NOBI Raises US$4M to Make Investing in Crypto Assets Easier for Indonesians

AppWorks

February 25, 2022

Editor’s note: AppWorks is proud to be participating in NOBI’s seed round. We’re excited to partner with founder Lawrence Samantha to increase access to DeFi opportunities for regular Indonesians. The press release from NOBI is below:

・NOBI raises US$4 million oversubscribed seed funding round from AC Ventures, with participation from AppWorks, Skystar Capital, Cakra Ventures, Global Founders Capital (GFC), and angel investors.

・Crypto transactions have grown 1,222% from US$ 4.6 billion (IDR 65 trillion) in 2020 to US$ 61.4 billion (IDR 859 trillion) in 2021.

・NOBI helps people to go beyond buying and selling crypto but also earn passive income with competitive interest rates.

・With the new funding, NOBI plans to further enhance their product and expand the team.

・NOBI aims to provide easier access to crypto investments to achieve economic equality for everyone.

NOBI, a crypto asset management application that serves the needs of casual investors by offering a variety of easy and safe crypto investments, has announced that it has received a new funding round from AC Ventures. US$4 million has been raised in a seed funding round led by AC Ventures, followed by AppWorks, Skystar Capital, Cakra Ventures, and Global Founders Capital (GFC). In addition, some angel investors also participated in this funding.

As a leading crypto asset management company, NOBI aims to help casual investors to acquire crypto assets easily and safely. Currently, NOBI provides superior products in NOBI Pro, Earn, and Trade. These three products aim to make it easier for users to manage and grow their crypto assets to the fullest with best-in-class strategies.

NOBI is dedicated to helping casual investors who want to diversify their investments into crypto assets and non-traders who don’t have the time to actively manage their assets, free of charge and in an easy way.

“NOBI to the moon! This is a huge step for us. AC Ventures and the rest of our investors bring deep unrivaled experience in financial technology (fintech), investment, and crypto. This investment round shows their trust and commitment to what we can do to make a difference as the crypto and financial space starts to merge,” said Lawrence Samantha, Co-Founder & CEO, NOBI.

Based on data from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI), the number of crypto investors in Indonesia in 2021 has reached 11.2 million people. The transaction value reached IDR 859.4 trillion throughout 2021. In comparison to 2020, there was an increase of 1,222%. Based on this statistical data, Crypto assets have clearly become one of Indonesia’s most favored investment categories.

As a result, we believe that everyone will be able to invest in crypto assets with ease and safety. We acknowledge that with easier access to crypto-asset investments, everyone may achieve economic equality, which is in line with NOBI’s vision and mission.

This funding is also a measure of NOBI’s success as Indonesia’s best crypto asset management company. AC Ventures, AppWorks, Skystar Capital, Cakra Ventures, and Global Founders Capital (GFC) are some of the well-known investment companies that have given their support and trust to NOBI to dedicate to becoming the best crypto asset management in Indonesia.

【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the leading founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】

Why We Invested: James Vuong, Founder and CEO of Infina

Sophie Chiu

February 15, 2022

in Investments

Sophie Chiu, Associate (邱敬媛 / 投資經理)

Sophie is an Associate in the investment team. Before joining AppWorks in 2020, Sophie had 10 years of experience covering public equities. She was part of the portfolio management team at Neuberger Berman, focusing on emerging market opportunities. Prior to that she served as a research analyst at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, and London-based Autonomous Research. Sophie holds a Master of Finance with distinction from Warwick Business School and BS Finance from National Taiwan University. Her passion and expertise, however, extend far beyond just researching companies and industries. She is also an author of two published poetry books and holds a keen interest in human psychology and human behavior.

With global capital markets facing macro uncertainties, Vietnam is also showing signs of an overall slowdown. Despite this, the number of stock broker accounts opened by citizens of the social republic state is still growing nonstop, almost doubling from last year. This is the beauty of emerging markets where organic demand is still way underserved. No storm can stop people from wanting more services and products amid surging GDP growth, projected to increase 6.5% in 2023. FinTech and WealthTech startups are key on-ramps for newly minted mid-and-affluent class savers and investors, bringing abundance and access to the broader mass market.

While the broader market is cooling down, only visionaries have the will to stay as committed builders aiming for longer-term success. James Vuong, the Founder and CEO of Infina, excited us with his ambition and persistence in this field. James is not only an experienced founder with a successful exit but also a master of community building. In the world today, consumers and users are becoming savvier and require strong alignment from the services and products they buy. Almost every vertical needs to build strong community elements for success. These are the reasons why we are proud to be able to be supporting James on his journey, participating in Infina’s seed round financing.

