. The need to re-energise is real.

Daily, I may be taking 10 to 15 calls, but in between, I’ll be curled up on the couch. If I’m at drinks, I’m usually the quietest in the corner unless called upon to pitch and build relationships.

Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

I prefer to work from home. I have a sophisticated setup for recording content, hosting roundtables and teaching classes, and speaking to the remote team. My previous business was also in vintage furniture, so I absolutely love having my own “space” to think and reset.

Also Read: Your identity should not be limited to what you do at work: Sheryl Chen of Qualgro

Thursdays are our company’s “no-Zoom” day, so you’ll find me digitally detoxing and getting to know folks over meaningful coffee and drinks.

What would you tell your younger self?

I mentioned earlier that I had very few role models while growing up. For a long time, especially coming from the corporate world, it was important to put a face of confidence in everything we do. Flex your experience. Flex your wealth. Flex your status.

Looking back, it was really a naive kid with severe imposter syndrome. I’d tell myself that finding internal confidence is key for anyone to thrive. It’s why one of my core philosophies, when it comes to the team, is bringing your most authentic self to the table, whether it’s at home or work.

Finding authenticity may take you five, ten, or twenty years. Don’t rush it.

Can you describe yourself in 3 words?

Creative. People-oriented. Hungry.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

I’m a fanatic when it comes to working out. I go to yoga and f45 around six times a week. Especially in a tough startup climate, it’s key to take a step back and realise that everything is probably not as dramatic as you think. Often we find ourselves tunnel-visioned.

Getting a good sweat and resetting the mind keeps the journey sustainable and the experience fun.

Outside of fitness, you’ll find me illustrating, advising and investing in Web3 projects. It’s a way to learn about a new class of users, how emerging brands become relevant, and stay alert to what’s vogue.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

I’m terribly outdated when it comes to music. Recently, I came across BTS, even though one of their songs, Dynamite, is a regular introduction for our cohort programmes. If you have any recommendations on what other songs are good, please share!

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The past century has seen the adoption of high-end technology become increasingly prevalent across industries around the world. However, one industry that has resisted that change is the hospitality industry, insisting on the value of “the human touch”.

With the hallmark of great hospitality being attention to detail and personalisation made only possible by human instinct and intuition, even the smartest artificial intelligence software has been unable to compare. 

Things took a turn when the COVID-19 pandemic hit when human contact became the enemy as the primary vessel of germs and viruses. Many hotels and restaurants had to quickly pivot and turn to technology to keep these physical human touchpoints to a minimum.

Technology adoption has also expedited the introduction of sustainability solutions in F&B, such as waste management, as well as central and cloud kitchen services that helped many small restaurants compete and survive. 

This isn’t a new trend. Fully automated cafes, complete with self-service kiosks, robot baristas, and robot servers, are not uncommon in South Korea. These cafes run fully autonomously, without a single human staff and operate completely on a robot workforce.

What about the rest of Asia and, more specifically, Singapore?

Trending now: Robots

Just like in Korea, Singapore is being pushed into faster adoption rates of technology in F&B, driven by huge challenges in finding manpower. Filling the gap are robotic serving and cooking solutions that paved the way for automation in both front and back-of-house services.

F&B Robotics was clearly on display at the recent FHA HoReCa 2022 Exhibition that took place from 25-28 October.  There were robots to cook, serve, clean, and do myriad other tasks. These robotics solutions are spearheading transformation in how kitchens and restaurants operate. The Singapore government has even included robotics as a key transformational technology within their Hotel Industry Transformation Map that was announced at the show.

Also Read: How accessible robotic solutions enable business efficiency

The trend of serving robots is becoming more commonplace in different types and sizes of restaurants in Singapore, with some doing more than just serving. They take care of menial, repetitive tasks, freeing up staff to focus on the more important things. 

For instance, Robot Chicken Pocha employs this to its greatest advantage, utilising a robot arm to see its main task of frying chicken. 

Self-service kiosks have also become the default in many quick-service restaurants, where you won’t find anyone taking orders behind the counter.  These kiosks allow staff to focus on delivering food quickly, so customers avoid waiting in long lines to get their orders.

The manpower crunch

Multiple factors are proving to be the driving force behind this pickup in the adoption of technology. Singapore’s F&B industry was among the hardest hit during the pandemic that lasted more than two years.

