22 minute read
How companies can dodge the great resignation in 2022
HR BRIEFING How companies can dodge the great resignation in 2022
Qualtrics reported that 58% of Singaporeans plan to switch jobs this year.
Work-life balance remains the most unmet candidate expectation amongst Singaporean workers
Before Singapore’s job market can even heal from its talent crunch problem, it has received yet another blow—the great resignation. This phenomenon is set to hit companies in 2022 as 58% of employees plan to shift careers, according to a Qualtrics report.
HR coaches, however, are saying that there are certain ways to dodge this problem.
In an interview with Singapore Business Review, Randstad Singapore’s Managing Director Jaya Dass said companies should embrace and adapt quickly to the change in employees’ expectations around work and work-life balance to retain their talent pool.
Dass said Randstad’s 2021 Employer Brand Research report found that work-life balance has become the most important employee value proposition amongst Singaporean professionals (74%), tied with salary and benefits.
Qualtrics also had a similar finding, with 60% of their respondents citing work-life balance as the top reason for staying in their current companies.
Despite this, Dass said work-life balance—which is driven by employees’ desire to work remotely or in a hybrid environment—remains the most unmet candidate expectation amongst Singaporean workers. This is backed by Monster.com’s study, showing that one in three Singaporeans were dissatisfied with their work-life balance.
“In order to retain prized talent, employers will need to prioritise what is important to candidates and accommodate their desire for greater autonomy over where and when they work,” Randstad Singapore’s Dass said.
“Having a comprehensive hybrid and remote work policy, supported by a targeted employer brand positioning and effective marketing communication strategy, will help organisations attract and retain quality talent much more easily,” the Randstad official added.
Future of work
A Qualtrics report found that 60% of employees would stay in their current employers if they provide them with a worklife balance, whilst those looking for new jobs want to enter companies that offer more flexible time off (50%) and hybrid work options (42%).
Angela Yang, a partner at Page Executive, told Singapore Business Review that hybrid working will be the “default mode” in the future and flexible hours will be a trend amongst companies, but both will still depend on the nature of certain job roles.
About 84% of CEOs surveyed by KPMG in 2020 expressed the same sentiment, saying that the remote working trend is “irreversible.”
Based on a 2021 Ipsos survey, about 38% of Singaporeans are already working from home more often than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some roles, especially those in sales, marketing, and customer service will need to operate within a set of hours to optimise their exposure with clients,” Yang said.
“Whilst a large-scale shift away from the traditional 9-6 model of work will be challenging, having a hybrid working schedule will help companies foster a happier, healthier workforce, lead to lower attrition rates, and nurture greater innovation through the use of digital tools during remote work,” Randstad Singapore’s Dass said.
An April 2021 study by Mathew Mathews et. al also showed that 80% of those working from home enjoy the setup and 73% of the respondents were productive when working from home.
Productivity was also seen amongst seven in 10 Singaporeans who were under a flexible working arrangement, according to the Ipsos survey.
As companies shift into hybrid work, companies must also fundamentally change the way they view productivity, shifting their focus from quantity of work to quality.
“When employers focus less on being process-based and more on being outcome-driven, they can better foster a workplace where it’s genuinely safe and acceptable for them to work remotely. In this regard, work is what you do and not where you do it,” Dass said.
Other ways to retain talent
The analysts said companies can also retain talent by addressing the reasons why employees quit their jobs. According to Qualtrics, the first reason why employees leave their companies is to seek more growth opportunities (51%), which Yang said can be answered by knowing “what growth and progress mean to their employees.”
“Go beyond the usual development plan and tie that back to how the pandemic has changed their mental state, family situation, and [finances],” Yang said.
The analyst also underscored that companies must have honest and pragmatic discussions on what opportunities they can offer their employees and that they should be clear on how and when this can be achieved.
Jaya Dass
Angela Yang
To retain prized talent, employers must accommodate candidates’ desire for greater autonomy
Fintech at the forefront of this year’s edition of Hottest Startups
Venture Capital firms tell Singapore Business Review why the vertical was the most attractive to investors.
Fintech will continue to be the leading vertical in terms of capital deployed and startup formation
Fintech has proven anew that it is a force to be reckoned with in Singapore’s startup economy after it amassed approximately $5.40b (US$3.94b) funding in 2021, and dominating the eleventh edition of Singapore Business Review’s Hottest Startups List.