Seemingly smooth exit built from years of pivoting for ever stronger PMF

It is easy to introduce James as an experienced repeat-founder with a successful exit: Before Infina, James successfully sold Webtretho (WTT), an IDG-backed parenting forum, to LINE in 2017. However, it is more insightful to learn how much pivoting James had attempted before this exit. That demonstrated James’ keen observation of the market coming from a veteran VC investor himself, and also his strong grit to make things work.

WTT was actually one of the projects under Lana Group where James served as a CEO during 2012 to 2018. Under Lana Group, James initiated many startup ideas and pivoted, including a very capital-intensive e-commerce project. Eventually, James felt inspired by Reddit and saw the opportunity of social networks and social commerce in Vietnam. WTT built up and had 13 million unique visitors per month at its peak time, according to Similarweb.

Multiple failures at Lana’s early days and WTT’s successful exit taught James several things: (1) Focus on building products and solutions that users really need; (2) Build teams that have leadership qualities as well as a mindset of never-ending, learning & innovation; (3) Always experiment to find what works better with customers while allowing for faster growth and capital efficiency.

A great founder-market-fit for James to tackle WealthTech through Infina

After leaving LINE in 2018, James saw the rapid growth of the Vietnamese economy and how the middle and affluent class improved their lives. James asked himself two questions: (1) How can regular people benefit from the rise of Vietnam’s economy? (2) How can they take part in these asset classes that are not accessible? He then came up with the idea to help individual investors to invest in fractional real estate. This model works in mature markets. However, it never worked well in Vietnam as it was still too early. Individual investors weren’t aware or interested in the value of real estate, let alone having only a fraction of ownership.

In 2021, James pivoted and rebranded as ‘Infina’ to launch a Robinhood in Vietnam. The goal remains the same: to help Vietnamese people gain access to financial assets and enjoy economic growth. James realized that starting with more common asset classes, such as fixed income and equity, would be more effective than property. Once again, James knew how to build, adapt, always learn with a user-centric approach, and never give up on ultimate mission.

In only 20 months, Infina has built strong traction with six-digit active funded accounts and tens of millions of assets under management, not much behind their peers launched much earlier. On top of having a very good platform itself, this success is also built on James’ ability to partner with other relevant parties, such as e-commerce giant Tiki, leading FinTech startups, and many well-known asset providers. Meanwhile, the wealth management business could easily fall into a commodity type of competition. The success of Robinhood and the rising crypto market teaches us, the investment community has become more important for the new era. This is where we see a strong founder-market-fit for James given his experiences of successfully building WTT to a large scale.

Burgeoning affluent class and their accumulating wealth in Vietnam

According to Euromonitor, Vietnam has the fastest-growing GDP (at 10%CAGR to 2025E) and fastest-growing mid-and-affluent class (at 9%CAGR) in the Southeast Asia region. While personal wealth builds up, only <6% of the population has a broker or wealth management account. At least 30 million people are considered middle and affluent class (annual disposable income higher than US$7.5K) and remain underserved.

However, we do see Vietnamese being much more investment savvy. At a similar gross national income (GNI) per capita at US$3.5K, Vietnam already is much more advanced than the Philippines where the penetration is only <2%. The ratio is even higher than Thailand where the GNI per capita is double the level of Vietnam’s. However, compared to a bigger economy like China or India, the overall penetration of stock trading and mutual fund investment are way lower. This leads to our expectation that Vietnam is the market that should see faster growth and opportunity for WealthTech and FinTech companies.

While it is still early in the game so that no single dominant player exists. We believe James’ experiences and strong community building skills could help Infina standout and shape a strong moat. As AppWorks is built by founders for founders, supporting great entrepreneurs is at our core. We are proud to have this chance to back James and the Infina team. Together with our ecosystem of 400 active startups, we look forward to supporting James’ vision and Infina’s road ahead.

[If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with Web3 and AI / IoT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.]

Investing app Infina Closes US$6 Million in Seed Funding

AppWorks

February 8, 2022

in Investments

Editor’s note: AppWorks is proud to be participating in Infina’s Series Seed. Looking forward to collaborating with the team in the future. The press release from Infina as below:

・The funding round included Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, AppWorks, alongside investors who have invested in Robinhood, Coinbase, and similar models in other markets.

