YC S2019 Startups

Y Combinator's Summer 2019 batch is having its Demo Day (19-20 Aug @ SF | apply for Winter 2020 batch here). Among the notable grads are:

Mighty
Mighty aims to dramatically speed up Chrome-based browsing and drastically reduce CPU and memory hogging. Not much details are available but we are guessing it is a Chrome extension that allows rendering of pages using cloud servers with the rendered pages streamed to the browser. This could be promising as, even as CPU and broadband speeds have increased, browsing seems to be getting slower, likely due to the rising use of javascripts, adware. trackers, pop-ups (sign ups, chatbots etc), videos and images. Cloud rendering could also potentially provide better security by blocking dodgy scripts and sites.

Kern
Kern proposes to store data in DNA. How compact is DNA storage? Currently an entry level thumb drive stores 32 GB, about 8 movies. A DNA thumb drive can store all of Google's data which is said to be around 10,000 petabytes (petabyte = 1,000,000 GB). More than its data density, since DNA is 'biological' but mostly inert in in itself, it can be inserted into food, liquids, streams. pharmaceuticals, textiles for labelling and identification.

Y Combinator Summer 2019 1 2 3 rest of the picks

• Multis - Since crypto is decentralised and bank-free, the ewallet is the bank
• Wren - Fund a project that offset your (or your company's) carbon footprint
• Sable - Digital bank that is friendly to foreigners
• Marble - Move over cash till, self-serve kiosks are the new point-of-sale
• Lumineye - See behind walls for firefighters, police, and search and rescue
• Node - Build a house like you would assemble IKEA furniture
• Traces - Id via body shape, hairstyle etc, more accurate, less intrusive vs face
• Tensil - Custom AI chips 2x smaller, 10x faster, 200x cooler than GPUs
• Cuboh - Integrate DoorDash, GrubHub etc into one app for restaurants
• Nomad - Driver keeps 100%, e-hailing firm collects $25 monthly subscription
• TRM - Help banks deal with crypto and digital asset risks
• Boost - The new chemistry: community of cooperative & diligent microbes
• Lucid - Use drones rather than humans to clean high-rise windows, roofs vid
• EarthAI - Use AI, drones and autonomous drills to prospect for minerals

Open Data

Open Data
Open data refers to a) data that might have been previously inaccessible but is now made available to the public b) data that can be readily reused or republished with few or no restrictions (that is, open as in open source and liberty, and to a lesser extent, as in free beer). A sample of notable open data projects:

• FiveThirtyEight - ABC News shares the data behind its news, both as meticulously crafted, bird's-eye view graphs and as raw data. [Reading the graphs may require background knowledge of the subject matter. 538 is the number of electors in the US electoral college.]
  <newline>
• DataGov - The US government's open data portal. An example of data made available is consumer complaints against financial services. It's a huge file (too big to be opened in Excel), in it is a gritty read of the struggles of ordinary folks (and vendors), far beyond the narratives of contemporary fintech.
  <newline>
• ArrayOfThings - Chicago's array of street sensors that measure temperature, barometric pressure, light, vibration, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, ambient sound intensity, and pedestrian and vehicle traffic [EM levels would be useful too]. The data collected is made available to researchers, universities, local government and the public.

Open Data Hackathon

Join MAMPU's open data hackathon this 3rd to 12th of September 2019 @ Cyberjaya with the aim to create apps that address UN's SDGs, which are in summary are food, water, energy, health, jobs, accessibility, industry and sustainability. The primary data source is DataGovMY whose data sets include the list of MSC companies (tech firms that were accorded tax and other incentives). Looking at the list, the pioneers from 1997 were Intel, Skali, Telekom, NIIT, Measat, Iris, NTT, Fujitsu, Astro, DHL, and among the last entries (as at end of 2017) were:

• EntityDigital - Digital branding (engagements include SoCar, Sony, Naza)
• LANworks - Software developer (accounting, fixed assets, manpower)
• WebMedic - Solve: many visitors to ecommerce site but they don't buy
• iBanding - Insurance and takaful (shariah compliant insurance) comparison
• FavorTech - Membership management system
• ReSolutions - Software for property valuers
• NightMorning - Game developer
• SuriaLabs - Web and app developer (engagements include AirAsia, Mydin)
• AcessMotion - Network shaping for data carriers
• Pluto - Digital marketing agency (engagements include CIMB, Mamee)

Footnotes

a) Why share data, why not keep matters 'close to the chest'? The answer is left as an exercise for readers. b) Though open data is intended to be 'open', check the provider's terms and conditions for usage. c) Post image is of US energy production via Google Public Data Explorer.

