Fundnel hosted an engaging discussion with Giulianna Crivello, Head of Ventures at Draper Startup House, Mahesh Niruttan, Chief Executive Officer of 20Cube Logistics, and Zhiyi Ng, Head of Business Development and Partnerships at Lyte Ventures on how startups and founders can arrive at a balance between debt and equity raises, and how founders can raise financing while maintaining a healthy cash runway. We also looked into the future by getting our panelists’ insights on how the debt financing landscape will continue to evolve.

​​Watch the discussion for an hour of insights including:
✨ A founder’s philosophies when it comes to managing cashflow for his business
✨ An entrepreneur’s perspective on how the financing environment, and specifically the lending space is viewed today
✨ What lenders like Lyte Ventures look for when evaluating potential borrowers, and how they manage the risk of lending to sometimes early-stage startups
✨ What early-stage investors like Draper Startup House are seeing in the financing ecosystem; are a lot of them exploring debt as a financing option?
✨ How investors have seen early-stage companies navigate conversations with investors around revenue growth and cashflow, and the regional differences observed
✨ How the lending space has changed and how this space will continue to evolve

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This recording is intended for general informational purposes only. It is not, and should not be construed as, any form of financial, investment, tax, or other professional advice provided by Fundnel Pte. Ltd. (“Fundnel”) to any person who is directed to or otherwise accesses this recording, including yourself. You are responsible for seeking professional advice before making any investment decision. Fundnel is not responsible for any loss you may sustain in relying on this recording.

DAY 4 – SESSION 1

As FinTech rapidly evolves in the Greater China region — possibly faster than in developed nations — disruptions are occurring across many sectors, from lending to wealth management to blockchain to digital banking. How are local institutions, such as governments, banks and intermediaries responding to the rapid rise and adoption rate of new financial technologies? What societal impact is FinTech having on lowering costs, improving access and creating macroeconomic growth in the region? Panelists address the rise of FinTech, the areas of innovation they find most promising and how the unique attributes of consumers in the region influence commercial opportunities. They examine the types of “winners” they see in FinTech, including large players versus small ventures, and local companies versus foreign players; and analyze the role of FinTech entrepreneurs. How can established players defend themselves against this disruption? 
 
Panelists:
Renu Bhatia, Co-Founder, Fintech Angels; Chairman and Co-Founder, Opharmic Technology
Anthony Bizos, Head of Challenger Banking Economics, @HSBC
Florian Spiegl, Chief Executive Officer, Hunter Technology Corp.; Co-Founder, FinFabrik
 
Moderator:
Rob Koepp, Founder, Geoeconomix; Visiting Professor, UCLA Anderson School of Management
 
Learn more about the Center for Global Management:
https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/centers/center-for-global-management
 
Learn more about the Wilbur K. Woo Greater China Business Conference:
https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/wooconference

#finance #FinTech #economy

Hong Kong and Singapore are the two most prominent and advanced cities in Asia that are leading the way in digital banking and FinTech solutions. There is ongoing healthy competition between the two. Singapore recently overtook Hong Kong on the list of global financial hub rankings, according to the Global Financial Centres Index. We cordially invite experts in the payment and RegTech arenas, to openly discuss the FS and FinTech development of both Hong Kong and Singapore, and the future of regulatory change in these two cities. What to expect in a changing environment? Will Hong Kong soon regain its attraction as a hub for financial institutions and FinTech companies? We will discuss this hot topic, and hear the opinions of three experts with over 50 years of combined knowledge of both cities.

Date: November 7, 2022 (Monday)
Time: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM HKT
Venue: 9/F, SML Tower, 165 Hoi Bun Road, Kwun Tong
Guest Speaker: Hugh Chow (Former CEO of ASTRI), Pradip Madhanagopal (Partner of PwC), Devere Bryan (CRO of Payment Asia)

3 parts – each one focussing on one aspect of the topic: FinTech Q1. (All) If you can give an overview of the kind of companies that you back Q2. (Maelis) Data-driven world Q2. (Ganesh) Market development Q2. (Melissa) FinTech for the Masses Funding Q3. Building FinTechs in emerging markets does require ongoing capital. Since you come in as early investors, what has your experience been with the founders that you back, in their quest for further rounds of financing. Q4. COVID-19 and its impact on funding (startups & funds), which is very crucial on the road to recovery Future Q5. One area (market opportunity / technology) that you expect to see more FinTech action in 2021. BankBuddy – AI solutions to help FI automate BankBuddy provides easy to deploy Artificial Intelligence enterprise SaaS solutions to help financial institutions Hyper-personalize their customer experience to increase cross sell, upsell and conversions. Their flexible subscription models are based on transactions & outcomes. BankBuddy has customers in 10+ countries and is a fast growing company. SAWO Labs – public key cryptography SAWO provides a customer centric, standardized and device-based secure authentication solution for apps and websites to provide a seamless user experience, by removing the need of login passwords and OTPs. They might be worth having a look at for Future Group’s consumer facing websites and apps. PesaKit – fintech startup promoting AI in mobile money Empowers mobile money agents who can serve as a distribution channel for a variety of digital financial services so that underserved populations across the continent have better access to the services they need. Perfios – one solution financial statement analysis Perfios is a leading product technology company enabling businesses to aggregate structured and unstructured data, curate, analyze and help in decision-making. Perfios’ product offerings help companies build vertical applications across various domains. In over nine years, Perfios has acquired 100+ large clients across various domains such as Banks, NBFCs, Digital Lending platforms, Mutual Fund Companies, Insurance companies, Human Resources etc both in India and abroad. DiscoverDollar – helps enterprises identify overpayments Discover Dollar helps retailers & brands to identify & resolve leakages like pricing errors, missed discounts, rebates by analyzing unstructured negotiations data like contracts and emails, invoices, purchase orders & payments data. Discover Dollar has helped their clients recover more than $300 Million lost dollars for Fortune 500 companies like Target, Budweiser, (ABInbev), Levis, Metro, Canadian Tire etc. Discover Dollar’s fees are payable ONLY when they actually recover your lost money.

Speakers:
Maelis Carraro, Managing Director, Catalyst Fund/ BFA Global
Melissa Frakman, Managing Partner, EMVC Fintech Fund
Ganesh Rengaswamy, Co-Founding Partner, Quona Capital
Aditya Bhagat, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Affinsys Ai Limited (BankBuddy.ai)
Prabhat Sahu, Founder, SAWOLabs Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Subrahmanya Rao, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Discover Dollar
Andrew Mutua, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, PesaKit Limited
Aditya Prasad, Chief Evangelist, Perfios Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Andrew Mutua, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, PesaKit Limited

Moderator:
Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Startup Réseau

– Featured on Green Shoots channel at SFF 2020

#SGFinTechFest