As the dreary funding winter continues to soar, at e27, we are kickstarting a new article series Line of Hire to understand an organisation’s culture and hiring philosophies to empower tech workers with the right growth tools to enable business owners to attract talent.

Cheryl Liew is the Head of Talent at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a VC firm investing in early-stage tech companies, primarily Series A, in Southeast Asia. She is based in Singapore, works with portfolio companies on recruiting and scaling, and builds relationships to support existing and future entrepreneurs around the region.

Liew has over 20 years of talent acquisition, talent management and people operations experience across a variety of organisations and cultures, spanning financial services, technology and media.

She has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a Masters in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Liew discusses her company’s culture and hiring philosophies in this candid interview.

What personality traits/qualities do you look for in potential employees?

We look for people with the right motivations for wanting to join us — a genuine and deep interest in venture capital, enthusiasm for the surrounding ecosystem, and the desire to support founders and startups.

Cultural fit and an alignment with our company values are crucial: people who are authentic, curious, humble, self-aware and driven by the belief that technology can be a force for good.

How do they fit into your company culture? Tell us a little more about your Monk’s Hill Ventures’s culture.

We list our company values on our website. The key tenets are:

• Founders-first: Founders uplift the world. This is why we exist, to serve founders. We regard them with respect and humility at all times.
• ‍Curious: Driven by first principles, we always seek to learn and understand. We are unafraid to challenge the status quo and be bold.
• All-in: Our founders are all-in, and so are we. We strive to be the best versions of ourselves and bring out the same in others. We may vigorously agree or disagree, but we are committed once a decision is made.
• Responsible: We are responsible to ourselves, each other, and the world. We understand what we do impacts real lives at scale.
• Authentic: We are transparent and intellectually honest. We find the courage to speak our minds, always with positive intent and always with respect.

Also Read: We are all about keeping things simple, useful, fun: Cory Brown of Simplesat

How do you foster transparency and encourage achievement in the workplace?

Honest, open, direct conversations and communications are key to how we want to communicate within Monk’s Hill Ventures. A few ways we foster this:

• Managers have regular one-on-ones with their direct reports to discuss day-to-day work, career development, and goals. This is complemented by semi-annual performance reviews.
• Partners are readily available to meet with and mentor employees, regardless of whether they are on their direct team.
• We run semi-annual engagement surveys, where folks can weigh in honestly on how they feel about working at Monk’s Hill Ventures.
• Regular ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions, where partners answer folks’ questions.
• We celebrate wins for everyone: this could be taking the time to do a quick shout-out to someone over Slack or WhatsApp, dropping individuals notes of appreciation, and highlighting accomplishments and promotions during our offsite.

Do you have a mental health policy? What does that look like?

We recognise that everyone has a life, family, relationships and responsibilities outside of work, and we aim to get to know each team member at a personal level. Coupled with the emphasis on open and honest communication, we ask employees to let their managers or the People team know if they are facing any personal challenges.

WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

Coming out of the pandemic, we put a lot of thought into what the optimal structure would be for us. We landed on a hybrid model and asked employees to work out of the office three days a week. We believe in the value of having our team interact and engage with each other face-to-face to build a sense of camaraderie, collaboration, and belonging.

Also Read: Keep learning and building relationships during funding winter: Richard Yan of Airwallex

At the same time, we recognise that people value flexibility, and we trust our employees to be self-motivated, responsible folks who can manage their time effectively.

How should a tech worker prepare for the funding winter?

Focus on your core skill sets and where you can add value to an organisation and articulate that succinctly and confidently.

Be flexible and open in thinking about growing and expanding your skill sets, understand your strengths and gaps, and always have a growth mindset in your career decisions.

How do you measure the performance of your employees at Monk’s Hill Ventures?

Monk’s Hill Ventures measures employee performance based on job competency and alignment with company values. A 360 review approach is implemented for every employee (regardless of seniority) where upward, downward and peer reviews are carried out to enable managers and reviewers to get well-rounded and useful feedback.

Will you consider a moderately skilled person with great honesty or a highly skilled person with less honesty when hiring?

No question that integrity is non-negotiable for us. If someone has the right fundamental skillsets coupled with the drive and desire to learn, we can coach and develop them.

Do you encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ in Monk’s Hill Ventures?

One of our company values is being curious. Each employee is given ownership and autonomy to find the best way to navigate through their work and contribute to the organisation’s success. We also encourage employees to learn about other functions and other departments.

How do you support upskilling for your employees?

We encourage employees to have a clear voice in how they would like to structure their career development and then expect managers to provide the necessary inputs and support to guide them along the journey. We also have a training budget set aside to support this initiative.

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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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With the never-ending changes in the tech world, the latest modern, intelligent technologies continue to grow, further pushing the importance of digital transformation.

According to Klaus Schwab, the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is said to be upon us. The concept refers to how innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the internet became increasingly involved in human life, blurring the lines between the two.

The abundance of digital solutions available could be seen to be spoiling decision-makers with choice, but having too many options often causes decision paralysis. How do you know what software or plug-ins suit you and your business?

