Singapore-based B2B financing and payments infrastructure company CrediLinq.Ai is in the advanced stages of signing a strategic acquisition deal in Indonesia, its Founder and Group CEO Deep Singh said.

The discussions are at the board approval stage, Singh said in an interview with e27 shortly after announcing its seed extension round from investors, including MS&AD Ventures, Big Sky Capital, and 1982 Ventures, early last month.

“We have already engaged with a firm in Indonesia, and it is at the Board approval stage. We expect the transaction to be complete in the next two-three months,” Singh added without divulging details.

Also Read: Embedded finance can help legacy banks grow loan book, go to market quickly: FinBox CEO

Furthermore, the embedded finance company is actively seeking acquisition opportunities in Singapore, particularly in the payments space. “We have identified some targets and will proceed to engage with them once we conclude the Indonesian transaction,” Singh shared.

Founded in January 2021 by Singh and Vikram Kotibhaskar (Co-Founder), CrediLinq provides embedded fintech solutions that enable one-click checkouts for B2B marketplaces, corporates, and fintech companies.

The company initially intended to provide SMEs with seamless access to affordable capital without the hassle of a traditional bank loan. As the idea progressed, the founders developed proprietary technology to provide this funding at B2B e-commerce platforms and marketplaces.

Currently, CrediLinq offers two embedded financial products:

1. B2B PayLater: This solution allows businesses to buy products, stock up their inventory and defer payment by 30 to 60 days. It enables suppliers to get paid instantly while the buyer conveniently repays the transaction amount and fees on the date they choose at checkout.
2. GMV financing: This solution allows sellers on B2B marketplaces to instantly collect payment for the goods they have successfully sold. They are charged a single upfront fee at the point of checkout.

The fintech startup has partnered with six platforms across e-commerce, payments and procurement in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and Malaysia. It will soon enter Indonesia. CrediLinq is also discussing with potential customers in Malta, the UK, and Israel.

Also Read: CrediLinq raises US$2.6M to enable one-click checkouts for Asian SMEs

According to Singh, the future of global finance is embedded. As per a recent Research and Markets report, embedded finance was worth US$108.6 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach US$358 billion by 2029 at a 24.4 per cent CAGR. While it may be difficult to fathom the potential of embedded finance in Asia, a closer look at the ground level immediately highlights the proponents of this growth.

“For starters, the 2017 SME Finance Forum study highlighted how SMEs worldwide suffer from a US$5.2 trillion financing gap yearly. Around 58 per cent of these businesses operate out of Asia. This highlights how wide the SME finance gap in Asia truly is,” he said.

A recent market study by Mordor Intelligence also highlighted how B2B e-commerce in Asia is experiencing a steady growth of 15.2 per cent CAGR. This shift to businesses and customers transacting online and a rapidly increasing internet penetration are why embedded finance in Asia is estimated to become a US$358-billion market by 2029.

“This trend can also be witnessed on the global stage, as more businesses worldwide continue their shift from offline to online processes,” Singh added. “As a company, we acknowledge this potential, and thus we are pioneering embedded finance for Asia and beyond.”

Speaking of the trends in embedded finance, he said integrating finance for businesses is one of the most significant trends. Globally, multiple companies are pioneering the bespoke integration of financial services on a traditional non-financial platform for businesses.

“So current global trend in embedded finance globally and in Asia is to design and integrate bespoke financial solutions for businesses, such that they too can reap the benefits of an embedded financial experience, which was only previously restricted to end consumers.”

Also Read: Why plug-and-play should be the new standard for embedded finance

Singh also opined that embedded finance would force traditional banks to change. While banks have woken up to the potential of embedded finance, most traditional institutions still need to start experimenting with this technology.

For instance, in Asia, only Standard Chartered is trialling an embedded finance experience for its customers by following a BaaS (banking as a service) model. Although the potential of this technology is well known, most traditional institutions are unwilling to integrate this offering as it deters them from their age-old approach.

