Cake DeFi shines while firms crumble amid crypto winter

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Hi readers,

There’s something unreal about the crypto scene. To oversimplify, where else can JPEGs be sold for the price of a sports car and startups with no revenue raise hundreds of millions of US dollars (unless you’re Adam Neumann)?

Cake DeFi is also defying gravity in its own way and remains seemingly unscathed even while other crypto lenders have collapsed. Profitable? Check. Bootstrapped? Check. Fast-growing? Check.

In this article, I look at the nuts and bolts of what the Singapore-based company is trying to do. Can it keep its momentum going? Who can tell? But given how ambitious it is, it won’t be for a lack of trying.

— Terence Lee, Editor In Chief at Tech in Asia

Top stories this week

Image credit: Timmy Loen

1. How this rarest of unicorns is shrugging off the crypto winter
Cake DeFi said that it hit US$65 million in quarterly revenue just two years after it was founded. And that’s not all it’s touting.

2. National Gallery Singapore dabbles in blockchain and NFTs
The museum is also planning to launch a decentralized autonomous organization next year. But dealing with public perception will be tricky.

3. To take VC money or not: Indonesia’s profitable bootstrapped startups at a crossroads
Sustainability is becoming an important investment criteria for many VCs, but profitabity may prove a tough nut to crack for startups.

4. Mapping out SEA’s digital defenders
The cybersecurity sector has seen increasing investments over the last five years, with Singapore taking the crown as the regional hub.

5. Sea Group’s financial health in 9 charts
We put our finger on the pulse of Sea Group, Southeast Asia’s largest internet company.

6. Fallout at PayMongo: alleged harassment by CEO, founder departures, growth woes
PayMongo has grown fast amid the pandemic. Now, with C-suite leader departures and allegations of harassment, it faces its biggest test yet.

7. Exclusive: Bukalapak founders’ fund backs early round of Indonesian coding test firm
Algobash says its product is “on par” with global peers like HackerRank and Codility, which have become popular in Southeast Asia due to the lack of local options.

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