In this year’s list, the vertical took over eight of the 20 spots, led by Spenmo which secured $45.70m in its latest funding, followed by Syfe ($40.33m), Volopay ($39.59m), Endowus ($35m), CyberHash ($26.96m), Xen Capital ($10.08m), Jenfi ($6.3m), and STACS ($4.85m).
Capital not only poured into these eight fintech ventures but also into the entire Singapore startup economy as they gathered $11.2b in funding in the first nine months of 2021 alone, which was already double the amount raised for the entire 2020 at $5.5b, according to Enterprise Singapore.
What makes these startups—and fintech, in general—attractive to investors is that they are pandemic resilient, and they are taking part in the strengthening of the digital commerce ecosystem, according to Quest Ventures’ head of Environmental, Social & Governance and director of Sustainable Impact Accelerator, Michelle Ng.
This attractiveness was clearly reflected in the amount of capital poured into fintech startups in 2021. Data from S&P global showed that fintech startups in Southeast Asia raised $4.7b, proving that the sector is a force to be reckoned with in the startup economy.
With continuous innovations in the sector, particularly in the area of blockchain and open banking, analysts believe that fintech’s force will continue to be felt throughout 2022 and it will remain at the forefront of the startup scene.
“Fintech… will continue to be the leading vertical in terms of capital deployed and startup formation,” Justin Hall, partner at Golden Gate Ventures, told Singapore Business Review, adding that more capital will be poured into fintech across the board in 2022.
This was echoed by Singtel Innov8’s managing director for Investment in the Asia Pacific, Kum Tho Wan, who said fintech will be a “high growth area” in 2022.
“Regulators in the Asia Pacific region appear supportive of innovation in fintech, which is seen as a way to drive financial inclusion and efficiency,” he said.
But fintech-related ventures are not the only ones catching the eyes of investors, those involved in the development of digital reality have also been capturing the interest of investors, Ng added.
These types of startups will also continue to be attractive in the years to come given that Web 3.0 is the “buzz of the time,” according to Accelerating Asia’s Craig Dixon, adding that venture capitals (VCs) are actively exploring or investing in startups involved in this internet revolution.
Regulators in the Asia Pacific region appear supportive of innovation in fintech
Web 3.0’s arrival has also pushed Singapore’s visionary minds to create solutions that will level up e-commerce. Eunice Wong, principal at Monk’s Hill Ventures, told Singapore Business Review that there was an “explosion of business startups dedicated to building the infrastructure and tools to power the rapid growth in online commerce.”
The year 2021 saw a flurry of that with the entry of seven commercecentred startups into the ranking, namely, Una Brands, Rainforest, Osome, Tinvio, Upmesh, Nektar.ai, and AI Palette.
In 2022, there will be even more startups that will aim to solve both consumer and enterprise pain points with technology on the back of a stronger internet economy, Wan said.
There is even the possibility of social media overtaking traditional retail this year, claimed Wong, as social commerce and live-selling will continue to boom. “People increasingly spend more time on product discovery and purchasing on social media platforms.” She added that the e-commerce industry will continue to benefit from COVID-19 tailwinds as consumers and businesses learn to live in the new normal.
As e-commerce goes side by side with logistics, startups involved in the latter also saw tremendous growth in terms of funding, Hall and Ng said.
Digital health boom
The new normal of the pandemic era also led to a swirl of activities in the digital health industry, both Wong and Ng observed, as VCs invested in startups that “focused on health and well-being,” both physical and mental in 2021.
True enough, this year’s Hottest Startups list also saw the entry of health tech startups such as digital therapeutics startup Neuroglee.
COVID’s emergence also shone a spotlight to startups focusing on research and development like Germany-based BioNTech, which, together with Pfizer, developed a vaccine for the coronavirus.
This spotlight, however, would be unlikely in Southeast Asia, Hall said. “Majority of biotech investments will be made in more mature markets.”
Solving real-world problems: sustainability
Apart from being tech-focused, the common ground that successful startups last year had was founders “who are deeply passionate about the problems they are solving for; who are tackling huge pain points and have figured out a repeatable and scalable way to sell their products and services,” Wong said.
Quest Ventures’ Ng had a similar observation and so she urged business founders who are just starting to raise funds for their startup to “focus on solving realworld problems and value creation for your users and stakeholders.”
One particular problem that startups are aiming to address is sustainability, according to Ng and Dixon, with the latter saying that this focus will grow fast in the years to come given that consumers are being more “conscientious.”
Ng, for her part, said Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) must be on top of startups’ strategy and operations, as venture capitals also look into this aspect.