The first to be affected were the people keeping the industry afloat. As revenue fell drastically, employees were either let go, or many decided to return home for good or could not re-enter Singapore as borders shut during the pandemic.

Data on the Singapore Department of Statistics (Singstat) website showed that about 15,400 employees left the F&B services sector in 2020. With the industry reeling from the crisis, the sector only saw a net increase of 600 workers in 2021.

The manpower shortage in the F&B sector has hit home, especially in recent months, as Singapore significantly eased its COVID-19 restrictions, including increasing the cap on social gathering sizes, allowing F&B eateries to seat 10 fully vaccinated people together, and lifting the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol after 10.30 pm at F&B establishments.  This spells a lot of customers with not enough service team members to serve them. 

F&B businesses expect the manpower crunch to worsen and impede the sector’s recovery when tourism picks up again in the coming years. This manpower crisis is not just a local problem. Labour shortages, rising salaries, high turnover, heightening inflation, and more are challenges apparent even in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. This and inflation are driving up costs across all aspects of the business, from ingredient purchasing to renting payment and manpower employment.

A pressing need for solutions

The plus side to this early-stage adoption is that there’s still room for growth, a lot of it. The F&B tech space is still very fragmented, with no dominant players. There isn’t a Google or Meta equivalent for F&B tech, at least not yet. FZ Digital hopes to fill that gap in the market with our wide offerings of tried, tested, and proven products and services.

Also Read: Why robotics is just entering its prime phase

We have strong reasons to believe that these trends will accelerate and make F&B tech an exciting growth space since manpower and cost issues will continue to be huge challenges. As robotics and other automation solutions mature and get more cost-effective, the industry is starting to understand the economic benefits of adopting new technologies. Simultaneously consumers are more accepting of these new solutions. 

FZ Digital is capable of and is already bringing together automation technologies, such as robotics and digital marketing, and building integrated solutions tailored to F&B customers’ specific needs that leverage our existing restaurant management systems at the core of the business.  By integrating these solutions, we can solve new problems and create added value that will save our customers’ costs and manpower and increase revenue.

In the foreseeable future: High tech, no touch

To materialise our vision, several challenges need to be addressed. 

We are focused on bringing to market the right solutions and partners to build this vision to solve F&B customers’ most pressing business problems.  The F&B industry often has limited IT budgets and expertise, which means the solutions must deliver clear value from the start. 

We must also educate the various stakeholders and decision-makers that robotics and automation aren’t a total replacement for human staff.  As automation and robotics continue to expand their capabilities to further free up manpower in the dining room and kitchen, it will not remove the need for human labour.

Instead, it will free up manpower requirements for lower-skilled roles so that staff can be more responsive to provide better customer service and perform higher-end skilled tasks.

By recognising the benefits of technology, we can be more efficient. And by embracing the support of technology to augment the human resources we have, the F&B industry can grow by leaps and bounds.

In light of all the above, the next few years will be interesting as we enter a new phase where F&B robotics solutions can be integrated more closely into existing F&B operations and systems, creating new end-to-end experiences.

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Filipino startup accelerator Archipelago Labs (A-Labs) has launched a US$10 million Web3 fund.

Archipelago Labs is backed by reputable partners from the Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), Oak Drive Ventures, and Magellan Digital Investment Group (MDIG).

Archipelago Labs helps the startup ecosystem at the grassroots level through investments and advisory services. It also looks to hold programmes such as hackathons and incubators for specific verticals and startup stages. 

It boasts a strong network of mentors, experts, and capital partners who will support the startups in growing their ventures.

Also Read: Binance acquires Japanese crypto exchange SEBC

Founded in 2022, A-Labs is led by founders with crypto and business backgrounds and focuses on sectors like the intersection of Web2 and Web3, consumer applications, infrastructure, tools, decentralised finance, and the metaverse.

Next year, A-Labs will run the first cohort for its Archipelago Labs Accelerator Block, an eight-week, cohort-based accelerator programme.

“We believe that the building blocks of Web3 are found in the Philippines. The country has much to offer in the Web3 space. With that, we invite proponents of the space to get in touch with us as we build a better future through Web3,” said Lance Pormarejo, A-Labs’s Executive Director.

