How Coherent turns Excel sheets into improved business systems

STARTUP How Coherent turns Excel sheets into improved business systems

It frees companies from 95% of the costs incurred from the manual spreadsheet-to-API conversion.

and cloud migration programs,” Brisco said.

“It also frees up alreadystretched IT teams to focus their specialised and scarce resources on truly innovating for the business,” he added.

With everything done in a single click, Brisco said what is left to do for businesses is to just tag key inputs and outputs of how their logic or model works.

Coherent helps companies save up to 99% of the cost they would incur if they had done the spreadsheets manually

Acompany running critical business operations typically uses and monitors over a thousand spreadsheets, based on the data from Forrester. Imagine the horror of a firm bound to overhaul its system. This is where John Brisco’s co-founded startup, Coherent, is planning to come in.

Coherent developed a software as a service (SAAS) called Coherent Spark. In a single click, the service turns spreadsheets containing the business logic—rules, formulas, or data models—into application programming interfaces (APIs) that can connect to other front- and back-end applications.

“Businesses change so frequently and so fast that systems cannot keep up with the market conditions. What enterprises do is make changes on [and manually translate into codes its] Excel or spreadsheets… which takes a lot of time and cost and effort within organisations,” Brisco told Hong Kong Business.

A coherent process

So how does the Coherent Spark software work? An example would

John Brisco

What we’re trying to do is remove complexity that exists within enterprises

be an insurance company planning to re-rate its products and services.

To do so, the insurance company would first have to make changes in its spreadsheets that contain its business logic, upload the spreadsheet to Coherent Spark, turn them into active APIs, and deploy it to any system at a click of a button.

“[The insurance company] now have the ability to re-rate its whole book in a matter of a few minutes, which used to take essentially a couple of weeks,” Brisco told Hong Kong Business in an interview.

“What we’re trying to do is remove complexity which exists within enterprises, whether it’s large or small,” he added.

Brisco said Coherent helps companies save up by 95% to 99% of the cost they would usually incur if they have done the spreadsheets to APIs process manually.

Brisco said the use of Coherent Spark also allows for a seamless way of work for both a company’s business and IT teams as it can be used by even people who are not overly technical.

“Coders and non-coders alike can accelerate digital transformation

Future plans

Brisco said Coherent Spark is already working to improve the infrastructure of their platform, to make it more accessible and easier to use for customers.

“I want to work with clients and partners on how we can expand its features capabilities and its use cases,” the Coherent CEO said on future plans for the startup.

On the business side, Brisco said talents who will focus on engineering sales, and product and customer success will be brought to their team. He also unveiled plans to further expand in Asia and in North America and increase the startup’s distribution scale.

Coherent has raised a total of US$89m for its Series A and Series B funding rounds.

Its Series B funding, which raised US$75m, was led by Maverick Capital, including Maverick Ventures, with participation from Owl Rock, a Blue Owl division, GreatPoint Ventures, and existing investors Cathay Innovation and Franklin Templeton.

When asked why they decided to invest in the startup, Albert Koh, investor at Owl Rock, a Blue Owl division, said: “Coherent Spark bridges the gap between the fast deployment of business applications and the familiarity of using spreadsheets, and Coherent is uniquely positioned to enable enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation and drive quicker time to value.”

Compared to traditional art, artists get to reach a wider audience in the digital space (Photo: ‘Drowning in Love’ by MonoC)

A new canvas: Why artists are jumping into the NFT space

Entering the space allows an artist to earn more through royalties each time their art sells.

Artist Lakshmi Mohanbabu would usually get a one-time earning for a piece of art she sold in a gallery. When she took a dive into the non-fungible token (NFT) space, she realised that she can gain more than that.

In an interview with Hong Kong Business, Mohanbabu said artists can get a percentage of a future resale of their NFT-minted artworks because they are allowed to impose a royalty fee unlike with physical art.

“In traditional galleries, when my art is sold to a client and I make, say a hundred dollars, that’s it. If that client resells my artwork for a million dollars, it’s of no benefit to me as an artist,” Mohanbabu said.

“In the NFT space, I get to earn from the subsequent sales of my art. If it is resold for a million dollars, I’ll get 5% of that. I’m assured of revenue every time my art sells again,” she added.

Mohanbabu said she also likes that she gets to track where her art goes or who the current owner is.

Compared to traditional physical artworks, artists also get to reach a wider audience in the digital space, said Mohanbabu.