“From our perspective, embedded finance arrives with the promise of bringing all stakeholders together on a level playing field. However, unfortunately, there is still some resistance from traditional institutions to arrive at this juncture,” he said. “If banks and other traditional institutions fail to embrace the embedded finance wave, it can become an existential threat to them. As a recent Accenture study rightly highlighted, if banks do nothing, embedded finance can claim up to US$32 billion in SME banking revenue by 2025.”

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In their latest study What Jobseekers Wish Employers Knew: Unlocking the Future of Recruitment, SEEK–the parent company of JobStreet and JobsDB– revealed that one in three people in Southeast Asia (SEA) and Hong Kong is actively looking for a job, helping 2023 to remain a “jobseekers’ market.”

Held in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network, a global alliance of recruitment websites, the study surveyed more than 90,000 respondents in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

It revealed that despite the waves of layoffs by tech companies in the region, opportunities for tech talents in SEA remain abundant. SEEK noted a 29 per cent YOY (2021 vs 2022) increase in job ads for tech roles in the region based on data from Jobstreet and JobsDB.

However, in a press conference in Singapore today, SEEK CEO (Asia) Peter Bithos stressed that these opportunities exist in “different places.”

Responding to a question by e27, he elaborated that up until October last year, there were at least 2,000 tech talents that were laid off in the region. Yet at the same again, the SEEK team counted that there are 9,000 to 10,000 vacancies for tech roles in their platforms.

Also Read: Special visa introduced to woo global tech talents to Singapore

“The message is … if you are a tech worker and you have been impacted [by the layoffs], you may not be able to find another tech job at another startup or pure tech company. But there are opportunities in non-tech industries such as healthcare [which had intensified their digitalisation efforts since the pandemic],” he said.

What talents want from potential employers

The study revealed jobseekers’ expectations from their potential employers. Most respondents (71 per cent) in SEA and Hong Kong prioritise stable jobs with good work-life balance in their search, and this preference is dominant across job roles, countries, and age groups.

According to BCG Partner and Associate Director Sagar Goel, people’s expectations towards work have “changed radically” in the past few years.

“Employers must understand that while a high salary may be a way to raise the attention of in-demand talent, money is not enough to retain them in the long run. A culture that supports work-life balance, allows for flexibility, and emphasises good workplace relationships is equally important,” he said.

Interestingly, the study also discovered that the use of advanced digital tools in the recruitment process is “not favoured” amongst the younger generations.

Also Read: The future of edutech: Personalising learning for all

“Many prefer to see personal interactions during the recruitment process, with only 24 per cent stating that they would be comfortable participating in an AI-led interview,” it stated.”

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing 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 get the chance to 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 Report: Tech jobs return to SEA, open opportunities for tech talents in non-tech industries appeared first on e27.

I am not sure about you, but I think we should all be in panic mode now.

When it comes to tackling the impact of climate change, we have both good and bad news from many sides. The bad news is that we are doomed; this should be obvious. But the good news is that, through the stories that we covered on e27 in February, we see that there had been progress in how we are dealing with this major crisis–one that will determine our survival in the next centuries.

In fact, we can compile the insights that we gathered through our own coverage in the climate tech and sustainability sectors into three neat lessons:

1. Tech industries play a greater role than thought

We can break this down into various verticals and how they give a unique contribution to the fight against climate change. Take an example of this post by our contributor, Elevandi Senior Communications Manager Anthony Caravello.

“The move to a net zero global economy by 2050 will require the greatest reallocation of capital since World War II, coupled with a massive influx of financial innovation,” he writes.

“Fintechs are already playing a role in driving the sustainability agenda. ‘Fintechs for Good’, i.e. fintech [companies] that embed an ESG agenda into their core product portfolio, operations and mission, attracted US$2.1 billion in funding in 2021, and this trend is expected to continue. As sustainability efforts proliferate, a key challenge for all companies would be to demonstrate real impact and self-protect against greenwashing.”

