IMDA, Temasek and Tribe launch initiative to groom talent in emerging technologies
Nvidia co-launches SEA’s first AI startup accelerator
BLOCKCHAIN ecosystem builder Tribe, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Temasek have launched a new initiative to groom 100,000 developers over the next two years.
Unveiled at the Asia Tech x Singapore event on Thursday (Jun 8), the Global Developer Hacker House initiative aims to provide a space for developers to network and gain new skill sets in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality/virtual reality, blockchain and quantum.
Companies that are partners of the programme include Meta, Google Cloud and Circle. They will provide participants with mentorships, networking opportunities and technology assets.
The programme will be both online and offline and consists of developer quests, hackathons and meet-ups in cities around the world, including in Singapore.
Ong Chen Hui, assistant chief executive at IMDA, said that the initiative will help developers upskill in diverse tech areas and strengthen Singapore’s talent core, which will enable the country to attract new investments, jobs and opportunities.
“Building a capable pool of developers in emerging tech domains like AI is vital to secure Singapore’s place in the digital economy,” she added.
Mitesh Agarwal, a managing director at Google Cloud, said: “Asia-Pacific is fast becoming a global hub for Web3, and platforms like Global Developer Hacker House play an important role in helping fuel innovation and skills development in the ecosystem.”
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Blockchain Startups From Singapore-Based Tribe Accelerator Have Raised $70M in Funding
Blockchain Startups From Singapore-Based Tribe Accelerator Raise $70M
Singapore’s first government-backed blockchain network, Tribe, has garnered new strategic investments from international venture capitalists to further the development of both its Accelerator and Academy programs. Tribe Accelerator also announced Wednesday that its participating startups have raised over $70 million, and its list of network partners now includes Pfizer.
Venture capital firm Korea Investment Partners (“KIP”) has made a strategic investment in Tribe, marking its first direct investment in Singapore. Mandiri Investment Management Singapore (“MIMS”), a subsidiary of Indonesia state-owned Bank Mandiri; Greg Kidd, an early Twitter, Coinbase and Square investor; and Hong Kong-based Stellar Partners have now also made strategic investments in Tribe.
The new funding will go toward expanding Tribe’s services and outreach to promising blockchain startups through its Tribe Accelerator. It will also support Tribe Academy in its efforts to increase access to education for underprivileged students and attract new talent to the blockchain space.
Accelerator partnerships foster blockchain startup growth
Additionally, Tribe Accelerator now includes pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer among its list of network partners who contribute guidance, expertise, networking and resource support to its participating blockchain startups. It joins existing partners HSBC, Infineon Technologies, SBI Ven Capital, BMW Group Asia, ConsenSys, IBM, Intel, Nielsen, PwC, R3 and more.
“We are supporting a range of cutting-edge blockchain startups from around the world, with a total valuation of over USD$1 billion, that are solving global problems from food security to medicine deliveries,” said Tribe CEO, Yi Ming Ng. For example, Accredify has developed a blockchain-based digital health passport that allows users to access and store test results via mobile app for travel declaration.
To date, blockchain startups participating in Tribe Accelerator have raised “over US$70 million to date from investors including SGInnovate, Greycroft, SV Ventures, and other global investment firms,” according to a company statement.
The accelerator’s alumni include companies like Quantstamp, a full-stack cybersecurity firm, and Sentient.io, an AI and data services provider.
The platform was launched in March 2019 and is now accepting applications for its fifth cohort.
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Tribe raises funding to expand its accelerator programme globally
Tribe raises funding to expand its accelerator programme globally
Tribe, a blockchain accelerator backed by the government of Singapore, has received a strategic investment from Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and Mandiri Investment Management.
Greg Kidd, an early investor in Twitter, Coinbase and Square, besides Hong Kong-based Stellar Partners, also co-invested.
This marks KIP’s first direct investment into Singapore.
Tribe will use the funds to grow its accelerator and academy programmes into newer markets, including the US, Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
Additionally, Tribe has also announced a partnership with American drug giant Pfizer to provide startups with support like technical expertise, resources and access to networks. Its other notable partners include HSBC, Infineon Technologies, Citibank and Ubisoft.
