Malaysia-based integrated automotive e-commerce platform Carsome announced that it has acquired digital automotive content platforms WapCar and AutoFun from Tang Internet Limited and its subsidiaries.

Following the completion of the acquisition, Carsome aims to set up WapCar AutoFun Sdn Bhd (WapCar) as a fully-owned subsidiary of the group in Malaysia.

In a press statement, Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng said that the partnership will enable Carsome to capture and serve customers from their early stage of car exploration and bring a more engaging and fun experience to the car transaction and ownership journey.

“We are thrilled to announce the partnership with WapCar and a team with seasoned expertise in the content space. We believe our collaboration through content, technology and data will augment our ability to bring trust, transparency and choice to customers together,” he stated.

This acquisition is the latest that the company has announced in recent months, following its acquisition of the various automotive businesses in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, it acquired a majority stake in CarTimes Automobile in Singapore and completed the acquisition of listing and content automotive platform iCar Asia.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Carsome said to have filed for US IPO; a US$10M fund for women-led Indonesian startups

Prior to the acquisition, WapCar had established its first flagship brands WapCar and AutoFun in 2019. It provides a full range of content which covers car exploration, transaction, and ownership experiences that aim to assist customers and car enthusiasts in their journey. The platform produces, manages, and distributes both Professionally Generated Content (PGC) and User Generated Content (UGC).

In 2021, the platform said that it has distributed on average more than 1,400 article write-ups and 100 videos on a monthly basis across YouTube and TikTok channels, which attract millions of customers across the region. As of last quarter of 2021, WapCar had become one of most visited auto content platforms with over 6 million average Monthly Active Users (MAU).

It operates a number of automotive content websites and social media channels across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Carsome

The post Carsome acquires WapCar, AutoFun to strengthen automotive content strategy appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Resolution Ventures announced that it has made the first close of its US$20 million Southeast Asia-focused fintech fund Resolution Fintech Fund I.

Aiming to invest in around 25 companies, the firm seeks fintech startups that are building solutions that have local, regional, and international applications. It will invest in the pre-seed and seed stages of the company’s journey.

The fund is backed by an international community of fintech-interested institutions, family offices, experienced finance executives, and successful entrepreneurs.

“Resolution builds atop the top quartile track record of Managing Partner Sam Gibb and Blauwpark Investments, a proprietary fintech fund managed by family office Blauwpark Partners. The Fund benefits from the experience of its partners and Blauwpark Partner’s network across the Fintech sector. Early stage fintech companies and their founders benefit not just from capital and guidance, but also the relationships and infrastructure of an institutional asset management firm,” the firm wrote in a press statement.

In an email to e27, Gibb explains that the firm is looking for humble and teachable founders that are going after a large problem that addresses financial inclusion and mobility in the region.

Also Read: Understanding the traction metrics that investors are looking for in an early stage startup

He also wrote that the firm is open to investing in companies that are working in the Web3 space.

“… There are a lot of applications for Web3 rails to be able to better facilitate the financial infrastructure. We’re very interested in speaking to any companies that are building solutions that have a fintech front-end and Web3 back-end to leverage emerging technologies,” Gibb said.

“The incumbent banking system is built on decades-old technology and is largely a rubber band ball of archaic solutions tied together. There are better alternatives available and we’re keen to partner with the companies that are exploring the leading edge of innovation that could increase financial inclusion and mobility in the region,” he continued.

From this fund, the firm has made investments in Pakistan’s Oraan (a female-led Rotating Savings and Credit Association platform that aims to contribute to greater financial inclusion among women), Stemly (a working capital and inventory management platform that aims to optimise inventory levels and improving working capital management), Dropee (an e-invoicing and ordering platform for FMCG goods that aims to enable easy credit for retailers, connecting micro and SME businesses to distributors and wholesalers), and Vietnam’s Gimo (an earned wage access platform that recently completed YCombinator, aiming to disrupt the predatory market for pay-day loans and improving financial access).

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Resolution Ventures

The post Resolution Ventures makes first close of US$20M fintech fund, targets early stage startups appeared first on e27.

COVID-19 sent the world into various levels of social lockdowns and pushed many healthcare systems to their breaking point. Yet the pandemic created new opportunities in telehealth/telemedicine, an area already growing pre-pandemic.

For Southeast Asia, telehealth’s emergence may have been a pandemic-induced blessing.

Telehealth is no longer just about video and phone consultations with doctors. It’s expanding into areas such as screening, coaching, and remote monitoring. Some emerging players are also accommodating multiple nations and languages, an impressive potentially lucrative feat.

Southeast Asia’s digital-forward countries are offering case examples to which the world should be paying attention.

What is telehealth/telemedicine?

Telehealth is the delivery of healthcare services using information and communication technology (ICT), where patients and providers do not meet in person.

Telehealth broadly covers a wide variety of healthcare services such as telemedicine, mobile health, telenursing, and telepharmacy. It let medical professionals provide diagnosis, treatment, and prevention via a PC or mobile device.

It’s an especially potent tool for managing a highly contagious virus like COVID-19, as patients and medical providers can communicate at safe distances. Especially in the earlier stages when every doctor, nurse, and staff member was under continual duress, telehealth helped reduce infections among indispensable personnel.

How COVID-19 advanced telehealth in Southeast Asia

The pandemic pushed people toward “digital self-care,” using mobile messaging apps, chatbots, call centres, helpdesks, and websites to fulfil health-related needs at a safe distance. In Southeast Asia, with its young population and widespread mobile penetration, this wasn’t so alien.

“Social distancing” became a standard and telehealth was an ideal fit. Telehealth allows people to receive medical care without venturing into congested healthcare facilities. And it can reach people in remote areas where health services are limited.

When COVID-19 hit, some Southeast Asian governments worked with the private sector to promote telehealth use.

