Singapore-based digital wealth advisory platform Endowus has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Carret Private Investments.

Carret is a Hong Kong-based multi-family office asset manager focused on wealth management, private investments and multi-generational wealth planning.

With this acquisition, the Endowus group of companies will now vertically integrate to serve the needs of different client segments and look to provide superior investment and advisory solutions.

Together, the two firms manage client assets of over US$4 billion as of end-June.

The Endowus Group, through Carret Private’s minority shareholding, will also have a strategic partnership with Lumen Capital Investors. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Lumen is a Singapore-based wealth advisor and multi-family office founded and led by private banking veteran Wilfried Kofmehl, former CEO of Bank Julius Baer Singapore.

Also Read: Waste4Change grabs US$5M to shrink Indonesia’s landfills

Samuel Rhee, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Endowus, said: “The combination of Endowus, Carret Private and the partnership with Lumen will allow us to scale and grow faster and lead the industry towards greater transparency and integrity in providing the highest quality wealth advisory services as fiduciaries and the lowest cost access to solutions that help our clients achieve better outcomes.”

Founded in 2017, Endowus has raised US$67 million in funding from investors such as UBS, EDBI, Prosus Ventures, Z Venture Capital, Samsung Ventures, Singtel Innov8, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.

As of August, Endowus has more than US$2 billion in assets under advice.

Gregory Van, CEO of Endowus said, “We are here to advance the human wealth experience through technology, bringing the right level of personalisation and automation to make expert investing better for all of us. This mission transcends online and offline and touches everyone, from those at the beginning of their wealth journey to the ultra-wealthy.”

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Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.

The 2022 Echelon edition will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

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Southeast Asia’s leading proptech group PropertyGuru has acquired Sendhelper, a Singapore home services technology company.

The transaction details haven’t been disclosed

With this deal, PropertyGuru intends to provide access to home management and maintenance services.

The acquisition is in line with the group’s growth strategy of expanding into adjacencies of fintech and data while investing in its core marketplaces business towards creating a digital property ecosystem for property seekers, sellers, agents, developers, banks, and valuers.

Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas, MD, Data and Software Solutions, PropertyGuru Group, said: “Our entry into home services is an important step as we create solutions that provide guidance and make each step of the property journey more efficient, transparent, and trusted for everyone in the ecosystem: homeowners, buyers, agents, and developers.”

“Given our shared vision of harnessing data and technology to improve our customers’ experience, we aim to be a force for innovative and game-changing solutions that guide people to make confident property decisions. Over the coming months, we plan to develop Sendhelper solutions and synergies for our partners,” she added.

Founded by Rupam Biswas and Bogdan Metehoui, Sendhelper allows homeowners and tenants in Singapore to search for and book home services for their daily needs through an app that connects them to verified service providers. Its services include cleaning, air conditioner maintenance, and handyman and repair services, among other necessities.

Also Read:Sustainability starts at home: How I aim to tackle climate change as PropertyGuru CEO

Sendhelper network includes over 2,000 trained and verified freelancers in Singapore.

With the addition of Sendhelper, PropertyGuru.com.sg will become a one-stop destination to enable property seekers to find, finance, own, manage and maintain homes.

PropertyGuru’s partners (real estate agents) will also be able to offer home services to their clients (property seekers and landlords) and cater to all their property needs, from housing options to home finance solutions and home maintenance.

Sendhelper is a strategic addition with long-term growth opportunities and is not expected to have a material impact on the group’s 2022 financial results.

Rupam Biswas, Co-Founder, General Manager, Sendhelper, said: “Post-COVID-19, as more people continue to use online solutions for their daily needs, with PropertyGuru, we aim to digitise the customer journey for home needs effectively. We look forward to co-creating tech solutions that will further ease the home services booking experience and increase users’ access to organised help as opposed to informal or ad-hoc sources.”

According to a 2021 report of the Department of Statistics in Singapore, households in Singapore have brought in higher incomes over the last ten years amid a growing trend of married, dual-career couples. This suggests that households will increasingly depend on outsourced help to manage and maintain their homes and home services will be in high demand.

PropertyGuru claims it empowers over 40 million property seekers with more than 3.5 million real estate listings, in-depth insights, and solutions that enable them to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

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Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon. 

Here’s the full list of the speakers for the 2022 edition, which will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, remain one of the major healthcare concerns in the world today, claiming over 40 million lives every year. It is also a key driver of healthcare expenditure for households as the chronic nature of NCDs requires long-term care, which can pose a huge financial burden for patients and their families.

A study highlighted that adequate and reliable social protection interventions, on top of existing health coverage plans, must be introduced to help families who are struggling with the financial pressure that comes with managing the chronic conditions of their loved ones.

Additionally, with the rise of an ageing population, poor lifestyle choices, and urbanisation, there has been a substantial increase in NCDs in Southeast Asia as well. According to WHO, 55 per cent of deaths in the region are caused by NCDs, which is nearly eight million people every year.