Founded in 2018, Tribe works closely with global corporations, government agencies, blockchain companies and late-stage startups to build a community that promotes blockchain collaborations and innovations.
Its goal is “to generate greater public awareness of the benefits and relevance in the everyday use of distributed ledger technology through the usage of decentralised applications (dApps) or backend digital solutions”.
Also Read: In brief: Singapore’s blockchain accelerator Tribe goes virtual for batch 3
“We are supporting a range of cutting-edge blockchain startups from around the world, with a total valuation of over US$1 billion, that are solving global problems from food security, education efforts to medicine deliveries,” said Tribe CEO, Yi Ming Ng.
“The pandemic has placed a spotlight on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and in the process speeded up its digital transformation,” added Bei Goh, Digital Client Partner Lead Emerging Markets Asia, Pfizer, added.
“There is huge potential for blockchain in the pharmaceutical sector, from the tracking and authenticating of vaccines and medicines to making supply chains more efficient. Being a part of the Tribe ecosystem gives us access to promising blockchain and other deep tech startups as well as insights into the latest trends across the industry,” he shared.
Tribe also said that its participating startups have raised US$70 million since joining the programme. Some of its acceleratees are Accredify, AID:Tech, TADA and xfers.
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Technopreneur Ryan Chew On Using Blockchain To Solve Global Issues
Technopreneur Ryan Chew On Using Blockchain To Solve Global Issues
Ryan Chew is a co-founder and managing partner of Tribe Accelerator, the first blockchain accelerator supported by the Singaporean government.
From his favourite prata shop on Jalan Besar, Chew and partner Ng Yi Ming decided to create a global blockchain ecosystem with the aim of connecting blockchain start-ups with corporations, governments, and investors.
Backed by the likes of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek, Citibank, IBM and Intel, Tribe’s start-ups have gone on to raise more than $30 million. It’s an amazing journey for the technopreneur who started his journey at 19, fresh out of National Service and spending his meagre $3000 savings to develop a gaming application.
Since that initial stumbling block, Chew has faced different challenges that required him to adapt and adjust his own thinking and work processes. During the early days of blockchain, he dove into Fixir, an app that allowed you to get quotes really quickly, from reliable and trusted mechanics.
One of the problems that they had hoped to solve was the issue of counterfeit car parts. Using blockchain as a ledger in conjunction with NFC chips, non-mechanics would be able to tell if car parts were the real deal. Yet despite its promise, recognition of the technical complexity of implementation convinced them to put off the project; and even though nothing came of it, the conceptualisation process brought new ideas.
Ryan Chew Tribe
Tribe Accelerator Co-Founder, Ryan Chew
“There’s more to blockchain than just cryptocurrency,” says Ryan Chew. “Why aren’t people talking more about other use cases? This could be very beneficial for humankind.” Going through several different accelerator programs, Chew used this experience to conceive of a new accelerator program to facilitate adoption of this technology across different industries and not just fintech.
So far, Tribe has supported more than 30 start-ups from two batches with a combined value of more than US$1 billion. We caught up with Chew, our latest August Mentor, a man with the vision of changing the world through blockchain technology.
What are some of the fundamental misunderstandings of about blockchain?
I had this master class with a bunch of SME bosses who owned coffee shops and retail chains and the biggest misunderstanding is that blockchain is synonymous with cryptocurrency. While it’s the most widely adopted use case, there are many different use cases of blockchain in general.
The technology is an enabler. It enables you to solve problems, but it doesn’t necessarily solve all the problems by itself. It still has to work with different components of the full technical stack.
Another common misconception is that blockchain is a single source of truth. People fail to understand is that while it can hold truth, it is only as good as whatever you put in. So if the source is false or falsified, it can be abused like any other instrument.
You mentioned regulators themselves had negative preconceived notions of the tech, how did you convince them otherwise?
There is a lot of negative perception because back then, there was a lot of ICO scams that were coming out to make a quick buck. Hence, the government took a more hesitant stance looking at blockchain. I think we started to gain more traction exploring different use cases exploring and imagining how this particular technology could be used in many different ways and many different verticals to accomplish many different goals.
Could you share what are some of the real-world applications so far?
