You have come up with a great startup idea. You have spent months vetting the idea with dozens of customer interviews. You have even written some code to build a quick and dirty prototype.

However, when you met with some angel investors to getting funding for your company, they told you that you need to have a business co-founder. Luckily, it turns out that your college classmate who has an MBA really likes the idea and wants to join the effort.

He wants to join as a founder and get founder equity. But it doesn’t seem fair to split the equity 50/50. After all, you came up with the idea and did a lot of work to get the idea off the ground.

So, how much equity should you give your co-founder so that he feels motivated to join and work long hours to make the company successful?

This is a question that I commonly get asked by founders as they build out their management team. There is no magic formula that you can plug numbers into that will spit out an equitable founder equity split.

However, in this article, I can share the general principles that you can apply to come up with a reasonable equity split that you can use for the basis of negotiation with your co-founder.

Employee option pool

Before you split up equity with your co-founder(s), you need to first set aside an Employee Option Pool to grant options to employees that you hire. Most VCs will require you to set aside between 15 to 20 per cent of the company’s equity for an option pool.

The best way to determine this percentage is to develop a budget outlining how many employees you plan to hire in the next two years and assigning how much equity you would give to each position.

For example, members of your management team might get between two to three per cent of equity whereas entry-level employees would get between 0.1 to 0.2 per cent equity.

Also Read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 2)

Cash investment

If you and/or your co-founder(s) are planning on investing actual cash into the company, it should be treated like any other outside investment. You can then select an appropriate valuation for the company and then calculate the equity that each of you would get as a result.

To determine an appropriate valuation for the company, you can consult with local angel investors to get their feedback on the company’s valuation based on the team and the progress you have made.

Let’s say that you invested S$50,000 into the company and your co-founder invested nothing and you valued the company at a S$1 million valuation. You should get $50,000/$1,050,000 or around five per cent of the company. The remaining equity can then be divided based on the rules outlined below.

Idea development

Ideas can be a dime a dozen as a startup’s success will depend largely on execution. However, if you have spent a few months seriously validating the idea before recruiting a co-founder, then you should get some credit for developing the idea.

Or perhaps, you are a technical founder and you have already developed a prototype for your idea. Idea validation should get you a five to 10 per cent premium whereas IP development should get you a 20-25 per cent premium depending on how much time you have invested in developing the IP.

CEO’s role

If there are two co-founders, you can’t split the equity 50/50 as you could end up in a tie in deciding contentious issues. Since the CEO is the final arbiter of decisions, he or she should receive more equity.

Investors also value the CEO role compared to other roles in the company and will grant more equity to a CEO if they are hiring an external CEO. The CEO should get a five per cent premium for taking on that role.

Doing the math

Let’s take the example so far to see how the equity should be split up. The two founders both start off with a 50/50 split in terms of shares or 50 shares each out of 100 shares. Since you are the CEO, you get an additional five shares.

You have also done the idea validation and built out a prototype – as a result, you should get an additional 25 shares. So, you end up with 50+5+25 = 80 shares and your co-founder ends up with 50 shares. This means that you get 80/130 = 62 per cent and your co-founder gets 38 per cent of the founder’s equity.

However, you still need to account for the employee option pool and the equity you should get for investing S$50,000 in the company. This means that you allocate 20 per cent to the option pool, another five per cent for your investment leaving 75 per cent of founder equity to split up.

You will get 62 per cent* 75 per cent or 47 per cent and your co-founder will get 28 per cent. Your total equity stake will now be 47 + 5 = 52 per cent and your co-founder will get 28 per cent. This means that you get twice the equity as your co-founder which seems fair.

Also Read: Exceptional founders to nurture, invest in promising startups as part of Monk’s Hill Ventures’s new programme

Utilising a neutral arbiter

You can do all the math in the world to come up with an equitable equity split. However, you could still end up in a difficult negotiation with your co-founder(s). I, therefore, recommend that you find an experienced and well-respected founder or investor to come up with the equity split recommendation that all of you have to abide by.

That person can interview each of the co-founders to understand their contributions and then recommend the equity split that you should follow. This will result in significantly less contention and bad feelings among the founders.

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StratifiCare, a predictive medical diagnostic solutions startup in Singapore, has raised S$1 million (US$729,000) in seed funding from ADB Ventures and early-stage venture capital Sprout. 

Other participating investors are Jeffrey Tiong, CEO of PatSnap, and Quek Siu Rui, CEO of Carousell.

Using the fresh capital, StratifiCare will set up pilot manufacturing facilities. It will also carry out clinical trials for its Dengue prediction test, StratifiDen, in the diseases-affected Asian nations. 

The company also plans to collaborate with clinical partners to test out StratifiDen in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

“This could have a very significant impact on the way Dengue treatment is managed in Asia and beyond,” said Yichu Zhang, investment associate at ADB Ventures.

Also read: Are biomedicine and healthcare coming of age?

Launched in 2015 by CEO Anthony Chua and friends, StratifiCare develops a broad range of predictive in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) solutions to power personalised medicine. The company says each solution can minimise hospital (re)admissions, reduce the usage of ineffective treatments, and enhance patient outcomes.

StratifiCare claims that by detecting the concentrations of particular proteins in the patient’s blood, StratifiDen can assist doctors in diagnosing severe disease complications (such as internal bleeding) and the hospitalisation needs of Dengue patients.