・Infina, dubbed the “Robinhood of Vietnam” aims to democratize investing in Vietnam, making it easy for anyone to start investing from just US$22 with minimal risk.

Vietnam-focused retail investing app Infina today announced they have closed US$6 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks. Additional investors who have backed Robinhood, Coinbase, and similar models in other markets also participated in the funding.

Infina joins the retail investing app revolution with companies like Ajaib in Indonesia, Groww in India, and Tiger in China that have enabled a new wave of avid retail investors around the world to access financial markets like never before. The Infina app is designed to make investing more accessible, easy, and safe for the young, tech-savvy Vietnamese who are looking to start their investing journey.

Vietnam has a young population of 97 million that is made up mostly of Millenials and Gen Z, many of whom are seeing increased incomes and have an appetite for investing. Vietnam’s benchmark stock market index hit record highs last year, rising 28.1% year-to-date1 in December 2021 and outperforming many of its Southeast Asian equity markets. Vietnam also registered more than 1.3 million new stock trading accounts in 2021, which was more than three times the number for 2020. The number of Vietnamese participating in crypto and NFT is even greater, estimated at around 6 million. Off the back of the surge in retail investing in Vietnam, Infina has seen hyper growth in its users, clocking a compound monthly growth rate of 64% in funded accounts in 2021.

Infina aims to democratise investing by making investing accessible for everyone, regardless of income group, and caters to young and first-time investors whose needs have not yet been well-addressed by existing solutions in the market. Through Infina, users can choose from a wide range of asset classes, from fixed-income products to mutual funds, and more recently stock trading. Expensive investment products are fractionalised, so users can now invest in a diverse portfolio of assets with low minimum amounts. Infina is also making investing widely available to everyone by growing its presence across third party ‘super’ apps. For example, users can now access Infina’s investing products via the popular e-commerce app Tiki.

“Infina’s mission is to empower the rise of retail investors to participate in existing and emerging asset classes so that everyone has a real stake in the economy and prosperity of the country. We’ll be using the funding to continue to build out a world-class team that can develop great technology, deliver the best experience to our users, and drive even faster growth so that we can serve a large portion of the new investors joining the market in the next three years.” said James Vuong, founder and CEO of Infina.

“We are excited to be a part of Infina’s journey because at YC, we love to back founders who are building something people want. The need for a new generation of retail investing apps like Infina is clear, not just for Vietnam but globally,” said Gustof Alstromer, Group Partner at Y Combinator.

Infina is part of Surge’s sixth cohort of 20 companies that build fresher, smarter solutions to help consumers and businesses adapt to a changing world.

Infina was founded by James Vuong, a Silicon Valley engineer turned SE Asia VC investor, turned serial entrepreneur. He previously founded Lana Group, which was acquired by LINE Corp. Prior to that, James was VP of Investment and Kauffman Fellow at IDG Ventures. He received his MBA in Technology Management from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and BSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.

About Infina

Infina, dubbed the “Robinhood of Vietnam”, is a leading retail investing app for a young population of close to 100 million. It’s mission is to make investing more accessible, frictionless and safe. The “one-stop shop” mobile app currently offers numerous investment products including stocks, securities and real estate. Infina’s platform fractionalises high-minimum investment products to smaller amounts, as little as $22. The app is available for both Android and iOS devices. Infina also allows users to invest in their offerings via other e-wallets and e-commerce platforms.

For further information, please visit https://infina.vn/ or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.

【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the leading founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】

PopChill 拍拍圈完成 Pre-A 輪融資，目標亞洲最大時尚轉售永續電商平台，AppWorks 領投

AppWorks

January 11, 2022

in Investments

編按：我們很高興宣布領投 PopChill 拍拍圈的 Pre-A 輪募資，支持台灣網路產業中，少數擁有連續創業成功經驗的 Andy 郭家齊與 Kelly 廖家欣，期待他們新啟動的創業旅程，能一如過往繳出亮眼的成績。PopChill 拍拍圈新聞稿原文如下：