Also Read: SG Budget 2023: Greater push towards net zero provides opportunities for startups

A similar sentiment was also expressed by Michael Sheren, President and Chief Strategy Officer of MVGX, in an interview with e27. With its ability to provide transparency, blockchain definitely has secured a VIP seat in the fight against global warming.

“When I worked in corporate finance for years in the ’80s and ’90s, transparency was the opposite of what they looked for. They tried to keep the information as concealed as possible, hoping that buyers would not ask too many questions. Nowadays, the more open you are to demonstrating how green you are, the better price you get. It’s almost like taking the whole concept of 1980s Wall Street and putting it on its head,” he said.

Consumerism is one of the reasons why we got to this point in the first place. However, retail and e-commerce companies can also play a role in the fight against global warming by transforming the way we shop–starting with highlighting those who are helping us shop differently.

Take the example of Smthgood, a fashion marketplace that is focused on ‘conscious fashion’ brands.

“All brands on the platform have been carefully curated to align with Smthgood’s values based on three factors: what the item is made of, how the item is made, and the impact of the finished item on the environment. Smthgood aims to provide more personalised user experiences with fashion AI tagging and uplift the conscious brands on its platform,” the company says.

2. Must never forget the humans

The fight against climate change goes hand-in-hand with the fight for social justice. Unfortunately, the human element is often forgotten in our quest to find alternatives to existing solutions.

Also Read: Singapore’s climate change: Moving towards net-zero through greener buildings and emerging technology

In many parts of Asia, plastic waste is commonly processed by informal workers who are part of the marginalised society. We recently featured two SEA-based startups–Plustik and TrashLucky–who are looking to empower informal plastic waste workers through their tech solutions.

Laura Benns, Director of Programs, at SecondMuse explains in an email interview the value that startups can provide to informal waste workers–that may not be provided by other institutions.

She highlights that waste management ecosystems are complex, including in Asia where it is mostly run by marginalised members of society. But she stresses that innovative design thinking behind new business models around waste management ecosystems has huge potential to break the mould on who stands to benefit from these innovations.

3. We are in this together

But the best part is knowing that we are not alone in this fight. The appearance of “low-carbon transition” in SG Budget 2023 is a welcome addition by members of the tech startup ecosystem.

For startups working in the climate tech and sustainability sectors, balancing revenue and impact remains the toughest challenges that they are facing, but luckily there is always help around the corner.

“Startups will face the challenge of balancing impact creation and business growth, aligning expectations of stakeholders and business partners, and getting their investors to better understand how impact can translate into enterprise value,” says James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures.

“With sustainability coming into focus in these few years, the challenge may be slowly mitigating, but investors should put teeth in their commitment to sustainability and impact by actually investing in and supporting the growth of impact-driven startups … Together with our local and international partners in the startup investment ecosystems and social sectors, we are able to support the startups in expanding beyond the local market and pulling together resources to replicate and scale.”

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing 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 get the chance to pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Image Credit: Antoine GIRET on Unsplash

The post We tried to save the world in February. These are the 3 things we learned about it appeared first on e27.

The cybersecurity industry has consistently faced a shortage of skilled people in the profession. According to a Cybersecurity Workforce Study by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, Inc., or (ISC)2, the global cybersecurity workforce gap grew by more than 26 per cent year-over-year in 2022, despite adding more than 464,000 people to the profession.

This gap has been driven by the acceleration of digitalisation brought about by the pandemic, rapid advancements brought about by Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the increased prevalence of cyber threat actors keen to take advantage of these trends to further their own nefarious objectives.

More importantly, this gap has increased the risks of cyberattacks to organisations as existing practitioners struggle to keep up with the increased threats and evolving landscape.

We need to hire cybersecurity professionals from all disciplines

Cybersecurity professionals are typically hired from disciplines related to IT and networking roles. This is a sensible approach as people in these disciplines have knowledge or skillsets that are complementary to cybersecurity roles, such as system administration, programming and networking.