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Pick of Events (W4+Aug-2019)

General
Link Data Hackathon @ KL also
Link Entrepreneurs Start @ KL 1 2 3
Link Halal NanoTech @ KL tix also
Link Genting Stablecoin @ KL 1 2
Link Product Design @ KL also
Link Smart Airport @ CJ tix also

Arts
Link Nasi Lemak Merdeka @ KL also
Link Freelancers Teh Tarik @ KL tix
Link Aliens in Manhattan @ KL tix
Link Moonshot Education @ KL tix
Link Parable of The Sower @ BKK

Around The Region
Link Data Grab @ SG also
Link Bitcoin Burritos @ HK
Link Empower Each Other @ JKT 1 2 3 4
Link TW-TH Smart Manufacturing @ BKK

Nadi Nusantara

Malaysia National Anthem: Negara Ku (My Country)

Indonesia National Anthem: Indonesia Raya (Magnificent Indonesia)

Singapore National Anthem: Majulah Singapura (Progress Singapore)

The three neighbours Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore celebrate their independence days in August, on the 31st, 17th and 9th respectively. The above renditions of their national anthems were selected for their fresh takes (vs the usual formal tone of national anthems), The producers were CrankyMusic, Gojek and TheApexProject. The post title Nadi Nusantara means 'The Pulse of Nusantara', Nusantara being an informal collective name of the three countries plus Philippines and Brunei.

Horizon Ventures | Forbes Next Billion

Horizon Ventures is a Hong Kong based venture capital firm closely associated with Lee Ka-Shing. The venture's exits include DeepMind, Facebook, Siri, Skype, Slack, Spotify and Waze. A sample of its current portfolio:

Horizon Ventures

• PerfectDay - Instead of plants→cow→milk, go straight from plants→milk
• Evolv - Do multivariate (ABCDEFG) instead of binary (AB) testing
• Slice - Platform for insurers to offer app-first, on-demand, instant insurance
• Divergent - Instead of giant car factories, decentralise car making by printing
• SoulMachines - After chat bots. next up are digital humans
• Windward - Maritime risk analytics (eg. is that ship carrying junk plastic?)
• TIPA - Compostable: feels like plastic, looks like plastic but is not plastic
• Corephotonics - Multi-aperture phone camera optics and processing
• Cortica - Use AI to output insights from cameras instead of gigs of footage
• Boabab - Producer of animated, immersive movies sample

Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2019 via sample

• Verkada - Easy-to-use, enterprise security cameras
• NEXT - Uber for goods transport (shippers, fleets, owner-operated trucks)
• FourKites - Supply chain (ship, rail, truck, rail, lastmile) information system
• Faire - Wholesaler for mom-and-pop stores, accepts returns of unsold goods
• CyberReason - Infosec cyber security company of the year 2019
• ChainAnalysis - KYT (know your transaction) for cryptocurrencies
• Proxy - Phone-based, bluetooth acccess system (no passwords, no scans)

Footnotes

• Horizon Ventures' portfolio leans towards early stage, cutting edge
• Forbes' picks are later stage, with traction towards $1B valuation
• Proxy uses tokens for authentication thus no user id is recorded at the edge
• It could be using physical characteristics (walking speed etc) in lieu of scans
• Thus if user and phone are together, access is auto and seamlessly granted

Urban Air Mobility

In the post below, we refer to electrically powered, flying vehicles as FEV (Flying Electric Vehicle) as an extension of the word EV. The industry term is UAM (Urban Air Mobility) among others.

FEV: Not For The Masses

• Unless piloted autonomously, FEVs are unlikely vehicles for the masses.
• FEVs can move forwards, backwards, let and right and up and down.
• Drivers are used to 2D driving, 3D flying is a different ball game.
• The gravity induced up and down part is risky, requires pilots not drivers.
• No 'fast and furious' (street racing) among office towers on Saturday nights.