The growing incidence of chronic diseases in this region has also strained healthcare systems, especially in developing countries. These areas often struggle with poor healthcare and finance infrastructure, inadequate manpower resources, and vulnerable information systems. Although there is an emergent need for the management of chronic diseases, patients who are central to this care paradigm continue to face challenges in their healthcare journeys.

Significant gaps persist in patient journeys

System complexity

With multiple administrative and clinical processes overlapping one another, our healthcare systems are complex by nature. Accompanied by the usage of technical language, these intricacies may seem overwhelming for patients. If not guided properly, it can affect their overall healthcare experience and their ability to make informed choices.

According to the Bain Front Line of Healthcare APAC survey 2021, more than 90 per cent of consumers surveyed in Asia said that they preferred a single touchpoint to manage all their healthcare needs.

Also Read: Healthtech data: The race for new oil in Southeast Asia

Furthermore, the National Institute for Health and Care Research in the UK reported that 23 per cent of patients raised concerns about their healthcare experience, with most of their concerns relating to communication between healthcare providers and patients.

Lack of integrated healthcare guidance

With the pandemic bringing healthcare to the forefront, patients are more invested than ever in health maintenance, treatment options, and preventive care. They are willing to pay for healthcare guidance both digitally and in-person through online education, diagnostic health check-ups and chronic care treatment.

For example, according to a 2018 Deloitte survey, Americans are increasingly looking for convenient, reliable, and affordable healthcare services, with nearly one-third of them using digital apps for health coaching and identifying symptoms.

However, while technological advancements have made access to virtual health and care possible, more remains to be done regarding remote chronic disease management for patients. Nearly two in five adults in the world are managing two or more chronic diseases.

This makes the widespread adoption of remote monitoring tools difficult as different chronic conditions require care from doctors specialising in that field. Therefore, creating a unified patient experience that considers multiple chronic conditions across the clinical workflow is critical in driving adoption and scale.

Health insurance-related challenges

Most insurers in Asia highlight morbidity rather than the well-being of people, with little to no focus on health insurance. As a result, consumers in many markets are often not informed about health insurance, let alone understand the scope of coverage and benefits.

Moreover, product descriptions and recommendations can be difficult for consumers to comprehend due to the usage of technical lingo, making it challenging for them to make an informed decision.

Technical jargon, accompanied by costly premiums, is a key barrier for consumers. For example, in major developing markets across Southeast Asia like Indonesia, the gross written life insurance premiums grew at 11 per cent per year between 2013 to 2017.

Additionally, less than a third of policyholders feel sufficiently covered by insurance, with Indonesians, in particular, feeling least protected.

According to Willis Towers Watson’s 2022 Global Medical Trends Survey, the primary driver of medical costs remains the misuse of care due to the “overprescribing” of health services by medical professionals for their patients.

Additionally, 38 per cent of insurers surveyed said that the underuse of preventive services was a significant cost driver of increased year-over-year costs due to the avoidance of medical care during the pandemic.

These rising costs continue to serve as a key barrier of entry for consumers, especially with the onslaught of COVID-19. Across the Asia Pacific, consumers have become more price sensitive towards insurance purchases amidst concerns over financial stability post-COVID-19.

Poor healthcare delivery

Although patients are the core of the healthcare industry, their healthcare journeys are often fraught with challenges. At least 5.7 million people lose their lives in low and middle-income countries every year due to poor quality healthcare, while 2.9 million die due to lack of access to care.

Improvement in healthcare delivery is of utmost concern today since a person has a greater chance of dying due to poor quality care rather than the absence of care. The Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) Patient Satisfaction Survey (2015) reported that although 85 per cent of patients were satisfied with the service at hospitals and polyclinics, they cited long waiting times, health procedures and facilities as areas that needed urgent improvement.

Technology as an enabler

Digitalisation is revolutionising the healthcare delivery system by redefining patient access to care, enhancing patient engagement, and providing them with the opportunity to actively participate in their healthcare journeys.

Also Read: How mental health startup Intellect’s founder catalysed his personal battle with anxiety

Purpose-built, patient-centric technologies can help overcome various patient pain points – from personalisation and optimisation of healthcare delivery to reliable management of chronic diseases.

More specifically, intuitive artificial intelligence (AI) based tools can improve patient journeys by providing a one-stop integrated platform that brings together patients, payors, and providers at every step of the treatment continuum.

For example, AI technologies and apps can be used to provide patients with personalised chronic disease management plans, including automated monitoring of changes in vital health-related parameters, check-up reminders, and early warning signals.

Patients are also provided with reliable guidance via patient self-service facilities (chatbots) and computer-aided detection systems for diagnosis. By capturing data and utilising it effectively, such tools can enhance efficiency and reduce time and expenses spent on unnecessary procedures.

These digital ecosystems can also connect hospitals and insurance systems to enhance efficiency across the board. For example, it can help to streamline health insurance claims processes, thereby reducing claims turnaround time and fraud and leading to better outcomes for patients, payors, and providers.