This was echoed by Tokenize Xchange CEO Hong Qi Yu, saying that artists can leverage the internet to connect with a lot of buyers, unlike when selling traditional art in galleries which is constrained by physical locations.

A stroke of challenge

Whilst the gains from selling NFT art seem tempting, Mohanbabu warned artists of challenges that come along as they enter the space given that it is relatively new and unfamiliar territory for many buyers.

The first hurdle Mohanbabu had to overcome was to identify which platform she should sell her artwork on. From experience, she suggested that artists choose a platform that is multicurrency since a lot of buyers are not yet familiar with cryptocurrencies. Her current project is with a multicurrency platform Virtua, Dubai.

She added that it is equally important for artists to choose a platform where they can easily mint their artwork. An example of this is ElemintNFT, the brainchild of Hong.

ElemintNFT simplifies the minting process of an artwork by simply uploading it on the platform, without going through the hassle of creating smart contracts, Hong told Hong Kong Business.

A smart contract is an agreement between the seller and buyer of an NFT executed through computer codes, something which may be difficult to do for traditional creators who are unfamiliar with the technical know-how.

The other main challenge to entering the NFT market is how to stand out, given the sheer volume of

In the NFT space, I’m assured of revenue every time my art sells again

art that is already in the space. One way Mohanbabu overcomes this is by making digital counterparts of her physical artworks, which could then be translated and transferred into the metaverse.

Currently, Mohanbabu is working on a range of artworks based on her shoe designs. The collection will include actual shoes, 3D models and prints of the design, and a book of all the prints which will also have a counterpart in the metaverse. This also involves a collaboration for printing Mohanbabu’s shoes with the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP), Nanyang Technological University.

Whilst you can buy the physical painting and 3D models of the shoes, you can also buy the same book, shoes, or paintings as NFTs in the metaverse—so you actually have a shop in the metaverse. Your avatar [in the metaverse] can also wear those shoes,” she added.

Mohanbabu also has a project called “To the Moon and Beyond” that features 3D interaction cubes rendered as NFT. The project accompanies her artwork “The Cube of Interaction” which has been sent to the International Space Station on 19 February 2022 where it will remain for ten months and finally go to the Moon by 2025.

“What’s interesting is that, since the physical counterpart of the NFTs will be at the International Space Station, the buyer of the NFT can look up in the sky and say that they own the work of art that is flying above them,” she said.

In doing the space and shoe projects, Mohanbabu said what she had in mind was to create art that not only bridges the gap between the traditional and digital spaces, but also art that has international appeal.

“The buyers of NFT art are very different from the buyers of traditional art. For an NFT buyer to see value in your work, you have to be completely different,” she said.

Interactive art

One of the most appealing and celebrated types of artwork, not only in the NFT space, but also in the art world in general, is interactive art, according to Mohanbabu.

In Hong Kong, brand tech group, Gusto Collective, is amongst those leading in the creation of interactive art. Earlier this year, it was able to auction off an NFT art titled “Drowning in Love,” created by their meta-human project, MonoC, which sold for $189,000.

Apart from being created by a meta-human, what made “Drowning in Love” unique was it was created using a technique called “generated data art.”

“We created the foundation of the art which consists of MonoC floating on a pond, looking up to the heavens. Then we have flowers covering her. The idea is, she’s dreaming about what falling in love feels like and, because she’s a virtual human, she has actually never been in love,” Aaron Lau, founder and CEO of Gusto Collective, told Hong Kong Business.

“What we did then is we created an algorithm that controls the blooming of the flowers, the movement of the waves, and so on. This algorithm is powered by the actual auction data during the seven-day period. Every click on the auction site, every look at a piece of work, it’s collected as a data point. If you happen to bid on a piece of art— doesn’t matter which piece of art—it becomes a data point,” he explained.

“We use the different data points. One set of data points controls the waves, another set controls the flowers. The artwork becomes complete after all the data points are collected at the very end of the auction,” he added.

Lau said the idea behind the artwork was really to bridge the connection between the investment in and creation of art. In July, Gusto Collective also launched a collaborative art piece for the Hong Kong government called “Garden of Eden,” where visitors can digitally grow flowers.

“On-site, you will have to download an app to experience the art. When you turn on the app, you will see a seed on your phone and you will be given instructions to plant the seed on the ground that we’ve created. You can then choose a cyber flower to be planted. You will see the flower grow right in front of the eyes until it’s fully bloomed. Once fully bloomed, it will fly up to the skies of Hong Kong,” Lau shared.