There are many factors to consider, including likeability, flexibility and the investment required when choosing the right digital solution. In this article, we discuss the concept of decision paralysis and how to overcome it.

What is decision or choice paralysis?

Psychologist and author Barry Schwartz is well-known for his work on the paradox of choice – deducing to having an abundance of alternatives to the point one feels trapped and even more paralysed instead of freer. Having way too many options can cause confusion, anxiety and regret. ‍

All business decisions require effort, but decisions that involve heavier investments or cause grander changes weigh more; hence decision paralysis takes effect. Just the thought of a simple digital transformation can be daunting – especially with more prominent companies that are so accustomed to a particular way of operating that switching to a fully remote or digital workflow may scare off bosses and employees too.

Nevertheless, the digital age is upon us, and many companies will start to lose out if they’re not, at the very least, looking in the direction of a digital revamp.‍

Ways to overcome decision or choice paralysis

Prioritise your decisions

More often than not, managers are faced with multiple important decisions simultaneously, which can magnify the impact of decision paralysis on individuals. Start by listing everything that needs to be decided on, then reorganise the list according to priority.

Also Read: The digital decade in SEA: How the UK plans to embrace it with the local startup ecosystem

While it (usually) may seem necessary, you can’t solve everything at once, and prioritising tasks will make it easier to know where to start. It may also help to input specific criteria with each decision; you’ll see more about what it takes to make that decision. Include a timeline, standards, and other essential factors to consider when making this decision.

Simplify the process

Once you’ve weeded out your top decisions to be made, you can now simplify the process by breaking it down into smaller, more digestible steps. It is easy to procrastinate or get scared when looking at a big chunk of incomplete tasks and breaking the decision-making process into smaller steps.

Almost like a maths equation, start by taking important factors like criteria and timelines, and lay them out in front of you. Slowly work from there by breaking down each step you can take to develop a resolution. For example, if you’re picking between software, list the pros and cons of each and how they can benefit or burden your company.

If you’re deciding on whether something is right for your business, list what your company needs and compare that with a list of what the software provides to determine if it suits your business needs.

Get qualified help and support‍

Of course, as much decision-making work can be accomplished on our own, sometimes getting help from a third party is helpful. Being involved in a company may make it harder to see the bigger picture, and getting qualified help can provide new and different perspectives on your decision-making process, making the process smoother.

Some of these practitioners are so used to making decisions daily that they can immediately see everything laid out and swiftly point out the best decisions. Suppose you find yourself in a position where you could use a little extra help determining the next steps for your business.

In conclusion

Incorporating digital changes or tech advancements into a business should be at the top of your to-do list, although we understand it’s never easy.

Such tech advancements aid in many areas, such as productivity, organisation, workflow and so on, and overlooking this may bring about more issues in the long run. Every leader should seek to simplify their employees’ tasks and jobs to give them more room to breathe and learn.

Employees should not be treated like cogs in a well-oiled machine, and today’s employees should be given more attention and care. Switching to automated digital platforms can boost workflows tremendously, and there’s no better time to start than now.

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The post Unlocking business potential: Overcoming decision paralysis with technology transformation appeared first on e27.

‘The SVB shutdown almost damaged the trust level in Silicon Valley’
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank will affect startup valuations and make raising large late-stage rounds more challenging, say VCs; On the contrary, it might increase the attractiveness of Singaporean banks.

DBS, Heritas Capital hit US$20M first close of Asia Impact First Fund
The fund has a target size of US$50M and expects to provide growth capital to 10-15 social enterprises in Asia; The fund is managed by impact investment platform Heritas Capital.

Sea Group launches new digibank in SG on invite-only basis
According to the company’s website, users receiving invitations can deposit and earn 2.5% interest per annum; There’s no minimum deposit amount, salary crediting, and minimum spending for account holders.

Meta to slash another 10,000 jobs in latest round
In February, Meta reported a milestone of 2B users for Facebook, but its revenue continued declining; Its metaverse bet cost the company about US$13.7B in 2022.

99 Group grabs US$11M in Series C extension
The investors include OCBC NISP Ventura and Gaw Capital Partners; This investment will support 99 Group to continue its growth and expansion through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Auto dealer financing startup Broom bags US$10M to diversify product offerings
The investors include Openspace Ventures, MUFG Innovation Partners, and BRI Ventures; Over the past year, Broom claims to have transacted US$300M+ in inventory through its Buyback scheme.

Intellect seals strategic investment with IHH Healthcare
As a B2B2C mental health company, Intellect focuses primarily on working with employers and industry partners though it still has a ‘sizable consumer-facing app’.

Digital ads firm FunP Innovation Group raises US$3.1M from Foxconn unit
The funds will be used to develop smart retail and cloud services solutions for Indonesia and other APAC countries through FunP’s business unit CacaFly.

Schneider Electric unit joins US$2.7M round of SG agritech startup Agros
The other backers are Gaia Impact Fund, Wavemaker Impact, and Silverstrand Capital; Agros will use the funds to scale in its existing markets, strengthen its leadership team and develop an app streamlining the value chain.