由網路連續創業家郭家齊與廖家欣共同創立的，新創時尚轉售平台 PopChill (拍拍圈科技)，今日宣布開放 App 下載 (App Store、Google Play)，並同時宣布完成 Pre-A 輪募資，本輪由AppWorks (之初加速器) 領投，主要投資者還包括中信創投、活水影響力投資、台灣文創天使投資基金。本輪投資金額為 6150 萬新台幣，加計本輪之前即已投入的 4000 萬新台幣種子資金，PopChill 為國內少數網路新創公司，產品尚未上線，就獲得創投青睞，累積募資金額超過新台幣 1 億元。拍拍圈表示，本輪資金將用於驗證商業模式及擴展台灣市場。

一般來說，創投偏好投資中晚期的創業項目，一間連產品都沒上線，沒有營運數字的新創公司，在任何市場成功募資的機率都很低，是甚麼吸引創投公司破例投資？以下從團隊、商業模式、市場、趨勢四點進行分析。

【團隊】連續創業，獲得市場關注

PopChill 由郭家齊、廖家欣共同創辦，郭家齊畢業於史丹佛電腦科學碩士，廖家欣畢業於台大管理學院工商管理學系，一位負責平台開發及底層技術，另一位負責行銷，兩位有共同 13 年創業的經驗。平台尚未上線即獲得創投資金的支持，主要原因是團隊為網路連續創業者，在台灣網路暨電子商務產業締造許多記錄，共同成立的一家公司被美國網路公司 Groupon 收購、一家公司成為台灣最快上櫃 50 億電商、一家公司成功登錄興櫃的經營實績，加上所選定的題目也符合近幾年投資者對ESG (環境、社會、治理) 及永續 (Sustainablility) 相關議題的趨勢。

【商業模式】結合 IG 與 eBay 的社群商務

PopChill 結合 Instagram 與 eBay 的新經濟模式，打開 PopChill 的 App 首頁，就能看到台灣各地女生衣櫥內服飾鞋包配件的美圖，且呈現方式類似 Instagram 的大圖，提供「逛」的新體驗，拍拍圈一大特色是主打這些時尚的商品貼文，都是使用者原創內容 UGC (User Generated Content)，可以充分的展現出每一個賣家她的個人衣櫥風格和獨具特色的時尚品味，賣家每一次的商品貼文，都能觸及到追蹤她的粉絲，因此可以看見 PopChill 上的賣家會主動經營自己的 PopChill 帳號，頻繁地分享個人穿搭與各式流行單品，以及追蹤、拍手、愛心跟其他潛在買家進行互動，藉由平台機制的設計，這些互動都能高效的將衣櫥內具轉售價值衣物售出。PopChill 目前為一 16 人團隊，為提供使用者轉售自己衣櫃閒置衣物的服務，不同於傳統電商以「搜尋」為主，更像一本可以逛的可以買的線上時尚雜誌，用社群介面幫助賣家更容易把東西賣出去，買家也更容易買到心儀的商品。

【市場】台灣在二手購買偏好，排名大東南亞地區第二

據統計，台灣二手平台上，服飾配件是用戶最願意買 (52%) 和賣 (62%) 的類別。在過去三年中 (從 2018 年到 2020 年)，時裝類別二手商品在需求和供應方面一直佔據首要位置。報告更指出在 2021 年台灣市場這一趨勢繼續快速增長，尤其是在女裝類別。

二手電商賽道加速期來了？其中又以 Fashion 為大宗？觀察歐美趨勢，這幾年時尚轉售平台漸趨成行，例如美國的 Poshmark 在 2021 年 1 月 IPO，英國的 Depop 在 2021 年 7 月，以 16 億美金的價格被電商平台 Etsy 併購。PopChill 觀察到時尚轉售風潮的興起，也預期這股風潮將在台灣及東南亞發生，因此目標成為台灣及東南亞的時尚轉售電商龍頭。

【趨勢】二手時尚新興消費者集中在 Gen Z 與千禧世代

PopChill 設定的目標族群中，其中 Gen Z 重視獨特性和多元包容性，他們不論是在消費或選擇工作時，都比上個世代更在意企業是否善盡社會責任，他們的環保和道德感較高，反對「即用即棄」的浪費行為，願意支持對地球永續發展的概念，根據國發會統計，台灣 Z 世代有 378 萬人，千禧世代有 517 萬人，這兩個世代對科技與社群媒體的仰賴度極高，無論是生活、娛樂或消費習慣都和數位密不可分。

郭家齊表示，從過去 13 年的創業經驗來看，台灣從來沒有置身在國際趨勢的發展之外，他觀察到國外在全品項綜合型平台如 eBay 等發展成熟後，陸續出現「細分領域」的用戶對用戶間的個人交易，其中又以Fashion為大宗，而更值得關注的，這類Marketplace的交易平台的新興消費者主要集中在千禧一代和 Z 世代。