The Indonesian government, for instance, partnered with digital health platform Alodokter on free teleconsultation for COVID-19 patients. Telehealth platforms were also used for self-assessments, tracking, and contact tracing.

Also Read: Meet the 6 Indonesian healthtech startups of SEHAT Impact Accelerator

Telehealth use in Southeast Asia has varied depending on factors such as policy and governmental involvement. One study found that no Southeast Asian countries have specific laws on telemedicine.

Medical councils in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam tend to still focus more on healthcare professionals rather than telemedicine services and platforms. In Indonesia and Vietnam, only registered health facilities can offer telehealth services.

Another study found that during the first few months of the pandemic’s initial hit, the number of telehealth platform users grew four times. It reported that 94 per cent of Southeast Asian respondents intend to continue using digital services post-COVID-19.

Commercial interest in telehealth has certainly risen. While many Southeast Asian countries have below the global average number of physicians per (apart from Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore), demand will continue to rise.

A McKinsey report estimated that telemedicine and remote monitoring would account for US$37.1 billion of the projected US$100.4 billion Asian digital health market by 2025.

Key players in telehealth/telemedicine

HonestDocs (Indonesia and Thailand)

HonestDocs, with Indonesian and Thai platforms, targets two of ASEAN’s most future-forward populations. Users can chat with a pharmacist for free or post a question on the Q&A forum to get replies from licensed medical practitioners for as low as 200 baht (about US$6). The HonestDocs app also links to HDmall, with 12,000+ health, dental, beauty, and even pet services.

Doctor Anywhere (Singapore)

Doctor Anywhere offers a platform with 500+ general practitioner clinics, 15+ diagnostic centres, 300+ specialist clinics, and 100+ dental, traditional Chinese medicine, and physio clinics. Video consultation with a general practitioner on the platform costs SGD$20 (US$15).

Doctor Anywhere’s home-based supervised self-swab COVID-19 antigen rapid tests via video consultation were especially useful for travellers using the Vaccinated Travel Lane. As the need for such tests declines, this robust platform can easily refocus or replace the service.

Alodokter  (Indonesia)

Alodokter had more than 32 million visitors since Indonesia’s first confirmed COVID-19 case in March 2020, based on a report. It now has the most registered hospitals with the largest coverage of provinces in Indonesia. The platform’s directory of doctors includes their personal details.

Alodokter offers Aloproteksi, which gives users unlimited 24-hour chat with specialist doctors for as low as 39,000 rupiahs (US$2.75) per month.

DoctorOnCall (Malaysia)

The Ministry of Health of Malaysia partnered with DoctorOnCall to provide free access to consultations on COVID-19. In multicultural Malaysia, the platform is available in English, Malay, and Chinese.

It provides consultation across 50 specialities and doctor consultation is priced at 19.99 ringgit (US$4.75) per consultation. The platform also offers cashback for every purchase and referral, a common B2C tactic familiar to mobile users.

VieVie Healthcare (Vietnam)

The VieVie telehealth platform treats more routine medical conditions such as colds, allergies, pregnancy care, and skincare. It offers free doctor consultations via chat or phone, but accessing certain doctors requires payment or a premium upgrade. Users can receive a quick response from a licensed doctor within 10 minutes.

Also Read: What telemedicine and Health Tech holds across SEA amidst COVID-19

Challenges for telehealth moving forward in Southeast Asia

A WHO report shows the challenges to telehealth adoption, mainly categorized into four groups.

Policy

A standardised framework and repayment policies are still needed to regulate telehealth platforms. Recent policy changes during COVID-19 have reduced barriers to telehealth, but data privacy and personal information are still major concerns for users. Countries like Thailand and Malaysia have general data protection legislation that protects personal data.

A uniform repayment scheme is also needed to facilitate insurers to reimburse telehealth services fairly within and across countries. Countries including Malaysia and Thailand provide free telehealth services. Singapore has a national insurance scheme that includes telehealth rebates and subsidies.

Organisation

The lack of trained staff, sustainable funding, insufficient technical infrastructure, and technological barriers are problems that need addressing. During COVID-19, Southeast Asian governments worked with the private sector to promote digital health services that addressed the pandemic. The Ministry of Health of Malaysia, for instance, worked with DoctorOnCall to provide free consultations.

Technology

Telehealth is centred on ICT, making technology an ongoing focus. Dispersed archipelago countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines pose geographical challenges for installing ICT infrastructure.

The lack of ICT infrastructure in most Southeast Asian countries can be overcome by using existing resources and free mobile health apps with affordable consultation fees. Public hospitals in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand have in some cases provided free telehealth services.

Individuals

Scepticism still exists on telehealth’s true usefulness. A study in Indonesia showed that Indonesian users were more likely to use telehealth if thought the technology was easy to use. For some users, cultural and language differences are a challenge. However, some platforms, such as DoctorOnCall, meet the challenge with multiple languages.

Southeast Asia is a global example of telehealth

Southeast Asia’s unique combination of a dynamic, young, future-forward population and broad multicultural diversity push it to innovate technologically and cross-culturally. Its telehealth advances offer some potentially compelling best practices for the rest of the world.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image Credit: Canva Pro

The post The emergence of telehealth in post-COVID-19 Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

In April, GoImpact announced that it has raised a Series A funding round that brought its valuation to US$22 million. Tripling its last funding round, this investment included investors such as Oriental Watch Holdings Limited and a leading Hong Kong-based private investor.

For the Singapore-based company, this investment will enable them to further expand its global footprint, as said by co-founder Andy Ann in a press statement. “The funds we raised will allow an expansion of the team in Hong Kong and around the world. In the future, GoImpact will continue to seek partnerships with leading institutions and organisations to further our influence on a global scale.”

