When one thinks about crypto options, most people’s first thought is “why bother with options if perpetual futures have embedded all the leverage we need already?” Our answer is straight forward: perps and options are different instruments, serving related but separate trading needs. Want to bet on volatility? Limit your downside while keeping unlimited upside? Create complex hedging strategies? Options allow you to do all that. And the market agrees – crypto options trading volume hit all-time highs in late 2023, and have continued their ascent throughout 2024. To offer some perspective, while Bitcoin options volume has already tripled its previous peak from the 2021 bull market, perpetual futures volume has yet to surpass its 2021 highs.

Although the promise is there, the ecosystem remains stunted by a number of structural challenges. Owing to its more complex nature, many crypto exchanges and incumbents lack the expertise to build the requisite option trading & risk management tools, leading to inefficient pricing, execution, and fragmented liquidity.  Furthermore, infrastructure shortcomings are exacerbated by the ‘24/7’ nature of crypto markets, putting excessive demands on trading teams around the globe, and significantly raising the entry barrier for aspiring newcomers into the space. This is where SignalPlus has carved out and defined its unique business moat – delivering a turn-key, sophisticated trading & risk management platform, powered by a Wall Street grade pricing engine with AI & automation tools to institutionalize the crypto trading journey. 

A Brotherhood Built on Shared Dreams

Chris and James first crossed paths during a JP Morgan pitch competition at Shanghai Jiao Tong University back in 2007, where they immediately bonded over a shared worldview: life was too short to settle for mediocrity. In their junior year, during China’s golden age of internet entrepreneurship, they almost dropped out of university to chase their first venture. Family pressure kept them in school, but that was just the start of their entrepreneurial journey.

While James went on to build successful ventures in mobile internet and enterprise SaaS, culminating in co-founding a company that reached Series C backing from Temasek and Hillhouse Capital, Chris honed his capital markets expertise at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. By 2017, Chris had established a consistent and profitable trading career, and was eager to revive his entrepreneurship spirit and began actively brainstorming startup ideas with James. Together they tried their hand at several ventures – a hedge fund, a government tech platform, and an MCN (multi-channel network) business. Although the first attempts didn’t pan out, they hit their stride with the MCN business, successfully generating a trade sale exit. 

Never one to rest on his laurels, Chris immediately sought out his next venture idea, and by 2021 his journey triangulated towards the area of crypto options and their vast structural inefficiencies. Armed with his extensive knowledge of capital markets and confidence in James’ immense product and technical expertise, they joined forces once again with their complementary skill sets to establish the foundational genesis of SignalPlus as the leading options trading technology provider.

What truly sets Chris and James apart is their consistently ambitious vision, while having the proven discipline to  play the long game to see things through. For example, instead of focusing on proprietary trading, the team was steadfast in perfecting their software solutions as a best-in-class offering, while having the wisdom to quickly establish the company as a corroborative partner with the industry’s largest exchanges and trading firms including Binance, Bybit, Deribit, Galaxy, OKX, Paradigm, amongst others.  We saw this same mindset during our due diligence when Chris decided to upgrade their volatility model. Even though he knew it would hurt their numbers right in the middle of fundraising, he went ahead because it was the right thing to do. That’s the kind of founders we love to back – ones who have the courage to make tough calls for the long-term good of their business.

Revolutionizing Crypto Options Through Automation

SignalPlus enables traders to effectively participate in the crypto derivative market through automation, significantly reducing the operational complexity and manpower traditionally required. Their trading dashboard provides sophisticated risk analytics for institutional traders, while their automated market-making bot enables 24/7 liquidity provision without requiring massive teams. Most impressively, they’ve built automated risk management for exotic structured products, playing a crucial role in helping exchanges expand their options offerings. Their technology together with the close partnership with Binance, Bybit, Deribit and OKX have grown the options market 3-4x over the past 2 years. 