PopChill 初期增長策略奏效

做為一個雙邊平台，就像 Airbnb 和 Uber 一樣，PopChill 初期面對的是每個平台初期最難解的「雞蛋問題」。買家要有足夠的賣家才會願意使用，同時賣家也要有足夠的賣家才會使用。PopChill 解決雞蛋問題的方法，是在開站前先召募了超過 500 位賣家，上傳了 1 萬個物件，以此先解決雙邊平台的賣方問題，以此吸引早期的買家進來使用。這些早期的種子用戶會願意在拍拍圈還沒有上線時，就願意響應加入，多數人表示很大的原因是拍拍圈真的解決了他們的痛點，還有，他們認同永續時尚的概念，希望能為地球的可持續性發展也貢獻一份心力，這件事情對經歷過共享經濟浪潮的年輕世代來說很有意義，接受度和認同感也相對高。

如何過好生活、同時又與環境共榮？

線性經濟的商業模式，成為了全球主要的發展模式，正以前所未有的速度在消耗地球上有限的資源，如果時尚產業繼續往這個方向發展，到 2050 年時，將會為地球整體升溫 2 度的碳排放貢獻出 26% 的碳排放、造成 3 億噸不可再生資源的消耗、超過 2200 萬噸的塑膠微纖維流進海洋，時裝業將用掉世界碳排放預算的四分之一。

企業也是社會公民，應該善盡社會責任，在推廣 PopChill 的本身，也是推廣一種「如何過好生活、同時又與環境共榮？」的生活態度，PopChill 成立第一年即登錄成為社會創新組織成員，結合聯合國永續發展目標 SDGs12 負責任的消費與生產，希望兼顧經濟發展也能對環境友善，藉由科技或商業模式的創新應用，希望推動轉售有利於社會和環境永續發展的理念，成為台灣消費者要購物時的永續電商首選。

郭家齊：本輪資金將用來驗證商業模式的可行性

雖然這幾年台灣新創網路公司已較以往容易取得創投資金支持，但像 PopChill 於平台還未上線，即已取得創投投資，仍屬相當少見。AppWorks 合夥人程九如指出：「長期以來，我們積極支持 AppWorks Accelerator 生態系中的新創校友以及 Mentors。Andy (郭家齊) 與 Kelly (廖家欣) 是台灣數位產業中，極少數擁有多次成功經驗的連續創業者，在擔任我們加速器的 Mentors 多年期間，不僅經常與其他年輕創業者分享第一手創業經驗，面對產業最前緣變化所帶來的機會，也總能在極短的時間內因應並掌握。AppWorks 相當幸運，過去投資了他們共同創辦的創業家兄弟、松果購物兩家新創，最後都成功以 IPO 退場。這次再次支持他們新啟動創業旅程，期待能一如過往繳出亮眼的成績。」

據悉，創辦人及其家族自身在種子輪就投入 4000 萬的自有資金，從 0 到 1 搭建一個兼具社群及電商金流物流資訊流的交易平台，有一定的資金和技術進入門檻，對創投而言，創業者本身投入的資金多寡，很大程度代表了創業者對於這個項目的投入和信心，也表示創業者本身願意承擔大部分的風險，PopChill 經營團隊希望隨著創業公司證明其成功概率的增加，客戶群的增長和概念的驗證，在產品上線前完成 Pre-A 輪募資，團隊可以在專心在開發產品和提升客戶體驗上，有足夠的試錯空間，盡快找到可規模化的模式。

郭家齊表示：「創投的支持，除了是對 PopChill 的支持，也是對台灣新創的肯定。」PopChill 預計使用本輪資金來驗證商業模化，並加速規模化，期望能於上線2年內達到損益兩平。

初期採邀請制，養出社群黏著度後，將全面開放

拍拍圈 App 初期採邀請制，沒有邀請碼的一般民眾可以下載 App 後可以用手機號碼註冊並輸入邀請碼「popchill」即可免費加入，上傳商品不需上架費，目前僅開放上傳女性衣櫥內閒置用品 (包括服飾、鞋包、配件等)。PopChill 是走 C2C 輕資產的模式，也就是用戶自行上架，可以對衣物有絕對的訂價權，同時可以透過PopChill 經營屬於自己的個人帳號，創造自己與其他賣家的差異化，市場分析者表示：「PopChill 賣的其實不是衣服，賣得更多是這個用戶自身的穿搭風格和影響力，還有推廣永續發展的理念與精神。」

