Daily Briefing: Blockchain firm StakeWith.Us raises $825,000 in seed round; Standard Chartered poaches Deutsche Bank exec

And online marketplace Zowedo raises $270,000 in a new funding round.

From e27:

Singapore-based blockchain infrastructure startup StakeWith.Us today announced a $825,000 (US$595,000) seed funding round led by SGInnovate and LuneX Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures’ dedicated fund for blockchain investments.

The investment will be a second lead investment that LuneX Ventures has concluded since its appointment to SGInnovate’s panel of co-investors, under the Startup SG Equity to identify and co-invest with SGInnovate in early-stage deep tech startups founded in Singapore.

StakeWith.Us wants to use the funding to scale its team across Asia and expand its offering.

“As of now, we are providing staking services for three protocols, and with our current pipeline, we aim to provide up to nine protocols by the end of this year. We are also pro-actively approaching potential institutional clients to provide bespoke staking services for them,” he continued.

StakeWith.Us offers digital asset owners a secure, performant and reliable service to secure new decentralised Proof of Stake networks.

Read more here.

From e27:

Zowedo, an online marketplace that connects consumers in Singapore to personal, lifestyle and home services provided by local SMEs and micro-vendors, announced today it has received $270,000 (US$200,000) in a fresh round of funding led by Paragon Capital Management Singapore (PCMS).

This is the company’s second raise, which takes it total money raised to date to $448,000 (US$330,000).

According to Co-founder and CEO Antoine Nicole, the investment will help Zowedo speed up product development and scale both customer and vendor acquisition.

The startup was founded to fill a large gap in the SME market, where finding a good service provider for personal or home services can be challenging, and is often based on luck rather than knowing the best options available.

The Zowedo platform allows busy working professionals and anyone looking for lifestyle or home services to locate and discover services that they might need. The company curates a wide range of service providers, enabling real-time appointments and online payment. The focus is on providing variety in terms of types of services, which involves close curation, understanding consumer preference and being able to collate a diverse list of service providers.

Read more here.

From efinancialcareers:

Standard Chartered has appointed Mark Ellis as its new global head of end user services. Ellis has relocated from London to Singapore for his new MD-level role, which he started on 5 August, according to a spokesperson for Stan Chart.

Ellis was formerly the head of end user strategy, architecture and digital workplace transformation at Deutsche Bank, which he joined in 2016 as the head of digital workplace transformation.

The firm’s spokesperson said that Ellis’ role comprise “leading the end user services team to deliver a next generation workplace that promotes greater collaboration, productivity, security and mobility across its global businesses.”

Read more here.