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Crypto trading has proved massively rewarding for you, but now you are worried about the tax bills, aren’t you?

At the same time, if you, by chance, do not pay taxes, there will be severe repercussions. Now, while there is no way you can avoid paying crypto tax, there are some ways you can at least resort to (in compliance with all the legal norms) and save on crypto taxes.

Here are the nine brilliant ways that can be of great use to you.

Opt for long-term investments

The taxes are usually less when you have clung to your cryptocurrency investments for at least 12 months. Now look at the advantage of holding on to cryptos; you must pay 0 to 20 per cent capital gains tax on long-term properties, while on short-term ones, the capital gains tax is usually drastically higher, i.e., at least 10 to 37 per cent.

But, there is a tiny problem here; the volatility of crypto assets is much higher, so holding on to those for a long time can be a little risky. But if you can predict the price movement, you can make an educated decision.

Gift cryptocurrencies

Tax benefits will come your way when you gift away cryptocurrencies. It might seem like a radical move, but there are specific benefits for you to understand.

However, if the gifting value exceeds US$15,000, you must pay a nominal gift tax. Gifting crypto is a little unorthodox, but this could be a great way to distribute wealth among family members and friends you trust. The best part is the recipient is also eligible to receive tax benefits along with you. When A gifts crypto gifts to B, B’s crypto income will not fall in the taxable event category.

However, the recipient must keep an eye on the fall and rise in the price of the crypto gifts because any fluctuations must be reported precisely if the recipient decides to sell it in the future.

Tax-loss harvesting

The practice of tax-loss harvesting involves deliberately selling off your cryptocurrency assets at a loss to save on taxes. If you find that some of your cryptocurrency investments have depreciated in value, tax-loss harvesting can be a smart move to reduce your tax bills on cryptocurrencies.

Also Read: Why is the cryptocurrency market growth in Eastern Asia slowing down

In fact, this method can bring advantages in the case of cryptocurrencies, which do not apply to any other asset classes. For instance, the “wash sale rule” that applies to stock investments does not apply to cryptocurrencies. So if you find that your bitcoin or rose coin price has dipped, you can sell them off at a loss and buy back tokens.

Use your IRA or 401-K to make crypto purchases or sell them

If you have a retirement account, use it to the fullest to earn tax-free wealth. However, note that you cannot withdraw any part of your savings until you reach a specific age. Roth IRA holders can experience tax benefits.

For instance, if A decides to sell his capital assets accumulated in his Roth IRA, he doesn’t have to pay capital gains tax until he withdraws whatever he earned. Many IRAs allow crypto investments like Bitcoin IRA, Coin IRA, and more.

Draw your profits during low-income periods

You must already be aware that the amount of taxes you pay depends on your income range during that year. So you can withdraw from the crypto market with gains in such a year when your personal earnings are low.

It can make a significant difference in the amount of tax you have to pay in such circumstances; the rate of tax levied when you sell cryptocurrency after a year is 0 per cent for taxpayers whose income is less than US$40,000.

Offer donations in crypto

In case you did not know, donations through cryptocurrencies do not invite any taxes, so this can be a wonderful way of contributing to meaningful causes that you believe in. When you donate cryptos after a year of holding them as investments, they can be withdrawn depending on the fair market price when you plan to donate them.

Moreover, in such cases, the IRS also permits cryptocurrency investors to opt for “double dipping” on their tax benefits.

Relocate to a low-tax state

As incredible as it may sound, there are crypto investors who choose to shift base to a different state with lower tax rates in the USA. States like Florida, Texas, Washington, and South Dakota are income tax-free.

Also Read: How this cutting-edge technology helps fortify your crypto security

Some investors have also been as drastic as relocating to a different country searching for lower tax rates! Countries such as Portugal and El Salvador have tax-free policies for crypto investments.

Apply for a cryptocurrency loan

Many of us might not know this, but procuring a loan in cryptocurrency is not taxable, unlike selling cryptos. Well, as of now, the IRS is yet to publish specific regulatory guidelines on DeFi loans.

So if you want to save more on your crypto gains taxes, you can apply for a loan using your cryptos as collateral. And based on the rate of interest and your individual income group, you might be able to save more on taxes by taking out a loan.