【歡迎所有 AI、Blockchain、NFT 與目標東南亞市場的創業者，加入專為你們服務的 AppWorks Accelerator】

2021 大東南亞 Web3 生態系速覽，即將邁入大規模商業化

Antony Lee

December 27, 2021

in View

Antony Lee, Communications Master (李欣岳 / 媒體公關總監)

負責媒體與社群溝通相關輔導。加入 AppWorks 前有 18 年媒體經驗，是台灣第一批主跑網路產業的記者，先後任職《數位時代》副總編輯、《Cheers 快樂工作人》資深主編、SmartM 網站總編輯。畢業於交大管科系，長期關注媒體產業變化，熱愛閱讀商業與科技趨勢、企業與人物故事，樂於與人交流分享，期許自己當個「Internet 傳教士」。

自從 2009 年 AppWorks 創立、2010 年啟動每年兩屆的 AppWorks Accelerator 以來，我們便致力在大東南亞地區 (東協 + 台灣) 協助下世代的創業者，抓住數位革命的成長機會，嚴選本區域最具潛力的新創團隊進駐，輔導新創團隊尋找 Product-Market Fit、幫助成長期團隊建立 Sustainable / Scalable Business Models。建構在加速器的基礎之上，AppWorks 進一步打造新創社群、成為創投機構。

在 2018 年之後，區塊鏈、Web3 成為我們重點經營的領域，因為我們相信區塊鏈、Web3 帶來的巨大典範轉移，將為下世代的創業者，開啟大量的顛覆與創新機會。

2021 年，區塊鏈進入最高速成長的一年。在 DeFi、NFT、Gaming、Metaverse 等豐沛的創新應用下，吸引大量新資金、新用戶投入，區塊鏈的創業者們，正逐步建立起 Web3 各項重要的基礎建設，並即將邁入大規模商業化。

「在去中心化的 Web3 世界中，是否會呈現出不同的區域發展特色？」一直是多年來，我們持續思辨的問題。在 2021 年，Web3 獲得大幅加速發展後，這個問題的輪廓逐漸顯現，我們發現，在大東南亞的主要市場中，來自長期截然不同的歷史、經濟、產業、社會、文化累積發展之下，正浮現出多元化的特色，驅動整個大東南亞的 Web3 生態系，展現出更精彩、更深化、更讓人期待的風貌。以下是我們對各主要市場在 2021 年的觀察與分析：

印尼：投資加密貨幣，比投資股票更具吸引力

人口規模全球第四、大東南亞第一的印尼，估計仍有 66% 的人口，處於沒有銀行帳戶 (Unbanked) 的狀態，但也正因為如此，為印尼的 Web3 與區塊鏈發展，提供了絕佳的發展契機，印尼正進入由區塊鏈、加密貨幣推動的金融典範轉移，整體發展呈現出指數型、蛙跳式 (Leapfrogging) 成長的態勢。根據印尼貿易部 (Ministry of Trade) 統計，在 2021 年前五個月，印尼共有超過 650 萬人曾交易過加密貨幣，遠超過交易股票的 220 萬人，加密貨幣交易量從 2020 年的 44 億美元，成長至 2021 年前五個月的 250 億美元，成長率達 470%，加密貨幣已成為最受印尼民眾歡迎的投資類別。

相較於其他國家，印尼政府對於加密貨幣也相對開放。自 2018 年九月以來，陸續制定了一系列相關法律，皆象徵印尼政府的開放態度。包括加密貨幣、資產在印尼具有合法地位，可被視為商品 (Commodity) 來交易，由商品期貨交易監管機構 (The Futures Exchange Supervisory Board，簡稱 BAPPEBTI ) 作為主責的監管單位，交易所需取得合法執照，可合法交易共 229 種加密資產。

種種獨特的條件，讓印尼在交易所、錢包、資產管理以及其他 DeFi 領域上，發展快速。例如，2014 年成立的 Indodax，是印尼位居領先的交易所，用戶規模超過 470 萬。此外，隨著一般民眾對投資加密資產的接受度越來越高，像 NOBI 這類提供資產管理服務的新創，將是下一波值得留意的領域。