They also ensure the safe and integrated handling of medical information, allowing healthcare professionals to leverage the power of analytics and create personalised treatment plans that better address the needs of patients.

AI can thus enhance the overall patient experience so that patients are kept informed and empowered at every step of their healthcare journey. However, it is important to remember that technology does not substitute in-person medical care and attention but instead complements it.

With technology as an enabler, patients can anticipate simpler and more convenient healthcare processes and services which helps in building trust and accountability and is critical in protecting the relationship between healthcare practitioners and patients while making healthcare accessible and affordable for all.

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If we are talking about edutech startups in Indonesia, most of the time, the names that come to mind would be those that target K-12 education, such as Ruangguru and Zenius. But there are also companies that are targeting higher educational institutions with Neliti being one of them.

Neliti is a free-to-use website builder and content management system (CMS) that creates aesthetically pleasant web interfaces for academic content providers.

In an email interview with e27, Neliti CEO Anton Lucanus writes that the company is aiming for three different types of academic content providers: institutional repositories, academic journals, and academic conferences.

“Our users are librarians and academic journal publishers. They simply sign up to our website for free and are then provided access to a publishing management system,” he explains.

” … They can perform important steps in the creation and management of their repositories and journals, such as creating a website with their own custom domain name, managing and editing research articles, indexing their articles in databases like Google Scholar, analysing the usage of their research (views, downloads, citations, etc.), as well as a lot of other important technical capabilities that repositories and journals need,” he continues.

Also Read: In this age of digitalisation, is edutech a bane or boon for educators?

Why is this solution better than the existing ones?

Lucanus begins his answer by explaining the two main types of existing solutions: free open-source solutions (such as OJS for journals or ePrints for repositories) or paid solutions (such as Silverchair for journals or Pure for repositories). But these free solutions are not user-friendly, requiring them to learn how to host and build their own websites.

“But because the users are librarians or academics, not trained web developers, the resulting websites are often ugly and riddled with bugs. Paid solutions are unaffordable to most institutions and reserved only for wealthy institutions in developed countries,” he says.

“We aim to make a free solution that is infinitely easier to use than existing free solutions yet produces infinitely more beautiful and functional repositories than even the most expensive paid software. We want even small universities in the middle of a developing country to produce more beautiful and functional websites than wealthy publishers who have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their websites – how disruptive would that be? This has been a huge focus of our UI/UX team.”

Neliti also aims to completely handle the entire tech stack for its users, such as hosting, indexing content, and more. According to Lucanus, no other free software has achieved this.

“We want our users to be free from any technical burden and focus on what they’re good at [which is] publishing impactful research.”

Also Read: Edutech in a post-pandemic world: Where do we go from here?

Academic orientation

The story of Neliti began in March 2015 when Lucanus was interning at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology in Jakarta, a leading research institution in Indonesia. Founded in 1888, the government-funded institution conducts basic medical molecular biology and biotechnology research. Its founder Prof. Dr Christiaan Eijkman received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in 1929.

During his internship, Lucanus found that the institute had “an enormity of impactful data that was previously unavailable publicly.” This includes data on Japanese Encephalitis rates in Central Java and the genetic sequencing results for Indonesia’s first-ever case of Zika.

“I built the first version of Neliti as a way to deposit this data publicly, should it ever be needed by local or international health authorities. Beginning as a small repository for my laboratory only, Neliti expanded rapidly (and entirely organically) to include over 1,000 other institutions and receive millions of monthly users,” Lucanus explains.

“We are trying to solve access to scientific knowledge. A lot of important scientific knowledge is hidden behind paywalls or sometimes not available online at all! We believe that research is key to solving the world’s biggest challenges and that scientific knowledge is so vital that it deserves to be free. By providing free tools that help with publishing and accessing knowledge, our mission is to improve accessibility to scientific knowledge and move one step closer to an open-access world.”

In developing the platform, Neliti started by conducting ideation on what solutions our users need.

“We then review about 100 websites/platforms with such solutions – both in the academic industry and outside – to see trends and use cases. Our UI/UX team then creates a design and UX that aims to improve on all previous solutions. We then ship it to our CTO and development team, who begin work on JIRA and handle the entire development side,” Lucanus says.

Also Read: How edutech is solving the global teacher’s crisis

As a platform, compared to many other startups operating in Indonesia, Neliti has a very specific target audience. Interestingly, the company has not made any particular acquisition moves to secure its customers.

“All customers have come to us organically (e.g. via word-of-mouth) – that is, 1,000 institutions and 3,000 journals. And the demand is only growing, so our existing resources are spent catering to this demand rather than trying to increase it. It’s a good problem to have!” Lucanus says.

The year of expansion

From its base in Jakarta, Neliti is currently run by a team of seven that includes Lucanus himself. The company is largely bootstrapped but has received equity-free grants from both the Indonesian and Australian governments.