Hire a CPA with expertise in cryptocurrencies

You might consider seeking professional help from a Certified Public Accountant to help you navigate your cryptocurrency tax bills. An experienced CPA can easily help you devise strategies that slash your crypto taxes. It might be expensive, but it will be worth it in the end.

Final thoughts

These are some of the smartest options to help you save more on your crypto taxes and lessen your liability. However, the best step ahead is to consult with an experienced tax professional to clearly understand the associated legal complexities and then formulate suitable strategies.

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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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Jakarta-based carbon technology platform Fairatmos has received US$4.5 million in a seed round of financing.

Go-Ventures and Kreasi Terbarukan TBS, the investment arm of energy companies Toba Bara Sejahtera, led the round.

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India and prominent angel investors also participated.

Fairatmos plans to use the new funds to strengthen its platform, providing new digital innovations in the carbon market and outreach to more communities and project developers.

Also Read: How Zuno Carbon plans to help organisations reduce their environmental impact

A part of the funds will go into growing the team across multiple functions, including remote sensing analytics experts and product and engineering roles.

Founded in 2022 by CEO Natalia Rialucky, Fairatmos builds an innovative solution to help project developers to design carbon sequestration projects, verify carbon credits, and connect with companies and individuals seeking to buy or finance carbon credits to reach their net-zero goals.

Its mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder communities through additional income from involvement in carbon projects and reduced degradation of their surrounding ecosystem.

In the future, Fairatmos plans to connect developers with companies and individuals who seek to counterbalance their carbon emissions as part of their net-zero goals.

Rialucky said: “Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 196 countries endorsed the global goal of maintaining global temperature rise by 1.5 C, meaning cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030. 702 companies globally have pledged their net zero targets, a vast growth in the previous year, including Indonesia. One way for companies to meet their target is to counterbalance their emission via carbon credits.”

“Developing high-quality, scalable carbon sequestration projects is not an easy task. Despite the abundant potential for Indonesia to become the carbon sink of the world, historically, there have been few projects in Indonesia, as there are many technical barriers and upfront costs that make it challenging for communities and organisations to participate.”

The startup has so far gained good traction and worked with over 40 project developers across several carbon sequestration projects in mangroves, forests and agriculture.

Also Read: Preference for green jobs is the “most exciting” climate tech development: Lightspeed

It also works with the Indonesian government to follow regulatory guidance in developing carbon projects.

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While working at McDonald’s and Burger King, Anthony Villanti realised that developing strategies for the geographical expansion of fast food brands was highly manual and cumbersome.

Project consulting involved carrying out costly and time-consuming market surveys to understand customer movement patterns and using pins on paper-based maps to visualise existing store networks and competitor locations to help brands find gaps in the market.

Villanti decided to use his over 20 years of experience in demographics, mapping and market impact analysis across Asia Pacific to create a novel way to address this problem and effect a change.

That was the beginning of GapMaps.

Established in 2013 and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, GapMaps offers a cloud-based location intelligence and data mapping platform to help network planners make faster location decisions. GapMaps Live provides accurate, up-to-date, validated information about locations. Retailers can use these maps while expanding their store network or optimising existing stores.

Also Read: Hyperlocal mapping: a solution for real-world interactions in retail metaverse

“GapMaps Live allows retailers to visualise their own store network along with competitor locations, resident, worker, and consuming class populations down to the micro level. This way, they can make faster and smarter decisions when planning their store opening, closing and growth strategies,” Villanti tells e27.

If a business needs data that doesn’t yet exist or needs accurate and granular insights in a data-challenged country, GapMaps will build new datasets combining available population data with billions of mobile device location points.

“GapMaps enables brands with physical stores in multiple countries to have one login to manage all their locations. For example, a parent company with a series of different brands operating in different regions can now see and compare the locations of their brands everywhere. Having this data at their fingertips brings many efficiencies and speeds up business planning and decision-making,” he goes on.

Customers can also ingest their own large datasets into GapMaps Live, visualise them through thematic layers, and show comparisons with available data on the platform.

For example, brands can upload sales or customer data to visualise their best and worst-performing stores at a suburb or postcode level and then understand the demographic profile of customers in these locations.