Let’s start with local issues. Open certs is a government initiative to put our certification on the blockchain. For example, when we go for a job Interview how is the employer going to verify that what you say on your CV is true? With blockchain, they can go onto a portal that’s developed by GovTech and verify. In the old process, it would be expensive and time consuming where people have to make calls and send emails to verify. If you have misplaced a 10-year-old certificate, it would be costly and time consuming to replace as well.
MIT Sloan assistant professor Christian Catalini said it best: The benefit of blockchain is two-fold. First, it reduces the cost of verification. Next, it reduces the cost of networking. We see a lot of use case in the cost of verification portion.
One of the start-ups we are accelerating aims to track your digital health passport. It’s especially useful during this COVID pandemic. If you go overseas, it’s easy for people to verify that you’ve been tested negative. Without this platform, the costs are enormous from a government-to-government standpoint. An officer needs to be able to call the right person at the right Ministry to verify the right database, and it would probably take three days.
Furthermore, there’s a lot of manpower and coordination involved and that can potentially introduce human error. We have another start-up looking to digitise identity. People in the third world or developing countries might be unbanked because they don’t have identification, or their record keeping is spotty. How are they able to verify their identity when it comes to opening a bank account? How do people like that get a loan?
You’ve gone from prata shop ideas to a $51 million company, has this journey given you any new wisdom? Have your mindsets changed?
Yes, my mindset has changed, as have my stress levels. [Laughs] In terms of wisdom, there are many things I have learned about leadership. I have learned more about delegation. It doesn’t mean sending tasks to people. There are many facets to delegation: Is this person already overloaded? How do I piecemeal a task so that the right person with the right capacity, can do the right thing and deliver what is required.
There’s the communication aspect as well. More often than not, the leadership equation is assumed to be the transmission of instructions down the chain but I believe that there are more layers to just top to bottom communication. How do we as leaders aid inter-team communications?
Communication must take place within teams and between teams, how do we create the process for them to talk efficiently within all these different teams? Another aspect of communication is what I call the “push pull concept”.
When we are working as a small team, information flow takes place from a leader’s push perspective: we push information down information as we gather new insights but as we grow and more projects come in, there is a need for active participation which leads to “pull communication”.
As we get busier, it’s harder to manage information flow and team members receive information from everywhere.
If they have time, they will stop to process who this information is for. If they don’t have time, they’re just going to act on the information based on their own. So then there’s a need for other team members to actively “pull” that information: Hey, what’s going on? Heard you have an update on this? There’s a lot of nuance in leadership, it’s all contextual.
What kind of problems are you looking to solve yourself?
We are always looking to solve problems in the eco-system but it’s very high touch. There’s too much hand holding and so we wondered how we would scale this up. So we launched a portal supported by IMDA to reach the masses so they can better understand the use cases of blockchain.
The other problem was after matchmaking corporates to start-ups and then start to build Proofs-of-concept (POCs), we couldn’t find the manpower to build it. That’s when we realised the talent shortage needed to be solved with Tribe Academy. We aim to develop the net generation of talent for frontier technologies like blockchain, cybersecurity, data science, and so on.
We want to democratise the ability to build applications. No Code is my way of tackling the immediate talent shortage in the short term while we train more talent and groom existing talent.
Do you have any regrets?
All my mistakes have led me on the path today, so not really.
(Photos: Allen Tan; Styling: Amos Chin)
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Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020’s Fintech Superstars
Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020’s Fintech Superstars
April 6, 2020
Published in Fintech News Singapore
In keeping with annual tradition, Forbes has released its annual 30 Under 30 Asia list, which features 300 disruptors, innovators and entrepreneurs from the region, all under the age of 30.
This year list sees 25 fintech professionals in the list compared to last year which saw 19 people make the cut
The following are the 25 fintech and finance superstars who made the cut:
Ryan Chew, 28 | Yi Ming Ng, 28, Singapore
Managing Partners, Tribe
Ryan Chew and Yi Ming Ng are cofounders and managing partners of Tribe Accelerator, the first blockchain accelerator supported by the Singaporean government. The accelerator raised more than $30 million since its launch in 2018, backed by the likes of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Temasek, Citibank, IBM and Intel. So far, it has invested in 19 startups from two batches with a combined value of more than $300 million. Tribe also runs a blockchain academy with scholarships available to developers across Southeast Asia.