“We may aim to raise capital in the future when we are ready to take things to another level,” Lucanus says.

One might wonder how a platform with a strong academic orientation such as Neliti monetises. According to Lucanus, it monetises through various advertising opportunities –from banners to sponsored content- and through the provision of essential tools in the publishing workflow.

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

“For example, we offer a digital object identifier (DOI) registration feature, where users have to pay for every article that they register. DOIs are a unique code that almost all modern academic articles have; it is really important and stores all the metadata for that article,” Lucanus explains.

“They are particularly important in the academic citation because they are more permanent than URLs, ensuring that readers can reliably locate the article’s source as journal articles can often be found on multiple different websites and databases. Think of it like every book’s’ ISBN’ on its barcode. Unfortunately, registering DOIs is a cumbersome process fraught with technical difficulties that laymen just cannot understand! We handle that entire DOI registration process and charge our users for it.”

The company is also looking forward to implementing more business models, such as premium features and plagiarism checking.

Now that they have secured their place in the Indonesian market, Neliti is looking forward to expanding its business to other markets.

“We are currently really popular in Indonesia and have worked with almost every major Indonesian institution. In 2023, we want to focus on expanding geographically to other developing countries. We’ve already received some users from other developing countries, including Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and dozens of others. We’re a bit spoilt for choice on which countries to focus on, and the early part of 2023 will be focused on an expansion strategy,” Lucanus closes.

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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.

Image Credit: Neliti

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Cryptocurrency has become a phenomenon in the global financial market in the past few years as Bitcoin reached a market capitalisation value of US$380 billion. Moreover, cryptocurrencies have had more real-life applications and have become increasingly accepted by global governments and organisations as payments for various purposes such as investment, operations, and transactions.

Venture capital organisations have also invested over US$25 billion in the market with over 12,000 big projects, leading to the formation of dozens of Web3 unicorns. Consequently, there is no surprise that crypto will be here to stay, creating exciting disruptions in the financial market and transforming other aspects of society. 

Challenges with cryptocurrency transactions

Despite the hype towards the security of blockchain technologies that power cryptocurrency development, transactions still pose some vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit unless users take precautionary actions. While blockchain technology produces a tamper-proof ledger of transactions, blockchain networks are not immune to cyberattacks and fraud.

As the values of such cryptocurrencies have increased exponentially, attacks against such transactions have also proliferated. As pointed out by Financial Express, crypto theft reached an all-time high record in 2021 with brazen attempts to breach the crypto-exchange security systems, and hackers stole approximately US$12 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Moreover, many crypto-mining malware attacks have been aimed at Internet users, hijacking the users’ devices and associated resources for cryptocurrency mining.

Also read: Echelon: A founder’s approach to fundraising at different stages

Hence, various startups have stepped up to share their challenges when conducting crypto trading. “In my early days of dabbling in cryptocurrencies, I performed most transactions via centralised exchanges. Trading or transacting through centralised exchanges is very convenient. Still, user accounts are often protected by usernames and passwords,” shared by Eric Wong, the Chief Operating Officer of Jupyton, a Singapore-based trust and provenance engine technology startup that specialises in providing security services such as identity authentication, secure digital signing, information security and consent-based data sharing.

He added, “The users do not hold the cryptocurrencies, which are instead in the custody of the centralised exchanges. With more cases of centralised exchanges being hacked or going bankrupt, users also lose their cryptocurrencies along with these centralised exchanges. The message of “not your private keys, not your crypto assets” becomes increasingly important to me as an end-user.”

Also read: The key to solving global problems? Curiosity and inquisitive minds

Additionally, human errors still occur when it comes to conducting crypto transactions, posing further challenges to transaction security, and becoming a weakness often exploited by hackers. “Hugware protects you from seed phrase errors, which is currently the biggest vulnerability in private key management. With Hugware®, there is no need to write down or keep seed phrases, minimising human errors in the process,” explained Ben Chan, co-founder and director of UKISS Technology.

Hence, cryptocurrency owners should protect themselves from fraudulent risks by taking preventive measures such as sticking to safe and reputable exchanges, using blockchain analytics software and backup, reliable crypto wallet services, etc. Consequently, to enhance protection efficiency while minimising human efforts, an all-in-one product that generates and stores private keys inside the hardware, enabling backups through device pairing will help to set crypto owners’ minds at ease and optimise the values of cryptocurrency applications in the business. 

How UKISS Hugware® helps businesses to enhance the security of cryptocurrency application

Established in Singapore with a team of experienced experts in the field of blockchain, data security and fintech, UKISS Technology is proud to introduce UKISS Hugware®, the innovative crypto hardware wallet that promises to facilitate the mass adoption of Web3 by making it safe and straightforward for the average user to secure their private keys. The product also addresses a significant pain point for cryptocurrency owners: losing their seed phrase error or copying them wrongly. Since the seed phrase is basically the recovery wallet password, losing it can equate to losing their entire crypto fortune in case malicious phishing attacks compromise the account. 