“The granularity of digital data available in GapMaps Live means that demographic insights are accessible for retail stores with the smallest catchment areas. Even café catchments, which are typically no larger than a radius of 250 metres, can now be assessed to determine the count of residents (by Socia-Economic Classification grouping) and workers as part of a location feasibility process,” he adds.

As of today, the firm has more than 500 clients across 23 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and India. It counts brands such as Domino’s, KFC, Starbucks, Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s, Anytime Fitness, and Goodyear among its clients.

It also has a presence in the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania.

Clients pay an annual license fee to access the GapMaps platform. It also has a range of tiered pricing options that vary based on the number of districts, cities or countries clients require our location intelligence insights.

Doubling down on India

India is a preferred market for GapMaps where the growth opportunity is significant. While it represents about seven per cent of its business from domestic and global brands, GapMaps expects it to increase to 25 per cent in 2023 and 40 per cent by 2024-end.

In India, GapMaps mainly targets fast food and quick service restaurants, cafés, fitness and well-being, supermarket, and grocery stores. Anytime Fitness, which operates 110 fitness clubs across India, has used GapMaps Live to enable greater precision in its decision-making when opening new locations.

Speaking of the challenges, Villanti says that as the business continues to mature, cyber risk threats to cloud-based software are on the rise. “We strive to ensure we have a strong security posture and comply with SOC 2, ISO27001, and GDPR.”

A privately funded company, GapMaps foresees significant uptake in the business post-pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on population movements, with fewer people now travelling to the city for work, and people spending more time working from home and moving around in their local suburbs in greater numbers. This also impacts traffic patterns,” he says.

GapMaps Live is helping brands analyse these population movements through mobile devices (visitation data) and census data and understand their impact on their network. This shift is essential across various sectors, including QSR, fitness, supermarkets, childcare centres, healthcare, etc.

“Many of our clients in the QSR and Café sectors are now assessing the catchment potential of a new (or existing) location for the in-store and takeaway potential and, increasingly, the delivery potential. This trend towards delivery is not a pandemic post phenomenon. However, the pace of change has accelerated, and few expect a return to pre-COVID-19 delivery demand.

Post-pandemic, many small retailers are also critically examining their presence in shopping malls. Until recently, retailers assessed the potential of a new shopping mall location by considering the floor area of the mall, the brands that might be present and the catchment population and demography within a primary and secondary catchment.

“Those factors will always be important. However, they can now be complemented with insights relating to customer visitation patterns. For example, how long does a customer typically spend at the mall (long stays are good for food and beverage retailers and short stays are good for fresh food retailers), how far do customers travel to reach the mall, how busy is the mall over the seven days of the week and also by time of day.”

According to Villanti, GapMaps listens daily to hundreds of customers and thousands of users. “By taking the time to understand how you think about your business, we can overlay you and your sector and business meaningfully over our facts and expertise. So everyone can understand it. It means every decision you make is informed, aligned, and you’re in total control of it.”

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FrankieOne, a global platform connecting customers to multiple identity verification and fraud detection vendors via one API, has added US$15.5 million to its Series A+ round.

The investors are AirTree Ventures, Greycroft (an investor in Bumble, HuffPost, and Venmo), Reinventure (Westpac’s venture arm), Tidal Ventures, Apex Capital, Binance Labs, and Kraken Ventures.

This brings the Australian startup’s total Series A funding to US$30 million.

The new tranche will allow FrankieOne to expand its business across Asia Pacific and North America.

Founded in 2019 by Simon Costello and Aaron Chipper, FrankieOne is an identity and fraud detection engine helping companies onboard and protect their customers.

Also Read: 8 ways cyber crimes are impacting your business

The platform connects banks, crypto exchanges, fintech and gaming companies to prominent vendors and data sources across 48 markets through one API integration.

Through their vendor partners, FrankieOne is connected to hundreds of data sources enabling businesses to verify customers from multiple data sources selected from a global data pool, increasing the probability of a fast, automatic verification.

It enables customers to choose their preferred data vendors and to switch to new vendors, fraud detection capabilities and geographies. The solution covers the full customer life cycle, from onboarding to transaction monitoring.

The platform is optimised to verify customers safely and securely and leverages over 350 data indicators to minimise risk and maximise opportunity.