FEV: Posh Intracity

• Rooftops of high rises (or houses) can be converted to FEV pads.
• Flight path is over a series of pads; in emergencies, FEV tries for nearest pad.
• Top floor penthouses can install and maintain a private, rooftop pad.
• Thus, FEV can operate as posh, intracity mobility for the well heeled.
• Other (non-posh) uses may include neighbourhood patrols, first responders.

FEV: Food Delivery

• FEVs could also be reimagined as green, autonomous, logistics drones.
• A party of 10 (visiting friends or family) requires 2 SUVs to go to an eatery.
• That's approx 5,000 kg (2 SUV x 2,000 kg) + (10 pax x 80 kg) to haul.
• A drone delivering 6 pizzas + 3 bottles of coke hauls approx 20 kg.
• Furthermore, a drone might be able to deliver straight to the balcony.
• Delivery drones are still new: DJI doesn't have one, Amazon is testing one.

Footnotes

• FEVs fill the niche between cars and helicopters.
• Although there are autonomous FEV projects such as EHang, it could be some time before these are safe and reliable enough to ferry humans as even the 2D self-driving space is still work-in-progress. Human piloted VTOLs like Uber Elevate [post video] could be the first to launch.
• Find out more about drones, policies, regulations and aerial work permits in an engineers' meetup on 7 Sep 2019 @ PJ.
• And more about mobility in meets by Grab and APM (see below).

Pick of Events (W4-Aug-2019)

General
Link LegalTech Launch @ KL tix
Link Digital Commerce @ KL 1 2 also
Link Computational Physics @ KL 1 2
Link Startups Meetups @ KL 1 2 3
Link Economic Forums @ KL 1 2
Link Grab ETA Auto AI @ KL 1 2

Arts
Link Vocal Training @ KL vid
Link Story Telling Jam @ KL
Link My Teacher @ KL vid SNSFW
Link Splendid Romance @ KL tix
Link Postcards from Gypsyland @ HK

Around The Region
Link Data Lasso @ SG
Link State of AI @ HK
Link eBay x Walmart @ HK
Link US-CN Trade Tussle @ HK
Link PayFazz Advanced Jenkins @ JKT
Link Recruiting an Engineering Team @ JKT

The Mission

The instrument being played above is the oboe, which visually resembles the better known clarinet. Both are long, narrow, straight, windwood tubes ending with the characteristic 'bell bottom'. Its distant relatives from way back may include the serunai and nafiri (MY, ID), nadaswaram and shehnai (IN) and the suona (CN).

Watch as Spanish orchestra Voce Para La Paz (Voice of Peace) performs the theme from the movie The Mission. Coincidentally, our last two linked music clips [1 2] featured the oboe as well. MPO will be performing the Oboe Concerto in a forthcoming show, refer to 'Performances' in the listings below for more details.


Pick of Events (W3-Aug-2019)

General
Link Marketing Meet @ KL tix also
Link SME Conference @ KL tix
Link Beampreneurs @ KL tix also
Link Startup Dating @ KL 1 2

Link Exchange Traded ETF @ KL 1 2
Link Industry 4.0 Forum @ KC KK KL

Arts
Link Performances @ KL 1 2 3
Link Piano Music Trends @ KL tix
Link Tony Fernandes Comedy @ KL
Link Publika Jazz @ KL tix
Link Kirana Kay @ KL tix vid

Around The Region
Link Key Data @ JKT
Link Magic Data @ SG
Link SustainableTech @ SG
Link Startup vs Corporate @ SG
Link Smart Suburb Hackathon @ SG

Reviving a Mall

Preamble
A smaller mall that we visit occasionally was in the doldrums. Only a fraction of its shop lots was tenanted and the tenanted ones were drab and dreary, contributing inevitably to low foot traffic. Remarkably, over the span of a couple of years, the owners managed to revive the mall. From our observations, this was achieved through a three step process: 1) food court 2) retail mix and 3) ambience, in that order. More details below, the above image is for illustration only.