“All hardware wallets currently in the market require end users to copy down a 12-, 18-, or 24-word seed phrase as a backup of their hardware wallet’s private key in case they lose it. This process creates an additional burden to end users because they have to ensure that they copy the seed phrase accurately and protect the seed phrase from being accessed. With a hardware backup through device pairing, there is no chance of human error in copying the wrong seed phrase. It’s also harder to gain access to assets protected by such hardware than assets tied to seed phrases copied to a piece of paper”, expressed Eric Wong regarding the challenges with seed phrases.

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

Hugware’s phrase-free feature is made possible through its master seed synchronisation technology, complemented by its patented recovery mechanism with a pair of keys, including the Authentication Key (A-Key) and the Rescue Key (R-Key). “The A-Key generates and stores the master seed or master key and backs it up through synchronisation in the R-Key. The R-Key comes in handy when resetting passwords or restoring the wallet, eliminating the need to input or keep a seed phrase. This feature also makes UKISS Hugware® unique and superior to other products of the rivals”, claimed Co-founder & Director Ben Chan about UKISS Hugware®’s superiority. 

“UKISS Technology is developing a host of software applications and services around Hugware. Together with our partners and solution providers, we want to create tools and utilities to enhance the Web3 experience and make mass adoption feasible. These developments will form the UKISS Decentralised Security Ecosystem, powered by the KISS token,” shared by Ben Chan about UKISS Technology’s upcoming plan.

For more information, please visit UKISS Technology’s website.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by UKISS Technology

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

The post How this cutting-edge technology helps fortify your crypto security appeared first on e27.

Atome cuts staff in Indonesia BNPL, P2P divisions
The company has now undergone at least two rounds of layoffs, with the first hitting employees in Indonesia in late August; The staff cuts come as the firm has nearly tripled its profits and doubled its revenues in FY2021.

FinAccel seeks to raise up to US$135M in Series D
It has so far raised US$94M in Series D from Square Peg, Jungle Ventures, Mirae Asset, among others; The overall funding round could be larger; In 2019, it raised US$90M from Square Peg, Telkomsel, MDI Ventures, and others.

eFishery secures US$32M loan from DBS Indonesia to support expansion move
The funding will support the expansion of eFishery’s business and improve its quality and productivity to increase its production and scope by 300 per cent going forward.

Indonesian MSME enabler Wahyoo locks in US$6.5M Series B
The investors include NH Absolute Return Partners, Intudo Ventures, Evowood, Nitto Prima Ventura, Global Brain, East Ventures, and Indogen Capital; Wahyoo provides digitalization services for MSMEs in the food and beverage sector.

Vietnam’s Marathon Education raises 7-figure USD seed capital
Investors include Vulcan Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, and Goodwater Capital; Marathon Education provides live interactive cohort-based classes in large- or small-class format to K-12 students in Vietnam.

Sharia fintech firm Alami closes pre-Series B funding
The investors are East Ventures’ Growth Fund, AC Ventures, Quona Capital, and FEBE Ventures; Alami has disbursed more than US$200M in funds to date; It maintains a non-performing financing rate of zero as of last month.

SG’s klikit raises US$2M to bridge restaurants and creator economy
Lead investors are Global Founders Capital and Wavemaker Partners; The food delivery software startup will use the funds to help restaurants across Southeast Asia grow their business with more efficient food delivery.

Apeiron Bioenergy raises funding from Proterra Investment
Apeiron collects food and agricultural waste, including used cooking oil, tallow, and palm oil mill effluent, and converts them into biodiesel. So far, it has collected 500M+ litres of food waste for conversion.

Crypto.com lays off 2K employees, dials marketing efforts back
It is about 30-40% of the crypto exchange’s total workforce; About 60% of the employees hit by the layoffs came from non-corporate, back office, and support services.

Crypto.com tags recent mass layoff reports as ‘inaccurate’
‘Any media reports of ongoing job reductions are inaccurate, as are additional estimates and rumours around the total number of reductions’, a company spokesperson told Tech in Asia.

Social tokens will be the engine of Web3 from fanbases to incentivisation
The crypto world is going through a transformative chapter that is bound to revolutionise how the internet works and how online communities interact, and social tokens are at the heart of the latest inflective developments.

Huobi acquired by Tron Protocol founder Justin Sun
While the acquisition was made by Hong Kong-based asset management company About Capital Management’s M&A acquisitions fund, Sun was reportedly the core investor; The shares involved in the acquisition belonged to Huobi co-founder Leon Li.

SG Web3 payments firm Suberra nets US$2.7M in funding
The investors include Spartan Capital, Hashed, and DeFiance Capital; Suberra develops a payment platform for businesses to accept automated recurring subscriptions, one-time crypto payments, and credit card payments.