According to a joint study published in 2019 by four American universities, global warming, increasing urbanisation, and mosquito geographic expansion would put one billion additional people in temperate zones at risk of Dengue infection by 2080. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) also estimates that 390 million people are infected with Dengue fever each year.

Given that less than five per cent of hospitalised Dengue patients develop severe complications, StratifiDen helps assure hospital resources are reserved for severe cases during major outbreaks while also reducing the financial burdens on Dengue patients and their families from unnecessary hospitalisation. 

According to figures from a University of Washington health economics research, StratifiDen adoption would save Dengue-affected developing nations throughout the world around US$7.6 billion of direct medical cost savings per year, claims the company. 

“StratifiDen ensures that scarce hospital resources are reserved for severe Dengue patients during large Dengue outbreaks,” said StratifiCare co-founder and CEO Dr Anthony Chua.

Also read: Predictive analytics is shaping the modern life

Apart from the Dengue prediction test, StratifiCare has also expanded its offerings to include cancer medical diagnostic tests by leveraging the knowledge and infrastructure built to develop predictive medical diagnostics for StratifiDen.

According to the McKinsey report, the medtech market in Asia-Pacific is expected to expand to over US$133 billion in 2020, up from US$88 billion in 2015, surpassing the European Union as the world’s second-largest market.

Industry Insights Research also stated that the medtech sector contributed S$13 billion (US$9.4 billion) to Singapore’s GDP. 

The number of homegrown medtech firms in Singapore has increased from 100 in 2014 to more than 250 in 2018, with several recent Neuroglee Therapeutics, One BioMed, and  Leben Care deals.

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Image Credit: StratifiCare

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Greywing, a Singapore-based startup providing operating systems for the maritime industry, has raked in US$2.5 million in seed funding.

Investors include Flexport, Transmedia Capital, Signal Ventures, Motion Ventures, Rebel Ventures, Entrepreneur First, and Y Combinator (YC).

Greywing was part of YC’s winter 2021 batch.

The new capital will support the launch of Greywing’s real-time carbon scoring solution. This tool will enable shipping companies to make decisions to minimise the carbon footprint of crew changes regarding shore-based operations, flight bookings, deviation of voyage routes, among others.

The solution comes as a part of Greywing’s new tool, Crew Change, which provides vessel operators visibility on the factors impacting seafarers’ management — especially when the COVID-19 requirements and restrictions complicate operations at each port.

“The factors impacting a maritime voyage have grown in complexity with climate change and COVID-19 being thrown into the mix, and Greywing’s traction is accelerating to match the pace of these evolving challenges,” said Greywing CEO Nick Clarke.

Also read: Maritime tech founders are more likely to find opportunities working with corporates: Dr Mark Lim of PIER71

Founded in 2019, Greywing builds solutions to support and automate ship operators’ decision-making through actionable intelligence, better data and communication.

Its four product lines are route intelligence tool CRY4, vessel monitoring system Flotilla, port-agent communications tool Semaphore, and crew management and analysis system Landfall.

With its web-first and user-centred operating system catering to the maritime industry, Greywing addresses various issues occurring during the entire voyage, such as crew changes, piracy incidents, and vessel risk. The company claims that more than 1,400 crew changes have been assessed via the system.

“The maritime industry has entered a new era where data and analytics supercharge actionable digital solutions,” said Nikolas Pyrgiotis, VP of Technology Ventures for Signal Group. “Greywing integrates data trapped in commercial, technical and crewing siloes to enable more efficient and sustainable operations for shipping companies.”

CTO Hrishi Olickel added that Greywing aims to improve efficiency across carbon, threat and cost verticals by improving decisions even before its clients’ crewing operations take action.

As per the third IMO GHG study, maritime transport accounts for about 2.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with around 940 million tonnes of CO2 released annually. This will undermine the objectives of the Paris Agreement if actions are not put in place soon enough.

According to Greywing’s statement, 35 per cent of maritime emissions are linked to untracked flights and other down-the-line costs in the operating supply chain. Besides, the carbon impact mitigated by Greywing’s new carbon footprint tracking tool for a single vessel is equivalent to taking 274 cars off the road every year.

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Image Credit: Greywing

 

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Grab buys stake from OVO’s early investors to up its stake in the e-wallet to 90 per cent
OVO is now one of Indonesia’s leading e-wallet with about US$2.9B in valuation and nearly 100M downloads; Grab’s acquisition of a majority stake in OVO will likely face some bumps ahead as the Singaporean firm will have to find a local entity to transfer this stake.

Ajaib, the ‘Robinhood of Indonesia’, adds US$153M to its kitty to become a unicorn
Investors are DST Global (lead), Alpha JWC Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Horizons Ventures, Insignia Ventures, and SoftBank Ventures Asia; Ajaib claims to have attracted over 1M stock investors in Indonesia, a country with a total of around 2.69M retail equity investors.

a16z leads Axie Infinity parent Sky Mavis’s US$152M Series B round
Co-investors are Accel Partners and Paradigm; Sky Mavis invented the play-to-earn concept for people to play, live, work and earn within virtual worlds; Its first game is Axie Infinity, where players breed, battle, and trade digital pets called Axie.

Jeff Bezos’s investment firm, Tencent back B2B e-commerce startup Ula’s US$87M Series B round
Lead investors are Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital; Ula will use the funds to expand in SEA, add new categories, scale its BNPL offering, and build a new local supply chain and logistics infrastructure.