The Food Court

• In an inspired move, the mall managed to recruit cottage artisans to provide home-styled food.
• These new stalls are run mainly by womenfolk and their family members.
• By contrast, malls would usually define tenancies by rental and lease.
• The pressure of both attracts businesses but not necessarily artisans.
• The difference between artisanal food and commercial food is substantial.
• The food court, which before had 'more flies than customers', is well patronized nowadays.
• A triple win for artisans, good food and the mall.

Retail Mix & Ambience

• Another notable step the mall made was to sign up Mr DIY, a chain which seems to thrive even at the sleepiest retail spaces.
• Side note: In the DIY space, beyond Mr DIY, Daiso and Ace Hardware, there are a number of comparable players in terms of range and pricing, including two from Borneo: SuperSave and Ninso.
• For the retail mix, unlike the artisanal thrust for the food court, the mall largely replaced unbranded retailers with branded ones.
• Concurrently, the mall upgraded its UX: better air, temperature and olfactory conditioning, softer lighting, and a more upmarket interior design.

Footnote: What is 'Artisanal Food'?

• In the context of this post, it refers to food that is more like home cooking:
• Traditional dishes and recipes.
• Menu that changes often, or no fixed menu.
• Less, infrequent or no deep fried items.
• More finesse and care with cooking (less pressured by commercial matters).
• More use of fresh ingredients and less use of canned or packaged sauces etc.

FastTrack x StartPath

Visa Fast Track via
Fast Track is Visa's partnership programme for fintech startups. The programme provides access to Visa's network and partners. Sample partners and startups:

• Netspend - An inclusive, prepaid 'digital bank' (think prepaid phones)
• Paymate - Accept card payments without the hassle of a merchant account
• GreenDot - Get your salary in advance (your next pay cheque is collateral)
• BBVA - White label digital bank (banking-as-a-service)
• Branch | PayActiv - Beneficial ecosystems for low wage earners

Mastercard Start Path

Start Path works with later-stage startups to help scale their business.The program offers curated access to customers and channels, support and strategic investment. Sample portfolio:

• Voca - Chatbots that chat over the phone
• Tranzer - Transport super app (train, bus, rides, taxi, bikes)
• LendingFront - Empower banks to lend to small businesses profitably vid
• Fligoo - Calculate the probability a person will buy a particular product
• Veridium - 4-finger id that is more reliable than 1-finger, face or voice id

Bonus: Ewallet Use Case

Prepayment is a robust tool (see Netspend above) as it eschews the uncertainty of credit, secures cash flow and enforces hard budgeting. Here's how it could be applied to ewallets: the ewallet provider works with the bank where the salary of an employee is paid into. Each salary banked in (say 2,500 bucks) automatically prepays:

• Savings: 500 bucks
• Fixed expenses: 1,000 bucks [accommodation, transport]
• Food: 600 bucks
• Miscellaneous: 400 bucks

The above categorisations and breakdowns are arbitrary, fill in your own numbers as appropriate. The ewallet will try to enforce this predefined budget (a user can only override it by, say, getting approval via a one-time code from parents or significant other, donating to charity or putting some money into long term funds).

Product Management

A product manager must decide what features to add or not add.

Product
People (in urban jobs) are generally aware of the various CxO roles, CEO, COO, CMO, CFO and CTO. Recent additions include the CDO (chief digital officer) and CPO (chief product officer). What does a product manager (CPO if the product is big and complicated) do? Imagine him or her as a mini-COO for a product, like, say, Maggi Hot Cup (a brand of instant ramen cup noodles). This may involve strategy, ideation, development, production, support & profitability (but not usually sales & marketing) in a highly focused vertical.

Usage
The concept of product management can be applied to hobbies (which it becomes more like project management) and to local authorities (imagine a product - be it parking, street lighting or river basin  - at a particular suburb being managed by and accountable to one officer). Find out more about product management in two forthcoming events in KL and JKT (see listings below for tix details).