Antler to invest in 30 Indonesian companies in 2023
Since expanding to Indonesia in 2022, Antler has financed 25 startups; Its local portfolio spans 16 sectors, including fintech with Brick, healthtech with CareNow and Healthpro, and edtech with Academix and Eduku.

1337 Ventures names 11 finalists for accelerator with RHB Banking
The RHB Xcelerator aims to link the bank with the region’s tech and startup ecosystem; Nine companies are based in Malaysia, with the remaining two coming from Singapore.

Animoca leads seed round of Saudi NFT marketplace Nuqtah
Nuqtah will use the new funding to expand its business over the next 12 months, focusing on product development, marketing, and talent acquisition.

Dana, Ant Group launch entrepreneurship programme for women
SisBerdaya aims to help female entrepreneurs from Indonesia develop business management and digital skills; The course will consist of a three-month mentorship and competition; The applicants will also receive a token cash prize.

Beyond SG and ID, SEA startups are working their way out of global crises
Despite the slowdown, Singapore and Indonesia continue to top the startup funding list. What does this mean for the rest?

GoWabi aims to be the go-to platform for all health & wellness services in SEA
The PTT OR-backed GoWabi is a SaaS platform and a marketplace that connects beauty, health, and wellness providers with potential customers in Thailand.

How Gevme aims to help event organisers reduce their carbon footprint
It provides tools such as a digital event help centre, digital forms and survey submissions, gamification, and a virtual venue for attendees to engage with.

The most important person I need to sell to is myself: Jeffrey Liu of Jenfi
The Co-Founder at Jenfi discusses finding a healthy balance that allows you to pursue your goals while still enjoying life outside of work.

How GHARAGE leverages resources of its German parent to help Asian startups expand into Europe
GHARAGE, which works in foresight and intelligence, venture building and investing, is backed by global travel retailer and wholesaler Gebr. Heinemann.

Industry giants helping make Echelon Asia Summit 2023 possible
Introducing some of Echelon 2023’s sponsors! Plus, a quick look at some of our speakers and panellists and an update on TOP100.

Thriving Southeast Asia: The unstoppable rise of growth and prosperity
Southeast Asia’s consistent growth, access to capital, and large market size make it an attractive destination for startups.

Why I (still) micromanage
Selective micromanaging is serious stuff, it helps us to give greater value to our clients and stakeholders.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like connecting with investors, visibility through the e27platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

The post Ecosystem Roundup: VCs warn the SVB fall will make global recovery even slower appeared first on e27.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) — a unique startup-oriented bank — last week caused nervousness globally. There was a panic among startups, VCs and fund managers that have exposure to the SVB.

However, the intervention of the US government and the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) averted a major crisis. The FDIC announced that all depositors would get all their money back. This was a massive relief for startups. However, this relief may be short-lived, say experts. They warn the startup world to brace for long-term implications.

What are those long-term impacts? Does it add to the woes of startups already undergoing several crises, including the funding winter? How does this affect Southeast Asian startups? What learnings can startups, VCs, and Southeast Asia’s banks make from this episode?

We posed these questions to a few VC investors (former and current). Below are their comments and insights:

Sergei Filippov, Strategic Partner of MGG Solutions Group and former Managing Partner at Morphosis Capital Partners

The SVB shutdown was painful because the bank has a niche, very concentrated customer base among startups, where all clients know each other.

To give you a context, Silicon Valley Bank has about US$157 billion in deposits from 37,000 uninsured accounts (because these deposits are over US$250,000), with an average of US$4 million in each account. It also has over 106,000 customers with deposits of less than US$250,000 (thus fully insured), which accounted for just less than US$5 billion in deposits. This means roughly 97 per cent of the deposits were from 37,000 uninsured accounts, most of which were startup-related.

SVB has branches worldwide (China, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel and Sweden), and its demise could have wiped out startups worldwide because it was a unique startup-oriented bank. But luckily, it didn’t happen. Depositors were saved when on March 12 FDIC announced that all depositors, including those holding over US$250,000 insurance limit, could get all of their money back. So depositors can stop getting the 10th cup of camomile tea daily and get peace of mind. But we can’t say the same about the bank’s shareholders and bondholders (they were not a part of the bailout deal), but that’s another story.

Also Read: ‘The era of easy money is over’: VCs speak of funding winter and exit landscape in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia doesn’t have SVB-like banks, and their portfolio is much more diversified. So it was a unique story that cannot negatively affect the SEA markets.

On the contrary, it might increase the attractiveness of Singaporean banks.

SVB was an investors’ investor. Its VC and credit investment arm has directly invested in fund managers and portfolio companies (Sequoia Capital, Accel, Greylock, etc.) for over 20 years. At the end of 2022, 56 per cent of loans to VC and PE firms were in the global fund loan banking portfolio. It also provided venture debt.

It was also a networking catalyst because SVB provided a unique ecosystem of events to bring together startups and investors. So if you were a young startup, though not an SVB client, it looked like you almost damaged your trust level in Silicon Valley.

Edward Tay, Associate Professor at UNITAR, Chairman of Infracrowd Capital, and ex-CEO of Sistema Asia Capital

To understand the impact of the SVB collapse, it is essential to know that even though SVB is a conservative bank with a very traditional balance sheet with a loan-to-deposit of about 40 per cent.