FrankieOne has a presence in Australia, Singapore and the US.

The firm claims its revenue grew 4,700 per over the last 12 months, with customers including market leaders Westpac, Shopify, Afterpay, and Pointsbet.

Also Read: ‘From a cybersecurity perspective, the Asian market still uses legacy tools’

CEO Simon Costello said: “We have been laser-focused on improving the onboarding customer experience and have been overwhelmed with the response, now helping over 170 financial institutions globally. Our platform is helping drive business growth and allows our customers to respond quickly to trends in fraudulent behaviour and changing regulations, which is particularly helpful, given the increase in fraud.”

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HK payments infra startup XanPool bags US$41M led by Target Global
XanPool plans to use the new capital to fuel its expansion into Europe, North Africa, LatAm, and the Middle East; It is a fiat-gateway software solution for exchanges, wallets, and other cryptocurrency businesses.

Francis Plaza steps down as PayMongo CEO
He has been replaced by acting CEO Isabel Ridad; Plaza’s stepping down comes months after PayMongo was hit by many crises, including the fallout among top leaders and the firing of two co-founders.

Fraud detection startup FrankieOne raises US$15.5M Series A+
The investors include AirTree Ventures, Greycroft, Reinventure, and Binance Labs; It connects banks, crypto exchanges, and gaming firms to prominent vendors and data sources across 48 markets through one API integration.

Former Grab Director’s influencer platform TipTip banks US$13M
The investors include East Ventures, Vertex, SMDV, and BIG Ventures; TipTip enables influencers to create content and connect directly to their fans; It’s established an online-offline presence across 40 cities in Indonesia.

AgriAku raises US$5M more in Series A extension
The investors are TNB Aura, Indogen Capital, Gentree Fund, and Go-Ventures; AgriAku is a B2B marketplace that currently trades goods that are used in the production side of agriculture, which include fertiliser and seeds.

Vietnamese e-grocery app raises US$4.5M for R&D
The investors are South Korea’s Nextrans and Vietnamese VC firm Do Ventures; Cooky combines an e-grocery store and a meal kit delivery service, where customers can shop for individual ingredients and full recipes.

Gojek, ComfortDelGro announce ride-hailing partnership
Gojek currently has 2.6M driver partners in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore; ComfortDelGro’s fleet includes 34K buses, taxis, and rental vehicles in Singapore, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, China, Ireland, and Malaysia.

EDBI’s chief exec to step down, establish new fund
The details of Chu Swee Yeok’s new fund have yet to be announced; Chu joined EDB 36 years ago and became the CEO of EDBI in 2009; After resigning from her position, Chu will serve as senior adviser to the chair of EDBI.

‘Our main competition in SG is the idle cash lying in banks’: Kristal.AI
CEO Asheesh Chanda says approximately US$400B cash is sitting idle, not working for their owners; The Singapore-based private wealth management startup recently raised US$10M+ in pre-Series B.

Temasek admits it could have been defrauded by FTX
Between Oct 2021 and Jan 2022, it invested a total of US$275M in FTX International and FTX US; On Nov 17, Temasek announced it’d write off its entire investment in the FTX, which constituted 0.09% of its net portfolio valued at US$293B.

Crypto.com in top 5 for strong AML; Binance places 42nd
Crypto.com, which has in-principle approval, placed fifth on the list featuring crypto exchanges with strong AML systems; The leaderboard is provided by UK-based Hoptrail and is updated in real-time using both on-chain and off-chain data.

The Philippines can be ‘Korea of Web3’, says Axie Infinity Co-Founder
Jeffrey Zirlin cites blockchain gaming as a possible vehicle for the rise of the Philippines as a digital powerhouse; Axie Infinity, one of the most popular NFT games, transformed the Philippines during COVID-19.

Cultivating an honest culture: Why leaders should be transparent
Transparent leadership is the key to creating a culture of trust; here’s how we’re seeing future-forward leaders put money where their mouth is.

Why venture capital is going big with cloud mining
Cloud computing has been an innovation factor for digital transformation, converging with big data and AI to power business functions.

8 ways cyber crimes are impacting your business
No one can predict when or how they will experience a cyber attack, but we can strengthen vulnerable systems in advance.

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

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