菲律賓：大量 End Users 推動產業成長

2021 年，Yield Guild Games 無疑是菲律賓最受矚目的 Web3 新創之一。從最初協助 Axie Infinity 招募、培訓玩家，累積到現在整個菲律賓有超過 1,500 個以上的 NFT 遊戲公會，共同進行數位資產管理，或為玩家提供遊戲獎學金等，Yield Guild Games 一路成為全球規模最大的 NFT 遊戲公會。蓬勃發展的產業生態，根據 Playercounter 統計，目前有超過四成的 Axie Infinity 玩家，來自菲律賓，是最大的單一國家，Play to Earn 能為玩家帶來實質收入，有效地緩解了 COVID-19 帶來的經濟與社會問題。

這種由大量新用戶加入，推動整體生態系成長的模式，是菲律賓發展 Web3 的特色。可以預期，在資金與用戶都蓬勃發展的帶動下，將會有更多不同領域的創業者，在這樣的基礎上推動各種創新應用，不論在 NFT 或是遊戲領域，都可看到更多元的成長潛力，例如，在今年推出菲律賓第一個 NFT Marketplace 的 Vention，或是建立遊戲公會管理與數據平台的 BlockchainSpace。

新加坡：延續亞洲金融中心的優勢

向來有「亞洲金融中心」美譽的新加坡，長年以來，藉由政府開明的政策引導，逐步建立起區域內的地位。在 Web3 發展上，也可看到類似的發展軌跡，新加坡金融管理局 (MAS) 就是主導發展的單位，長期以來，對區塊鏈以及加密貨幣的發展，擁有相對開放與友善的立場。

早在 2017 年，MAS 就發布了「數位代幣發行指南」(A Guide to Digital Token Offering)，確立了新加坡政府對於 ICO 的基本立場與政策，對於新創透過 ICO 募資的發行者以及相關平台，確立適用「證券暨期貨法」(Securities and Futures Act，簡稱 SFA) 監管。到了 2021 年 1 月，「支付服務法案」(Payment Service Act，簡稱 PSA) 相應推出，監管新加坡境內的所有加密貨幣、交易所以及數位支付等業務。

也因此，我們可看到各種與金融相關的 Web3 應用，正出現代表性的新創。例如，為 Web3 應用構建交易基礎建設、優化跨鏈交易體驗的 Biconomy；開發金融電子支付的 Xfers；提供加密貨幣交易、借貸、錢包等服務的 Vauld。未來在加密貨幣相關的資產證券化、證照合規、國際匯兌業務上，預期將可看到更多重要的進展。

台灣：龐大的數位市場、IT 工程師推動整體發展

在 Web3 生態系的發展上，相較於區域內的其他市場，台灣有兩大特色與優勢。第一，龐大的數位遊戲與娛樂市場。根據 App Annie 統計，2020 年，台灣民眾在 App Store 總共消費 24.4 億美元，約相當於印尼、泰國、越南、菲律賓、馬來西亞五國總和的 24.6 億美元；第二個，則是台灣長久在科技製造、軟硬體整合上，累積而來的 IT 工程師文化，優秀的軟體工程師，一直是台灣推動區塊鏈發展的核心。

在 2021 年，台灣也搭上全球的 NFT 熱潮，進入早期發展階段。在龐大的數位遊戲與娛樂市場基礎上，越來越多的台灣區塊鏈新創，開始以 NFT 打造產品、服務以及商業模式，而歌手、藝術家、遊戲商、文創商品平台，以及多位 YouTuber，也先後開始推廣 NFT，使得 NFT 在這一年快速獲取大眾的關注，未來極具發展潛力。

自 Ethereum 問世開始，就不斷有台灣本地的優秀工程師，展開各種在區塊鏈領域的探索，成為驅動產業推進的關鍵力量。2021 年，已有新創在全球區塊鏈產業中嶄露頭角。例如，團隊擁有超過 10 年、多次創業經驗的 Perpetual Protocol，提供虛擬做市商 (vAMM) 實現永續合約解決方案；開發智能合約錢包的 Blocto，隨著 Flow 躍居一線公鏈而崛起，超過 80% Flow 鏈上的用戶，都使用 Blocto 進行 FLOW Token 質押，在跨鏈應用上，也已支援包括 Ethereum、BSC、Solana、Avalanche (c-chain)、Polygon 等一線公鏈。