To give a perspective and a benchmark, banks such as Citibank and Wells Fargo and many Southeast Asian banks loan out between 50-80 per cent of their customers’ deposits.

A pertinent contributory factor for SVB’s catastrophic failure is depositing most of their customer deposits (US$120 billion) in long-term government bonds; for instance, ten-year Treasury Notes. What is significant is that US Treasury Notes are at yields as low as 0.1 per cent as of March 2020 and have skyrocketed more than 3.75 per cent recently. This results in a massive devaluation in bond prices and affects SVB’s financial stability despite having a conservative balance sheet.

The net result is unrealised losses in SVB’s 2022 annual reports of about US$15 billion, while their capital base is only US$17 billion.

The event has several impacts on startups in SEA. In the short run, listed entities in Nasdaq and NYSE that have origins in Southeast Asia and have a banking relationship with SVB or Signature will suffer in terms of liquidity. They are mostly in biotech and software domains.

SVB has long been considered a significant lifeblood for global tech startups, providing traditional banking services while funding projects and companies deemed too risky for traditional lenders. However, in the medium run, the risk of a contagion of such financial failure spreading to the rest of the financial institutions across the globe is genuine.

Many startups in SEA have limited banking relationships with the region’s financial institutions, such as CIMB, Bank Mandir, Kasikorn Bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia or DBS, due to their lower corporate credit credibility and risk management measures. Any contagion effects may not affect these tech startups as much as those US-based financial institutions.

Tech startups have already been suffering prolonged inflationary pressures since Q4 last year, and amid a bleak economic outlook, bordering from recessionary to zero growth across SEA, SVB closure significantly impacts their valuation.

This affects their ability to attract promising quality talents who might be able to continue the innovation and sustain the operation through this period of high volatility and market uncertainty.

The true impact on global startups will come via a domino effect via VC firms or sovereign funds, which are highly sought-after clients by US-based and Southeast Asian financial institutions.

Besides valuation down rounds faced by startups, their VC supporters may have banking relationships with these top banking groups. They might suffer immensely if the Lehman contagion in 2007 were to replay again in the SVB and Signature crisis.

I predict the impact of the SVB collapse on global startups will last as long as two years, and a slow recovery will come in Q2 2025.

Also Read: Fund managers have their task cut out right now: Edward Tay

That being said, quality startups with solid revenue and profitability would still be able to attract venture capital and may enjoy a higher valuation at the opportune market sentiments after the initial shockwaves have subsided due to a shortage of such quality startups globally.

Giulianna Crivello, General Partner, Draper Startup House

We’re not fully aware of the effects of the SVB collapse. The fall of the startup and investor ecosystem over a single weekend was damaging, and some of our SEA portfolio companies have exposure. It’s not always entirely material, but we’re already seeing some of our portfolio companies that have paused rounds because the funds they were in due diligence with have been affected, even if they didn’t bank with them directly.

The Fed has initiated the backstop, so there’s at least a sentiment bandaid. Global startups are highly susceptible to macroeconomic conditions, which the SVB shutdown clearly is. Global startups must rapidly act if the situation worsens. History leads us to believe that quantity will contract, but that leaves room for quality.

Global sentiment from the Valley to Singapore has been shaken

It is in these times that fantastic entrepreneurs will prevail. Global sentiment from the Valley to Singapore has been shaken. We are an international fund, and every founder and investor I’ve spoken to is in full reassessment mode. This is the tip of the iceberg.

Vinnie Lauria, Founding Partner of Golden Gate Ventures

In Southeast Asia, investors are closely watching the tech startup scene in crucial markets like Vietnam and Indonesia, part of Southeast Asia’s ‘startup golden triangle’. This is another driver for expatriate Vietnamese to return to the country by founders who benefit from overseas tech experience.

They will move past the SVB issue quite swiftly and focus on opportunities.

At the end of the day, it’s all about looking for the next big opportunity.

Elvin Zhang, Executive Director, Startech Global Investments (Part of Sinarmas Group)

I don’t think enough attention has been paid to the crazy startup multiple, especially in Indonesia. So this collapse puts the startup ecosystem more under the crosshairs of these kinds of events. People will naturally realise that there is quite a bit of a valuation mismatch.

Also Read: Can Chinese VCs be a potential wild card for SEA during funding winter?

The SVB collapse means the startup valuations will get affected.

We tell our portfolio companies, the direct ones and even my personal angel investment portfolio, that you will close whatever fund we can, stop trying to negotiate valuations, and take whatever follow-up funding because it will still go down further.

Justin Lim, Investment Principal at NEXEA (Malaysia)

It will likely affect late-stage rounds as this is the US VCs’ domain. However, where the early stage is concerned, we don’t expect any slowdown, as capital tends to come from onshore investors.

Having said that, raising large late-stage rounds will get more challenging when US VCs and LPs pull back commitments after this rout.

There will be increased regulations for mid-sized regional US banks, likely reducing the threshold where banks are considered systemically important, which undergo stress testing and enhanced reporting with the Federal Reserve. The cap was increased from US$50 billion in assets to US$250 billion in 2018, ironically lobbied by SVB.