Singapore fintech Incomlend nets US$60M from Europe’s Fasanara Capital
The company plans to launch an ESG-focused SME financing programme called Incomlend ESG Invoice Financing Programme; It will give qualifying SMEs access to Incomlend’s invoice financing solutions. The program also aims to help investors connect with ESG-focused SMEs.

Society Pass files for US$27M Nasdaq IPO
The e-commerce enabler will offer nearly 2.9M shares; The money will be used to expand the platform through acquisitions of regional e-commerce firms and applications; Society Pass recently acquired the Vietnamese online marketplace Leflair.

OR partners with 500 TukTuks to establish US$50M ORZON Ventures
It will invest in the most promising startups in Thailand and SEA, seeking opportunities to create new S-Curve businesses; Focusing on both OR-related technologies and new businesses under the theme of mobility and lifestyle to further enhance business strength and create long-term growth.

SME digital financing platform Funding Societies raises US$18M debt funding
Investors are Helicap Investments, Social Impact Debt Fund, and a Japanese financial services group; The firm is on track to raise US$120M in institutional debt for funding the growth needs of MSMEs in SEA; Funding Societies enables access to finance by using alternative data points, including but not limited to the MSME’s cash flow to underwrite these loans.

Co-working major JustCo loses lawsuit to Dathena Science over late handover of leased space
JustCo had failed to hand over units on four floors of the OCBC Centre East building in Raffles Place on time in violation of an agreement made between the two firms in January 2020; The high court ruled in favour of Dathena’s claim of US$210K which comprised its security deposit and an advance monthly membership fee.

Qapita nets US$15M Series A to facilitate liquidity solutions via a digital marketplace
Investors include East Ventures, Vulcan Capital, NYCA, MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners; Qapita a fintech startup focused on ESOPs and cap table management; It plans to add new products to its platform to provide solutions for private companies, startups, investors, shareholders and employees.

Singapore logistics startup Qxpress acquires Hong Kong firm KorChina Logistics
Korchina’s network spans 17 countries and covers major markets in Asia including China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and Singapore; Qxpress is mulling an IPO in the US as soon as 2022; The potential listing could bump the Crescendo Equity Partners-backed firm’s valuation between US$500M and US$1B.

VFlowTech lands US$3M to scale low-cost, long-duration energy storage solutions beyond Singapore
Investors are Wavemaker Partners, SEEDS Capital, Sing Fuels and angels; VFlowTech claims that its batteries can store renewable energy for an expected life span of 25 years; The firm’s vision is to achieve diesel-free status in remote and rural areas by providing communities there with low-cost, reliable cleantech solutions.

SaaS accounting startup Bizzi banks US$3M pre-Series A
Investors are Money Forward, Do Ventures, and Qualgro; Bizzi is an invoice processing automation solution powered by AI and robotic process automation; Bizzi connects vendors and customers to automate financial processes namely bills payments, receipt scanning, compliance, and bookkeeping.

Greywing raises US$2.5M seed round
Investors are Flexport, Transmedia Capital, Signal Ventures, Motion Ventures, Rebel Ventures, Y-Combinator, and Entrepreneur First; Greywing is building solutions for ship operators to automate their business, through actionable intelligence, better data and communication.

Indonesian online lender UangTeman sued for US$1M
The lawsuit was filed by a Japanese company called Real Capital for defaulting on its loan obligations; But UangTeman CEO Aidil Zulkifli says that his company did not have any legal or contractual relationships with Real Kapital.

Innoven Capital backs millennial mothers-focused Philippine e-commerce startup edamama
edamama will use the capital to accelerate its logistics and fulfilment capabilities in advance of a Series A funding round early next year; In July, edamama bagged US$5M Gentree Fund, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Kickstart Ventures, and Foxmont Capital.

21 Southeast Asian startups that help banks gain ground in fintech competition
These fintech startups are blazing a path in innovating and supporting traditional banks’ digital transformation and expansion on all fronts.

Singapore’s travel-tech startup Vouch bags US$1.1M led by Forge Ventures
The startup will use the funds to innovate its new product line of guest experience platforms and expand its business into global markets, including Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and the UK; Vouch’s AI and chat-bot tech allows guests to scan a QR code on their mobile phones to check-in, make room requests, order F&Bs and receive instant answers to FAQs.

Komunidad nets US$1M funding to help businesses adapt to the consequences of climate change
Investors are Wavemaker Partners (lead) and ADB Ventures; Komunidad provides environmental intelligence services for clients in utilities, agriculture, mining, education, BPO, and local government sectors in SEA and India.

Hometaste raises US$576K via ECF platform pitchIN to scale cloud kitchen business
Hometaste enables customers to order food from home chefs in their neighbourhood, currently concentrated in Klang Valley; It provides support for home chefs by giving them a platform to expand their F&B business.

Next-gen fleet management platform TransTRACK.ID raises US$550K
Investors include Cocoon Capital (lead), Indonesian Women Empowerment Fund; TransTRACK.ID offers an all-in-one, fleet telematics solution to help the logistics industry optimise fleet operations; The platform collects and analyses real-time telemetry data such as geolocation, fuel level, mileage, and maintenance alerts for each vehicle.

ShopeeFood gears up for Thailand launch
This comes after Foodpanda’s business in the country lost a number of users and merchants on its platform after a social media fiasco in July; Foodpanda Thailand was blasted online after it said it would fire a rider who took part in a pro-democracy movement.