泰國：後發先至的蛙跳式成長

雖然整體產業仍在發展早期，但 2021 年泰國整體 Web3 發展，可用蛙跳式成長 (Leapfrogging) 來形容。6 月，完成 E 輪融資的電商物流供應商 Flash Express，才正式成為泰國第一隻獨角獸，在 11 月，泰國第一隻 Web3 獨角獸，緊接著誕生，交易所 Bitkub 將 51% 的股份，以 5.35 億美元出售給擁有百年歷史、泰國第一家本土銀行 Siam Commercial Bank，等於在 5 個月的極短時間內，泰國連續跨越 Internet 與 Web3 時代的里程碑。

在 Bitkub 這樣的指標案例出現後，泰國 Web3 發展的後勢，值得讓人期待。包括 Bitkub Mafia (前員工)、Web 2.0 時代的成功創業者，都將陸續加入 Web3 的創業浪潮中，一如其他國家正在上演的故事。

事實上，已經可以看到更成熟、更進階的 Web3 應用出現。例如，開發跨鏈資料預言機 (Oracle) 的 Band Protocol，以及 Metaverse 遊戲公會 GuildFi，都是在既有產業生態系上的基礎上，繼續創新與整合。此外，也出現了像 Knowhere.art 這樣的 NFT Marketplace，相信不久後，將會在 NFT 領域看到更突破性的進展，因為長年以來，曼谷就是亞洲時尚與設計之都，擁有發展 NFT 創作者經濟的絕佳土壤。

越南：Axie Infinity 帶來的巨大效應

提到越南的 Web3 產業，知名度最高的，莫過於 NFT 遊戲 Axie Infinity 開發商 Sky Mavis。根據 CryptoSlam 統計，自 2018 年上線以來，Axie Infinity 上的 NFT 交易總金額超過 37 億美元，日活躍用戶超過 200 萬，並在近期完成 1.52 億美元的 B 輪融資。

Sky Mavis 寫下的成就，對越南的影響，可從兩個面向觀察。第一，帶動越南本地的 NFT 遊戲生態系成長，並吸引國際資金投資更多新創，進而成為生態系更加成長的能量，例如，Sipher 在 10 月，就從美國、韓國投資人手中獲得 680 萬美元的種子輪融資。另外像 My DeFi Pet、Thetan Arena 等，也都是值得留意的 NFT 遊戲新創。

第二個，則是越南民眾對於區塊鏈以及加密貨幣的高接受度。根據 Chainalysis 2021 年「全球加密貨幣接受度指數」(Global Crypto Adoption Index) 的調查，越南排名高居第一，在 On-chain value received、On-chain retail value received、P2P exchange trade volume 三大指標中，皆位居全球前五名，可以預期，各種 DeFi、錢包、資產管理的創新模式，例如提供 DeFi 流動性中心 (Liquidity Hub) 的 Kyber Network 等新創，將會是下一波值得觀察的重點。

結論：

回顧 2021 年，Web3 生態系在大東亞獲得全面性地推展。印尼在投資加密貨幣的開戶人數，超越股票而躍居投資主流；菲律賓則正由 End User 帶動生態系成長；新加坡持續將「亞洲金融中心」的優勢，延續至 Web3 領域；台灣正由優秀的軟體工程師推動創新應用；泰國在出現第一隻 Web3 獨角獸後，預期將吸引更多優秀創業者投入這塊領域；越南則有讓人眼睛一亮的 NFT 遊戲生態系。

儘管加密貨幣的價格總是變化劇烈，但在這樣的基礎上，我們相信 Web3 的長期價值。展望 2022 年，大東南亞整體 Web3 產業更大規模的商業化，非常讓人期待。

web3.GSEA Snapshot 2021 由 AppWorks 製作，有任何指教與建議，請 email 至 [email protected]。感謝以下 AppWorks 的朋友，在過程中提供的協助：Peter Ing (Co-Founder of BlockchainSpace)、Leo Pham (Manager of Access Ventures)、Hung Nguyen (CEO of Spores)、Tri Pham (CEO of Kardiachain)、Ben Minh Le (CRO of M3TA)、TN Lee (Co-Founder of Pendle Finance)、Lawrence Samantha (Founder of NOBI)、Eagle Su (Marketing Specialist of Zombit)

製作協力：Asosiasi Blockchain Indonesia

【歡迎所有NFT、Blockchain / DeFi、AI / IoT 以及目標 Southeast Asia 的創業者，加入專為你們服務的 AppWorks Accelerator】