In Southeast Asia, there will be limited long-term implications; the region remains investable as always.

Herston Elton Powers, Managing Partner, 1982 Ventures

The fall of SVB has had a minimal direct impact on most Southeast Asian startups. The potential contagion and increased uncertainty will affect investor sentiment and the already challenging fund-raising environment.

The US market is going through a rough patch. This should highlight how attractive Southeast Asia is for investors seeking growth opportunities. Allocators have been on auto-pilot by concentrating their investments in the US and China and missing out on the Southeast Asia growth story.

Investors and startups should take this event as an essential lesson on concentration risk and the need for diversification.

Rajive Keshup, Partner at Cathay Innovation

I don’t see a significant effect. You have two types of companies built in Southeast Asia: regional and global. If you’re building a global one, and the US is part of your go-to-market strategy, then you will likely have had some exposure to SVB in your path. And so, as a result, having some of your deposits, or some of the money you raised, put at risk is concerning.

It’s a moment when we have to rethink our governance around banking: where we open banks and where the sources of uses of cash flow are from.

Southeast Asian and Indian companies are lucky because they have very sound banking in their backdoor, be it with the Singaporean banking system. And so being able to use that, as opposed to potentially other banks in the West, could be an intermediary step that most boards require and take going forward.

The SVB collapse is a warning sign that the banking system is much more fragile than we think. And that bank runs are a legitimate risk and something we should take seriously and consider when building our risk frameworks.

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The post ‘The SVB collapse almost damaged the trust level in Silicon Valley’ appeared first on e27.

Registration for TOP100 is now open and we are looking forward to seeing your startup on the list!

TOP100 Program gives you the one golden chance to connect with hundreds of investors, showcase your startup at Echelon, pitch on the TOP100 stage, and access special programs. Find out what’s new in TOP100 and join here: https://bit.ly/TOP100_2023

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Now that Echelon Asia Summit is coming back in full swing, e27 is determined to make one of its key features, the TOP100, one of the best yet!

The TOP100 program is an annual initiative organised by e27 to showcase and recognise the most promising startups in the Asia-Pacific region.

The program is open to exciting new startups from the Asia-Pacific region with innovative ideas that break barriers across different industries. The selection of the TOP100 involves a rigorous screening process, including an evaluation of the startup’s product or service, team, market potential, and traction.

Also read: These 15 startups might just be part of this year’s TOP100

The selected startups are given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas at the Echelon Asia Summit this June 14-15, 2023, at the Singapore Expo. The program also provides exposure to investors, mentors, and potential partners, enabling growth among participating startups and helping them expand their networks across the larger global tech ecosystem.

The TOP100 program has become one of the most prestigious startup competitions in the region, attracting thousands of applicants each year and providing valuable visibility and support to the most promising startups in the region.

6 startups closer to competing at this year’s TOP100

Being a frontrunner refers to startups close to making it to this year’s TOP100 program.

With all the amazing startups sprouting across the Asia-Pacific region’s vibrant tech startup ecosystem, we now present you with 15 frontrunners closer to competing at this year’s TOP100. Get to know them here!

Tictag.io

Tictag provides high-quality datasets at scale for companies that require it for data or artificial intelligence models. Tictag is a startup born in Singapore focusing on crowdsourcing data annotation. By simplifying data annotation tasks and putting them on a groundbreaking, gamified mobile application, Tictag aims to become the best way for people and companies to work with data.

Whether it’s for powering computer vision AI models or enhancing data analytics systems, Tictag offers high-quality, labelled datasets regardless of industry.

Ailytics

Ailytics enables the construction industry to enhance safety and maximise productivity by leveraging video analytics to provide actionable insights.

Ailyssa is their flagship product, a video analytics solution that can connect to any current CCTV infrastructure to offer real-time warnings, trends, and reports. Ailyssa is used by site staff and managers to evaluate subcontractor performance, track construction progress, educate workers on risky practices, and reinforce company safety standards. End-users such as project managers and safety officers can leverage Ailyssa to have better visibility of their site’s overall safety and progress to make better-informed decisions for their operations.

Healthpro.id

Healthpro is an online platform for hiring top-quality on-demand home healthcare workers effortlessly. Healthpro gathers high-quality healthcare workers through simple processes. Healthpro helps healthcare facilities including hospitals, clinics, lab companies, and home healthcare companies to get healthcare workers like doctors, nurses, midwives, caregivers, and other healthcare professionals. Healthpro is all about empowering healthcare workers through its mission.

Healthpro believes that everyone is capable of great things and the company wants to give everyone the chance to prove it.

Parlon

Parlon is a beauty technology platform where you can discover, book, and buy best-in-price beauty and wellness deals in the Philippines. Parlon has partnered with over 350 salon and wellness brands and 1,500 branches in more than 60 cities and provinces in the Philippines. The company provides its merchant partners with a world-class multi-channel ecosystem, enabling them to accept bookings and payments, not just in the Parlon app and website, but also via the biggest platforms like Grab, Google, and GCash. With their proprietary technology, they have helped their merchant partners go digital by enabling them to sell their deals online and manage their daily operations.