Singapore music festival to launch NFT collection
Hype Records’s Hypeworld Cosmos Access NFT collection will be made up of 600 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain; The collection will provide holders with event-specific perks and unique experiences, including VIP access.

‘Resistance to digital wealth management has almost disappeared in SEA’
CEO Bambu Ned Phillips says the firm, which raised US$10M co-led by Franklin Templeton in 2019, is getting closer to profitability, which is its goal for now.

Failure makes you wiser in your next attempt: Endowus CPO Vinod Raman
Vinod Raman looks at the important ingredients in his work life while leading the product management team at Endowus.

The evolution of early-stage investing and fundraising in SEA
Echelon 2022: Times have changed, and Southeast Asian startups must arm themselves with new fundraising techniques to woo investors.

To voice AI or not – The changing face of customer experience
To remain competitive and relevant in an increasingly digital world, it is necessary for brands to stay open to the immense potential of voice technology.

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It’s been proven again and again: customer retention, not acquisition, is what drives growth. Moreover, it can be up to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an old one. Customer retention is so important that it is the single growth metric that moves all three crucial touchpoints of acquisition, monetisation, and virality.

Given all these variables, it is necessary to integrate optimised customer growth and retention strategies on mobile touchpoints to be able to double down on retention and win in the markets in which our businesses operate.

In line with this goal, e27 and CleverTap — trusted by 10,000+ mobile brands and a pioneer in helping brands engage and retain their users — have joined forces to bring you ‘The Big Leap,’ a roadshow celebrating excellence in customer engagement, conversion, and retention. More than a learning opportunity for participants, the Big Leap will connect over 100 growth leaders in Southeast Asia to create a platform for sharing insights on how to create engaging experiences to grow customer retention, increase customer lifetime value, and ignite massive scalable growth with customers at the forefront.

Also read: Echelon 2022: The search for alternative funding options for VCs

Over the next six months, The Big Leap will provide exclusive interviews, content, roadshows, networking events, and informal meetups with Southeast Asia’s leading tech leaders in multiple countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

“As the world opens up, we are excited to be working on face to face roadshow events with partners like CleverTap,” said Mohan Belani, CEO and co-founder of e27. “The learnings and networking from a physical event are far more effective and intimate as compared to virtual events, and we are excited to meet industry partners and the tech ecosystem in physical environments.”

With CleverTap on board, participants not only will acquire new insights on customer retention practices, but they are also granted an opportunity to network, connect, and engage with the world’s leading provider of customer engagement and retention solutions.

World’s number one retention cloud

CleverTap is the world’s number one retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. CleverTap drives contextual individualisation with the help of a unified and deep data layer, artificial intelligence, and machine learning-powered insights and automation, enabling brands to offer hyper-personalised and delightful experiences to their customers. 

“What makes CleverTap stand out is that we’re building a solution that goes beyond simple engagement. CleverTap has built a platform and an organisation that enables brands to not only send the right message but also make this message extremely relevant through personalisation that’s contextualised and reflects the customer’s stage in their journey,” said Marc-Antoine Hager, CleverTap’s Regional Vice President for Sales in Southeast Asia.

Also read: The evolution of early-stage investing and fundraising in SEA

The award-winning company provides multiple solutions for customers supported by real-time analytics and insights to uncover user trends and track behaviours; automated user segmentation to create actionable segments with ease, enabling more precise targeting; omnichannel engagement to engage users across mobile, web, and in-app experiences; journey orchestration to visually build and deliver omnichannel campaigns in seconds; and campaign optimisation and lifecycle optimisation, providing guided frameworks to move users across lifecycle stages.

Cultivating personalised experiences

There is no better example of how impactful CleverTap’s solution has been to global brands than with Carousell, a CleverTap customer that runs a digital marketplace for new and secondhand goods in Southeast Asia.

Since adopting CleverTap’s technology, the company has improved customer retention, with week 3 retention increasing by 71%.* With an ethos of building a community-based marketplace, it’s important for Carousell to cultivate a personalised experience for its users throughout the customer journey.

Integrating CleverTap solutions into their operations enabled Carousell to understand the impact of all their campaigns on a precise, incremental level and use these insights to improve conversions and overall returns. This engagement helps improve the customer journey and creates a faster and more efficient feedback system between customers and the company, helping brands improve the ways they engage with buyers.

A proven winner

More than 1,300 customers in 100 countries and 10,000 mobile apps for e-commerce, travel and transportation, fintech, foodtech, and media and entertainment industries trust CleverTap to achieve their retention and engagement goals and grow their long-term revenue.

Businesses such as Gojek, ShopX, Canon, Electronic Arts, TED, English Premier League, TD Bank, AirAsia, Papa John’s, Tesco Kotak Mahindra Bank, SonyLiv, Swiggy, PharmEasy, and Dream11 make part of the growing list of CleverTap customers who are winning through effective customer-centricity strategies for mobile apps.