The potential impact of SignalPlus extends far beyond crypto. Their automated trading infrastructure represents the future of all financial markets, where AI and automation will increasingly transform how trading is conducted. Chris and James aren’t just building tools for crypto – they’re pioneering the next evolution of trading technology. With their unique combination of institutional expertise and product innovation capabilities, we believe they’re perfectly positioned to lead this transformation.

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We’re thrilled to support Chris, James, and the SignalPlus team as they work to democratize access to sophisticated trading capabilities. If you’re a founder working on innovative solutions in fintech, trading infrastructure or AI, we’d love to hear from you.

As venture capitalists, when we think of sectors and in turn problem statements that are truly native to Southeast Asia, agriculture immediately comes to mind. Vietnam’s agricultural industry in particular rises to the top of the stack among ASEAN markets, exhibiting compelling fundamentals that should warrant a second glance from any investor worth their salt. The sector employs 40% of the total workforce, contributing 14% of its GDP, and generates $55 billion in exports, while feeding millions through a complex web of farmers, cooperatives, and buyers. 

Yet, for all its scale, the sector remains stubbornly analog, riddled with inefficiencies like limited options for working capital, fractured supply chains, and suboptimal access to international markets. These gaps don’t just stifle farmers and agri-businesses—they cap the country’s potential to effectively compete on a global level. That’s why we’re excited to back Hao Diep, co-founder and CEO of TechCoop, a Vietnam-based agri-financing platform that’s tackling these challenges head-on with a blend of financial ingenuity, operational grit, and visionary leadership.

Humble beginnings

Hao’s founder journey is a testament to resilience and reinvention. Growing up in rural Vietnam, Hao witnessed firsthand the financial hardships farmers and co-ops faced, often helping her mother collect informal debts from informal lending and observing her father crunch numbers for local farming co-ops. This early immersion gave Hao not just empathy for but an intimate understanding of the industry’s stakeholders and their pain points.

Fast forward to today, Hao brings over 15 years of experience growing businesses from startups to scale-ups. At iCare Benefits, one of Vietnam’s earliest fintech startups, Hao employed network-based partner acquisition and engaged in strategic negotiations with banks to secure critical financing, propelling the company’s revenue from zero to $85M. Later at Nafoods, she successfully developed new product lines, expanded export markets, and modernized operations, collectively enabling the publicly listed company to nearly quadruple revenue over four years while turning it into a leading manufacturer and exporters of fruits. These experiences didn’t just sharpen her skills; they helped her crystallize a vision for a comprehensive agritech platform that would address the systemic inefficiencies holding back Vietnam’s agricultural potential.

Rewiring agrinomics

Vietnam’s agricultural landscape is paradoxically robust yet hindered by traditional inefficiencies. Anchors and cooperatives—the essential connectors between farmers and markets—struggle with chronic liquidity shortages. Farmers need immediate payment, but buyers require extended credit terms, allowing traders to fill the gap at steep margins of 20-50%. Traditional banks often shy away from unsecured agricultural lending, limiting growth opportunities.

TechCoop addresses these gaps head-on, providing vital working capital directly to anchors and cooperatives at significantly lower rates, bypassing costly middlemen. The company also aims to eventually digitalize the entire value chain, offering traceability software and ERP systems to enhance operational efficiencies for stakeholders. The broader outlook, however, is focused on helping Vietnamese agri-players access and play on a global stage, helping them become export-ready and effectively bulletproof in terms of financing, technology, and compliance.

In just two years, TechCoop has onboarded thousands of anchors and farmers into their ecosystem, disbursed tens of millions of dollars in working capital financing, while maintaining 0% in non-performing loans and consistent profitability—a rare feat for such a rapidly scaling startup. The company is now on track to reach $250M in annualized revenue in 2025, with a long-term goal of empowering 2,000 agri-SMEs, 50,000+ farmer clubs, and 10 million smallholder farmers.