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Image Credit: Ajaib

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Funding Societies (also known as Modalku in Indonesia), an online lending platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia, has secured US$18 million in debt funding.

Lead investors in the round are Helicap Investments, Social Impact Debt Fund, and an unnamed Japanese financial services group.

Also Read: Samsung backs Funding Societies to drive its vision of financial inclusion for SMEs in SEA

Together with funding received from European impact investors such as Triodos Investment Management for Indonesian business loans, Funding Societies is on track to raise US$120 million in institutional debt.

Funding Societies will use the new funds for lending to deserving MSMEs, propelling its mission of enabling financial inclusion in the region.

Established in 2015, Funding Societies provides MSMEs with business financing. It harnesses the power of technology to give underserved yet creditworthy MSMEs financial access through its digital platform.

In Southeast Asia, MSMEs contribute to more than 50 per cent of each ASEAN Member State’s GDP. Still, because many lack a strong credit track record or collateral, they are often rejected for business loans by traditional financial institutions.

Funding Societies enables access to finance by using alternative data points, including but not limited to the MSME’s cash flow — its ability to repay the loan — to underwrite these loans.

Licensed in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Funding Societies claims to have helped finance over 4.8 million business loans with over US$1.5 billion in funding in the last six years.

Also Read: SME lending during the pandemic: Is it sensible or unwise?

In December 2020, the lending startup received an undisclosed amount of investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (SVIC). A few months earlier, it secured US$40 million in April.

Its other backers are Sequoia India and Softbank Ventures Asia.

Helicap is a Singapore-based alternative lending firm that provides private debt investments to accredited investors, including family offices, HNIs, impact funds, and institutional investors.

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Perched on the benches of various academic institutions across the globe, with an eagerness to learn and grateful for the opportunities that came with the lessons, I have often wondered how independent ‘leading’ and ‘learning’ were from one another.

Whenever time and experience allowed me the discretion to, I also caught myself pondering about how different learning could be under the right kind of leadership and how I could contribute to that equation.

Determined to unravel the equation of adequate coaching techniques for budding professionals and entrepreneurs, I began to observe various professional leaders and realised that there was a common theme – successful leaders never stopped working on themselves to become qualified for their jobs and were always upskilling themselves, thus, reinforcing my decision to create a holistic platform – SpeakIn –  for professionals to easily access global thought leaders.

Equipped with the gumption to close the prevalent gap between leadership and learning, and to democratise opportunities for the keen professionals, SpeakIn was born. Created with the vision to revolutionise professional development, SpeakIn is the brainchild of a keen learner who aspires for professionals to be able to tap on the experience of thought leaders worldwide.

Now, more than ever before, is it important for professionals regardless of their experience or industry, to embrace professional development. On a micro level, SpeakIn strives to appeal to individuals’ growing importance of wanting to do more and better.

On a macro level, SpeakIn has the potential to be the catalyst for a tectonic shift in different workplaces, completely independent from varying business models.

I have always believed that nothing comes out of nothing, and being a leader is not merely restricted to what I, as an individual, can do but also transcends into how I can facilitate others through synergising ideas and thoughts. The biggest lesson that I have learnt on this journey of empowering other like-minded professionals, is that leadership isn’t at all mutually exclusive from learning.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

Amongst others, and perhaps equally as important, are the pursuit of a bigger purpose and embracing agility in all forms.

Through this article, I’d like to share the key lessons I have learnt in my lifetime of leadership and how these help me with achieving my goals through continued learning.

Pursuing a greater cause

An element of vital importance is one’s ability to understand what their purpose is, and to be able to comprehensively justify that purpose. On your professional journey, generic statements about hypotheticals are just not going to cut it. You have to envision the impact that you will create on the world, and embrace it wholeheartedly.

While pragmatism often loses out to idealism, making it virtually impossible for any of us to completely live into our purpose all day, careful planning and hard work make it easier to achieve our goals consciously and effectively.

In the earlier stages of my career, traditional development plans often led me to think I could not have outside interests and commitments in the name of staying focused on a ‘traditional’ career path.

However, over the years, I have understood that taking a holistic view of professional opportunities, coupled with meaningful and purposeful-led learning, has helped me become a stronger leader.

Once the greater cause is understood, it is much easier to work backwards from there to set smaller, specific goals. With the help of learning tools that can be incorporated into your professional career regime, continued learning and skill set accomplishments are no longer a thing of the past.

Using my own purpose as an example, with SpeakIn, we hope to take one step forward to equip different individuals with personalised opportunities to learn from top thought leaders in various industries and revolutionise learning and leadership, with the use of technology.

It is of paramount importance to us that we assimilate learning and innovation through our platform and make continuous learning happen without the effects of geographical barriers.

The purpose is not a list of the education, the background you come from or even the skills that one has accumulated over the years. The purpose is also not a professional title, limited to your current job or organisation. Confusing your career with your purpose-led ideations makes effective leadership difficult to accomplish.

The purpose is also not some feel-good mantra like ‘empowering our clients to achieve stellar results, while fulfilling our commitment to the professionals of society’.

The purpose is not virtuous and not what you think society expects of you. The purpose is natural. It is the willingness to provide without the need for remuneration or incentive.

Purpose is what makes you intrinsically and exclusively you, an understanding of which makes achieving your goals that much more impactful.