However, as evidenced from the numbers, we are unable to narrow the cybersecurity workforce gap just by hiring from this limited pool of people. There are increased competing demands for people with such skillsets, especially from emerging Industry 4.0 technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced robotics.

Also Read: How the need to survive pushed this founder into the depths of cybersecurity

To fill the workforce gap, we need to hire cybersecurity professionals from outside the traditional industries of IT and networking. This may be contrary to existing mainstream hiring practices where hard skills are often prioritised first, but there is method in this “madness”, especially in the field of cybersecurity.

Hard skills are nice, but aptitude is cardinal

For example, 10 years ago, a Security Operations Centre (SOC) would typically employ static Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) for security monitoring operations. Today, a typical SOC would be capable of performing proactive Threat Hunting (TH), employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect anomalies, and use automated orchestration tools.

An engineer who had joined a SOC 10 years ago knowing how to operate an SIEM, would not be able to rely on that same skillset in a SOC today, unless he picked up new skills in TH or AI or automation tools.

Hence, a potential candidate should not be assessed primarily on their current or past skills but more on their aptitude or their ability to pick up new skills and knowledge. This is even more relevant in the cybersecurity industry, where technologies and methods are expected to change every two to three years, and candidates need to have the right aptitude and attitude to pick up new skills quickly, relearn or even unlearn old skills.

Need of the hour

Structured Training is critical for candidates outside the industry to join the cybersecurity workforce and hit the ground running.

With the right aptitude, a potential candidate will have a much higher chance of transiting successfully into the cybersecurity industry. However, having just aptitude is insufficient for the candidate to transit, as manpower-starved employers are looking for candidates with the necessary skillsets to hit the ground running rather than having to train them by themselves.

The skills acquisition process can be complicated for a candidate from outside the IT industry. Firstly, they would potentially be looking at hundreds of cybersecurity certifications, of which many of these might not be suitable for the candidate’s expertise level or might not provide the correct skillsets for a particular job. Secondly, some might not be able to afford the training costs upfront, or commit the time to attain these skillsets on a part-time basis. Thirdly, some candidates simply learn better with a trainer, as a trainer would be able to bring them through more difficult concepts, customise the programme to the candidate’s ability, or contextualise cybersecurity concepts to practical scenarios.

Also Read: 9 tips for creating a remote work cybersecurity policy

Hence, a structured training programme which is focused on practical skills, led by experienced trainers and practitioners, and enables the candidate to focus on training full-time, is a critical enabler for these candidates to transit successfully and hit the ground running.

Benefits of hiring cybersecurity professionals from outside the industry

Hiring cybersecurity professionals from outside the industry will enable us to narrow the cyber workforce gap in a sustained manner. This will benefit organisations looking to reinforce their cybersecurity workforce to defend against increasing threats, as well as the candidates who can look forward to meaningful and challenging work and good career prospects.

However, the benefits go beyond that. The cybersecurity community will also benefit from alternative skillsets that these candidates bring in, which are not native to the cybersecurity community. For example, a former power engineer will bring with him knowledge about power systems which will enable him to defend industrial control systems (ICS) better.

A former law associate will be able to contribute significantly to legal and policy developments in the cybersecurity domain, which is currently very nascent. A former sales executive would be very valuable as a cybersecurity solutions sales engineer or consultant. The possibilities are endless.

This is how we can fill the cybersecurity workforce gap and protect the world.

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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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The post The future of cybersecurity: A plan to fill the workforce gap and protect the world appeared first on e27.

What elements constitute growth and scale for a startup?

According to our contributor David Isaac Matthews, Principal: Growth & Venture Building at Causality Co, it all starts with finding that product-market fit.

“Product-market fit is the holy grail of startups and launching innovation. It is when you are creating value for a profitable customer segment. It is the point at which your product meets the needs of your target market, creating a unique value proposition that drives growth. But achieving product-market fit is easier said than done,” he writes.