From local to global

In 2023, Vietnam’s agricultural exports hit $55 billion, with ambitions to reach $100 billion by 2030, yet the industry is still plagued with legacy processes and antiquated thinking. TechCoop is seizing this moment, helping Vietnam look beyond its domestic constraints and turn it into a launchpad for a global agri-revolution. The company’s export initiatives have already reached markets like Japan, Taiwan and UAE, connecting local producers to international buyers hungry for quality crops. Hao’s strategy targets nascent but high-growth products where Vietnam’s quality shines—think mangoes, cashews, dragon fruit, etc. Early traction is promising, with plans to scale exports dramatically by establishing key corridors that will eventually extend to Europe, China, and the US.

But Hao’s vision goes beyond just empowering Vietnamese players. She’s building TechCoop into a cross-regional powerhouse, taking their full-stack B2B platform offering financing, technology, and quality assurance, and replicating it across other Southeast Asian countries with promising agricultural roots. TechCoop hopes to eventually establish a sophisticated matching platform that will link Southeast Asian argi-SMEs with global supply chains, using data-driven insights to pair growers and processors with buyers worldwide. Infrastructure upgrades will ensure consistency, while partnerships with international banks and buyers will unlock new markets. TechCoop isn’t just exporting crops; it’s exporting Vietnam’s agri-model, aiming to redefine how emerging economies feed the world.

Why Hao, why now?

Hao stands out as a founder who blends battle-tested experience with a relentless drive to innovate. Her deep roots in Vietnam’s farming communities, paired with a career of scaling complex businesses, give her an edge few can match. She’s navigated fintech pivots, turned around public companies, and built networks that secured low-cost capital from banks—a skillset honed over decades. Today, as Vietnam’s agri-sector teeters on the brink of global prominence, Hao is poised to lead the charge, turning TechCoop into a bridge between local growers and international markets.

The timing couldn’t be better—global demand for sustainable, traceable produce is surging, and Vietnam is ready to deliver. Hao’s not chasing trends; she’s setting them, with a clear path to a $1 billion-plus future. Risks like export scaling and tech adoption loom, but her history of exceeding expectations gives us confidence. We’re thrilled to back Hao alongside prominent investors including TNB Aura, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Capria, Blue Orchard, and FMO in their landmark $70M series A, and look forward to helping her turn Vietnam into a global agricultural powerhouse.

By Sophie Chiu, AppWorks Principal

It’s been a year since I first met Rahul through one of his early angel investors. Although I am not an expert in industrial automation, the conversation struck my interest immediately because the core of what Botsync does – the integration protocol among the devices in an industrial environment — is somewhat relevant to my husband’s vision for his smart home startup. There are a lot of similarities in the business nature and challenges for both companies, which led to many common topics I myself have had with the founder in my household. So my conversation with Rahul became weekly even till now; we would exchange ideas about where the business model should evolve, whether integration has a big enough commercial value, how a distribution strategy can enhance the moat, and even whether a small startup could stand a chance in such a topic competing to serve mostly large or even mega manufacturers. 

Rahul has been on this journey for a long time since college. I can sense his deep knowledge and grit, but most importantly is his genuine passion that keeps him rolling forward for so many years. Hence, this article shares why we invested in him and Botsync. Outside my personal interests, AppWorks is in a strong position to support Botsync as we have an extensive network of manufacturers in Taiwan and across Southeast Asia. 

Rahul, The 29 Year Old CEO From Rock to Rolling Stone

Choosing the startup path is usually not a planned decision. Rahul and his three co-founders met during a robotics competition at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. They worked on several robotics projects for their school, and these consultancy opportunities eventually led them to start Botsync right after college in 2017. Initially, it was simply an advisory shop. However, the startup journey is never easy and often involves a steep learning curve. Soon, Rahul realised he wasn’t an effective CEO; his pitching skills were lacking, and his company didn’t have a scalable model. Frustrated, he deeply reflected on his life and upbringing, questioning what shaped his character and behaviour.