Ajeesh Achuthan, 28, India
Cofounder, Open
Ajeesh Achuthan is cofounder and CTO of Open, which helps businesses streamline their financial operations with its integrated platform for accounting and banking. Since its launch in 2017, Open says it has processed more than $10 billion worth of transactions with 350,000 businesses using the platform. In June last year, Open raised $30 million in Series B funding led by New York-based tech investment firm Tiger Global. Before starting Open, Achuthan cofounded fintech startup Zwitch in 2012, which was later acquired by Indian online payments company Citrus Payment Solutions in 2015.
Anderson Sumarli, 25 | Yada Piyajomkwan, 27, Indonesia
Cofounders, Ajaib
As M.B.A. classmates at Stanford, Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan launched Ajaib, a zero-commission investing platform targeting first-time Millennial investors in Indonesia, with the goal of increasing financial inclusion. Ajaib claims to be responsible for one-fifth of all new retail investors in Indonesia in 2019. A graduate of Y Combinator, the company has raised $2.1 million in funding from SoftBank, Insignia Ventures and Alpha JWC.
Hilfi Alkaff, 27, Indonesia
Cofounder, OY!
Hilfi Alkaff dropped out of his computer science Ph.D. program to join Silicon Valley startups Sift Science and Quora. He then returned to his native Indonesia to cofound his own startup, OY! Indonesia, a wallet aggregator for easier payments and financial management. It integrates with more than 100 banks and offers various payment solutions, including free interbank transfers in Indonesia, a popular feature in a country notorious for its expensive interbank transfer fees. Alkaff received his B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley and an M.Sc. degree in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Rohit Gajbhiye, 30, India
Founder, Financepeer
Rohit Gajbhiye is the founder and CEO of Financepeer, which graduated from Google’s Launchpad Accelerator India last year. The startup helps students pay school fees for the full academic year upfront in one installment, while students or their parents pay back Financepeer in monthly installments at zero interest and cost. Gajbhiye says Financepeer helped more than 750,000 students across more than 500 schools in India. By next year, it is aiming to help 2.5 million students from 1,800 schools. Gajbhiye holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.
Michiteru Goto, 27, Japan
CEO, Payme.Inc
Payme operates an instant wage-payment app that allows workers to receive up to 70% of their salaries at any time, instead of waiting until the end of the month, to help cope with sudden expenses. The app has 200,000 users and 400 companies that also use the app to reduce their payroll processing costs. The startup raised $10.5 million in funding since its launch in 2017 and won the Nikkei FinTech Startups Award in 2018.
Arjun Ahluwalia, 27 | Adriel Maniego, 26, India
Cofounders, Jai Kisan
Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego quit their high-paying finance jobs in the U.S. and moved to an Indian village to start Jai Kisan, a fintech platform that helps borrowers in rural India get credit. Since its launch in April 2019, Jai Kisan has included more than 10,000 farmers across four states and partnered with five financial institutions. Along the way it has gained international recognition from IFC, ADB, Visa, Accion, NASSCOM, among others. Jai Kisan has raised $2 million from VCs and family offices.
Zac Liew, 28, Malaysia
Cofounder, Curlec
Zac Liew is cofounder and CEO of Curlec. The fintech startup helps SMEs overlooked by traditional banks collect recurring payments with its automated platform, replacing manual methods like cash, checks or credit cards. Since its launch in 2017, Curlec says it has processed $50 million in transactions and more than 300 businesses currently use its platform, including SMEs, large companies and other fintech companies like Funding Societies and StashAway. The startup is backed by VC firms 500 Startups and Captii Ventures. Before starting Curlec, Liew was an analyst at Barclays in London.