In the pre-pandemic world, growth is often identical with speed, and startups often stays in a cycle of raising funding in order to expand to new markets before they are hit with the reality of sustaining a business.

But as we are dealing with back-to-back global crises, is there any difference in the way we should approach this? What lessons have we learned in the past few years, and what remains relevant? What opportunities are there to explore?

Also Read: 6 different ways to explore growth at Echelon Asia Summit 2023

This year, Echelon Asia Summit will be back on June 14-15 at Singapore EXPO to build towards a sustainable and impactful tech ecosystem.

The event will feature six key themes and tracks:

• Soonicorns and the Future Change-makers of SEA
• Future Sectors and Investment Trends
• Growth and Scaling
• Investments and M&A
• Sustainable Growth and Climate
• Web3

We are looking forward to featuring startup founders who will not hesitate to share their stories. From the most valuable lessons that you have ever learned to tips-and-trick on how companies can scale and grow their business in a challenging time like this, we believe that no ones knows better than you!

We are also looking forward to hear from investors, corporations, and government agencies on the role that they play in helping startups scale–and how they can make a difference in it.

If you are the right person to speak about this key theme and track, or know someone who does, we would like to hear from you. Register HERE and we will get in touch soon.

See you in June.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing 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 get the chance to 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 Brand new days: How startups can approach growth in a post-pandemic world appeared first on e27.

To attract potential customers, eye-catching visuals (photos and videos) are critical for online businesss, such as e-commerce shops, marketplaces, and e-magazines. However, getting affordable, fast visuals is costly and challenging.

While large brands can afford professional photo shoots, smaller brands trying to move onto e-commerce platforms are less fortunate.

“A professional shoot is expensive and difficult to execute,” Kathy Sheehy tells e27. “Lots of efforts are going into it, from hiring a photographer, renting out a studio, renting lights, hiring a stylist, models, make-up artists. Quotes for bespoke shoots could run into thousands of dollars.”

Also Read: AI has the potential to perpetuate harmful biases, says Inmagine CEO

There should be a way to make photoshoots affordable for smaller brands without compromising quality, Kathy thought to herself. The Singaporean national, who has a background in brand building, social media and communications, broached this subject with Des Sheehy, her self-proclaimed “worst half” and a 35-year veteran of investing, and KittyKat was born.

Based in Singapore, KittyKat is the next evolution of brand photography, claims Kathy, the Chief Creative Officer. The startup works with brands and SMEs to create photos, videos, and GIFs affordably. “We produce images that are fast, aesthetic and affordable. We leverage AI to produce brand visuals and then use tech/humans to present, refine and multiply these images.”

As a business owner, you can book your shoot on the KittyKat website and send your product to the company for the shoot. You can then join the shoot virtually and get the pictures and videos later. Businesses can also get photoshoot recommendations from KittyKat.

The startup works with in-house and freelance creators, providing them more work, tools, and training to elevate their output.

KittyKat targets businesses where the image they present online is important: a web page, e-newsletter or social media account. According to Kathy, KittyKat has already worked with nearly 100 SMEs, brands, and MNCs across the US, Australia, and Asia.

Like most startups, the AI company also faces several challenges, of which behaviour change is the biggest. Small companies beginning their online journey don’t think visuals are essential, while large companies with in-house marketing teams need the incentive to change their traditional ways.

“Overcoming the assumption that we are a photo studio was challenging. While we take photos, we are a service that uses innovation, new technology, and AI to ensure we maximise the impact of the client’s visual assets,” she says. “We help SMEs/brands scale and sell across geographies as we can create visuals that match local market needs.”

In her opinion, the best way to overcome such challenges is by experience.

KittyKat doesn’t charge thousands of dollars for shoot unlike other service providers. Instead, it provides a personal dashboard where the clients can access all the digital visual assets. They can pick new visuals from this dashboard to use later.

These assets constantly grow as KittyKat keeps adding new images through its multiplier and user-generated content (UGC) creators. The dashboard also provides access to content, training and tools to improve the performance of the marketing team and the brands. “We don’t want a client to come back for another shoot; we want the client to select from their personal gallery in a single click,” Kathy notes.