With the widest salon network in the Philippines and expanding soon in Singapore, Parlon is on the road to becoming Southeast Asia’s largest beauty services discovery and fintech platform.

Prefer

Prefer is on a mission to ensure that coffee remains affordable and becomes sustainable. Prefer achieves this by making bean-free coffee. Why? Land suitable for coffee bean growth is expected to halve by 2050. Demand for coffee is expected to increase by 300% in the same time period. It takes 15kg of CO2 to produce 1kg of coffee beans. That is three times more CO2 than an equivalent amount of chicken or pork. Their coffee is more affordable and environmentally sustainable. At Prefer, they create coffee flavours by fermenting surplus food waste. The result looks, tastes, and brews just like ground coffee. Their novel process allows them to make a consistent supply in many flavours, all in a sustainable fashion.

EcoWorth Tech Pte. Ltd.

EcoWorth Tech is an award-winning CleanTech startup in the water remediation and waste management space with the goal of unlocking the potential of waste(water) into worth. The company focuses on turning cellulosic waste biomass into Carbon Fibre Aerogel (CFA), a patented advanced material mainly used in transforming wastewater streams into Waste-to-Worth opportunities. Made from natural and sustainable material, CFA has competitive advantages in being low-cost and non-toxic, with extremely high absorbency and affinity for liquid organics, and actively repels water. EcoWorth Tech addresses the global issue of poor waste recycling, carbon emissions, as well as inefficient treatment of oily/contaminated wastewater. EcoWorth Tech produces Carbon Fiber Aerogel (CFA).

A step closer to the 2023 TOP100

After a rigorous screening process, these startups are a step closer to qualifying for this year’s TOP100.

If you are one of the founders of the startups above, a representative from e27 will be reaching out to you soon to discuss with you the next step in your application process. Feel free to get in touch with us for any inquiries.

Also read: Why your startup deserves to take part in the 2023 TOP100

If you have an exciting startup with innovative ideas that can eclipse the best and the brightest in the region, join the 2023 TOP100 and stand a chance to pitch your ideas to some of the top investors in the Asia-Pacific at this year’s Echelon Asia Summit. Register for TOP100 here.

The post These 6 startups are among this year’s frontrunners for TOP100 appeared first on e27.

Gaspack, a Web3 technology startup in Southeast Asia, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round led by eMerge (the angel investor network of MDI Ventures) and Arise.

500 Global and Tokoin also participated.

The startup will use the money to strengthen its capabilities to empower creators and brands in the Web3 economy through Kometh, a Web3 digital comic publishing platform. It will also look to acquire world-class creators to democratise decentralised intellectual property (IP) development.

Also Read: ‘The SVB collapse almost damaged the trust level in Silicon Valley’

Gaspack’s Web3 comic store Kometh is built on blockchain and allows users to purchase the rights to read the comic and own, collect, trade, sell, and gift comics. Users who wish to purchase comics on Kometh can use their non-custodial wallet to buy True Digital Comics (TDC) on the platform with ETH.

Kometh allows NFT holders to access comics from NFT projects they support to gain benefits and discounts for future comic releases. Users can also subscribe to their favourite comics and receive new content updates directly from the creator.

Kometh leverages Web3 technologies, particularly NFTs, to protect intellectual property, establish ownership over work, and build a loyal community of fans.

Gaspack supports eight creators in launching NFT projects, generating a total Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) of US$12 million in just a year. The startup has also launched its first comic titled “Garden Point” on Kometh, with nearly 17,000 digital copies sold within 1.5 hours.

Also Read: Wonderful world of Web3: What is next for this groundbreaking industry?

“Garden Point” features characters from the blue-chip NFT project Azuki, harnessing the potential of decentralised IP development. Written by Eisner Awards winner Paul Jenkins, this original comic captivates readers with its thrilling storyline and vibrant artwork.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like connecting with investors, visibility through the e27platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

The post Gaspack raises pre-seed funding to launch Web3 comic store Kometh appeared first on e27.

Singapore-headquartered global early-stage VC firm Antler has committed to invest in more than 30 startups in Indonesia in 2023.

Since the firm’s expansion into Indonesia in 2022, Antler has financed 25 startups. Its portfolio consists of companies from 16 different industries, including healthtech (CareNow and Healthpro), edutech (Academix and Eduku), and fintech (Brick).

Antler is also launching a founder residency programme for Indonesian startups in Jakarta, beginning in June 2023.

The VC firm invites applications from aspiring founders in the pre-idea and pre-seed stages. During the 10-week programme, founders will have access to a vibrant community of business leaders, experienced operators and tech builders, allowing them to connect with potential co-founders.

Antler has received more than 4,000 applicants for its inaugural Indonesian programme, showing a high interest in growth from local founders.

Blue Bird Indonesia CEO Noni Purnomo, Sociolla co-founder Christopher Madiam, and Good Doctor Indonesia CEO Danu Wicaksana are among the mentors who share their expertise and industry best practices at Antler.

