💬🧑‍💻 This Indonesian Web3 Startup is Building The Crypto for Comics

Good morning folks, it’s Monday. Time to take over the world.

But before that, you need to take your daily dose of micro digest.

Here’s what we got for you:

• 🌊 The SEA - Gaspack - The Crypto Comic Store

• ⛵ SEAppets - 1337 Ventures and RHB Banking Group have announced the 11 finalists for their accelerator program

• 💰 SEA Deals

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

The SEA 🌊

Growing I used to be a comic nerd but now crypto bros have taken away the only piece of childhood that I have left :(

I’m talking about Gaspack.

🤷‍♂️ Who is Gaspack?

• Co-founded in 2022 by a bunch of JPEGs (just kidding), co-founded by Novrizal Pratama and Sunny Gho, Gaspack is an Indonesian-based Web3 company that connects creators, collectors and communities through NFTs

🖼️ How it works?

• With a mission of empowering creatives in building their vision using Web3, Gaspack is building the Gaspack app

  • The go-to app for bridging brands, creators & artists and their super fans on web3

  • Utilizing both crypto and local fiat payments, the startup makes it easy for everybody to buy NFTs

• Gaspack has also another product called Kometh

  • a Web3 comic store built on the blockchain where you can purchase, collect and publish comics

  • Users who wish to purchase comics on Kometh can use their non-custodial wallet to buy True Digital Comics (TDC) on the platform with ETH

  • Kometh provides NFT holders with the possibility to utilize comics from NFT projects they back to earn rewards and rebates for future comic distribution. Users can also sign up for their beloved comics and acquire new material updates right away from the creator

Gaspack's first comic, "Garden Point" written by Eisner Awards winner Paul Jenkins, sold 17,000 digital copies in 1.5 hours!

💰 Funding

• The startup recently raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round led by eMerge and Arise and also included 500 Global and Tokoin.

• The money will be used to empower creators and brands, as well as to acquire world-class creators to develop decentralised IP

SEAppets ⛵

1. 1337 Ventures and RHB Banking Group have announced the 11 finalists for their accelerator program focused on supporting startups driving digital adoption. Nine of the finalists are from Malaysia, and two are from Singapore. The program offers mentorship and proofs-of-concept with the bank, with the potential for seed funding from 1337 Ventures.

2. Singapore-based fintech firm STACS has partnered with Green Freight Asia Network (GFA) to greenify the transportation and logistics sector and enable access to sustainable financing. GFA's certification program will be featured on STACS' ESGpedia digital registry and companies can showcase their certification on an ESG profile. The partnership aims to reduce the sector's carbon emissions and provide companies with digital tools to track and monitor emission reduction. The partnership also opens up sustainable financing opportunities for GFA-certified companies.

3. Ajaib, an Indonesia-based investment platform has eliminated transaction fees for purchases and sales of Bitcoin. This is the first crypto platform in Indonesia to do so. Ajaib has also received a license from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency. In November 2022, Ajaib laid off 8% of its workforce. Bitcoin's market cap has exceeded USD $500 billion and has increased over 24% in the past seven days and over 50% in the last six months.

4. Snowflake is launching its Data Cloud services in Indonesia to help companies break down data silos, unify data, maximize value of data and access near-infinite resources of the cloud. Deloitte Consulting and AWS are also collaborating to assist in cloud migration, reduce costs and increase innovation. Snowflake now has operations in 30 countries.

SEA Deals 💰

1. Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) acquired MindGeek, the owner of several adult entertainment sites, though the terms of the deal were not disclosed. MindGeek has faced multiple lawsuits and now requires identity verification for all users. ECP refers to MindGeek as a leader in fighting illegal online content but the online porn industry faces risk from U.S. legislation and many payment and credit card companies no longer process payments on sites like Pornhub.

I know this is not SEA news but hey your everyday go-to site is sold. It’s worth a mention 😏

2. Proxtera, a Singapore-based digital technology firm has secured funding from Ant Group, CerraCap Ventures and EDBI to develop digital cross-border trade and financial services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The funding will also be used to expand the company's bench of talented individuals and grow its product in global markets. The initiative is supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Ant Group shared its mission to make it easy to do business anywhere and to create more opportunities for MSMEs through digitalization.

3. The Iterative Collective (TIC), an independent games publisher based in Singapore has raised USD $1.2 million in a seed round. TIC provides resources to indie developers to help them create successful titles and their debut game, The Signal State, has become a cult classic. The funding will be used to expand TIC's publishing and marketing capabilities.

4. Singapore-based VC firm Antler is launching a 10-week founder residency programme in Jakarta in June 2023, inviting applications from pre-idea and pre-seed stage founders. The programme will provide access to business leaders, experienced operators, tech builders and potential co-founders. The firm has already invested in 25 startups and received over 4,000 applicants for its inaugural programme. Mentors include Noni Purnomo and Danu Wicaksana. BASE, an Antler programme startup, recently closed a USD $6 million Series A funding round. Indonesia has also the highest number of startups in Southeast Asia.

Btw yesterday I wrote a thread about Indonesia’s economic development 👇

AI Images of The Day 🖼️

If IKEA sold Porsches

Tweet of The Day 🐣

If you’re out of the loop, during the weekend @Balaji made a bet that Bitcoin will go to USD $1 million in 90 days, betting for the hyperinflation of the US Dollar.

Who is Balaji?

• Former CTO of Coinbase

• Former GP at a16z

• And famously predicted called the pandemic

That’s a wrap for today. See you all tomorrow! 👋

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