Also Read: Edutech is opening up opportunities, but we need to get it right

Articulating a clear vision

While your leadership purpose is who you are and what makes you distinctive, it is also important to have a vision. Regardless of the professional stage, you are in, it is equally crucial to identify how you do your job and why— the direction you want to achieve as a leader should also be aligned to a greater vision that is shared by the organisation you represent.

Over the course of my career, I have come to realise that many leaders from various industries and professions have a poor sense of individual direction. This makes it extremely difficult to distil their purpose into a concrete statement that can be shared with colleagues and team members.

They may be able to clearly articulate their organisation’s motto to appease stakeholders, but falling back on nebulous statements makes it problematic when it comes to translating your vision and purpose into action.

Consequently, professionals and to a large extent, even organisations, limit their aspirations and often fall short of achieving their most ambitious professional goals. As a business leader myself, I have always found it extremely useful to speak with other C -suite individuals, who would give me a fresh perspective on certain business scenarios.

When you are able to provide insights into your vision, you increase the probability of finding someone who is in pursuit of the same goals. After all, no man is an island and we can all learn from one another through effective communication.

SpeakIn was also set up with the vision of giving global thought leaders from various industries a platform to share their experience and mentor other like-minded professionals, who can articulate their vision to help other professionals develop themselves.

By going online and eliminating geographical barriers that otherwise made cross-border mentorship and education impossible, we hope that this vision is emulated in different territories, and we can increase the pool of global thought leaders from whom many professionals can benefit.

Had I not been able to articulate my vision of reconstructing experiential learning, I would have done myself and may others a disservice, as I would not have been able to effectively aligned with my team, who have together made it possible to create an easily accessible and versatile platform that SpeakIn is today.

Today, organisations and professionals can learn seamlessly via our platform with supporting content such as videos, blogs, podcasts and even 1-1 personal learning sessions.

Knowing that people are the key to success

Lastly, it is incredibly important to know the value of the people you work with. I have always believed that an efficient way to effectively create waves within an organisation, is to focus on leadership development and continuous upskilling.

There is almost no limit to the potential of an organisation that recruits people whose core beliefs are aligned with yours, and who are willing to engage in constant upskilling practices, for the betterment of the organisation.

Whether we like it or not, we all come from different upbringings, have different values and have been educated through different institutions. If organisations could acknowledge the differences and optimise the effects of our differences, then the outcome can be significantly positive.

Working with several other organisations and over 18,000 thought leaders since starting SpeakIn, we’ve helped more than 350 clients through the upskilling process. It is also humbling to see when we track and review their progress over the past years.

With the use of SpeakIn, professionals have seen two-step promotions and sustained improvement in business results. Professionals are now more than ever, innately equipped with the ability to develop more capabilities to thrive in even the most challenging times.

Also Read: 3 lessons from a founder who scaled his startup to 13 markets in five years

With the leadership idea of continued learning and upskilling, organisations can look forward to a multi-skilled, driven and high achieving workforce that will remain a key asset to the success of the company.

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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

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

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SGHoldCo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai oil company OR, and early-stage investor 500 TukTuks (now 500 Global), have jointly launched a US$50-million fund to invest in startups in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

ORZON Ventures will focus on both OR-related technologies and new businesses in the Series A-B stages under the theme of mobility and lifestyle.

In other words, the fund will invest in startups that meet the needs of future mobility solutions or those that respond to the new changing needs of the modern lifestyle, such as F&B startups, travel, health, wellness, and other digital lifestyles solutions.

The setting up of ORZON Ventures will enable OR to gain greater access to startups in the early stages in Thailand and Southeast Asia. With this, the oil company aims to strengthen and expand its businesses.

SGHoldCo will make an initial investment of US$25 million into ORZON with the option to increase the size to US$50 million in the future.

Also Read: Flash Express secures US$200M Series D to expand its e-commerce logistics service in SEA

According to OR’s president and CEO Jiraphon Kawswat, one of its growth strategies is to seek new business opportunities to develop beyond the horizons of the oil business amid a fast-changing environment. OR looks for cooperation with large companies as well as smaller and more nimble organisations. The partnerships can be in the form of business alliances of investment in SMEs or startups that OR believes have the strength and advantage in technology, speed, and agility to adapt to changes.

However, smaller businesses are facing many challenges, such as lack of human resources, funds, access to customer and ecosystem support. ‘OR’ believes that it can help fulfil and support startups by investing, providing access to customers/OR’s large ecosystem, and other fundamental business support from relevant experts.

Recently, OR recently led the US$200 million Series D round of Flash Express, the first unicorn in Thailand.

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Image Credit: ORZON Ventures

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For my first post, I wanted something impactful. Something that gave me this so-called “Oh s***, I have to write about this” reaction to fuel me for a first (hopefully not last) short article. And guess what, I found that fuel — and time!

Earlier this year, WiredUK shared an insightful article about Netflix’s carbon emissions. As I have been investigating IT sustainability for some time now, I struggle to find data to estimate online activities’ carbon emissions.

Most enterprises showed strong stances; this is true, but finding data…? Not that easy. And yep, it did not say “relevant” or “accurate”, just data.