Pick of Events (W2-Aug-2019)

General
Link Shark Tank Talk @ KL tix
Link Product Manager @ KL tix
Link Green Hackathon @ KL tix
Link Machine Learning @ KL
Link Harmonizing Statistics @ KL

Arts
Link Party in a Train @ KL tix
Link Veggie Festival @ KL tix
Link Inclusive Events @ KL
Link Lit Festival @ KK
Link Performances @ KL 1 2 3 4 vid

Around The Region
Link Wordcamp @ SG
Link SaaS Startups @ SG
Link Libra Meetup @ HK tix
Link Libra Decode @ BKK
Link Product Manager @ JKT tix

Mobility In Motion

Mobility In Motion
This graph shows Tesla's US market share has surpassed that of Merc, Beemer, Audi and Lexus in the compact, mid-sized, premium sedan segment. That was last year (June 2018). This year (June 2019), sales of Tesla is reported to be greater than the combined sales of Merc, Beemer, Audi and Lexus in that segment. The switch to greener mobility may be quietly underway:

• Solaris - Receives 250 electric bus order from Milan and 150 from Warsaw
• Heuliez, Bollore and Alstom - Receives 800 electric bus order from Paris
• VanHool - Gets order for 20 long-distance, hydrogen fuel cell buses from NL
• Mobis - To build $322m EV component factory
• SPAR - Retail chain enters EV charging like Walmart doing so
• Akasol - To build battery plant in Detroit centre of internal combustion
• PSA - Peugeot-Citroën-Opel to produce batteries in SK and ES
• ParkEasy - BMW introduces app reserved charging bays at shopping malls
• Google - Starts self-driving car production in Detroit mid-2019

Mobility Phases

Here's how new mobility might play out:

• 1. Current EVs' designs are legacy-based because these vanguard EVs must work within existing road regulations, practices, driving skills and habits. It starts from the premium segment because the 'hip upper middle class' has the money and mindset to fund EV development. From the premium segment, EVs may move to super premium, followed by the budget segment.
• 2.1. The next step is perhaps to design EVs from ground up, not electrified versions of legacy cars. It is not very green to haul a single occupant 1,500 kg car (the weight of 20 adults) around town, neither to manufacture (including mining lithium, cobalt and nickel) nor to operate (including demands on the electricity grid).
• 2.2 The above phase could come in three ways: a) hardware-based: much lighter 1-3 seater, bike or trike-like vehicles starting with the budget segment b) software-based: integrated (cars, bikes, mass transit) shared mobility c) both: autonomous vehicles.
• 3. The third step could be the design or retrofit of cities based on new mobility. It might mean the freeing of vast expenses of asphalt and concrete, to be repurposed for greenery, parks, urban farms, jungles, walkways, cycle lanes, solar panels and other uses. Opportunities aplenty in new mobility.

Retro Commercials

Emma Watson: The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Pierce Brosnan & Zhang Ziyi : Visa (2006)

Madhuri Dixit: Tata Sky Dance Studio (2015)

By 'retro' we mean brighter hued (compared to the stronger or washed hues in contemporary commercials and movies). The first video was originally intended to be a hilarious Steven Seagal clip but it was too grainy and was replaced by the delectable Emma Watson (playing Princess Pea). In the second video, the driver exclaims 'Brosnan?' towards the end because he thought he was chauffeuring Bond. Madhuri Dixit's video is in Hindi, but we are sold even though we don't understand Hindi.

Chapati Challenge

Bread is a staple food in many parts of the world. It comes in many forms and formulations with wheat as a common base ingredient. It can be eaten plain, toasted or accompanied by spreads, gravies or condiments. It may be leavened (contains pockets of air like in common bread) or unleavened (compacted like in a chapati). Among the different types of bread are:

Loaf

• White - Common bread found in eateries made from polished flour
• Brown - Made brown by adding molasses, coffee or wholemeal
• Wholemeal - Contains flour plus germ (seed) and bran (husk)
• Multigrain - Made from wholemeal, millet, barley, flax and oats

Flat

• Paratha [aka canai] - Griddle-fried bread layered by flipping and folding
• Naan - Ghee-brushed, oven-baked bread
• Chapati - Wholemeal bread that is pan-fried without oil [image]
• Thosai - Crepe-like bread made from fermented rice flour

Bun

• Idly - Bun made from steamed rice and black lentils
• Puri - Wheat bread that is deep fried into an air-filled ball
• Pau - Steamed bread that contains a filling
• Brioche - Rich bread made from flour, eggs, butter and cream

Chapati is not commonly offered in Indian eateries (in KL). To partake in the extra goodness of wbolemeal chapati (vs white flour paratha), one might need to make them oneself. Find out how at a chapati workshop happening 10am, Aug 18th, 2019 @ Sentul Festival 2019. Other workshops include journaling and society.

