
Singapore-based Mooncake Capital raises $10m for new crypto fund
Singapore-based Mooncake Capital, a venture capital firm focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain, said it has raised US$10 million for investments in Asian crypto projects through its new fund called Connect Fund. With a targeted size of US$100 million, the fund aims to fuel Mooncake Capital’s blockchain investments in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong by bringing in financing from outside the main Asian crypto hubs, such as Latin America, Europe, and a few countries in Southe

Scaling fast: How this healthtech startup aims to hit a $1b valuation
“All the awards we won last year helped our credibility, and led huge global institutions to start white labeling us and distributing our platform to their clients,” shares the CEO. Before this, the firm had been reaching out to banks and insurers for six years to have them license its software, with no luck.On top of the company’s win at the Techblazer Awards last year, Koo herself was recognized in the 2018 Influential Brands Top CEO of the Year series and named Woman Leade

Upcoming events in Singapore for start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs - October 2019
Singapore has such a dynamic ecosystem that sometimes the number of events offered can be overwhelming. Here at FirstCOUNSEL, we're going to help you out by putting together a curated list of upcoming events in Singapore for start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs: Oct 03 - Advancing Health through Innovation: Perspectives from an Entrepreneurial Scientist (by SGInnovate) - Free Oct 10 - Building a Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Using Real World Data (by ACCESS Health, EDB an

Fintech and banks: collaboration or competition?
With the rapid growth and advancement of technology, it has led to the advent of a new digital era. Technology is becoming a mainstay, increasing efficiency, reducing the need for labour and replacing workers for manual jobs. Technology is also not restricted in any vertical but can be found in marketing, health, logistics and – of course – the financial sector. Financial technology or fintech is prevalent in the world today with startups sprouting everywhere and anywhere. Ho

TechLaw.Fest returns to cover challenges in data issues, security, 5G
TechLaw.Fest, a two-day conference highlighting the law industry and its trends, came back this year for its second edition from September 5-6 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. This year, TechLaw.Fest mainly focused on the state of Asia legal innovation, in particular, on issues surrounding data such as responsible data use, its access and control, security and 5G, and the role of data in commerce. In its official statement, it is said that the event will be

Innovation in the Lion City
DESPITE being a relatively young nation with a population of just 5.6 million people, Singapore has evolved to become a vibrant startup hub in the region as much as on the global stage, with its prime geographical location a gateway to high-growth markets such as China and India. On average, over 50,000 new businesses are formed in the city-state each year. According to the Singapore Department of Statistics, the number of tech startups in the country has been rising, from 2,

A layman's guide on how bitcoin is aiming to transform the global economy
Virtual currency Bitcoin that uses digital encryption for its operations was first introduced in the year 2008 by a pseudonymous group or individual named Satoshi Nakamoto. In some way, Bitcoin is an alternative method to the global financial system. It has steadily worked its way towards dominating all aspects of the online community. In Bitcoin, every transaction is recorded in blocks digitally that acts like a public ledger called “block-chain.” Here, all the blocks are in

Tech trends of 2019 to watch out for in Singapore
Mr. Heng Swee Kiat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore has mentioned early this year that Singapore has the potential to position itself as a global Asian node for technology, innovation and enterprise. This is because Singapore has an exceptional enabling environment for digital transformation as well as innovation. Companies who do not adopt any form of a cloud or digital transformation will tend to be at a higher risk of being disrupted, or worse,

Singapore and Chinese companies sign 13 deals for implementing digital technologies
Singapore and Chinese companies signed 13 deals yesterday for the collaborative efforts to employ digital technologies in education, manufacturing and telecommunications at the annual Smart China Expo in Chongqing, China on Monday, August 26, 2019. The efforts include using technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence in a new learning procedure for pre-schools and developing analytic solutions for smart manufacturing. About 70 Singapore