GoImpact is a platform that aims to drive the sustainability agenda forward through three key pillars: education (GoLearn), structured advocacy (GoNetwork), and a deal flow platform for sustainable investments (GoInvest). It was founded in 2020 by finance industry veterans Helene Li and Clarence T’ao as well as serial entrepreneur Andy Ann to bridge the gap between knowledge and investment opportunities through these three activities.

Investing in companies that aim to tackle the challenges brought by climate change has become increasingly popular nowadays, and GoImpact believes in the importance of making informed decisions  –the reason why education is the starting point of its user journey.

Its GoLearn platform offers lessons that are structured to align with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in five key areas. Within the last two years, it has established an education network consisting of top ESG and industry experts, prominent higher-education institutions, industry bodies, financial institutions, large corporations, and governmental agencies across the Asia Pacific and the Middle East. It has also participated in and co-hosted industry seminars to drive ESG adoption.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

To understand more about what GoImpact offers, e27 speaks to CEO & co-founder Helene Li about the company, its mission, and their big plans for the future. Here is an edited excerpt of the interview.

Having had years of experience in the sustainable finance and ESG space, what inspired you to start this platform?

I was a management consultant turned banker. Throughout my banking career, whether with JP Morgan or with BNP Paribas, I have witnessed firsthand the momentum of sustainable finance, and how the capital owners … are actually demanding more and more of their assets be looped into this area, to create a better change, and to be better aligned with their own set of values.

About two years ago, just before COVID-19, we founded GoImpact with a very specific aim: to mainstream the agenda, and to fast-track the acceleration and mainstreaming of the agenda. So it doesn’t get buried in all kinds of talks about philanthropy or NGO activities, [because] it is a mainstream business and finance agenda. Both my co-founders and I are very much in the mainstream finance industry; we have seen firsthand how the momentum has shifted, and in some ways, the gaps.

So, the problem that we are trying to solve is to clear the roadblocks to mainstream and accelerate the agenda. And I think education is at the heart of these roadblocks. Because if you are less informed, or ill-informed about something, you are not likely to invest very much into that. So, having a good basic, fundamental understanding of what sustainable finance is all about, and what it can do for the companies, is important.

Like, here in Singapore, the SG Green Plan 2030 is very much something that Singapore corporations are subscribing to, and all the ministries are aligning to drive that. And it’s an important agenda. But do people have a thorough understanding of all that, and what it means to them as a citizen, as a company, as an investor? Maybe not. Maybe there are still gaps to be resolved. And that’s exactly the areas that we are playing at.

How does the pandemic impact the public’s interest in ESG investing?

Very much so. The silver linings of the pandemic are that it serves two things. First, as a disruptor, it exposes all the problems and cracks that we have in the system, be it in the supply chain, our over-reliance on certain ways to generate energy or food supply.

The second thing is that it is also an accelerator. It has put sustainability and sustainable finance on the front and centre stage.

If you are already investing in this sector, chances are you will try to weigh in more with your assets in the way you would construct your portfolio. So, yes, it has been an accelerator and a disruptor.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

So what are the advantages of learning about sustainable finance through GoLearn compared to other sources?

I think it’s very important to note that we are playing very hard at a specific area that moves the needle significantly. So we don’t play at, for example, undergrad programmes or secondary school programmes, because we want to equip and educate the executives. People who are in a position to make decisions for the company, who are in a position to make investment decisions.

What we really want is to translate many of the talks into action. That’s far easier said than done … because we want to move the needle and play at executive education, all our programmes are very much expert-led and case-based. Executives learn through use cases. What has been done? What are some of the examples that are relevant and relatable to their specific industries?

In Singapore, we partner with the Singapore Management University which is the main institution that drives green finance learning in the country. SG FC –the Singapore Green Finance Centre– which is funded by MAS is being housed there. Our programmes at SMU have met with a lot of success. We were fully booked until the first half of 2023.

Who are your target audiences? And what is your user acquisition strategy?

We do a complete B2B2C. We partner with platforms such as the SMU Gear which has already a captive audience looking for programmes like that.

One of our major aims is to accelerate the agenda; we are all running against time to drive towards net-zero or to make the world a slightly more sustainable place. Not just for our generation, but for the next generation to come.

This is why being able to drive the business model faster, for us, is more important than just optimising on the profit. I see that very much as our business model. And that has paid off very well. It has also attracted the eyes of a lot of investors.

So, what will be the company’s big agenda for this year?

This year … we aim to deepen and consolidate [our existing partnership] while also trying to move towards a more asynchronous delivery [of learning]. This will actually be the real accelerator.

In terms of our mission, and in terms of the growth of the company, the way we see it is that … our solution is meeting a very good timing. It’s a very practical and comprehensive … because if you look at it, sustainability and sustainable finance are actually very broad. It is not just about carbon. It is not just about water. It is much broader than that.

I think the breadth as well as the depth of our offering really echoes and hits a sweet spot in the market. And we have been enjoying the results of that. We intend to consolidate that and move towards the asynchronous to grow even faster and to deliver a better return for our A round investors … as we are poised to ticket forward to another round maybe later in the year.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: GoImpact

The post Why GoImpact believes that education is the key to promoting ESG investment appeared first on e27.

The opportunities in the silver economy are manifesting more visibly globally and in the Asia Pacific region.

By 2025, the ageing population in the Asia Pacific will reach 600 million, potentially accounting for US$4.56 trillion. The markets ageing most rapidly in the Asia Pacific include China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

With the pandemic aggravating the existing ageing issues, there will be great potential for ageing technologies and innovations to grow and scale. We believe there is a huge pot of gold to be found in the silver economy globally and in Asia.

Through intensive research on the silver economy and correspondence with the Quest Ventures team, Zacchaeus Chok, a Quest Ventures Fellow, identified key opportunities for venture capital in the article below.