The startup offers various payment models to its clients: pay-as-you-go, SaaS, or account model to draw down these assets from their dashboards. They can also order new shoots or new formats from this, such as 3D, NFT, Print Ready etc.

A bootstrapped company, KittyKat recently raised a strategic investment round from 11 family members and friends. It has 23 staff workers across Singapore, the US, Ireland, Malaysia, and Australia.

Also Read: Instill AI can convert your unstructured data into meaningful data using low-code tools

In the next six to nine months, the firm plans to open a physical presence in the Middle East, Europe and the US, to better capture the initial images in mature markets.

“An image is worth a thousand words – one of the hardest parts of a digital transformation/platform are the images. At the end if the day, you need good visual assets to sell online,” Kathy signs off.

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The post Singaporean startup KittyKat does affordable brand photoshoots for small online businesses appeared first on e27.

DigiFT, a Singapore-based digital asset exchange (DEX) for asset-backed tokens (STO), has secured US$10.5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Shanda Group, a global privately-owned investment group.

Other investors also participated, including HashKey Capital, Hash Global, Xin Enterprise, and North Beta Capital.

The startup will use the new funds to support license applications in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, technology development, and expand its innovation capabilities. The firm also plans to expand its team.

DigiFT was founded in 2020 by Henry Zhang, formerly Greater China CEO of East West Bank and Deputy China CEO of Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Also Read: How to scale voluntary carbon markets with DeFi and Web3

DigiFT is a DEX for asset-backed tokens (STO) and is the first such exchange enrolled in the Monetary Authority of Singapore FinTech Regulatory Sandbox. It aims to provide regulated DeFi solutions on the Ethereum public blockchain, offering an automatic market-making (AMM) mechanism that facilitates secondary trading liquidity for security tokens backed by financial assets.

Asset owners can issue blockchain-based security tokens cost-effectively. Investors can also trade with continuous liquidity via the AMM mechanism and retain control over digital assets in their wallets.

“As a key international financial hub, Singapore boasts a robust legal framework and government support for tokenisation with blockchain technology. We look forward to further working with regulatory bodies to steer our industry in the right direction,” said Henry Zhang, Founder and CEO of DigiFT.

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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 DigiFT, a DEX founded by ex-Deputy China CEO of Citibank, bags US$10.5M funding appeared first on e27.

Una Brands, a multi-channel e-commerce aggregator headquartered in Singapore, has announced an additional US$30 million pre-Series C funding round led by Northstar Group.

This follows the company’s US$30 million Series B round led by White Star Capital and Alpha JWC Ventures in September 2022, and brings the total raise over the past year to US$60 million.

With this fundraise, the company plans to develop its multi-channel platform further and invest in strengthening supply chain and distribution networks in key operating markets.

Una Brands will also use the proceeds to continue acquiring high-quality e-commerce brands within the home & living, mom & baby, and beauty & personal care categories. In line with the consolidation trends in developed markets, the firm will also explore strategic opportunities to bolster its growth and solidify its position as the leading multi-channel e-commerce aggregator in APAC.

Also Read: Una Brands acquires ergonomic furniture brands ErgoTune and EverDesk+ for 8-figure USD

Founded in 2021, Una Brands is a multi-channel e-commerce aggregator. Its flagship brands, ErgoTune and EverDesk, are now in multiple countries across the APAC region and beyond.

Co-Founder and CEO Kiren Tanna said: “We believe their deep knowledge of the Southeast Asian markets and strong e-commerce experience will be very valuable to Una Brands as we look to double down our operations across the region.”

In 2022, Una Brands acquired multiple brands, including a premium DTC brand catering to nursing mothers in Malaysia and one of TikTok’s most popular lip care brand in Indonesia.

