Latest news and trends about tech

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced Tuesday that the first industry pilot under MAS’ Project Guardian that explores potential decentralised finance (DeFi) applications in wholesale funding markets has completed its first live trades.

The airasia super app is officially launched in Asean’s largest populated country - Indonesia on Wednesday, marking a significant milestone for the region’s fastest-growing travel super app as it completes its Asean expansion plan in 2022, focusing on Bali as a key international tourist market.

Google Cloud has on Thursday launched a Climate Finance Accelerator with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and KPMG Singapore to provide climate fintech firms and startups with mentorship and funding opportunities to scale market-ready solutions.

Global sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE and Be Media, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, announced on Thursday a partnership to jointly launch Onside, the first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) digital collectibles for the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022, ASEAN’s premier football tournament that will take place from December 20, 2022 to January 16, 2023.

Indonesia-based, early-stage venture capital firm AC Ventures (ACV) announced Wednesday the launch of its education platform for tech entrepreneurs in emerging markets called ACV Academy. The free-to-access, ongoing, training sequence is designed to take the early-stage tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia to a new level of know-how.

Australian venture capital firm Blackbird said Wednesday it has raised Australia’s largest venture capital fund at just over AUD$1 billion ($640 million) in committed capital. The fund, consisting of a AUD$284 million ($180.77 million) core fund, AUD$668 million ($425.2 million) follow-on fund and NZ$75 million ($43.76 million) dedicated New Zealand fund.

Essentially, ESG is being called on to encourage organizations, especially businesses, to strongly consider factors beyond just their bottom line – particularly environmental impact, employee culture, and the ethics of how the company is being run. 

Petronas, Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are collaborating to evaluate commercialisation opportunities globally for the cloud-based logistics solution and services platform STEAR.

The MOU seeks to formalize each national FinTech association’s involvement in the formation of the ASEAN FinTech Movement, with the goal of raising the region’s profile as a FinTech powerhouse, as well as providing a common networking platform for the region’s FinTech players to tap onto.

Singapore-based insurtech Igloo, in partnership with PVI Insurance, Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (VNMHA) and international reinsurer SCOR, on Tuesday announced the launch of the country’s first weather index insurance - a blockchain-based parametric index insurance product that automates insurance claims of rice farmers.