Zacchaeus Chok was attached to Quest Ventures through the Reactor Venture Scout Program.

–

The combination of longevity and a decline in birthrate engenders a pressing economic and social need for innovation. Although population ageing poses a double whammy to public spending and productivity, a technology-driven silver economy ecosystem is poised to meet the unique demands of an ageing population.

The reward for being the first to capture the sunrise marketplace will be huge, with the Asia Pacific’s silver economy potential projected to reach US$4.56 trillion by 2025. Boasting a silver economy potential of over US$500 billion, Singapore, Japan, and Australia are Asia Pacific’s top three markets.

The demographic shift presents two sides: a growing market segment for investors and a potential liability for governments. In turn, public and private sector investments in supporting seniors will increase. 

Opportunities in the silver economy

Senior citizens have long been ignored by venture capital money. Yet, seniors will account for over 22 per cent of the population in the Asia Pacific by 2050 and entrepreneurs will be keen to cash in.

Investment opportunities span a wide range of industries, including housing, food, tourism and transport, with healthcare-related products featuring strongly.

Also Read: The world is flat but SEA is a (growing) bowl of venture capital and startup talent

Businesses need a strong understanding of the lifestyle aspirations and healthcare goals of seniors in order to successfully court the region’s 600 million senior citizens.

Building-integrated care solutions through telemedicine

The incoming class of senior citizens are likely to be more well educated, affluent and tech-savvy than their parents. For Singaporean residents aged 75 and over, smartphone usage grew from 41 per cent in 2019 to 60 per cent in 2020, along with an increase in internet usage.

At the same time, the adoption of digital services among seniors has sharply risen with COVID-19. Older patients can now book medical appointments online and have their medications delivered to their doorstep, rather than go to the clinic. 

With senior citizens demanding greater accessibility, affordability, and personalisation in healthcare, the way healthcare is delivered could benefit from decentralization. Digital technology improves the affordability of previously inefficient care delivery practices, such as home-based urgent care, hospital-at-home model and virtual primary care.

Homage, which recently closed its US$30 million Series C funding in late 2021, uses a matching engine to connect families with caregivers and therapists.

Investor sentiment in healthtech has reached record levels in Southeast Asia, with deal value has grown more than four times since 2017. Deals in the care delivery vertical represent the largest portion of healthtech deal values, with significant growth in digital health solutions, online pharmacies and remote patient support.

Despite the progress made in telemedicine, challenges remain in managing the infrastructure and logistics, defining data collection standards and coordinating medical equipment needs. 

IT can play a central role in overcoming the fragmented nature of caregiving

The rapid ageing of the population has resulted in increased pressure on health care delivery arrangements. Even though the value of preventive and promotive care has been given more weight, remarkable fragmentation in patient-centred care for the elderly persists.

For example, the patient referral procedure is locked in archaic data management systems and in some cases, paper-based record cards. When patients move to other facilities, re-evaluations are duplicated, causing healthcare professionals to spend unnecessary time and money. 

Volunteer management is another area where the consolidation of services results in significant social impact. For example, SG Assist provides timely and affordable assistance to dependents at home through a digitally crowdsourced Community Responder network.

Also Read: Cake DeFi launches US$100M venture capital arm for global startups in Web3, gaming, fintech

By streamlining the caregiving and volunteering sector through digital processes, a generation of tech-enabled social enterprises is paving the way for greater efficiency in the care sector. 

In addition to mobile and web technology, several Blockchain healthcare start-ups have emerged in Singapore, addressing health analytics, data privacy, and insurance issues.

MediLOT uses blockchain technology to securely store patients’ health records while Hearti Lab uses the same technology for policy agreements, smart contracts and risk management. 

However, many healthcare providers in Southeast Asia are still reluctant to share data or transition to cloud services. Besides Singapore, other governments in the region have been spending less on healthcare.

There remains significant work in integrating real-time patient data, defining standards, ensuring the interoperability of patient record systems and building security infrastructure.

Fortunately, there are signs of a greater governmental push to adopt technology in the near future, with the Philippines and Thailand governments introducing measures to incorporate technology into legacy systems. 

Widespread adoption of assisted living devices

Cutting-edge wearable technologies supported by AI and the Internet of Things, alongside fitness monitoring devices, are gaining steam among senior citizens, caregivers and community healthcare providers.

In the inaugural Healthcare Open Innovation Challenge launched by Enterprise Singapore in 2020, several innovative solutions to prevent falls among seniors and promote adherence to prescribed medication regimes were presented.

Singapore-based Longway AI designed a solution to predict and prevent falls while IoT startup EloCare developed a smart pillbox solution to promote medication compliance and traceability.

With more seniors wanting to live autonomous and dignified lives without burdening their caregivers, assisted living devices and the wearable technology markets present major investment opportunities. 

Challenges in the silver economy

Social entrepreneurship is an important linkway to developing the silver economy. Early-stage social enterprises are “catalytic innovators” that produce disruptive innovations outside of established corporations and bureaucracies, solving pressing social problems like our ageing population.

Since they carry significantly higher risk, they complement the low-risk appetite of government units. There are numerous examples of how early impact can lead to large scale adoption and system-changing impact, such as Indonesian health tech startup Halodoc whose digital platform services were recently tapped by the Ministry of Health to facilitate coronavirus vaccinations.

Young entrepreneurs are interested in creating products designed for senior citizens with needs unique to them but face numerous barriers to entry pertaining to talent, insight, distribution and capital. 

Removing barriers to entry and silver marketplace growth

The silver ecosystem is enabled by the right type of funding and capability building at every stage. Even though there exists significant government funding in the social sector, innovation capital is typically disbursed in limited amounts e.g., philanthropies awarding small start-up grants.