In support of the green movement in the ecosystem, the government has also created programs to support cleantech startups or those who are trying to help improve environmental sustainability.
According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021, the cleantech sector in Singapore is supported by various incubators and accelerator programs such as Temasek’s Sustaintech Xcelerator which was launched to identify and nurture climate innovators.
Emerging tech sectors
Singapore is already home to 3,800 tech-enabled startups, and with the
Michelle Ng
Justin Hall
Craig Dixon
Eunice Wong
industrialisation revolution and as the world rapidly undergoes digitisation, tech’s stronghold in the city’s startup ecosystem will not wear off soon.
As Dixon puts it, “everything’s tech these days,” and the only question now is what type of tech will emerge next.
Ng said that based on Quest Ventures’ observations, the tech sector that will emerge in 2022 would be agritech, edutech, healthtech, biotech, deeptech, and foodtech, which Singapore has already been known as a leader on.
Dixon said he personally and professionally finds the foodtech industry as an exciting sector as it also has an ESG perspective.
“[Let’s say], beef in a lab instead of, you know, feeding cows that are creating emissions and taking up land and stuff like that. So, I think, food tech is a really interesting one,” the Accelerating Asia partner said.
Foodtech was also cited as one of Singapore’s strengths in the startup ecosystem by the Global Entrepreneurship Network; and with the government investing $144m in cultured meat and microbial protein production, foodtech is well on its way to being an emergent sector.
Next step
After considering what sectors would emerge, and which verticals would interest VCs in 2022, what step should budding startup founders do next?
Ng said they should create a clear fundraising roadmap as this would help them not run out of fuel for their growth.
“We always encourage founders to fundraise early and get investors to support their growth and scaling,” she added.
The new normal has led to a swirl of activities in the digital health industry
1. Una Brands 2. Spenmo
Founders: Kiren Tanna, Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Tobias Heusch, Srinivasan Shridharan Funding: $53.93m (US$ 200m) in an equity and debt round. Start of operations: 2020
Founded by entrepreneurs Kiren Tanna, Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Tobias Heusch, and Srinivasan Shridharan, Una Brands is an e-commerce platform aimed at using growth capital to develop brands. The startup uses brand strategies to help transform brands into household names and to aid through the development of plans that involve geographical expansion and product line launches. Recently, it raised $53.93m in a debt and equity round, with investors such as 500 Startups, Kingsway Capital, 468 Capital, Presight Capital, Global Founders Capital, and White Star Capital.
3. Syfe
Founders: Mohandass Kalaichelvan, Isaq Ahmed Funding: Spenmo raised $45.7m (US$40m) in a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2019
The platform founded by Mohandass Kalaichelvan and Isaq Ahmed offers ways for companies to manage their business payments. This includes methods such as automated local transfers, the use of credit cards to make non-card payments, and the issuance of virtual and physical corporate cards. On top of these financial services, Spenmo also helps small businesses through a network of over 100 licensed small and medium enterprise lenders. The startup recently raised $45.70m in a Series A funding round.
4. Volopay
Founder: Dhruv Arora Funding: Syfe acquired $40.33m in a Series B funding round. Start of operations: 2019
US stocks just got more accessible with this investmentfocused platform. Syfe, founded by current CEO Dhruv Arora, is aimed at consumers wanting to invest in both US stocks and exchange-traded funds. Trade single stocks, build custom portfolios or choose a managed solution – all in one place. Five free financial trends per month, Securities Investor Protection Corporation coverage, and real-time stock quotes are some of the supplemental functions offered by the program. The platform recently acquired $40.33m in a Series B funding round, with Valar Ventures as the leading investor. Founder: Rajesh Raikwar Funding: Volopay raised $39.59m in a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2019
Volopay aims at making expense reports digital, fast, inclusive, and safe for clients. It is the first AI-based real-time expense management software – a business management solution to streamline expense workflows. Total visibility and control are the main focus of Voloplay, as it allows for real-time monitoring of company card use, domestic and international money transfer, and payment management. To accelerate the startup’s plans, it raised a total of $39.59m from its most recent Series A funding.
5. Endowus 6. Sleek
Founder: Gregory Van, Samuel Rhee Funding: Endowus raised $35m in a follow-on fund raising. Start of operations: 2017
Endowus is the first and only digital wealth advisor that gives 100% cashback on all trailer fees. Endowus makes expert investing advisors within reach. The app offers personalised advice for customers with low fees and 100% trailer fee rebates. Several investment portfolios are amongst the offerings of the startup—ranging from its flagship, which offers broad market exposure through low-cost funds with long-term outperformance, to environmental, societal and governance (ESG)-based portfolios. Prosus Ventures led the startup’s most recent funding round, adding $35m to its funds in a follow-on fundraising.