I like the article for different reasons because it shows that:

• A new major pure player is on the green move
• It takes more than a mere estimation to understand the whole extent of online habits
• It reminds me that we are at the very beginning of online practices maturity and regulations (I like to call it the Stone Age of the Internet)

Thus, first, it did provide some data I could use (delivered by an organisation called DIMPACT, partially industry-funded though, so let’s be cautious). Primarily, it shows VOD/streaming big boys are finally on their way to a more sustainable mindset.

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook have announced over the last couple of years big moves (most of them promised to be carbon neutral by 2030, for instance), but the silence of VOD pure players has been, in my opinion, quite loud.

YouTube made some (lukewarm?) statement as WiredUK already wrote about here, but I always found it awkward that pure players kept silent on such things as carbon footprint. Remember that internet traffic represents around four per cent of global GHG emissions (equal to pre-COVID-19 aviation traffic).

This article also stresses that it is hard to debunk one online action’s actual carbon footprint impact. Today, tracking the carbon footprint of a specific “online action” such as purchasing a t-shirt or watching a video is a tremendously complex task.

It depends on so many parameters (location, devices, infrastructures, etc.), and ultimately this is not easy to take all the chain of actions into account.

On top of that, most companies do not wish to share such data publicly, so finding reliable numbers is not always easy. But that’s for another day …

Also Read: Streaming wars: Why are streaming giants spending big bucks on acquiring content

In the article, Netflix claims that one hour of streaming on its platform in 2020 used less than 100gCO2e (a hundred grams of carbon dioxide equivalent)— that’s less than driving an average car a quarter of a mile.

I am pretty sceptical about this figure, but that’s not the point in the end. Netflix stating they are thinking about “weighing their carbon footprint” is already excellent news and should be followed by better estimations from now on.

Most of you probably did not see that last year, but The Shift Project (a French think tank for sustainability) shared a rough estimation of Netflix’s impact on the environment. Carbon Brief replied— fiercely — to re-estimate the numbers on this paper.

The Shift Project made a couple of mistakes; Carbon Brief helped them pointing them out. And now, the discussion is on, and things are on the table. Aside from some errors, they use two mindsets for their reckoning, and this is the exciting part because it does require arguments to agree on something, right finally?

Speaking of the Devil, Carbon Brief is supposed to publish white papers by the end of summer (I am writing this in May) to investigate in-depth Netflix’s carbon emissions. I am super hyped to read it because it should deliver a consistent set of data for future endeavours.

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Earlier this week, Malaysia’s Aerodyne clinched the #1 spot globally for drone companies. In entrenching itself as a firm leader in this rapidly expanding market and by fostering the rise of more drone companies, Malaysia has ramped up several “live” drone test sites through the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox (NTIS).

Against a backdrop of a drone market revenue that is expected to double to US$17.9 billion in 2025 in Asia alone, as well as a global drone market forecast to achieve US$41.3 billion in 2026, it is clear that drone technology has captured a steadily rising audience.

Considered an emerging technology sector just a couple of years prior, momentum in drone technology is exciting as Malaysian players ready themselves to take on opportunities across the world. Such opportunities are exciting not only for the low-touch, high-tech development work involved but also for the jobs they create and the value they add to the economy.

Already, Malaysia has a few bright sparks in the drone industry. 

The world’s top-seeded drone-based solutions provider in 2021, Aerodyne, for example, develops smart cities through drone technology innovation in surveillance and security, infrastructure development, and more.  

The task at hand is to create a basket of such companies and expand the ecosystem so that we elevate the rewards and returns from such ventures.

Sandboxes for the skies?

In gaining a fast-mover advantage, Technology Park Malaysia, through the  National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS), has taken proactive measures to foster the growth of the drone technology and robotics industry. 

Today, several drone development areas in FELDA Mempaga, Pahang, Drone and Robotic Iskandar (DRZ Iskandar), and Urban Drone Delivery in Cyberjaya are in motion. Pilot projects here are aligned with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) 10-10 Science, Technology, Innovation, and Economy Framework (MySTIE 10-10), aimed at transforming Malaysia into a high-tech and high-income nation through innovation-based solutions.

Also read: Facebook Community Accelerator Program introduces the 19 communities of the 2021 APAC cohort

In the first year since its launch, the NTIS attracted more than 25 Malaysian companies developing drone technology, reaching out for regulatory, commercialisation, and funding support. The sandboxes provide a range of live sites where the drones can be tested for a variety of specific applications, on different terrains, for different ranges and more.

Ultimately, the value of drone services lies in how they are applied in various sectors such as e-commerce, logistics, or mobilisation of pertinent resources or medicine to rural, remote areas, or those affected by natural disasters. It also offers important value in infrastructure management and security surveillance in smart building maintenance, maritime surveillance, urban agriculture, and more. And this is where it gets exciting for the rakyat.

For this reason, Area 57 at Technology Park Malaysia was recently launched as the fourth drone-centred NTIS site. With an extensive 5 acres of land, Area 57 aims to provide an integrated ecosystem for key facilities and services which include research, development, testing, certification, manufacturing, commercialisation, and maintenance of drone technology and solutions in order to benefit the drone community of users and producers. 

Area 57 will be equipped with a 100-meter drone runway, 300 square meters confined netted drone testing area, a mock-up site, drone application testing, hangar, laboratory, manufacturing equipment, training facilities, and prototype testing area, an operations office, as well as service and maintenance workshop for operators. It is currently the only legitimate fly-free drone area within Klang Valley. It is expected to unpack various opportunities through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for data operations, analysis, and large-scale optimisation (Drone Tech, Data Tech & Digital Transformation).