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

Founded in 2013 with over 600 employees to date, CleverTap is backed by leading investors such as Sequoia India, Tiger Global, Accel, CDPQ, and Recruit Holdings. It has recently raised US$105 million in a series D funding round in August 2022, led by CDPQ alongside other investors. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, it has global operations through its offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Sofia, São Paulo, Bogota, Amsterdam, Jakarta, and Dubai. For more information, visit the CleverTap website.

e27 is delighted to collaborate with CleverTap in this endeavour. Mohan stated, “The Big Leap Roadshow is a great opportunity to bolster the community through the sharing of ideas it enables. Participants can expect an insider look at upcoming trends, insights on best practices, and of course, the opportunity to network with some of the most exciting entrepreneurs of our generation.”

Interested participants may register here.

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During the development of blockchain technology adoption, we often hear Web3 and the metaverse. Both are expected to be a new era in the digital world. But what is the difference between Web3 and metaverse?

Although often associated, Web3 and metaverse are different. However, both of them can still go hand in hand. So then, do both have an essential role in the future?

Web3: What is it?

If we say Web3, of course, we are currently on Web2 and have left Web1. Built on distributed blockchain technology and Decentralised Autonomous Organisations, Web3 is a decentralised internet (DAO).

The core of this technology is a server controlled by a company or an individual. Web1 was the early era of internet presence, around 1991 to 2004. Now, the internet is still only a place to share information.

On Web2, the shared information content begins to vary from user to user. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and so on have been present in the era of Web2, which continues to be our current era.

Blockchain technology can finally strengthen the assumption of the existence of the next version of the internet, namely Web3. By linking the two, Web3 is a more expansive, diverse internet with decentralised information storage.

The presence of a decentralised browser and NFT is also considered to be an early marker for Web3. This is because servers and networks run on programmes in Web3, where data is also kept. This simple explanation leads us to the difference between Web3 and metaverse.

What is metaverse?

If Web3 is the internet, then the metaverse is a more futuristic form of presenting information content. Metaverse is an abbreviation between the natural world and the virtual world. Within the metaverse, customers can engage with apps and services more intensely.

The science fiction book Avalanche by Neil Stephenson, which discusses the virtual reality world, is where the phrase “metaverse” originally arose. But since, the idea has grown more widely accepted thanks to books and movies.

Now, the development of metaverse technology is speedy, following the story of science fiction. While web2 presents information in two dimensions, the metaverse allows interaction in three dimensions.

Also Read: Fostering emotional companionship in the metaverse

Present in various fields, such as games and virtual worlds to do many things, including work, socialising, or even social media, the metaverse will make it feel more natural.

The difference between Web3 and metaverse

Web3 is the third generation of the World Wide Web, while the metaverse is a hypothetical virtual reality world where users can realistically interact with each other and digital objects.

Web3 is based on the semantic web idea. This idea is a system of related data that machines can understand. Metaverse, on the other hand, is based on the notion of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The notion of a metaverse allows users to interact more realistically.

Web3 and the metaverse are still largely theoretical concepts today, but many experts believe both technologies will play a significant role in the future of the web.

Are Web3 and metaverse similar?

Many people still need help figuring out the difference between Web3 and metaverse. First, very few people are familiar with Web3 and the metaverse. Both are developed by numerous individuals and organisations using other concepts.

For instance, by 2021, Facebook claims to have invested at least US$10 billion in the metaverse project. However, their perspective differs from that of others who think the metaverse should be fragmented and not be in the hands of powerful businesses.

Second, Web3 has been used to refer to both Web3 and the metaverse at various times. The inclusion merely highlights that both are the third significant version of the internet.

Additionally, to differentiate Web3 from the prior web, some individuals merely refer to it as the next version of the immersive web. The description is a metaverse, to put it another way.

Another reason why the difference between Web3 and metaverse is challenging to define is that they intersect in several significant ways.

Final thoughts

The metaverse is a virtual world that allows users to interact and experience life in a new way. This world blurs the line between digital and physical, allowing people to use their real-world identities and create online personas that represent them perfectly.

Web3 is an extension offering more opportunities for users to connect and share information. While we find the difference between Web3 and metaverse, they offer users a unique way to communicate and engage with others online.

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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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To say that the internet has come a long way in the last fifty years would be an understatement. 

Much of this rapid development has happened at the hands of tech conglomerates, who have turned the internet into a means to provide centralised content services to users in exchange for their time, money, or personal data.

The value chain is thus owned and controlled by a select few despite the vast contributions of many, and unfortunately, this is the lasting legacy that Web1 and Web2 have left behind.

Introduced to the world in 2008, blockchain has ushered in a new chapter for the internet, one that is decentralised, user-led, and creator-focused, laying the foundation for what we have come to know as Web3.

Almost 15 years on, crypto and blockchain are no longer considered to be mysterious, new-fangled technological innovations, especially since the industry’s bull run in 2019. Combined with the introduction of a whole asset class, we are seeing an explosion of new business models, communities, and perhaps, a more inclusive financial ecosystem for all.