7. Rainforest
Founders: Julien Labruyere, Adrien Barthel Funding: $34m in funding was raised by Sleek in an extended Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2017
This subscription-based service offers everything a budding business needs. From business registration to accounting and tax, Sleek—founded by French entrepreneurs Julien Labruyere and Adrien Barthel—aims to make the process easier. The entity also helps by offering a company secretary and business insurance for entities with more years behind them. Recently, the company underwent a successful Series A round to reach $19m in funding, with White Star Capital and Jungle Ventures as amongst the investors. EDBI, meanwhile, headed the extended round to raise an additional $15m, totaling the startup’s Series A funding to $34m.
8. Cyberhash
Founders: Per-Ola Röst, JJ Chai, Jason Tan Funding: Rainforest raised $26.96m in a pre-series A funding round. Start of operations: 2020
As an e-commerce aggregator and brand builder, Rainforest is focused on acquiring e-commerce brands and exposing them to a long-term path headed towards success. It is focused on building the best in class brands, specifically in the home, and mom and baby space. The startup’s co-founders are Per-Ola Röst, taking the lead in developing tools for business teams; JJ Chai, heading the company’s strategy and culture; and Jason Tan, in charge of deal structuring and negotiations. Their startup acquired $26.96m in a pre-series A funding round. Founder: Alex Zhu Funding: $26.96m was raised by Cyberhash in an early-stage funding round. Start of operations: 2021
With Alex Zhu and CEO Jacky Teo at the helm of this startup, Cyberhash is focused on the expansion of its cloud storage facility, which helps to provide a stable, secure and efficient solution to its distributed storage services. This blockchainbased startup focuses on offering this at a lower cost to businesses. Further helping the company’s plans to expand their staff and operations was a $26.96m early-stage funding round, led by venture capital firm Lemon.
9. Osome 10. Tinvio
Founders: Victor Lysenko, Dr. Konstantin Lange Funding: $21.57m was raised by Osome in a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2017
Osome’s main focus is to untangle the complications of business management. Through an on-call chartered accountant and corporate secretary, the process of maintaining a business becomes their responsibility. This includes processes such as managing invoices, reports, and taxes, whilst the customer is free to focus on growing their business. A $21.57m Series A funding was reached by the startup, with Target Global, AltalR Capital, and Phystech Ventures returning as lead investors.
11. Neuroglee
Founder: Ajay Gopal Funding: $16.18m was raised by Tinvio in a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2019
With the current push towards digitalisation, Tinvio was envisioned as an application that bridges supply chain merchants and buyers. Founder Ajay Gopal armed the platform with a communication path between buyers and suppliers, a digital ledger, and an insights report. Over $16.18m in a Series A funding round was reached by the platform, as it prepares to incorporate financial services within its app. All of Tinvio’s existing investors returned for this round of funding, which includes Sequioa Capital India’s Surge, Global Founders Capital, and Partech Ventures.
12. Upmesh
Founder: Aniket Singh Rajput Funding: $13.44m was raised by the startup in a pre-seed funding round. Start of operations: 2020
This health-tech based startup takes aim at providing a digital platform for neurodegenerative diseases. Through the use of artificial intelligence, functions like baseline assessment, cognitive intervention, and continuous monitoring are able to be applied to personalised settings. These all then come together to offer a system of digital therapeutics and virtual care to support patients and clinicians. Following pre-seed funding of $13.44m, Neuroglee is slated to launch virtual neurology clinics and see a move to Boston. Founders: Shawn Teow, Wong Zi Yang Funding: $10.11m was raised by the startup in a Pre-Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2019
Unlike other platforms with just live streaming and selling, Wong Zi Yang’s platform arms sellers with tools such as automatic capturing of dibs comments, checkout carts for buyers, and an order management system. It is also the only live selling software that offers 24/7 customer service and technical support. To further strengthen Upmesh’ capabilities, the platform recently acquired a $10.11m pre-Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
13. Xen Capital
Founders: Katrina Cokeng, Manish Sansi Funding: $10.08m was raised by the startup as part of a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2018
Xen Capital is the first zero-upfront fee platform that offers wealth advisors and asset managers a transparent alternative investment marketplace. Over $271.32m of alternative investments were closed through this alternative investment platform aimed at both asset managers and wealth advisors. Aside from offering a market, accessibility became a part of Xen Capital’s focus, which allowed them to bypass obstacles such as high minimum tickets, lack of transparency, and high fees. The wealth-management platform also raised $10.08m in a Series A funding round.