In the earlier stages, philanthropic grants offer capital to seed promising business ideas. Private impact investors and venture philanthropists source, develop and optimise these promising businesses by providing systematic organisation-building support. Successful social programmes with a track record are scaled further by the government and NGOs. 

Also Read: Holding tight or letting go: A paradox I face as a father and a corporate venture builder

While wealth owners are on the lookout to apply their assets toward more social causes, capability-building support is equally important to support innovation. Like venture capitalists, impact investors contribute their networks and expertise to nurture a new generation of social enterprises.

Social impact has largely focused on leveraging the skills and capabilities of the ICT industry but there is considerable potential to transfer skills, networks, and infrastructure in the venture capital ecosystem to the world of social impact. 

No clearly defined playbook for silver economy startups

The term “Silver Tsunami” captures the unique nature of this demographic shift, and investors have only just begun to take notice. Developing active-ageing products aimed at the elderly is not a mainstream idea.

Of the 204 digital health startups registered in Singapore in 2022, only a small fraction develop eldercare-centric products.

Unlike e-commerce start-ups with clearly defined marketing playbooks, many investors still have the perception that seniors are not tech-savvy and that the total addressable market for senior-focused digital technology is limited. 

Achieving scalable social impact hinges on a sustainable business model; silver social enterprises have to consider who is their target customer and how will they pay for the product. Overcoming perception challenges, social enterprises also need to consider how to position their technology products as simple as possible. 

Golden dividends in a silver economy

The full potential of the silver economy is yet captured by investors and entrepreneurs. Seen differently, longevity is a macro tailwind behind the digitalisation of healthcare, the consolidation of caregiving and the proliferation of emerging technologies like blockchain.

These step changes in senior-centric healthcare are here to stay and investors are already paying attention to hot spots like telemedicine, wearable devices and patient analytics. 

Small is beautiful, but the scale is necessary. Early-stage social enterprises are entering a fast-forming tech-enabled silver marketplace in Singapore, where novel ideas can be tested before expanding to larger markets in Japan and China.

Provided the right type of funding at the right stage, start-ups in the silver economy can optimise their business models for a growing consumer class and reap the dividends of a maturing silver market. 

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image Credit: Canva Pro

The post Searching for gold in the silver economy: A venture capital perspective appeared first on e27.

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity in Enterprise tech, e-commerce and fintech continue to be hot in the news in the last few weeks.

I’ve spoken and written, in the past, about the pivotal role of M&A and why founders and leadership teams should not underrate this tool in a company’s journey of growth. I have attempted to share my experiences in M&A in the context of recent activity.

In Asia, we already have seen a promising M&A trend in Q1 of 2022 (as an example, PhonePe acquired GigIndia). In Singapore, Nium, a fintech unicorn company, acquired cash management and alternate payments firm soCash.

M&A as an integral component of progress

When I acquired a company in the startup world, the objective was to access technology to build customer experience and add layers of offerings, with speed being the essence.

Broadly speaking, the reasons for M&A are to enhance the product-market fit to get the next round of financing, growth may start getting stalled which may not allow the company to be fit enough to become a public traded company (Nium is planning its IPO in the next 12-18 months) and when the buyer has approached the target company and the offer is compelling enough to target the company’s investors (here, Vertex is a common investor in socash and Nium).

For an M&A deal to work, the discussion on integration post-merger and aligning the combined value proposition to customers and partners on both sides may have been ongoing for a while now.

Such M&A efforts would need to make commercial and strategic sense, first, for both the parties before going ahead with any M&A discussion.

Embedding finance

There are small and large businesses keen to enter the fintech industry and offer financial services. At a broader level, this deal between soCash and Nium is about embedding finance within the customer experience.

Specifically in this deal, it lowers the costs for Nium to process transactions by embedding alternate payments method offering to its small merchant businesses and accelerating their revenue growth. It allows Nium to move to an adjacent market.

Also Read: Singapore’s pre-IPO and pre-token trading platform prePO raises US$2.1M

soCash allows Nium to have access to licenses, technology and thousands of collection points for its cardholders and wallet holders to withdraw instantaneously in Singapore and beyond.

This allows Nium to widen its business model beyond the issuance of prepaid or debit cards to customers. For socash, it allows its offerings to expand the customer segment and go beyond the shores of Singapore.

Expansion to emerging markets

I recognise the value of physical presence in any digital journey particularly in emerging markets. It is seen across industries that integrating alternate payment methods, including cash, allows revenues for merchants to increase revenue by 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

Also Read: Nium adds US$200M more to its war chest to become Southeast Asia’s latest unicorn

For instance, in LATAM, payment methods like PIX and payment slips are alternate payment methods driving more revenues for merchants than cards.

As these payment methods have local interfaces, merchants on these platforms can expand to new geographies and monetise their offering faster and spend less time on compliance requirements related to payments in these new geographies.

All about timing when it comes to shareholding value

The timing of this M&A deal between soCash and Nium is crucial. It allows the teams to work together to monetise this combined offering for at least a year before Nium sees its impact on valuation, and ring the opening bell on the stock market.

While it is simple to state that this deal enhances the shareholder value, for the founders, it is a much more complex calculus.

The personalities and backgrounds of the founders, on both sides, trigger motivations which become an important element to iron out the details of the deal. Calculating the expected chance of higher valuation or risk-adjusted outcomes by both sides is important for saying yes to the deal.

If this is not a pure cash buyout, then the soCash team will expect to see the value of its shareholding multiply faster by being offered shares in Nium than what they would have expected if the team had decided to be independent.

Post M&A and during integration, my experience shows that cultural, political and strategic elements play a key role in monetising the combined offering. The integration process would need to embrace challenges.

Integrating philosophies of product teams of both the companies, designing new incentive schemes for sales teams or continuing with the incentive schemes of either the acquirer or the acquired for the combined organisation, addressing the concerns of prioritisation in allocating resources to acquired business are some of the key challenges.