Chester Szeen, 24 | Teresa Chan, 24, Hong Kong
Cofounders, Mellow
Chester Szeen and Teresa Chan are the cofounders of Mellow. The Hong Kong-based startup operates a personal finance and digital payment app, which is connected to a Mastercard debit card, to help children learn about money management, such as saving toward a goal and keeping track of spending. Last year, it was one of 18 graduates from AppWorks, an AI and blockchain-focused accelerator in Taiwan. In 2019, it was named as one of the 12 top startups of Jumpstarter, a not-for-profit initiative curated by the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund in Hong Kong. Mellow is supported by Cyberport, Accenture, the Japanese government, Mizuho Bank and New World Development.
Maxwell Meyer, 29, Thailand
Cofounder, Masii.com
Harvard alum and former McKinsey analyst Maxwell Meyer is cofounder and CEO of Masii.com. The website compares financial products such as credit cards, car insurance and personal loans to help users make better financial decisions. Meyer says more than 500,000 people use the platform each month and has made 6 million comparisons since its launch in 2015. The startup raised more than $5 million so far, including $2.43 million in a Series A round led by Thai conglomerate B.Grimm in 2018. Last year, Masii.com was named one of 50 emerging fintech companies globally by KPMG and Australian investment firm H2 Ventures.
Huy Nghiem, 28, Vietnam
Founder, Finhay
Huy Nghiem is a Vietnamese-Australian who quit his finance job in Australia and returned to Vietnam to start Finhay, a micro-investment platform for Millennials, in 2017. Nghiem envisions Finhay as a one-stop solution where customers can manage their wealth seamlessly. It recommends multiple micro-financial products including saving, investment and insurance based on the customer’s personal information and risk assessment. The customers can then start building their wealth through Finhay with as little as $3. Finhay has received seven-figure funding from investors such as Insignia Venture Partners, H2 Ventures and Acorns cofounder Jeffrey Cruttenden.
Gaurav Kunwar, 28 | Harsh Pokharna, 28 | Aditya Prasad, 26, India
Cofounders, OkCredit
Three college friends — Gaurav Kunwar, Harsh Pokharna, and Aditya Prasad — founded in 2017 OkCredit, a book-keeping app for micro and small businesses which traditionally have maintained their accounts in handwritten ledgers. They have 6 million active monthly users who made 80 million entries in the app in January. The trio made it to Y Combinator in 2018. After a Series B financing round last year, OkCredit has raised a total of $83 million, including from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tiger Global.
Francis Plaza, 26, Philippines
Founder, PayMongo
Francis Plaza is cofounder and CEO of Phillipine-based PayMongo, an online payments processing platform. In September last year, just a few months after it graduated from Y Combinator and launched, the startup raised $2.7 million in seed funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, San Francisco-based VC firm Founders Fund and fintech unicorn Stripe. Before starting PayMongo, Plaza was a software engineer at Oracle and cofounded online marketplace Muber. He graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering. He was admitted to the top institution when he was just 16 years old.
Andy Chan, 28 | Winston Wong, 28, Hong Kong
Cofounders, Qupital
Founded in 2016, Qupital aims to provide financing to SMEs that are underserved by traditional banking institutions. The Hong Kong-based startup offers short-term lending and liquidity to companies and matches them with investors interested in covering the loan. Qupital claims to have funded loans and business invoices worth more than HK$1 billion (about $130 million). In March 2019, it raised $15 million in a Series A round of financing led by Chinese wealth and asset manager CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund. Its investors also include the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and Chinese VC firm Gobi Partners.
Nick Williams, 28 | Tristan Cole, 21, Australia
Cofounders, Sempo
Nick Williams and Tristan Cole are the cofounders and co-CEOs of Sempo, a blockchain-based cash transfer platform for NGOs to efficiently deploy cash-aid programs to people affected by humanitarian crises. The platform also does beneficiary identification, cash disbursement and program monitoring, allowing NGOs to save precious resources and time by using a single platform. Since launching in 2017, Sempo says its platform helped more than 50,000 people in Kenya, Vanuatu, Iraqi Kurdistan and refugee camps on the Syrian border. By daily users, the startup says its platform is one of the five most used finance applications on the Ethereum blockchain.
