Singapore is an innovative country, that embraces technology and has created a hospitable landscape for startups, particularly those in the financial technology sector. Currently, home to 19 unicorns, nine of which were minted in 2021, it is no surprise that this tiny island nation is considered part of the startup golden triangle of Southeast Asia, with Vietnam and Indonesia making up the other two countries. 

With the internet evolving once more and improved connectivity becoming a reality, Singapore and Web3 go hand in hand as the country primes itself for another boom of digitalisation and technological growth. The Web3 Singapore trends for 2022 are expected to shake up the business and technological landscape even more than previously, with the emergence of several new, disruptive business applications and processes. 

Governmental initiatives, as well as direct foreign investment (DFI) from venture capitalists (VCs) and private investors, help sustain the already flourishing startup ecosystem. Web3 is expected to tap into these resources as it unveils unlimited potential in many aspects of business, finance, and technology. The Moonshot Fellowship, an incubator programme, aims to accelerate startup creation in the city-state by launching 10 new startups per quarter with a USD $200,000 investment. 

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Singapore, a tech-savvy and innovative hub, is poised to reach a new level of growth thanks to Web3’s blockchain technology and decentralised ledgers.

Seedly

In October 2020, a Hong Kong-based fintech giant, Hyphen Group, acquired nascent financial assistant platform Seedly. The Singaporean startup assists users make smarter financial choices for saving and investing for their future. It has built a strong community of peer advisors and launched Seedly TV, an online video channel. 

Founded in 2016, the startup received early seed investments from East Ventures and DBS Hotspot that same year. With Hyphen’s support, the startup is seeking to grow its community and further develop its banking, investment, and insurance products. 

Loominate

Billed as “The $Good Culture” app, Loominate is a shining star in Singapore’s startup scene. The plug-and-play platform, designed to shake up the corporate culture by allowing employees to communicate freely and inspire change in their workplaces, uses decentralised ledgers to allow anonymity and offers rewards in the form of LOOMI tokens. 

The company strives to promote workplace community development and innovation in companies of all sizes. Despite being in its early phases of development, the app already receives approximately 1,480 visits a month, and this number is expected to increase as the company grows. 

Blockchain Worx

Through multiple blockchain systems, Blockchain Worx provides integrated DeFi platforms for fintech and regulation technology (regtech) startups. This Web3 company creates “next-generation digital platforms and ventures” by primarily constructing custom systems on Quorum, Ethereum, and Hyperledger Fabric. 

In 2019, two years after its inception by Floyd DCosta, Narayan Neelakantan, and Sumantra Naik, it received an undisclosed sum in seed round investment. It works closely with some of the world’s biggest names in finance and technology, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oracle, and Microsoft for Startups.

Avalanche

Using decentralised blockchain technology to produce a fast-acting platform for programmable smart contracts, Avalanche opens up a world of fintech opportunities for startups. With almost instant transactions and enhanced security through AVAX tokens for payment of processing fees, the platform embraces the Web3 technologies of art and collectable NFTs while also protecting other digital assets such as contracts and digital identities for governments, institutions, and private enterprises. 

Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum dApps and gives users control over compliance and data security by delivering apps and constructing subnets on a decentralised ledger. Since January 2021, the company has also invested in other startups, contributing to a $22.4 million USD seed round investment in California-based blockchain startup, Nomad, in April 2022. 

MetaLoka

Since Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was going all-in on the Metaverse, the virtual world has been buzzing. MetaLoka, a Singaporean startup, is capitalising on the hype and has piqued the interest of high-profile investors, such as “The Bitcoin Man”, Herbert Sim.

Mr Sim’s funding and advice will help the augmented and virtual reality startup grow its platform and continue to develop its immersive play-to-earn game. With the first iteration of the game launching in Q2 of 2022, this time-travelling virtual world will take advantage of Web3 technology and the rise in popularity of NFT-based gaming. 

As new Web3 Singapore trends emerge, potentially creating new unicorns, investment in blockchain and DeFi technology in the country is expected to escalate. Singapore and Web3 are the perfect partners if the nation’s talent pool grows and the government and privately funded incentives to digitalise business processes continue apace. As a country, it is eager to embrace technology and build on its reputation as the Silicon Valley of Asia.