In one of the M&A deals that I was leading and involved around 5000 employees, I had advocated keeping sales and customer-facing functions separate. The products from the acquired businesses required different sales processes.

The sales team is used to sell to particular buyers/customers where the main discussion is around financials and these customers have different adoption curves and may find it difficult to sell new or challenger products to these buyers. It will be interesting to see if the teams are kept separate or if some functions of soCash will be merged.

In other situations, it is important to clarify the key metrics upfront. This helps the leadership teams of both the companies to focus on revenue growth and help capture new value and not be compelled to focus on penny-pinching measures (like costs savings will be the only metrics).

Every M&A experience is unique and situational. I hope to see speed and urgency in rolling out the combined offering if this M&A deal has to create and capture value.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image Credit: Canva Pro

The post Mergers and acquisitions: Key to building an embedded finance ecosystem appeared first on e27.

LottieFiles, the company behind the motion graphics platform for designers and developers, today announced a US$37 million Series B funding round led by Square Peg Capital, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and existing investors 500 Startups and Microsoft’s venture fund M12.

In a press statement, LottieFiles said that it plans to use the funding to further its product roadmap and expand its operations to cater to the expanding user base. The company wants to launch a new design workflow and collaboration solution to its global user base in the summer of 2022, which will enable designers to save even more time per asset shipped and even more time to focus on creativity.

“The LottieFiles team spent the last three years studying and perfecting a blueprint that now works for design and developer teams from more than 135,000 companies. We are excited to bring LottieFiles into offering this year and grow our user base even more,” says LottieFiles CEO and co-founder Kshitij Minglani.

Lottie is a JSON animation file format that enables designers to ship animations on any platform as easily as shipping static assets. Launched in 2018, LottieFiles builds Lottie to help motion designers and developers save weeks of effort by not having to code motion graphics individually for each platform.

Also Read: 25 notable startups in Malaysia that have taken off in 2021

With its key advantages being its ability for cross-platform application and functionality, its lightweight and interactive nature, and its ability to play at 120 frames a second, Lottie animations are touted as the “perfect” replacement for conventional formats such as GIF or PNG sequences.

The company said that it currently count 135,000 companies globally as Lottie users including animation designers and motion designers from Google, TikTok, Disney, Uber, Airbnb and Netflix. LottieFiles also has integrations with the likes of Adobe XD, Adobe After Effects, Figma, Webflow, and WordPress.

LottieFiles previously raised US$9 million in Series A funding in January 2021, led by Microsoft Venture Fund M12. The company said that it has experienced 160 per cent growth in net new registered users since that time.

In February last year, LottieFiles announced the acquisition of India-based design asset marketplace Iconscout.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: LottieFiles

The post LottieFiles raises US$37M in Series B funding to launch new solutions for global users appeared first on e27.

We, as a society, have come to expect Google to know the answer to every question we have. An actor’s first movie, how many colours a lobster can see, and the chance of being struck by lightning are all questions Google and other search engines or forums can answer easily.

But what about when the answer is more complicated than that? What if we ask questions such as “How do I find the sitemap for my 301 redirect errors?” or “How do I market to a technical audience and, in particular, one from the blockchain developer domain?

Enquiries such as these need a more specific, expert-understood answer. While we may find something we think could be the answer on Reddit or even Quora, who knows the person’s background answering these questions.

That’s where micro-consulting comes in.

What is micro-consulting?

Micro-consulting involves subject domain experts assisting individuals on a one-on-one basis with a specific question or set of questions over a short period of time.

Instead of someone hiring a consultant for a long-term project that could cost their company thousands of dollars, micro-consulting lets users search through a catalogue of experts who can help them within just a few hours or days.

Not only can micro-consulting assist people in finding the correct answer to their specific questions, but it also helps industry experts. Instead of working on only one or two projects at a time, experts can take on up to 10 conversations or meetings a month.

This gives industry experts and thought leaders the chance to meet regularly, network, and grow their skills and knowledge.

Also Read: Why the world needs a knowledge engine now

Any professional or entrepreneur can utilise it to help scale their businesses and personal knowledge base.

For instance, an HR manager may be dealing with internal communications issues and company culture. The resolution to this challenge depends on many factors: company size, how they handle complaints, current internal comms pathways, and more.

Instead of trying to figure it out all alone, a Wizly micro-consultant (a certified HR professional) can help this HR manager on a one-on-one basis in as little as 24 hours.

All users need to type in their question, issue, or topic into a search bar, and industry experts are matched based on their keywords. Experts can also be found through browsing micro-insights, pieces of written or audio-recorded knowledge shared, focusing on improving topical understanding and problem-solving in their industry.

How do you start micro-consulting?

Signing up is a breeze once you have determined yourself to be an industry expert or thought leader in your field (roughly seven years of experience). There are two main ways to sign up as a Wizly micro-consultant:

• Follow this link to fill out an application.
• Be invited directly by one of the Wizly team

After you have signed up to be a consultant, you can immediately set up your account and start answering questions! Wizly encourages you to use WhatsApp for notifications (which you can download from your chosen app store).

The future of solving

We believe the way business challenges are solved needs to be simplified and done in a more open access and cost-effective manner. Micro-consulting is a way for experts and thought leaders to use their knowledge more deliberately and flexibly.

Join our next LIVE Learning session on May 5 here.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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

Image Credit: Canva Pro

The post How this micro-consulting platform is facilitating knowledge exchange appeared first on e27.

As crypto grows in popularity, crypto scams are also on the rise. In 2021 alone, scammers ran away with a record US$14 billion in crypto assets. Of all the heists so far, Axie Infinity (owned by Sky Mavis) example stands out. Hackers stole digital assets worth US$625 million by exploiting vulnerabilities in its Ronin Network.