Ankit Singh, 29, India
Director, Wibmo
Ankit Singh is a director at Wibmo, a payment processing services company based in Cupertino but mostly operating in India. At Wibmo, Singh is building a way for Indian workers to receive their pay for the days they worked or tasks completed, instead of waiting for their salary at the end of the month, thereby improving their financial freedom. This works by Wibmo paying the workers early and then their employers paying back Wibmo at a later date, allowing the businesses to improve their working capital. Singh joined Wibmo in 2017 after the company acquired Mypoolin, a payment technology startup he cofounded in 2014.
Joshua Smith, 29, Malaysia
CTO, MyPay
Joshua Smith is cofounder and CTO of MyPay, an integrated online platform for payments to government agencies. Since its full launch in August last year, users can pay fines, bail and student loans to three of the 10 government agencies in Malaysia. So far, MyPay has more than 100,000 users, including 6,000 monthly active users. Before working on MyPay in 2018, Smith was an analytics lead at Uber, technology consultant at Accenture and an analyst at Citi.
Venture capital firms offer help for laid-off start-up employees
Coronavirus: Venture Capital Firms Help Laid-off Start-up Employees Find New Jobs
April 1, 2020
Published in The Straits Times, by Shivraj Rajendran
SINGAPORE – Venture capital (VC) firms across South-east Asia have launched a ‘community-led’ initiative to help start-up employees laid off due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak find new opportunities.
The anchor of the initiative is a public database of affected employees who can opt to have their names, functions and contact details included in it. The database will be publicised on the social media platforms of the participating VC firms.
They include Saison Capital, FutureLabs, Jungle Ventures, Alpha JWC, Convergence Ventures, Patamar Capital, Rainmaking, TRIVE Ventures and Tribe Accelerator.
Interested applicants with at least one year of working experience can apply to have their names included on the database via a form. Their application will be verified by one of the supporting VC firms before being listed on the database.
The database will also include a list of companies that are still hiring in the region.
The initiative is spearheaded by Chia Jeng Yang, principal at Saison Capital; Simin Liu, an analyst at FutureLabs Ventures; and Rachael De Foe, a freelance communications consultant.
Mr Chia says the trio were inspired after seeing a similar effort by VC firms in the United States.
“People through no fault of their own have been laid off, and we want to create something that can help them here and now,” he said.
Said Joachim Vandaele, partner at FutureLabs Ventures: “Top talent is what makes or breaks ventures, so as an ecosystem, we have a collective interest and responsibility to keep the talent in South-east Asia. Customers come and go, financial capital flows in and out but human capital is what we need to hold onto.”
In the same spirit, Ms Elise Tan, a consultant who works with start-ups, has built a spreadsheet that matches start-up companies to volunteer mentors.
Interested volunteers or start-ups can fill up a form to have their names included. Once they have done so, they will be added to a LinkedIn group to be matched to each other.
So far, more than 60 individuals have signed up as volunteers and have pledged to mentor a start-up for one hour a week.
Said Ms Tan: “Covid-19 has affected many companies around the world. Start-ups with little resources and funding will be even harder hit.
“We are all banding together to help these start-ups by contributing our time on a pro bono basis”.
Read the original article here.
Startups in Singapore blockchain accelerator Tribe raise S$21.5m
Startups in Singapore Blockchain Accelerator Tribe Raise S$21.5 Million
December 3, 2019
Published in The Business Times, by Claudia Chong
GOVERNMENT-BACKED blockchain accelerator Tribe Accelerator said its second batch of nine startups has raised S$21.5 million from external investors, including SGInnovate.
Tribe’s inaugural batch of 10 startups raised S$16.8 million. Another S$30 million is in the pipeline for both batches; discussions with investors are ongoing.
Among the portfolio companies in the second batch are supply chain solutions platform DiMuto; telemedicine startup WhiteCoat; Eximchain, which helps businesses transact and share information more efficiently and securely through blockchain technology; and Torus, a distributed private key management solution with a focus on cybersecurity.
Other participating companies are consumer advertising startup Affle; AID:Tech, which has created a solution to deliver aid, social welfare and traceable donations on the blockchain; Aqilliz, a hybrid advertising and customer loyalty management platform; distributed open source database service Bluzelle; and Pilab, which builds software for the communication and management of data across different platforms.
Tribe had a demo day for its startups in Singapore, and demo days will also be held in Dubai, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.