“Our companies scale faster thanks to our mentoring, truly global community of founders, advisors and investors, as well as our local presence in 25+ markets we operate in,” said Markus Bruderer, Partner at Antler Indonesia.

BASE, a direct-to-consumer beauty and wellness startup that originated from the Antler programme, recently raised US$6 million in a Series A funding round.

According to Startup Ranking, Indonesia has the highest number of startups in Southeast Asia and sixth globally at 2,500 companies in February 2023.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

The post Antler to invest in 30+ companies, launch founder residency programme in Indonesia appeared first on e27.

They say good bosses don’t micromanage. I can’t wholeheartedly agree.

Micromanagement is a taboo word that gets managers torn between these two extremes. Be too “hands-on”, it stifles the work and creativity of the team. Be too “hands-off”, the company suffers.

We definitely don’t want managers who refuse to delegate and empower, monitor unimportant details excessively, and constantly criticise their subordinates’ work. You can find out how to identify a micromanager here.

Although I don’t check on what time my team clocks in or out or text after work hours on their personal devices, I tell new joiners upfront: “I will micromanage.” *Cue scary music!*

Trust based performance

I’m a firm believer in empowering the team with trust and freedom to develop the road maps towards agreed outcomes.

Researchers found that when managers step into a challenging situation and offer assistance when needed, not to take over or judge anyone, employees find constructive intervention to be valuable. The question then is not of why but how and when.

Also Read: Insights from a Singaporean founder’s journey to Silicon Valley

My role is not to get them to do things the way I want, or worse, take over when we hit roadblocks (the real micromanaging). But to identify gaps and recalibrate regularly towards our goals (my kinda micromanaging).

The O in OKR

It is easy to fall into the busyness trap. Here’s where the Objectives and Key Results or OKRs guide us. Are we doing the right things (effective) and doing things right (efficient)?

If it’s not in the company’s OKRs, we shouldn’t be spending time doing it. We don’t want to be running on treadmills.

Let me share two case studies:

Case study one

We wanted to save cost by reducing wastage in our floral cuttings —  that’s the Objective. So we started several interesting initiatives to relocate waste bins, segregate and store waste, and move racks and palettes. There were a lot of exciting movements!

But no results.

Turns out, we did not have a discipline of tracking and measuring the actual waste and its sources.

Where are the numbers? Why are we busy? And is our busyness contributing towards the Objective?

Case study two

Delivery partners bring our freshest blooms to recipients daily. At one point, a delivery rider had to wait 12 minutes on average to pick up the bouquets at our office.

I wanted to reduce it to one minute or less. This round, we kept a close record of the waiting time by recording it in our dashboard on a daily basis to observe the pattern. We’ve noticed that the waiting time is generally longer during lunch hour when everyone in the team goes out for lunch at the same time. We then tweak our rest hour schedule to a rotation mode so that there will always be someone at the station to attend to the delivery partners. With constant communication and reiterating our process, the waiting time was reduced to less than two minutes.

Through this micromanaging, we were able to add value not only to our clients, but our partners and team benefitted too.

Setting goal posts

Selectively, I hold my team accountable in three main areas:

Progress updates on our dashboard

My team knows I’m very particular about daily and weekly progress reports. Just numbers. No slides and no email reports are needed.

As we work as a fast-paced e-commerce florist, being data-driven is imperative. We run five-ten minutes Scrum meetings to align objectives daily and a weekly meeting under 60 minutes. If the goals are not met, then we zoom into the micro view.

Also Read: Leveraging OKRs in the face of Malaysia’s ‘Great Resignation’

Without tracking the data and milestones, we don’t even know why we succeeded or failed.

Communication on deadlines

I love using trackers. Status updates line up on our Kanban board: to do, pending, in review, completed. I use task management tools like ClickUp and Notion.

I use ClickUp to assign tasks, track progress and collaborate with my team. I’m using the time tracking feature to monitor how much time is being spent on each task and project, which helps me identify the areas for improvement and increase productivity.

On the other hand, I use Notion for note-taking and knowledge management. Notion is my go-to software because it helps me to keep abreast of the team’s information and project goals.

Simply because one outcome delayed snowballs and affects the next team. When we communicate deadline hiccups, we help each other plan ahead and accomplish the goals smoothly.

Exceptional public-facing image

Be it a social media article or a team member representing the company for a meeting, I hold high standards for everything client-facing.

I enjoy complimenting my team when they dress well. When you dress for success, you feel confident, and it shines through. Never underestimate the power of dressing well in business. (Plus, it’s fun!)

Selective micromanaging is serious stuff. It helps us to give greater value to our clients and stakeholders. Besides, it makes work easier for the team by knowing what really matters and is worth paying attention to.

So nope, I don’t want to know how long they went for lunch or to be CC-ed in every email. We’re good.

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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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Business agility has become a trending concept in the past decade as a response to the changing business landscape thanks to digital transformation and globalisation.

Business agility refers to business competence to recognise and make fast adjustments to new market conditions and continuously create and promote new values for their stakeholders. Businesses with high levels of agility are believed to be capable of coming up with an effective strategy to deal with changes and gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.