According to Ravi Madavaram, Director of AI Commercialisation at Advance.AI, say such incidents will affect users’ trust and confidence in P2E games, but recovery is possible if businesses invest in security measures and are transparent about these to their users.

In this interview, he speaks about the different measures to be taken by various stakeholders to prevent future heists.

Edited excerpts:

What does the Axie Infinity incident tell us? What lessons can we take from this?

The Axie Infinity hack reminds us about the vulnerabilities in the crypto markets even amidst its popularity. As crypto adoption continues to rise, this is drawing the attention of regulators and hackers, who are becoming increasingly bolder in their approach.

Enormous sums of money are being siphoned off in crypto heists, like Axie Infinity’s US$625 million. In 2021 alone, scammers ran away with a record US$14 billion in crypto assets.

The size of crypto exchange hacks growing together with the rising prices of crypto prove the susceptibility of both consumers and exchanges to such fraud and hacks.

What measures should different stakeholders take to prevent similar attacks in the future?

As for consumers, they should be more digitally savvy and educate themselves on the risks in this digital world. They need to be more alert and aware of divulging login information, wallet recovery phrases and clicking on links.

Web3/blockchain/crypto exchanges/metaverse gaming companies should ensure that proper security measures are in place to mitigate the risk of well-coordinated attacks by hacker groups, sometimes state-sponsored cybersecurity threats.

They should conduct KYB (know your business) and KYT (know your transaction) processes on top of eKYC. While compliance is done in the onboarding phase, where exchanges ensure individuals go through eKYC to verify their identity, businesses also need to invest in KYB to verify the business’s legitimacy and KYT.

Also Read: Sky Mavis raises US$150M led by Binance to reimburse users hit by the Axie breach

Exchanges can use KYT monitoring to review wallet transactions in real-time, detect any suspicious activity, file such reports, and manage investigations. This helps them tackle the high incidence rate of fraud in transactions.

Multi-factor authentication for centralised exchanges also needs to be done. Instead of using SMS OTP authentication, which runs the risk of having SMSes diverted and fraudulent transactions performed and being a weak link for spoofing, exchanges should consider biometric authentication instead. Biometric authentication is much more robust. It identifies the individual rather than the device, and solutions like liveness detection allow verification of a live user by checking the live person’s facial movements. This makes it less likely for identity theft to occur.

Crypto exchanges are also susceptible to hacking when the attacker exploits some part of the chain or smart contract and illegitimately trades or withdraws cryptocurrencies. They should invest in technology to effectively detect potentially fraudulent activity, such as on-chain insight to screen wallet addresses, monitor transactions, scrape the darknet and cluster, fraud prevention to monitor transactions, and detect and prevent fraud across different channels.

Regulatory bodies should ensure measures are put in place to protect both consumers and crypto exchanges. Crypto exchanges and other financial service institutions should adhere to these measures/guidelines for a safer environment.

Will such massive hacking incidents discourage users from play-to-earn games?

Since users’ trust and confidence in P2E games will certainly be affected, recovery is possible if businesses invest in security measures and are transparent about these to their users.

As the market continues to mature and grow, businesses will have to ensure these measures are robust and in place to prepare for the next wave of consumers who will join the P2E space and a potential round of new hackers that may displace this trust again.

What are the other common security threats that crypto exchanges face?

There are potential threats across the entire customer journey with crypto exchanges: onboarding, transactions, and identity recovery.

Onboarding phase: The risks associated with the onboarding phase include identity fraud, document fraud, technical fraud and multiple account fraud, where most of the compliance and focus is on individuals and institutions.

For individuals (for example, crypto traders), eKYC can be done remotely via your smartphone. You can submit documents like national identity to pre-fill customer information.

For institutions/institutional customers (for example, those entering the crypto market to facilitate payments from customers + B2B transactions), do KYB to verify the business and review the structure and background to ensure the company is who it claims to be. This helps to avoid fraud, money laundering or other criminal activity and should be automated to remove the lengthy onboarding and manual errors with manual KYB.

Transaction phase: The risks associated with the transaction phase include phishing emails, fake SMSes and higher value cases like money laundering. This can be checked using KYT and monitoring the entire chain.

For anti-money laundering/ financial crime, review transactions in real-time, detect suspicious activity, manage investigations and file suspicious activity reports.

Also, conduct on-chain insight to screen wallet addresses, monitor transactions, and scrape the darknet and cluster transactions.

Identity recovery phase: This phase might be most overlooked but is also quite common: how many of us have genuinely forgotten our passwords and need to find a way to re-login?

How can the exchange tell if this is a genuine customer or a bad actor trying to find a loophole and misappropriate someone’s login and password details?

There are also risks/gaps when working with multiple vendors for different phases in the customer journey, which shows the need for an integrated, single solution.

Also Read: Play-to-earn: Understanding the popularity of Axie Infinity

Advance.AI offers a one-stop platform to provide customers with a faster time to market, lower cost and efficiency, and the ability to customise workflows and ensure compliance across multiple markets.

Many countries are still apprehensive about cryptos’ possible misuse and have imposed a blanket ban on digital assets. How long can governments stay away from crypto?

There is no denying the popularity of crypto. There are an estimated 300 million users globally, with the total cryptocurrency transaction volume rising to US$15.8 trillion in 2021.

There is over 60 per cent unbanked/underbanked population in Southeast Asia. Crypto appeals to this audience as it promises quick gains and allows them to have an ownership stake in the ecosystem.

Crypto also appeals to the vast proportion of young, digitally savvy Gen Z and millennial generation in Southeast Asia. They are very comfortable with new technologies and want to be included in Web3.

While this is the case, we also see a high number and value of crypto scams, proving that there is more to be done to educate and improve these consumers’ digital literacy of fraud.

