EPISODE 172

The Future of NFTs Beyond Collectibles, w/ Robby Yung, Co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands

The World Wide Web was the first big tech revolution. Mobile was the second and we think blockchain is now the third. This is a period where we’re going to have a solid 10-year run of tremendous growth and adoption of this new technology. It’s going to bring enormous changes to all sectors that the technology touches upon: entertainment, financial services, e-government, and more.

EPISODE 172

The Future of NFTs Beyond Collectibles, w/ Robby Yung, Co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands

The World Wide Web was the first big tech revolution. Mobile was the second and we think blockchain is now the third. This is a period where we’re going to have a solid 10-year run of tremendous growth and adoption of this new technology. It’s going to bring enormous changes to all sectors that the technology touches upon: entertainment, financial services, e-government, and more.

EPISODE 171

Understanding the business model behind open-source services w/ Neil Han, Head of APAC for PingCAP [World’s most valued NewSQL company]

The open-source model has been a big catalyst for technology businesses across the world. While it is clear how they fit into other business models, it is still unclear what the business model behind an open-source business is. In this episode, we aim to answer that and more. We invited Neil Han, Head of APAC and EMEA for PingCAP, the first open-source unicorn in China, which raised 340million USD in total.

EPISODE 170

Internationalisation of Indian SaaS Startups, with Sanjay Nath, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Blume Ventures

What is the trajectory for Indian startups expanding abroad? How do they start in India and move to the US and SEA? How can startups build and sell remotely and operate in a virtual world? What are the repercussions of localization when internationalization? Sanjay, as an active investor in the space, brings his experience in answering all these questions and more!

EPISODE 169

How to Start a Venture Fund in China, with Chris Lerner, Managing Partner at MSA Capital

What does it take to launch a VC fund in China? What are the differences between RMB funds and USD funds? And how can VC funds exit themselves? We invited Chris Lerner, Managing Partner at MSA Capital, to join us to share his experience on starting and running a successful venture fund, and also how MSA Capital has supported startups to grow and expand to different markets. Founded in 2014, MSA Capital is an independent global private equity and venture capital firm with over $1.5 billion assets under management. Most notably, 60% of its 26 early stage investments have become super unicorns.

EPISODE 168

Building Bangladesh’s Biggest Tech Startup with Hussain Elius, Founder and CEO of Pathao

While Southeast Asia remains one of the hottest markets in the region, South Asia is also catching up, especially with the likes of Bangladesh and Pakistan. The region is also home to some of the fastest-growing tech startups, and today, we venture down south to Bangladesh and talk to the co-founder and CEO of Pathao, Bangladesh’s largest tech company which is valued at over $100 million. Pathao is the leading ride-sharing, on-demand logistics, and food delivery platform in Bangladesh. Today, its motorbike and car-hailing vertical alone serves five million riders across five cities in Bangladesh and Kathmandu in Nepal.

EPISODE 167

Understanding What Impact Investment Truly Is, w/ Ilaria Chan, Group Advisor on Social Impact for Grab

The increased showboating and “greenwashing” of the term “Impact Investment” has virtually led to the term being thrown around loosely: especially, as it is hard to gauge the tangible impact sometimes startups working in this domain bring. But, what exactly is impact investment? How different is the understanding of the term in developed countries compared to emerging markets? How can startups working in this domain find the sweet spot between profitability and impact? Is tangible impact more valuable than intangible ones? Or the other way around? These are some of the many questions that arise while trying to understand the impact of investment space. And in this episode, we bring a prominent guest whose experience across Asia and the US in the impact investment space makes her the perfect guest to answer these questions and more.

EPISODE 166

Behind the Company that Catalysed Chinese Startups’ Global Ambitions, with Ronen Mense, APAC President and Managing Director of AppsFlyer

Chinese companies going global is not a new phenomenon today. But there was a time when this was relatively unheard of. And today, we talk to the man behind AppsFlyer, the company that essentially fuelled Chinese companies’ ambitions for global expansion by providing them much-needed analytics and data in a mobile-frenzy world. Why was AppsFlyer pivotal to Chinese companies? What strategic value did China possess for AppsFlyer? In a market known for intense competition, how did AppsFlyer manage to thrive unscathed and become the market leader? 

EPISODE 165

Examining the Fundamentals of the Marketplace Business Model with James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures

Marketplace is one of the most common business models in Southeast Asia nowadays. In one of our previous episodes, we talked to Aaron Tan, founder of Carro, about how he has built one of the biggest used-car marketplaces in Southeast Asia. Today, we are going to dig deeper into marketplaces again with James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures. Prior to this, James was co-founder and COO of 55tuan, a NASDAQ listed e-commerce group that grew to more than 200 cities and 5,000 employees across China.

EPISODE 164

Understanding the Hype around NFTs with Mia Deng, Partner at Dragonfly Capital

NFTs in 2021 has become what ICOs were in 2017: the biggest buzzword in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Even though NFTs as a concept is not something entirely new, it is only now that they have become more hyped. But what exactly are NFTs? Why are they gaining so much popularity today? Which industries stand to gain the most with the rise of these non-fungible tokens? How will this industry evolve? And most importantly, is this another bubble ready to burst?

EPISODE 163

Investigating China’s Anti-Monopoly Enforcements on Tech Giants, with Rui Ma, founder of Tech Buzz China

Recently, Chinese regulators hit Alibaba with a $2.8 billion fine in its anti-monopoly investigation, which amounts to about 4% of the company’s 2019 domestic revenue. China’s leading internet companies, such as Baidu, ByteDance, and JD.com also issued commitments to obey antitrust laws and conduct self-inspections.

What’s the trigger for these regulations? What are the reactions from the public and what impact has it created in the ecosystem? Will the regulation be detrimental to innovation or helpful in fostering competition?

EPISODE 162

Founder Brain Food: Building Trust with Customers, and Non-market Strategic Thinking; w/ Victoria Hoang and Jack Ren

Welcome to another episode of the Asia Startup Pulse! This week, we will continue with our 8×8 Global Speaker Series and bringing talks from two exceptional speakers from diverse backgrounds to share some interesting brain food for founders. We have Victoria Hoang, Data Partner at Bristol Myers Squibb, and Jack Ren, Managing Director of Eminence Ventures.

EPISODE 161

Setting your Startup for Success: VCs Perspective on Chinese startups expanding across borders, Becoming Investible, and Leveraging Investors; w/ Rui Ma, Kal Patel and Nichapat Ark

Today, we have a special episode from our 8×8 Global Speaker Series where we bring 8 notable speakers to talk about their experiences in building, operating, and scaling businesses across Asia and beyond. In today’s episode, we are bringing three incredible speakers and seasoned investors: Rui Ma, Kal Patel, and Nichapat Ark, to share their insights on what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur building cross-border businesses. 

EPISODE 160

Inside the Mobile Esports Business in Southeast Asia, with Allan Phang, Regional Head of Marketing PR at EVOS Esports

We discuss the differences between esports and traditional sports while debunking the common myths about professional esports. Furthermore, Allan talks about his opinion about the roles of different stakeholders in the whole esports ecosystem, the unique proposition of Southeast Asia market in the esports sector, and also the next big thing we can expect in the industry.

EPISODE 159

Building the Biggest Used-car Marketplace in SEA, with Aaron Tan, founder of Carro

In this episode, we will mainly discuss about how to build and scale a two-side marketplace in Southeast Asia and Carro’s playbook of expansion across the region. Moreover, we will put the spotlight on how Aaron’s previous experience in venture capital industry has impacted his decisions, and also how he takes inspiration from Chinese business models and applies the insights in an SEA context.