Ng Yi Ming, managing partner of Tribe, said: “We will continue to harbour companies with transformative innovations, that can change the face of the blockchain industry and benefit the end user – making the technology more mainstream.”
Tong Hsien-Hui, SGInnovate’s head of venture investing, said: “We are increasingly seeing more real-life use cases of blockchain technology across different industries… This partnership with Tribe allows us to get closer to the action and support some very promising startups through investments and venture building efforts.”
At the Singapore FinTech Festival X SWITCH 2019, Tribe inked an agreement with Dubai International Financial Centre FinTech Hive, the largest financial technology accelerator in the Middle East. This will give Tribe access to a new pool of innovators, investors and corporate partners, said the firm in a press statement.
Tribe’s official partners include Enterprise Singapore, Temasek, BMW Group Asia, IBM, Intel and Nielsen.
Read the original article here.
IBM, Citibank, Ubisoft Joins The ‘Tribe’ As The S’pore Blockchain Accelerator Rebrands
Vulcan Post: IBM, Citibank, Ubisoft Joins The 'Tribe' As The Singapore Blockchain Accelerator Rebrands
September 20, 2019
Published in Vulcan Post, by Victoria Sek, 20 Sep
Tribe Accelerator, Singapore’s first blockchain accelerator backed by Enterprise Singapore, welcomes new partners onboard their business.
Joining their current fleet of government and corporate partners, including AXA, BMW Group Asia, Intel, IMDA, Nielsen, PwC, and Temasek, are IBM, Citibank, and Ubisoft.
The new partnerships were inked just after the successful completion of the inaugural batch of startups earlier in July 2019, according to a media release.
The addition of IBM, Citibank, and Ubisoft will grant participating startups more extensive access to international markets and resources beyond Singapore.
Promising growth-stage startups with market-ready blockchain solutions can tap into the three firms’ networks and either integrate their solutions into existing business units or tailored as end-user products.
Alan Lim, Asia Pacific Blockchain Leader, IBM, said, “Tribe Accelerator has displayed its capabilities on the international front with its list of industry partners.”
“Its speed at executing corporate-startup integration and partnership with established industry leaders gives us the confidence that this is only the beginning of their journey.”
“Tribe Accelerator’s capabilities and direction aligns with our long-term vision to bring business-blockchain to the forefront of market operations.”
Lin Hsiu-Yi, ASEAN and Singapore Head, Citi, said that as a leading global bank known for their digital innovation, they are happy to provide their expertise in financial services.
The bank is also happy to “actively partner Tribe in harnessing the power of blockchain technology which will unify and raise the standards for the betterment of the ecosystem”.
Launched last year as the only blockchain accelerator of its kind, Tribe Accelerator is now going into its second edition of its four-month programme.
The second cohort of startups will get access to their existing and new group of mentors, experts, international network of partners to help them scale globally.
Going beyond a typical accelerator programme, Tribe Accelerator has enhanced Singapore’s blockchain development and integrated Singapore’s GovTech OpenCerts with promising startups.
It has also gone on a global demo-tour across Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul, and San Francisco, resulting in the startups raising over S$16.8 million within a short span of three months.
Ng Yi Ming, Managing Partner, Tribe Accelerator, shared, “The success of Tribe Accelerator’s inaugural batch far surpassed our initial expectations.”
“By ensuring all parties are aligned with a common objective, it has greatly reduced information overlaps and made solution integration prompt.”
“We believe our nimbleness has given Tribe Accelerator the advantage and confidence from industry partners. The addition of IBM, Citibank and Ubisoft as our latest corporate partners re-affirms us that we are taking Singapore’s business-blockchain journey to new heights.”
With Tribe Accelerator’s extensive partner network, startups are able to connect directly with major corporates.
Mighty Jaxx is one such company that has gained “invaluable” access to the startup ecosystem and funding opportunities, thanks to Tribe Accelerator and Enterprise Singapore.
They were able to connect with strategic business partners and technological resources both locally and overseas, founder of Mighty Jaxx, Jackson Aw, said.
He added that the chance to be a part of the accelerator was a “game-changer” for the business.