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Pick of Events (W1-Aug-2019)

General
Link FoodTruck Pajamas @ KL 1 2
Link MeToo Ellie Future @ KL 1 2 3
Link Economics Forum @ KL tix
Link SME Perdana Tiger @ KL 1 2 3
Link ISO-15408 Security @ KL also
Link AI DataScience @ KL also
Link Renewable Energy @ PG also
Link Export Packaging @ KC tix also

Arts
Link Traders Market @ KL tix
Link Perfect Chapati @ KL tix
Link Lepak Drinks @ KL 1 2
Link Backlane Heritage @ KL also
Link Live Band Karaoke @ KL

Around The Region
Link Agile Grab @ JKT 1 2
Link Prestige Bridestory @ JKT 1 2
Link Startup Week @ BKK
Link Moral Compass @ HK
Link Scientistpreneur @ SG

Libra Moonshot

Preamble
Why do we 'promote' Libra? Not at all, we have been following the payment space since ApplePay (2014) and GooglePay (2015). Not much has been happening until Facebook stepped up to the plate with Libra. The topic on hand is innovations in payments, with Libra as the particular example.


Nano-Economics
Libra has been savaged this past couple weeks by lawmakers and analysts. One of the issues is the possible monetary impact of a new currency on the currencies of other countries and even the USD. The concern is understandable given Facebook's rep for being a 800 lb (363 kg) gorilla. However, it is possible Libra's focus is on practical nano-economics rather than step on monetary turf:

• Slightly more user friendly than payment processors (PayPal, Stripe)
• Slightly more accessible than credit cards (Visa, Mastercard)
• Slightly more fluent than crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum)

Moonshot
This begs the question: why are PayPal, Mastercard and Visa in the Libra association to develop a possible competing product? As we speculate:

• These services see Facebook's growing membership (currently 2.5 billion, more than than the population of CN or IN) as a 'country' and, true to their expeditionary roots, they are the first to open offices in this 'country'.
• They see Libra as Facebook's 'moonshot' and are keen to get seats on the ride. To quote the tagline of PayPal (which has done a sterling job in cross-border payments): 'Access to financial services creates opportunity'.

Online Sampler

People are often encouraged to 'eat more veggies' for a balanced diet. Veggies can be relished in many forms: sayur lodeh, pav bhaji, dhal, herbal soup, salad and in one of its simplest form: tea, which is essentially a light beverage infused from leaves and boiled water. Purple Cane retails tea and related products, and is part of a sampler of online stores and ecommerce related firms from recent events: 1

Online

• Oribags - Your world in a bag
• BigBigPlace - Lifestyle and outdoor products
• Itoshi - Solar energy and energy saving equipment
• Pudore - Halal perfume and beauty products
• PurpleCane - Green, white, oolong, black tea & teaware
• HomeDeal - Online B2B wholesale marketplace
• MineBizs - Exposure for products locally and globally
• DagangHalal - Source and promote halal products and services
• NearU - Send and collect parcels at convenient locations
• QiJangLite - Backend for online, offline and social sales

Pick of Events (W5-Jul-2019)

General
Link Esports Business @ KL tix
Link Youth Forum @ KL tix
Link Islamic Digital @ KL tix
Link Google Webmaster @ KL tix

Link Asean-CN Matrade Go @ KL 1 2 3

Link Capital Money @ KL 1 2
Link Retail 3DTech @ KL 1 2

Arts
Link Music & Design @ KL
Link BigPay Axiata UX @ KL
Link Quartet Salon @ KL vid
Link Nusantara Culture @ KL tix
Link Arts Meetup @ KL

Around The Region
Link Future Energy @ HK
Link Startup Scotland @ HK
Link Startup Academy @ HK
Link Data Community @ SG also
Link Tokopedia Grab @ JKT 1 2
Link Quantum Algorithms @ BKK

Swan Lake

Istana Budaya is hosting Swan Lake on July 26th-28th 2019 [ poster | tix ] with Irina Kolesnikova and the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre. The (SNSFW) video shows a rehearsal (by another ballet group) showcasing the coordination, tempo and bustle needed just to play 'swan-ettes'.