There are several ways for businesses to develop their agility. For example, they can brainstorm and invent new strategies from the inside out using their internal inputs and assets. Additionally, they can also bring about agility using outside processes, gathering and leveraging insights and knowledge from external sources to add new values to their existing products or services.

Eventually, customers are the one who decides the values of the products. Maintaining a clear understanding of customers and their desire and capturing new developments in consumer needs are key to disrupting the current market. In fact, the world’s most innovative companies, such as P&G and Lego, have utilised open innovation to drive their creativity competence.

Expanding to the realm of marketing, marketing agility is considered the extent to which an organisation quickly grasp new changes in the market to adapt their marketing decisions to allow the business to respond effectively to new developments.

Also Read: What companies can do to stay agile in the future of work

Within this process, the most important stage is sensemaking, during which the organisation navigates through the muddy landscape and uncertainties, connecting the dots and identifying the implications of the new trends in order to establish an understanding and create a strong foundation for further actions. Another pillar of marketing agility is iteration which refers to the circular loop to go back and forth throughout the whole process to learn, unlearn, and relearn the situation and make changes as necessary to the marketing plan.

The linkage between marketing agility and disruptive innovation

Marketing agility is applied to all stages of the marketing process, from consumer surveys, product and service development to the final launch of the promotional campaign and feedback collection to revisit and improve the whole process as needed.

As a result, marketing agility enables the organisation to become more proactive and attentive to customer demands, even in this era of fast-changing customer needs and wants.

Considering its fundamental pillars, marketing agility is often linked to disruptive innovation, which enables firms to bring up new products and services that disrupt the market, significantly improving customer experience, lowering costs, and having the potential to drive out uncompetitive firms and existing incumbents. Disruptive innovation also leverages inside out and outside in the brainstorming process, utilises radical and new technologies, and captures newly emerged trends in the market.

Challenges faced by brands in the age of marketing agility

Nevertheless, some researchers have become concerned about the impact of marketing agility on brand consistency. Specifically, some brands might be strongly associated with certain brand images, and marketing agility, with its emphasis on constant changes and adaptation, might threaten the integrity and consistency of the brand, changing their identity and core values to cater to short-lived consumption trends.

Also Read: How to inject agility into your fundraising

In fact, leading marketers made the case that by jumping fast on the bandwagon, companies might make the mistake of sacrificing long-term benefits for short-term gains. Consequently, it is crucial to retain the core brand values which are unique to the brand and are what keep customers coming back.

In other words, marketing agility presents a paradox to brand managers. While it helps to drive revenue and growth, at least in the short term, it may damage the brand from a long-term perspective.

Additionally, another difficulty in achieving marketing agility is the high dependence on certain powerful partners and other third-party associations who are not willing to change. For example, if a company’s product is distributed through a third party’s distribution network, the company might depend on the partner’s willingness to accommodate its product changes/modifications to continue the cooperative relationship.

Finally, due to the high interest in marketing agility, which has become one of the hottest buzzwords of the time, many companies are faced with the question of whether they truly adopted the essence of marketing agility or only implemented the concept superficially. When this happens, the changes occurring in the organisation and its associated product and services are not substantiated in the long run, resulting in a waste of organisational resources.

Hence, to effectively lead a truly agile marketing department, the organisation needs to hire the right marketing leaders who possess both soft skills, technical skills, and long-term visions to pursue the right agile strategy.

In sum, within this fast-changing business landscape, remaining agile is crucial to business survival and enhancing innovation capacity. Nonetheless, businesses must consider the shortcomings of being agile for an effective response strategy.

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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

Image credit: Canva Pro

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Singapore-based financial services group DBS and Heritas Capital have announced the first close of its newly launched Asia Impact First Fund (AIFF) at over US$20 million.

The anchor investor DBS committed US$10 million, with participation from several like-minded impact-focused family offices, foundations, and corporates. Several high-net-worth individuals, including Tsao Family Office, IMC Group, Ishk Tolaram Foundation, ANF Family Office, Pang Sze Khai (Chairman of Octava Foundation and Octava Pte Ltd), also invested.

The Asia Impact First Fund, launched in August 2022, seeks to support innovative and high-growth social enterprises in Asia.

Also Read: Balancing revenue, impact remains the top challenges faced by social impact startups

The AIFF has a target fund size of US$50 million and expects to provide catalytic growth capital to ten to 15 social enterprises in Asia. These social enterprises would have demonstrated social and/or environmental impact in the fund’s impact themes – improving lives and livelihoods and protecting the environment — as well as viable business growth plans to scale their double bottom line of impact and profitability.

The AIFF is managed by Singapore-based impact investment platform Heritas Capital, and is availed to accredited investors. It aims to achieve capital preservation and/or appreciation with a target internal rate of return of five to ten per cent.

DBS Foundation serves as Asia Impact First Fund’s knowledge partner, providing in-depth expertise, a strong track record, and deep networks in its capacity as a leading champion in Asia’s social entrepreneurship scene.

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 19 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Heritas Capital is a private equity and venture capital investment firm building a multi-fund impact investment platform that invests in companies across the healthcare, education, environment, and technology sectors.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 brings together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups can pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

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