“Our ‘graduation’ from this journey has empowered us to leverage emerging technologies like blockchain to continue growing Mighty Jaxx on a global scale and to better serve our community.”
Carl Wegner, Managing Director and Head of Asia at R3, stated, “Tribe Accelerator has shown incredible growth and results for its participating startups.”
“In this very short time, they have displayed their ability to solve real business problems in complex and highly-regulated markets.”
“Additionally, they have been able to identify tangible use-cases for blockchain. Tribe has proved its ability to make blockchain solutions that market-ready, and beneficial to everyday individuals.”
Building upon the momentum of the latest corporate partners, this second cohort likewise sees Tribe Accelerator identify companies who tap on blockchain for business solutions.
These companies come from various industries, including media and advertising, cybersecurity, and healthcare, on top of existing blockchain solutions in FinTech and supply-chain management.
Some of the new participants include, Torus, WhiteCoat, AID:Tech, and Affle Holdings.
Together with the slew of updates, Tribe Accelerator also announces the official rebrand of its organisation to Tribe.
Tribe will consist of three initiatives, OpenNodes, Tribe Accelerator, and Tribe Code.
This three-pronged approach reflects Tribe’s evolution to better tackle different gaps in Singapore’s maturing blockchain ecosystem.
Tribe’s new branding reflects the company’s approach towards bringing more comprehensive support in the industry.
Yi Ming assured that while the rebranding marks a new milestone for the company, every business decision they make begins with their stakeholders in mind.
“As we look to drive widespread adoption of blockchain technology across Asia, this rebrand enables us to take our capabilities out from the confines of the accelerator programme, and into distinct individual branches, serving an extended scope of work.”
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Blockchain Accelerator Tribe Introduces OpenNodes to Build an Innovation Melting Pot
Blockchain Accelerator Tribe Introduces OpenNodes to Build an Innovation Melting Pot
August 21, 2019
Published in e27, by Prisca Akhaya T.
OpenNodes has the support of IMDA to bring government agencies, corporate, and blockchain companies onboard.
Tribe Accelerator, a blockchain accelerator based in Singapore, announced the upcoming launch of OpenNodes, a web-based engagement platform supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA).
Tribe Accelerator said that it is meant to bring together government agencies, corporates, and blockchain companies onto a single online platform, fostering innovation and collaboration in the blockchain community.
With OpenNodes, enterprises and individuals from any level of expertise can take part in the ecosystem.
The platform’s key feature will include a directory listing of various stakeholders in Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem. Using the directory, startups can form industry-specific working groups to discuss how blockchain can be used across various verticals, such as mobility and healthcare.
Companies will also be able to connect with other global blockchain communities in cities such as Berlin, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Zug.
OpenNodes will also provide educational content to help enterprises glean insights into blockchain technology as well as facilitating discussions led by leaders of different industries on the platform.
Additionally, there will also be job listings that will connect talents to recruiters.
OpenNodes is expected to be launched to the public at the end of this year.
The promising world of blockchain
Blockchain technology presents a wealth of opportunities for enterprises to tap on and make their processes more transparent and secure. However, challenges remain constant, with the lack of collaboration and poor visibility into the blockchain industry that hinders mainstream adoption.
Philip Heah, Assistant Chief Executive, Technology Infrastructure Group, IMDA.l, highlights that there are still many existing blockchain solutions in the current market that are use-case specific and specialised.
“These solutions can provide greater value to the parties involved if they are participating in the ecosystem. This platform will bring the key stakeholders of the blockchain ecosystem closer together, consolidating efforts towards mass adoption,” said Heah.
Besides partnering IMDA, OpenNodes is also supported by more than 20 organisations, including:
Government Agencies: IMDA, Enterprise Singapore, Government Technology Agency (GovTech), Monetary Authority of Singapore, National Research Foundation, SGInnovate
Global Corporates: AXA, BMW Group Asia, EY, Fung Group Explorium, Nielsen, PwC, Temasek
Technology and Blockchain Companies: ConsenSys, Digix, Ethereum Foundation, IBM, Intel, R3, VeChain, Zilliqa
It is supported by Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, and includes corporate partners such as BMW, Intel, Nielsen, and PwC Singapore’s Venture Hub.
Read the original article here.