Money: From Eden to Ethereum

Money

Version	Currency	Form
0	None	'Garden of Eden'
1	Barter	Direct exchange of goods and/or services
2	Token	Gold, silver, shells, barley, [share certificates]
3	Money	Notes or coins backed by gold, silver etc
4	Fiat	Notes or coins not backed by gold, silver etc
4.1	Global	SWIFT, Western Union
4.2	Card	Credit card, debit card, stored value card
4.3	Online	PayPal, card payments, online funds transfer
4.4	App	Ewallet, QRcode, NFC, digital bank
5	Crypto	Bitcoin, Ethereum, IOTA, Ripple, Libra

Functions of Money

• Medium of exchange - Accepted for payment for goods and services
• Unit of Account - A hotdog cost $1 and a Tesla $35,000
• Store of Value - Can be saved in a bank (or tin box) and used later

Properties of Money (Classical) 1

• Fungible - Any dollar note is the same value & exchangeable with any other
• Durable - The note (or coin) does not wear or tear easily
• Portable - Can be readily carried from place to place for reasonable amounts
• Recognisable - And able to easily distinguish $1 from $5 from $10 etc.
• Stable - Hotdog doesn't cost $1 one day, $10 the next and 20¢ the day after.

Properties of Money (Crypto 1.0)

• Anonymous - 'Can buy weed' (preserve privacy)
• Immutable - Once paid, it is paid, cannot be reversed
• Decentralised - Not controlled by authorities
• Programmable - Automatic contracts.

Properties of Money (Crypto 2.0?)

• Accessible - Easy onboarding (no need specialised knowledge or procedures).
• Sovereign - Not readily banned or money withheld ('like with PayPal')
• Liquid - Widely accepted for online and offline payments
• Safe - Does not naturally attract scams
• Fast - Near instant transaction confirmation

Fashion Tapir

Iconik, a new coworking space located at Icon City, will be hosting two events in the coming weeks. More details under 'Fashion Tapir' in the listings below.

Latest Coworking Startups

• Wongnai - Co-cooking space
• CoFamily - Coworking with childcare
• Glitch - Gamer coworking that is open 24 hours
• Workonomy - Office Depot's coworking (like IKEA going into coworking)
• Hines² - Hines coworking (like MRCB or CapitaLand going into coworking)
• Showfields - Online-to-offline mall provides coworking for merchants
• Novel - Close to public transport, has private entrance and signboard
• Discovery - $500M coworking space for manufacturing, pharma & biotech

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Pick of Events (W4-Jul-2019)

General
Link Circular Economy @ KL tix
Link Omni FinLawRegTech @ KL 1 2
Link AirAsia WoM WeWork @ KL 1 2 3
Link Leet CSS SocEnt @ KL 1 2 3
Link Export Case Studies @ KL tix
Link Microsoft SME Day @ KL
Link Alibaba HLX CyberSale @ PG 1 2 3
Link Powering ePayments @ JB tix

Arts Humanities
Link Fashion Tapir @ KL 1 2
Link Lit Conference @ SG
Link Economic Volatility @ KL tix

Around The Region
Link Startup Nation @ BKK tix
Link Social Impact Startups @ JKT tix
Link Causal Inference @ SG
Link Flutter Animation @ SG
Link Angels: More Than Money @ SG tix

All In Together

Watch as a school choir renders a local version of the Under The Vast Sky. Food for thought: JP choirs seem to have a greater variety of faces compared to their CN and KR counterparts who may tend to pick the more photogenic, perhaps a reflection of  'all in together' vs 'putting your best foot forward'. With the former: if you are can't sing well or are not photogenic, join us anyway and try your best to sing along with us. Interested in the harmony of choir singing? Find out more from Scott Woo, the first speaker at the 10th edition of PechaKucha PJ, 7:30pm-10pm, Sat, 27-Jul-2019 @ RexKL.

Ride Hailing Accelerator

GrabCar
Grab has been in the news for gaining an impressive amount of investments, and, on the less glam side, for inexplicable surge pricing, having riders provide face-id to get rides, cancelled rides by drivers, cancellation charges for riders, and drivers' bans and licensing travails. It is said opaque surge pricing has made the service equivalent to the old days of unmetered taxi rides [SG is legislating against this]. Grab could be in a hurry because it has to IPO by 2023.