Success in NFT space

Whilst having unique art can give artists a boost in the NFT art world, Lau advised those planning to enter the space to do some sort of digital marketing around the art that they create.

“Often, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram are being used as the information channel. But, from my understanding, Discord is where all the crypto folks aggregate. You need to market it to a discussion forum that focuses on NFT art,” Lau said.

Mohanbabu, for her part, said the key to achieving success in the NFT space is a mix of appealing artwork, a good platform, and an element of luck.

“It is also good to know what is trending and follow that a little bit, but not completely because it’s good to set your own trends,” she said.

Lakshmi Mohanbabu

Hong Qi Yu

Aaron Lau

For an NFT buyer to see value in your work, you have to stand out

ElemintNFT simplifies the minting process of an artwork without going through the hassle of creating smart contracts

INTERVIEW The fate of CLP Power amidst netzero transitions

Since 2020, it has increased its gas-fired power generation proportion.

With 15% of its generation mix coming from coal in 2020, CLP Power is in the middle of its energy transition journey when the Hong Kong Government declared its intention to be carbon neutral before 2050. It seems that the company already has its strategies in place to align itself with the government’s target.

To replace coal, CLP Power will ramp up its generation from natural gas—which already accounts for 48% of its mix in 2020, CLP Power Chief Operating Officer Paul Tomlinson told Hong Kong Business.

“CLP Power will be in discussion with the government on phasing out coal-fired generation from our Castle Peak B Power Station’s units in the 2030s whilst our older coalfired generation units at Castle Peak A Power Station will gradually be closed over the next few years,” he added.

Tomlinson also discussed the company’s plans and other sectors it will tap into to align its operations with the Hong Kong Government’s carbon neutrality plan.

How will you accelerate phasing out coal-based assets?

We will increase the use of natural gas in the interim period, which is supported by our further investment in Black Point Power Station where a new gas-fired generation unit has been commissioned, and another unit is expected to go into operation by the end of 2023.

We have already announced plans to phase out coal for power generation at Castle Peak A Power Station progressively in the next few years. We also aim to phase out coal resources at Castle Peak B Power Station from the mid-2030s onwards.

At present, CLP Power receives gas from China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s different gas fields in the South China Sea through the Yacheng sub-sea pipeline. We also take supplies through a subsea pipeline connecting to the Second West-East Gas Pipeline under a long-term gas supply agreement with PetroChina.

To access competitive supplies from the global liquified natural gas (LNG) market in long term, CLP Power is developing an offshore LNG terminal in Hong Kong waters, jointly with Hongkong Electric. Considerable progress has been made with the jacket and topside structures installed to form the terminal. The subsea pipelaying works have been completed, and the corresponding jetting and rock dumping works are in progress.

Under this energy transition, CLP Power’s carbon intensity is projected to further decrease steadily in the coming years with the increased use of natural gas, the commissioning of additional gas-fired generation units, and when an offshore LNG terminal and a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit are in place.

Paul Tomlinson, COO, CLP Power (Photo from CLP Power)

Our emissions have fallen by more than 90% since 1990 Point Power Station. How is this instrumental in Hong Kong’s overall clean energy transition?

CLP Power became the first power company in Hong Kong to use natural gas for power generation in 1996 when Black Point Power Station began operations. Since then, we have continued to improve emissions performance by optimising our fuel mix, installing emission-reduction facilities, and enhancing plant efficiency. Remarkably, our emissions have fallen by more than 90% since 1990, whilst electricity demand over the same period has grown by over 80%.

As Hong Kong works towards a target of becoming carbon neutral before 2050, we are increasing our lowcarbon electricity supply and helping customers reduce their carbon footprint. Raising the ratio of gas-fired generation is an important near-term measure in CLP Power’s energy transition journey. It also aligns with the CLP Group’s updated Climate Vision 2050, in which CLP commits to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2050.

We planned to build two additional gas-fired generation units to meet the demands of continuing social and economic development, whilst reaching the government’s target of increasing gas-fired generation to around half of the city’s total fuel mix.