15. Nektar.Ai 14. Jenfi
Founders: Jeffrey Liu, Justin Louie Funding: $6.3m was raised by the startup in a Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. Start of operations: 2019
Jenfi is an alternative revenue-based financing company for digital-native businesses and startups for Southeast Asia. The goal of this startup is to make business development painless and quick. For Jenfi, the process is as simple as sending an application and seeing the decision within 24 hours. A flexible repayment plan is also in place, with the investment platform only requiring a fixed percentage of sales. The revenue-based platform raised a total of $6.3m in a Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
16. Easy Eat AI
Founders: Aravind Ravi Sulekha, Abhijeet Vijayvergiya Funding: $6.74m was raised in a Seed Round headed by Nexus Venture Partners and 3One4 Capital. Start of operations: 2020
Business-to-business sales are the bread and butter of this startup. With the aim of putting together the multiple tools needed by sales teams to work with buyer committees, the platform is able to put together details such as CRM data entry, deal activity, and revenue predictability under one program. Despite the product only being in early access, Nektar.Ai, led by founders Aravind Ravi Sulekha and Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, got $6.74m in their seed round headed by returning investor Nexus Venture Partners and 3One4 Capital. Founders: Mohd Wassem, Rhythm Gupta, Abdul Khalid Funding: $5.92m was raised by the startup in a Series A funding round. Start of operations: 2019
Despite the availability of delivery platforms in Singapore, there is more that goes behind the scenes as restaurants rush to transform their establishments in the digital landscape. Enter Easy Eat Ai, a startup that employs a cloud-based point-ofsale. Through this platform, functions like table ordering, deliveries, personalised loyalty rewards, and payment gateway services are all available. Connections between the platform and other delivery infrastructures are also in place. On top of that, no subscription fees exist, with small technology fees serving as fees for the consumer. The platform raised $5.92m in its most recent funding round.
17. AI Palette 18. X0pa AI
Founders: Somsubhra GanChoudhuri, Himanshu Upreti Funding: $5.92m was raised by the startup in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by pi Ventures and Exfilinity Venture Partners. Start of operations: 2018
Consumer trends in the food and beverage industry got a lot easier with AI Palette, a softwar as a service-based platform that helps entities determine the current trends. It is able to determine insights real-time through a mixture of data and machine learning. Insights accumulated by the platform expand beyond food trends, as integration into business development and the research and development process are offered by the startup. A Series A funding round, which also resulted in an oversubscribed $5.92m funding, was co-led by pi Ventures and Exfinity Venture Partners.
19. STACS
Founders: Jussi Keppo, Nina Alag Suri, Satnam Alag Funding: $5.66m was raised in a Series A funding round headed by ICCP SBI Venture Partners. Start of operations: 2017
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation are what X0pa AI uses in terms of improving its clients’ application process for new hires. Through benchmarking applicants with standards set by the app, the bias present in the hiring process is lost. Instead, a transparent hiring process that allows for communication within the consumer and external agencies is present, with the platform reducing time and cost of hiring by 87% and 50%, respectively. The SG-based startup recently raised $5.66m in a Series A funding round led by ICCP SBI Venture Partners.
20. INKR
Founder: Benjamin Soh Funding: $4.85m was raised by the startup in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Wavemaker Partners. Start of operations: 2019
STACS focuses on blockchain technology solutions for financial institutions. STACS’ focus on ESG goals can be found in the products the entity offers. For instance, the startup’s ESGpedia, done in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Greenprint, is a blockchain-powered solution that aids the financial industry through ESG-focused methods such as Monitoring of Commitment and Impact Reporting. Backing up the green initiative is a $4.85 pre-Series A funding, led by Wavemaker Partners. Founders: Ken Luong, Khoa Nguyen, Hieu Tran Funding: $4.18m was raised by the startup in a pre-series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. Start of operations: 2019
INKR is a digital comics platform focused on making comic books available to everyone. Through partnerships with publishers and creators worldwide, both ad-supported and exclusive content are available on the startup’s mobile application. Setting the company apart is its localisation technology, which helps make the production process for different markets more accessible. Strengthening the startup’s reserves is a $4.18m pre-Series A funding round headed by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