Rahul grew up in an Indian family that immigrated to Abu Dhabi. It was a humble background in a highly religious environment. He was highly disciplined, adhering to a frugal principle and focusing on studying well and playing cricket at a professional level. His passion for robotics drove him towards an engineering path. He had to maintain a GPA above 4.8 to keep his scholarship at NTU, which meant working hard and missing out on typical college experiences. Looking back, his frugal mentality, religious background, pressure to maintain high scores, and rigorous engineering training all made him a rigid social behaviour like a rock. He forced himself to try new things, such as backpacking trips and social drinking and questioned his religious beliefs. Eager to improve, he observed notable CEOs and reflected on what he might be missing. He attended early-stage startup pitches, paid attention to those who performed well, and deliberately reached out to connect with them and stay friends ever since. Like a scout focused on self-improvement, he learned from peer founders, some of whom have now evolved into successful growth-stage entrepreneurs.

The transformation period from 2017 to 2022 was significant not only for Rahul but also for Botsync. Under his leadership, Botsync pivoted from an advisory shop to selling hardware robots, and now, it is finding its product-market fit in robotic automation software. At 29, Rahul has experienced the journey from high hopes of uninformed optimism to a trough of informed pessimism and now back to informed optimism. He is aware of his strengths, including long-built self-discipline, strong motivation, and a genuine passion for robots. He also recognises areas where he needs to continue deliberate practice to catch up. From rock to rolling stone, this transformation is not just a choice but a necessity because Botsync operates in a challenging segment for small startups.

Robotics Technology Is The Next Milestone for Industrial Automation 

Industrial automation has been part of human progress since ancient times. From the water wheels of the 1st century and the Industrial Revolution of the 17th-18th centuries to electrification in the 20th century, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and robotic arms in the 1960s, and now ‘Industry 4.0’ based on advancements in computers and the internet since the 1980s. Many successful companies have achieved extreme efficiency through industrial automation, such as TSMC in Taiwan, Toyota in Japan, and Amazon in the US.

Robotic technology thrives under this backdrop. It has yet to reach its mature stage. AI could also further speed up its evolution. As it continues to advance, robotic technology would be the next milestone for industrial automation after computers and the internet. Industrial robots flourished after ABB and Kuka sold the first commercial robots in the 1970s. The invention of cobots (collaborative robot) in the late 1990s further advanced the industry. While traditional robots execute tasks independently, cobots are designed to physically interact with people in shared workspaces. The team behind Universal Robots, a leading robot supplier in the world, applied their expertise to build a new era of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to replace rigid autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) in intralogistics. They founded MiR in 2011, acquired by Teradyne for over US$270M in 2018, marking a significant milestone for AMRs and inspiring many startups in this space, including Botsync.

The Need of A Standardised Communication Protocol Among Robots

Robots have significantly replaced human labour, but true automation requires seamless interaction between all components (robots and stations). This challenge remains in industrial environments where robots come from various brands and vendors. As robotic technology advances and costs decrease, the variety of robots will increase, making integration even more complex. Standardised communication protocols are currently missing, but they are the key to designing automatic processes. This is what Botsync is striving to achieve.

Many large manufacturers in Taiwan have teams of hundreds of engineers to handle automation across production lines and robots. Smaller manufacturers, however, often cannot afford this and must hire external vendors to spend weeks on the integration. No major player dominates this space yet due to the complexity and effort required to integrate various robots and machines, potentially requiring a network effect.

Botsync, a team of young engineers, recognized this opportunity and is now commercialising the operating system initially built for their in-house AMRs. Integration is a new concept requiring a top-notch strategy to win the market quickly. AppWorks is investing in Botsync to support the team with our extensive manufacturer network in Taiwan, an ideal market for testing industrial automation products. Our goal is to help founders stay ahead, and we are excited to be part of Rahul’s journey.