The first new unit D1 went into service in 2020. It has a generation capacity of 550 megawatts (MW), the largest

of all existing gas-fired units in Hong Kong and sufficient to power 900,000 homes. The unit uses Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology with an advanced design capable of achieving an efficiency rate of around 60%, making it one of the most efficient gas-fired power plants in the world. With Unit D1, we significantly reduced our reliance on coal-fired generation. As a result, the proportion of natural gas in our fuel mix rose to around 50% in 2020, from less than 30% in 2019. Also, the carbon intensity has fallen significantly from 0.95 kilograms (kg) in 1990 to 0.37kg per unit of electricity consumption in 2020.

To continue the phasing out of the coal-fired generation units, we are building a second new gas-fired generation unit, Unit D2, at Black Point Power Station. The second unit is expected to go into operation in 2023 and will further increase the proportion of natural gas in CLP Power’s fuel mix to over 50%.

What sets the D1 unit apart from other gas-fired generation units?

Unit D1 deploys state-of-the-art H-class CCGT technology with a more advanced design and is capable of achieving an efficiency rate of around 60%, making it one of the most efficient gas-fired power plants in the world.

Fuel efficiency and flexibility are central to the design of Unit D1. It is engineered to use a wide range of gas supplies and is also a dual fuel unit with the capacity to switch to emergency backup fuel and with the capability for automatic on-load fuel transfer to ensure a reliable supply of electricity to our customers.

Unit D1 is also equipped with a low nitrogen oxides combustion system and a selective catalytic reduction system that reduces 40% more nitrogen oxides emissions than CLP Power’s other gas-fired generation units.

In addition, Unit D1 attains the Final Platinum rating of the BEAM Plus, which is the green building assessment tool in Hong Kong. The green and sustainable features include access to natural light, energy-efficient electrical fixtures and appliances, an extensive rainwater harvesting system, rooftop solar panels, and vertical greening, supporting energysaving and promoting sustainability.

How will you encourage consumers from the commercial and industrial sectors to shift to cleaner energy?

We will keep abreast of developments in technologies that utilise renewable energy for electricity generation. At the same time, we are working on ways to convert our local gas generation infrastructure to support the use of zero-carbon fuels such as green hydrogen.

CLP Power will be in discussion with the government on phasing out coal-fired generation from our Castle Peak B Power Station’s units in the 2030s whilst our older coalfired generation units at Castle Peak A Power Station will gradually be closed over the next few years.

We also strive to explore practical local renewable energy opportunities despite limited renewable energy resources and land scarcity in Hong Kong.

Also, we have seen a growing interest in sustainable products, such as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). As of end-March 2022, over 24.8 GWh units were sold, and our customers are helping to reduce about 9,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission.

CLP Power also plays an important role to facilitate the decarbonisation of the transportation sector which accounts for 19.7% of Hong Kong’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. CLP Power has set up 54 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in our supply area and the charging service is free for users until the end of this year. We are also working with the government and private sector on developing e-transport trials of buses, public light buses, taxis and ferries. We anticipate that EV technology will develop rapidly, and we will adjust our strategy from time to time.

We will continue to support the government by helping customers manage energy demand and promote energy saving with a host of energy-efficient solutions and support measures including the Eco Building Fund, Electrical Equipment Upgrade Scheme, and training courses under the Retro-Commissioning Charter Programme, as well as innovative technology applications.

To support Hong Kong’s transformation into a smart city, CLP Power is upgrading all its residential and small to medium-sized business customers’ conventional metres to smart metres from late 2018 to 2025, with a total of 2.6 million smart metres. We also engage the wider community for low-carbon living through energy efficiency and conservation public education programmes.

What other sectors will CLP Power tap into to contribute to Hong Kong’s net-zero goals?

Green hydrogen has the potential to be a key part of Hong Kong’s decarbonisation plan in the medium to long term. As the cost of producing RE goes down and the demand for hydrogen goes up, there is hope that zero-carbon green hydrogen will become an important contributor to emissions reduction.

CLP has committed to investing in several key gas power infrastructure projects, which are the most effective way to quickly reduce the carbon intensity of Hong Kong’s electricity supply. These gas infrastructures could potentially be repurposed to use 100% hydrogen.

In future, when the hydrogen power generation technology becomes mature and sustainable, the cost of retrofitting the existing gas-fired generation units (like Unit D1) to run on hydrogen power is expected to be much lower than building a new one.

CLP Power will be in discussion with the gov’t on phasing out coal-fired generation units in the 2030s

New gas-fired generation unit D1 (Photo from CLP Power)