Accelerator
Seasoned riders will remember the heady days when Uber was still around, when cars seemed newer and drivers less hassled. Some competition could be good for Grab otherwise it would need to take on the responsibility for being the primary shared mobility provider. There are plenty of small ride hailing startups (in MY) but they don't seem to be gaining traction. Perhaps they could do with some help, like, say, a ride hailing, new mobility accelerator. Imagine being mentored by top guns from Grab, GoJek, Uber, Lyft, EasyTaxi, Waymo, AirAsia, ComfortDelGro, BlueBird and Katsana.

Ride Hailing Startups

• BlueCab - Low fare everywhere
• CallMe - Easiest way to book a cab to and from KLIA
• CiaoZ - Ride your dreams
• Dacsee - Finding joy in your journey
• EzCab - Transport booking app
• GoCar - Make your journey simple
• JomRides - Get your ride on the go
• KwikCar - Car rental community
• Moovby - Unlock a thousand cars from MYR 6 [USD 1.5] per hour
• Mula2U - We have TPMS, GPS, SOS and tinting
• MyCar - Trusted e-hailing
• NeoUrban - Transport, food, delivery, payments
• PicknGo - Get access to 10,000 taxis, metered rates, no surge pricing
• RidingPink - Women only ride sharing
• SoCar - Car sharing network
• Sunlight - Affordable and reliable
• TaxiGo - Professional and licensed drivers

Razer Beam

Razer
RazerPay was in the news recently for partnering with Visa to allow RazerPay to be used at 54 million Visa merchants globally. Although Razer's CEO had proffered a few card designs, official information released mentioned only an app not a card. How then could an app be used with millions of standard Visa terminals? Two possibilities:

• RazerPay members will indeed be issued a physical card, or
• Visa plans to upgrade its merchants to be app (QR-code, NFC) capable.

The second option will dovetail with Libra's ewallet (Visa is a founding Libra association member).

Beam
Mobile payments and ewallets go well with wearables, perhaps we may see some Libra-esque movements in that space as well (not necessarily referring to Razer). To use a wearable for transactions, data needs to be exchanged or beamed between it and a payment terminal (or a peer device). Possible tech: light (QR-code, LiFi), sound (eg. Chirp) and radio wave (Bluetooth, RFID, FelicCa, NFC, 5G).

Latest Fintech Startups via

• Current - Mobile-only bank for youngsters, which parents can chip in too
• Qonto - User friendly digital bank for small businesses
• Curve - One app, multiple cards
• Raisin - Pan-European fixed deposits marketplace
• GetSafe - Customise your insurance using an app and get it in 5 minutes

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Pick of Events (W3-Jul-2019)

General
Link Belt and Road @ KL tix
Link Swiss Smart Factory @ KL
Link US-MX Foreign Policy @ KL
Link Ambank Digital Marketing @ KL
Link Cognitive Supply Chain @ PG 1 2
Link McKinsey CIMB DevOps @ KL
Link Shares for Employees @ KL
Link Future Investing @ KL tix
Link AgroTech Pitch @ KK tix

Arts
Link Art Battle @ KL tix
Link Film Festival @ KL tix
Link Arts Festival 1 @ PG tix
Link Arts Festival 2 @ PG
Link Poetry Festival @ SG
Link Fête Nationale @ KL tix
Link Curry Coworking @ KL

Around The Region
Link A/B Testing @ SG
Link Angel Investing @ SG
Link Women Cybersecurity @ SG
Link Smart Nation Update @ SG
Link Data Science Meetup @ JKT

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Notes

• KL=Greater KL, JB=around JB etc.
• Events may fall before, during or after the indicated week.
• Posts are crafted on the go and are often fine-tuned after posting.
• The use of brand logos and names are for illustration only. If, for example, 'McKinsey' is mentioned in an event title, it may simply mean a McKinsey employee is a speaker at the event, and not necessarily the event is endorsed, supported or officially participated in by McKinsey.
• Focus is on community and boutique events. Conferences, training and events which are already being extensively marketed are generally not given priority for listing..
• Starting this week, we are trying out a more succinct format by listing only around five (or a bit more) events per category.