The intersection of AI and web3 represents one of the most exciting frontiers in technology today. While many projects chase the latest trends, few founders bring the combination of proven execution ability and deep market understanding needed to build something truly transformative in this space. That’s why we’re excited to support Kevin Mintaraga, a third-time founder with two successful exits under his belt, as he builds By then, an AI-powered platform that transforms static NFTs into dynamic 3D avatars, enabling new forms of digital expression and interaction.

From Counter-Strike Pro to Serial Entrepreneur: Kevin’s Journey

Kevin’s path to entrepreneurship began far from the world of tech startups. In his early years, he was actually one of Indonesia’s top Counter-Strike players, representing his country in international tournaments and earning between $1,000-10,000 annually from competitions – significant money for a teenager in the early 00s Indonesia.

However, life had other plans. When his father suffered a stroke during Kevin’s university years in Australia, the family’s finances were devastated. Forced to return home with only a junior high school diploma, Kevin initially worked as a taxi driver to support his family.

His path changed when he received an opportunity to become an account executive at a graphic design agency, where he began connecting with marketers from various multinational firms. It was in 2007 when Kevin spotted his first major business opportunity – recognizing that Indonesia’s internet advertising spend was remarkably low and poised for growth. This insight led him to establish Magnivate (later Mirum Agency) in March 2008. Despite having no prior digital marketing experience, Kevin built Indonesia’s top agency by focusing on talent development and client satisfaction. When WPP acquired the company, Kevin had successfully managed co-founder departures and aggressive growth targets, demonstrating his resilience and execution capabilities.

His second venture, Bridestory, arose from his own wedding planning challenges. Recognizing the untapped potential in Indonesia’s wedding industry, Kevin built a marketplace that, despite initial struggles with its business model, ultimately became profitable and was acquired by Tokopedia in 2019. As Tokopedia’s CMO, Kevin continued to innovate, launching Tokopedia Marketing Solutions which saw a 17-fold increase in advertising investment value and a 30-fold spike in strategic partnerships within just one semester.

The Genesis of Bythen

Kevin’s journey to Bythen began during his time at Tokopedia, where he observed a fascinating shift in user behavior. When Tokopedia partnered with BTS in 2020, he noticed Gen Z’s strong preference for using avatars over real identities on social media. This insight deepened in 2023 when Tokopedia’s partnership with a Vtuber proved both more efficient and cost-effective for content generation than traditional influencer collaborations.

Simultaneously, as an active crypto investor since 2021, Kevin had accumulated significant holdings in blue-chip NFT projects. He recognized that while these NFTs commanded high prices, their utility remained largely limited to profile pictures and occasional token drops. The emergence of Large Language Models sparked a vision: what if these static NFTs could become dynamic AI companions?

Building the Future of Digital Identity

Bythen’s approach stands out through its focus on high-quality 3D modeling and advanced AI integration. The platform offers a comprehensive solution for turning 2D NFTs into interactive 3D avatars, powered by proprietary motion capture technology and a sophisticated AI fine-tuning engine called “dojo.” This technology enables various use cases, from personalized AI companions to content creation tools and digital alter-egos for live streaming. The platform’s innovative features showcase its potential to bridge digital and physical experiences in novel ways.

The Road Ahead

The digital avatar market is projected to grow from $13.5 billion in 2022 to $533.8 billion by 2032, driven by increasing adoption in gaming, VR/AR, social media, and e-commerce. Kevin’s vision for Bythen goes beyond just riding this wave – he aims to fundamentally transform how we interact with digital identities and AI.

As we continue supporting co-founders pushing the boundaries of technology in Greater Southeast Asia, we’re thrilled to back Kevin and the Bythen team in this ambitious endeavor. Their combination of technical excellence, market understanding, and proven execution ability positions them well to shape the future of digital interaction and expression.

If you are a founder working on innovative applications of web3 and AI, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join our vibrant community of technology founders.