Governments’ key concerns include volatility of the currency/financial stability (which stems from that it is prone to speculation), AML/terrorist financing, the safety/ security of the platform, consumer protection and the ease of onramp/offramp, albeit their belief in the usefulness of blockchain.

Regulators tend to be more cautious and have a holistic view of benefits and risks than consumers.

If these are addressed in the long run, we should see more widespread adoption, and government approaches should warm up.

NFTs and tokens are also on the rise. Do you think governments should regulate these digital assets as well?

As the adoption of NFTs continues to grow, there is also an increasing number of scams; for example, US$1.7 million worth of NFTs were stolen from OpenSea in a phishing scam.

Also Read: ADVANCE.AI secures US$80M in Series C funding led by Gaorong Capital, Pavilion Capital, eyeing regional expansion

Other scams include forgery, money laundering, financial crime, pump and dump/ wash trading, and rug pulls.

Albeit a different asset, the same scam methods are being used, and hence there is still a need to regulate these asset classes.

Hence a need for KYT to monitor on-chain transactions, cluster, analyse and detect signs of association with tainted wallet funds or illicit behaviours.

As understanding and awareness of NFTs and tokens increases, we expect governments to bring in regulations in this area to protect consumers from fraud/bad actors.

While the users in its neighbouring countries are already embracing NFTs and metaverse, Singapore is yet to join the bandwagon. What could be the possible reasons for this lag?

Singapore may have been slower to adopt crypto as it has a much smaller proportion of the unbanked/underbanked population (2 per cent), which is much lower than that of the SEA region.

Singaporeans largely have access to various financial products and services and may be more cautious about adopting a risky asset like NFT/ crypto.

Having said that, Singapore is starting to join this bandwagon, with brands from various categories like running (races) and F&B entering this space.

We expect to see a surge in adoption in Singapore as an understanding of this grows.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

The post Axie Infinity hack reminds us about the vulnerabilities in crypto markets: Advance.AI’s Ravi Madavaram appeared first on e27.

Although the excitement around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) was growing high, Shivek Khurana (27) and his younger brother Sarthak (20) couldn’t figure out why this hype.

As they watched this space more closely, the siblings realised that NFTs are rigid, and most projects presented virtually zero utility.

The youngsters wanted to change this.

“We believe NFTs are more than just valuable JPEGs; they are a token belonging to a particular community of like-minded individuals. But what’s the point of being part of a community without self-expression? This is why we created 3moji stickers,” Shivek says.

3moji offers an upgradable and composable NFT avatar system, which Shivek says will transform how NFTs are used in games and across the metaverse. (NFT avatar is a digitally generated image made in a cartoonish or pixelated fashion)

“3moji is all about expression. This DApp (decentralised application) — a P2P app that operates autonomously on the blockchain — allows Web3 users to customise their avatars over time and purchase and combine different NFT accessories,” explains Shivek. The 3moji avatars can also be used as stickers on Web2 apps like Discord and Telegram, bringing the NFTs to your day-to-day communication.

“In a nutshell, we bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 cultures, and profile pictures are just the tip of the iceberg,” Shivek claims.

Also Read: How Summoners Arena takes on popular P2E games with its ‘play, own, earn’ version

3moji is owned by a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) with a globally distributed team across India, Singapore, Australia, Spain and Ireland. Shivek is the tech brain behind 3moji, who previously built Meta Blocks, which helps users build immersive NFT apps. In the past, he also worked at Status, a messenger, crypto-wallet, and Web3 browser. Sarthak earlier worked at prePO, a speculation platform for pre-IPO stocks and pre-IDO tokens.

How 3moji works

To get started with 3moji, users start by minting a “base” layer, an empty face on which all other NFT accessories are stacked. Once they have a base layer, they can buy NFT accessories and augment their avatar.

3moji is built on the Meta Blocks Protocol, which allows users to customise avatars without burning or modifying the metadata. The original NFTs are never touched and can be sold on secondary marketplaces.

“Our go-to-market audience is the Solana NFT community, who we hope will welcome and see the value of this new concept of upgradeable and composable NFTs,” Shivek adds.

The company earns money by making and selling base layers and accessories. It is also working with other NFT projects, including Famous Fox Federation, Piggy Sol Gang, and Dapper Ducks. All these projects are creating their own 3moji compatible NFT accessories.

3moji also has utilities in other domains, such as fashion. “It offers fashion brands a fool-proof and effortless way to create their NFT collections that can be worn in metaverses without building any expensive proprietary tech. It is a simple way for luxury brands to release their NFT collection with an inherent utility,” he elaborates.

“3moji brings the vanity of luxury goods to the digital world. People buy a Gucci Bag or an expensive NFT for the same reason: social vanity,” he says, adding the company’s ultimate goal is to be the expression engine across all social channels and metaverses.

The 3moji Dapp explores new possibilities for NFTs to allow users, brands and influencers to change the look of their avatars in the metaverse and across Web2 applications.

“There are unlimited opportunities for Web3, NFTs and the metaverse. While we are starting with stickers and avatars, we believe there is scope for creating AR functionality to enable you to use your avatars to stream online, video call with friends and create content,” Shivek tells e27.

3moji recently raised US$750,000 in seed funding, led by Collab + Currency, Big Brain Holdings, Definitive Capital, and NFT influencer Gmoney.

According to Binance, the growth of NFT avatars will likely skyrocket, driven by private collector capital and institutional investment. The obsession with individuality on various social networks will also catalyse the demand. 3moji is betting big on these new trends.

However, the market is already dominated by the likes of CryptoPunks, Avastars, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and Hashmasks? Can 3moji compete with these popular NFT avatars?

—

The post 3moji aims to transform the way NFTs are used in metaverse with its composable avatars appeared first on e27.