As a group, Una Brands claims to have achieved US$70 million in run-rate revenue and is expected to achieve Group EBITDA profitability in 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 Una Brands rakes in US$30M to acquire e-commerce brands in home & living, mom & baby segments appeared first on e27.

Collaborations are a bootstrapped founder’s friend. Partnerships and collaborations are a crucial part of Web3 marketing since Web3 marketing is all about community building.

Partnerships and collaborations, from Twitter Megaspaces, to Discord Stages to even cross posting of tweets and whitelist partnerships, help projects expose themselves to already existing communities. When exposed to already existing communities, projects in turn, are also able to absorb fans from said community who may also be interested in the partner project.

From an operations standpoint, activating a partnerships team that can execute campaigns that grow communities will also maximise the results of the growth, marketing, and community department.

I’ve worked with bootstrapped Web3 projects with little to none marketing power, but with the right collaborations with the right projects, I was able to build a healthy and engaged community.

At its core, Web3 collaborations and partnerships are essential since:

• Collaboration is the language of real builders in Web3
• Collaboration helps projects absorb community members from already existing communities, both of which are crucial to building the ecosystem of the project

Part one: Selecting community profiles

Similar in Web2, where the customer persona is first profiled before all marketing and advertising efforts are launched, Web3 founders also have to set up profiles. However, in Web3, founders have to think not in customers but in communities. Enter community profiles.

Also Read: The future of Web3 communities: What’s next after the NFT community craze?

First step, founders have to identify the community profiles that they will partner with for their projects. The following are the non-negotiable factors to be identified:

• Community volume: What’s the minimum community members for our partners? Will we accept partners no less than 10K community members? What is our non-negotiable volume?
• Activity ratio: How do we define a healthy community? How many engagements on a weekly basis on their social media trees and discord server do we define as an active audience?
• Project quality: Is the project doable? Do the founders have what it takes to build the project? Is the project investor backed? What momentum and traction does the project have?

The following metrics have to be set, and founders have to check these before executing partnerships as if their project’s life depended on it because it does. Founders do not want their projects to be affiliated with projects that rug or fool its community.

It’s also important to note that communities exist both in Web2 and in Web3, and its crucial for founders to reachout to Web2 communities as well.

For example, an NFT collection of skateboard art with skateboarding related utilities can also benefit from partnerships from Web2 skateboarding communities. It’s just a matter of engaging with the right community profiles.

Part two: Pitching the collab

Partnerships that bear fiat payments are rare in the space of Web3 since communities are all about facilitating and exchanging value. The standard trade in community partnerships are usually cross WL giveaways, NFT giveaways, perks access, or the like to both communities (though in the guild side of Web3, some ask for “AMA fees”).

For reference, projects that receive the pitch usually check three important metrics before accepting the collaboration:

• Community member/following count: Does the pitching project have an ample community count?
• Activity ratio: Does the pitching project have a healthy community? Are they composed of real people or bots?
• Project quality: Do the founders of the project have a real project on their hands? Do they have what it takes to build it?

Hence, founders have to prepare a pitch that showcases the following metrics:

• Community members
• Social media trees audience
• Brand/project engagements
• PR engagements
• Audit results (if applicable)

Bottom-line is founders have to prepare a pitch that showcases their presence, momentum, traction, and legitimacy to make prospect community partners say yes.

Part three: Finalising collaboration terms

Once both communities say yes to the collaboration, similar to Web 2 partnerships, the terms of the partnerships have to be finalised. At this point, its also important to note that MOUs and MOAs for community partnerships for Web 3 projects are rare (from our experience working with more than 100+ Web 3 projects all around the world).

MOUs, MOAs, and the need for other sorts of documents defeat the purpose of building a decentralised web (latency and centralisation), so the approval of the founders via chat is almost always enough. Of course, if you’re a brand in Web3 and not necessarily a community, the MOUs, MOAs, and other documents are essential. But strictly, Web3 communities and projects often don’t have those.