With the crypto industry estimated to reach over US$82 billion in market size by 2030, there’s little wonder why everyone is trying to claim a piece of the pie. However, as the market grows increasingly saturated with Web2’s biggest players entering the fold, the questions of where and how to begin can be daunting.

Also Read: The race of Web3 and crypto infrastructure vs big tech

Whether you are building a Web3-native venture or equipping an existing business with Web3 enablements, here is some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Start with a minimum viable product (MVP)

From Airbnb and Uber to Slack and Zoom, many world-famous unicorns began as MVPs. The same principle applies to Web3. It is easy to become overwhelmed with overly ambitious goals for what the project is intended to achieve in the long term, causing founders to lose track of what they should be doing now to establish early relevance in the Web3 realm. 

This begins with conceptualising what your MVP might be. Boil it down, strip it of its fripperies, and scrutinise it as if you were the user. 

If you have something valuable that helps you focus on your long-term vision, keep at it. Let this small but meaningful endeavour be your north star and guide you into the world of Web3. The torrential pace of the industry will undoubtedly move your project forward, and you will be surprised at the iterations and improvements your initial idea will go through in just a year.

After all, Rome was not built in a day.

Craft a clear problem statement

As it is, there are several problems inherent to our current internet architecture that only a decentralised solution like blockchain can solve. However, the early days of “meme coins,” buzzwords, and speculative valuation based purely on initial hype are over. With so many trying to break into Web3, one needs a concrete selling point to rally the community, garner attention, and build excitement amidst the noise.

At the same time, it is no longer enough to just keep your head down and build. To sell your solution to others, you must also communicate your startup’s value proposition in the most digestible and concrete terms possible. Simply stating that you will “decentralise” or “gamify” something does not mean much until you can explain why doing so will solve a long-standing industry pain point.

Learn as you go — in true Web3 style

Many ask if they should attend a Web3-specific course at some institution before venturing into the space themselves. In reality, no textbook, manual, or school can fully prepare you for this exciting yet turbulent journey.

Also Read: Global Web3 companies on why Asia Pacific is the future of the industry

Even if there were, it would be rendered obsolete within six months of its release, given how quickly the industry is evolving. What is truly invaluable, rather, is to simply be in the industry, gain hands-on experience, and learn lessons on your own terms.

It’s not easy, but it’ll be worth it

Starting a business is tough, and starting a business in a nascent space such as Web3 is even harder. The three steps I’ve shared above might seem daunting, but if one has enough grit and conviction, their efforts will bear fruit, not just for themselves and their ventures but also for the broader Web3 ecosystem. 

Lastly, you do not have to do it alone. Get to know the business models and communities adjacent to what you aim to grow and identify what problem of theirs you can help solve.

At RockX, while the team works hard on our own staking products, we are always on the lookout for opportunities to collaborate with other players to build solutions that advance the overall crypto asset management landscape.

While we’re still in a relatively bearish environment, previous crypto cycles have proven that many great projects will gain their core customer base during the heart of the crypto winter. So take heart, keep calm, and build on!

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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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Ayoconnect, an open finance platform in Indonesia, has raised US$13 million for its Series B+ financing round led by SIG Venture Capital.

The round also saw participation from CE Innovation Capital and existing investor fintech PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus.

The new funding will enable Ayoconnect to continue building the leadership team and invest in product and technology development.

The round will also facilitate the execution of Ayoconnect’s roadmap through organic and external growth, including new solutions around payments, data and banking, and new APIs planned for account opening and card issuing.

In January end, Ayoconnect announced closing a US$15 million Series B financing round led by Tiger Global. This round came after a US$10 million pre-Series B financing from Mandiri Capital and Patamar Capital.

Founded in 2016, Ayoconnect provides embedded finance and data solutions to help companies of all sizes launch banking and payment services within a few weeks.

Also Read: Open Finance platform Ayoconnect banks US$15M Series B to launch new products

Ayoconnect enables its business customers to launch new financial services “faster and cheaper” with its core infrastructure that is secure and regulated. Using Ayoconnect’s APIs means companies can bypass the lengthy and expensive process of building their own technology infrastructure from scratch without needing a BI license.

Its tech solutions are used by more than 200 clients, including Bank Mandiri, BRI, Dana, and Bukalapak.

With under 250 employees, the firm has also launched automated recurring direct debit with seven of Indonesia’s biggest banks (Mandiri, BRI, BNI, CIMB Niaga, Danamon, Bank Syariah Indonesia and Bank Neo Commerce). The direct debit API provides Indonesian businesses with recurring capabilities that can instantly debit from customers’ saving accounts across multiple banks.

Jakob Rost, CEO and Co-Founder at Ayoconnect, said: “The new funding will help us accelerate the delivery of our vision by shipping new solutions to our banking and API clients. The next 12 months will execute even faster and invest smartly in new solution rollouts.”

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