Bright lights, smart cities

The current world population of nearly 8 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 — sustainable smart cities are no longer just “nice-to-haves”. They are a necessity. 

For example, the Drone & Robotics Zone (DRZ) at Iskandar, Johor, was formed to realise the vision of an integrated sustainable living area.

Here, technology and data are purposefully designed to make better decisions and deliver a better quality of life; from the air we breathe to how safe we feel when we walk along the streets at night.

Also read: ScaleUp Malaysia and e27: a partnership that could turn the tide for startups in the region

In order to accelerate the growth of IR4.0 in Malaysia, Iskandar NEXT (New Economic Experience & Talent), a flagship initiative by Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB), has given rise to the DRZ Iskandar where there will be efforts to upskill local talents and to move them higher up the technology value chain, thus creating significant socio-economic impact, such as:

• Over RM351 million investments targeted by 2025. 
• Up to 1000 high-value jobs created in drones and robotics by 2025. 
• Over 70 technology companies set up business in Medini, creating highly skilled jobs and knowledge-sharing opportunities. 

Already equipped with world-class ready-built infrastructure, IIB will further enhance Medini with advanced digital infrastructure to attract more tech-related companies to establish their footprint here.

At the core of it, our shared prosperity is the goal, and smart cities and drone technology are the means to that end. We want to utilise technology to optimise the infrastructure, resources, and spaces we share. 

Better crops, support from the skies

The sandbox in FELDA Mempaga presents drone players an opportunity to advance agriculture technology in plantations for fertilisation, land monitoring, and weather monitoring.  Here, drone technology is also assessed for its viability to support soil and field analysis, terrain mapping, crop spraying and planting, as well as plant health assessment and monitoring of yield. 

Five high-technology companies — Poladrone, Aerodyne, Braintree Technologies, OFO Tech, and Nanoezinn — were selected to stress-test various drone and robotic solutions to improve aspects of harvesting, maintenance, and fertilisation of palm oil plantations at the 25-hectare site. 

Recent discussions between drone service providers and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM) expedited the publishing of the Civil Aviation Directive 6011 part (II) Agriculture, which in turn opened doors for opportunities beyond these test sites. 

With this unlocked, Poladrone, for example, is now currently providing spraying services for Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, Sime Darby Plantations Berhad, Felda, Genting Plantations, and others. They’ve also doubled the company headcount and are on track to achieve revenue targets.

On a similar note, globally-acclaimed drone solutions provider, Aerodyne, has provided immense support in providing farmers with precision agriculture through drone technology and Artificial Intelligence to aid in increasing crop yields and profitability.  

Though still in its early days, the use of drones and robotics in agriculture could potentially reduce up to 50 per cent in the labour force, generating up to 30 per cent in productivity improvement. At the same time, the application of drones in agriculture could set out career prospects for the younger generation in agriculture, whilst potentially improving the socio-economic outcomes for more than 200,000 ageing settlers working and living on Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) land, with their families.

Smart logistics

Then, there is the Urban Delivery Drone Sandbox in Cyberjaya, where drones are being tested for delivery of packages, with the aim to use drones for the delivery of crucial medicines, essential supplies, and more to rural and remote areas, or those affected by natural disasters in the future. 

Such delivery services could positively impact healthcare services, as 24 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas. With delivery drones, medicines, vaccines and necessary supplies can be transported to hard to reach areas quickly and efficiently.

Also read: Kawasaki Heavy Industries invites innovators to co-create solutions to global challenges

Earlier this year, NTIS partnered with AirAsia Digital’s logistics arm, Teleport, to test delivery services in urban areas using automated drones through a six-month phased approach. This approach tested the capability, experience, approval process, deployment readiness, and service expansion of the drone operators, as well as the long-term feasibility of delivery drones. 

The urban delivery drones are estimated to make a contributing impact surpassing USD70 billion in the global smart mobility market size by 2027 and generate up to USD7.4 billion in global market size that is specific to drone package delivery by 2027. 

Fly-tech: Challenges to overcome

In order for the industry to rise, there are some obstacles it needs to weather. Public safety guidelines being one.

As such, drone companies will need to abide by strict certification and compliance for drone operations, which may result in long periods for permits, limited guidelines for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, and multi-agency approvals.  

We laud the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) which has been actively engaging with drone operators to ensure public safety as a high priority in addition to facilitating technological advances. 

Here, NTIS facilitates startup companies operating in regulated industries and vertical technologies such as healthcare, drone operations, agriculture, communications, mobility, etc. that face obstacles and challenges in terms of regulatory or innovation to accelerate such multi-agency discussions. 

Without a doubt, drone technology development efforts must be intensified and we have set our sights on things above to take us on the path towards recovery, rising above the present-day challenges, and into a future of unlimited possibilities. 

With better case studies and adaptive rules that drive innovation, we believe that TPM is poised to help Malaysia achieve its goal of becoming a major leader in the drone technology industry. 

The game is afoot accelerating our STI journey and transforming our nations’ technology landscape. Be part of the revolution. Let’s take flight together.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MaGIC

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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The answer is short: regulators globally are still trying to decide what to do about crypto. Several companies have applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve their crypto ETFs only to get rejected.

Several ETFs track companies that are active in the crypto space. But none of these ETFs are currently holding cryptocurrencies.