Usual collaboration terms in Web3 partnerships include but are not limited to:

• Collaborations/partnership announcement: How will we announce the collaboration? Will we announce only on Twitter? Discord?
• Cross WL/NFT/perks giveaway: What value will we provide both communities? How much WL’s will each project allocate each other? How much NFTs? If not those, what perks or benefits will the project grant the community?
• AMA/Twitter space/Discord stage event: How will we execute the cross-community AMA? What’s the event brief and objectives for the event? Where will the event take place?

Part four: Hosting the space/stage

Hosting the Discord stage or the Twitter spaces is perhaps the most important part of the collaboration. Web3 marketing is all about community building, and as you know it, community building is never transactional — its always about relationships.

Also Read: Web3 marketing: Building a cult-like community

Hence, to build relationships between communities, the leaders (i.e., founders) of both projects have to show up on a platform to discuss to their communities the vision, roadmap, and collaboration plans of both projects moving forward.

Showing up to Twitter spaces or Discord stages is proof to the community of the project and the leaders that their leaders are engaged in the partnership. The event gives reason enough for the community members of both communities to checkout each other’s projects and communities. That’s when the growth happens.

Part five: Hiring a collab manager

Once founders find the right formula for their project’s collaborations and partnerships, I often recommend them to hire and outsource a collaborations manager to take the wheel so they can focus on building the project. The collab manager is one of the most important pieces of a Web3 marketing team ecosystem.

The collab manager is in charge of looking for other partner communities and projects with a vision, purpose, core values, and culture that matches the project being built. It is the duty of the collab manager to build a database of possible prospect partners, properly qualifying them with respect to community health, culture fitting, and value matching.

The collab manager should qualify the projects first and should not work with just any project that doesn’t match the community’s identity as it would mess with the work of the moderator.

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The post How to launch collaborations that grow communities: A guide for Web3 founders appeared first on e27.

Nikhil Kapur and Siddharth Verma, who were previously part of Japanese early-stage venture firm STRIVE, have announced the formation of Grayscale Ventures.

The new fund is focused on SaaS and DevInfra companies in Southeast Asia and India. The team plans to focus primarily on the following themes:

DevInfra
In a statement, the firm said that with India being the second largest developer base in the world, it will soon to overtake the US. “Developers in India have built infrastructure for scaled-up products used by more than 100 million users, making it a unique skillset globally. Using these capabilities they are now building the next generation of infra companies focussed on other developers.”

AI applications
“In the past, SaaS systems were either systems of record or systems of engagement such as Salesforce or Slack respectively. The next generation of SaaS systems will be systems of intelligence and this is where we’ll invest our capital,” the company stated, commenting on the rising popularity of AI.

Vertical SaaS
With this sector, Grayscale Ventures aims to seize opportunities provided by the pandemic, when SMEs became more open to tech adoption and digitalisation.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Layoffs at Ruangguru, GoTo’s Q3 revenues triple, Better Bite forms new idea-stage alt-protein fund

The 10-year term fund plans to invest in 15 to 20 startups at their Pre-seed stage, essentially the first cheque into the company.

With a cheque size of US$200,000 to US$1 million, Grayscale Ventures targets around 10 per cent ownership in these companies, preferring to lead the rounds wherever possible or co-leading with other specialised funds. The team looks for founding teams that are product-led with strong developer capabilities.

Most of the LPs are operators and founders of companies such as Slack, Zendesk, Hasura, GlobalWay, Nexus, STRIVE, and Apollo Munich UOB.

“We come from Dev and Product backgrounds, so we tend to understand what technical founders are building better than most generalist investors. Our portfolio founders find value in working with us as we support them in figuring out their product-market-fit and opening up market access in the US and APAC. Our LPs are operators and founders from tech companies globally, and we leverage their support for our portfolio’s growth,” the company stated.

Grayscale has already invested in a few SaaS companies including Olvy, a product feedback lifecycle management SaaS, and Localwell, mobile SaaS for Indian pharma retailers.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing 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 get the chance to pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Image Credit: Grayscale

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