Can we move out of this status quo, and what is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s stance in this?

Discussions have been ongoing since at least 2019, but the MAS has relatively few regulations for crypto in place and does not (entirely) recognise cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Regulations such as the payment services act are forward-looking but still mainly focused on KYC/AML.

Singapore has a clear opportunity to be the first, but MAS seems to follow a wait-and-see approach. However, this appears to be changing as DBS has recently gotten an in-principal approval to provide crypto services.

Once licensed, DBSV, as a member of DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx), will directly support asset managers and companies to trade in digital payment tokens through DDEx.

Anyway, that’s not an ETF yet, but definitely, a giant leap forward as this could bring the trading of crypto into the mainstream with a trusted institution.

The above is an exciting move from MAS, given the recent crackdown on other ‘new’ exchanges such as Binance.

Why do we want a crypto ETF? An ETF is a basket of securities, shares of which are sold on an exchange. They combine features and potential benefits similar to those of stocks, mutual funds, or bonds.

Ease of investing

If you are bullish on the crypto and blockchain industry and you want to get exposure without going down the technical rabbit hole, an ETF would be ideal. Such an ETF could hold the five to 10 coins with the largest market cap, rebalance from time to time, and an investor could apply a buy-and-hold strategy.

Also Read: Are CBDCs better than Bitcoins? Here’s why Asia should bank on them

Diversification

Cryptocurrencies are volatile, and no one knows which projects (Bitcoin, Ethereum or one of the 6,500 others) will win in the long term. By buying a group of cryptocurrencies, investors can achieve a healthy level of diversification.

Platform risks

Cryptocurrencies are traded through various platforms, each having its owns risks and challenges. An ETF could (partly) mitigate these risks.

Passively managed and low fees.

Investors could already work with licensed fund management companies (typically only available for accredited investors) to maintain a portfolio of cryptocurrencies. Still, they would be exposed to high management fees as the manager will ‘actively’ manage the portfolio and sometimes charge as high as five per cent per year.

As an ETF is passive management, a manager typically charges only 0.2–0.8 per cent per year.

So what’s stopping the MAS?

Custody or not?

A traditional company licensed as a fund manager typically takes custody of funds of her investors and invests those funds according to the scope of the mandate given to them.

The challenge with crypto is that a new generation of companies such as the exchange Binance could claim that they never take custody due to the decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies on the blockchain. Hence, they are just facilitating the transaction on the blockchain.

MAS is, however, actually quite clear on what kind of services should be licensed: Buying or selling DPT (“digital payment token”) or providing a platform to allow persons to exchange DPT in Singapore.

And with that statement, the discussion on custody is pretty much closed as almost every company providing services in the crypto industry will fall under this scope.

Security or commodity?

Singapore laid out the licensing rules for Capital Market Services (stock, bonds, funds etc.) in the Securities and Futures act.

In this same act, securities are classified as: shares, units in a business trust or any instrument conferring or representing a legal or beneficial ownership interest in a corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership.

Also Read: Blockchain and Bitcoin for business 101 with Justin Renken

Cryptocurrencies probably don’t fit the bill here, and so it seems that the Securities and Futures act does not apply to companies dealing with cryptocurrencies.

The question arises, though, how the MAS views an ETF purely holding gold or other commodities?

There seems to be room for exceptions to the previous definition: any other product or class of products prescribed.

It is not clear how and if this exception has was in the past.

SEC in the United States

The SEC in the US claims that cryptocurrencies are supposed to be classified as securities and not as a commodity like gold. Given the status of the SEC in the world, whatever they end up deciding will likely impact Singapore as well.

But, if we assume for now that (in Singapore) crypto is not a security, will it then be recognised as a commodity or currency?

Currency or not?

The Payment Services Act broadly covers the ‘fintech’ industry: Technology is transforming the world of payments and has opened up opportunities for transactions to be more convenient, faster and cheaper.

MAS has made some comments and seems to recognise stablecoins as a new form of ‘money because these coins’ value is stable.

With that, MAS also seems to think that ‘other’ non-stable cryptocurrencies are not to be recognised as a ‘new form of money and it even classifies stablecoins as ‘next-generation crypto: Stablecoins have emerged as a new class of cryptocurrencies intended to be relatively stable in value to address concerns over excessive price volatility of the first generation of cryptocurrencies.

And then on the definition of money, MAS states:

“People also need to trust that the value of the money they hold will remain broadly stable over time, so that they are able to use it as a store of value and as a medium of exchange in the future.”

With the Payment Services Act, Singapore is light-years ahead of the US (and most other countries, for that matter). SEC in the US treats crypto as securities (even with all sorts of complicated implications). Singapore has the forward-looking Payment Services Act which allows for cryptocurrencies’ entry into society.

Conclusion

It seems clear that the approval and launch of a crypto ETF in Singapore is a matter of time given the discussed advantages such as diversification and ease of investing for investors.

Also Read: Tesla is now accepting bitcoin. Are crypto payments the future of business?

MAS seems to have a lot of room to provide approvals within existing regulations under the Payment Services as Securities and Futures act. It appears that MAS favours viewing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for now rather than a security.

Should MAS decide to move forward and give approval for an ETF, this will likely provide a massive boost to the SGX and ‘crypto-friendly’ ecosystem in Singapore.

It seems that the advantages outweigh the risks.

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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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Image credit: peshkova

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