Introducing Singapore’s NFT creators

Sign up for the Daily Newsletter, sent exclusively to our Premium subscribers. We break down the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community. Get the newsletter in your inbox everyday with a Premium subscription.

Hello readers,

My significant other is someone whose eyes tend to glaze over when I bring up tech-related topics. So it came as quite a surprise to me some months back when she suddenly asked me what NFTs were. She’d recently heard about how an acquaintance from school had made a significant sum of money from them and wanted to find out how exactly he did it.

“Finally,” I thought with glee. “Time for me to nerd out.” While explaining the topic was fun, I also came to the realization that NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, were no longer just some obscure thing within blockchain. Like Bitcoin, it had exploded into the public consciousness.

For today’s premium story, we get acquainted with three Singaporean NFT creators, exploring how their digital creations could take them to the big leagues, and whether the space can survive amid a myriad of scams and regulatory concerns.

Today we look at,

• The creators in the NFT space in Singapore
• Okhome’s US$3 million fundraise
• Other newsy highlights such as Indonesia’s new VC fund backed by state-owned enterprises and Flipkart’s entry into the healthcare space

Premium summary

The Singaporeans entering a multibillion-dollar industry

Image credit: Timmy Loen

As someone who generally follows the creative space (such as the movie and music industries), the concept of NFTs was mind-boggling when I first heard about it. Equally heart-stopping, it seems, are the exorbitant prices being paid for some of them. In March, Singapore-based collector MetaKovan made headlines when he bought an NFT for US$69 million. Interest in NFTs in the island-nation seems to be growing rapidly. Here’s how some Singaporeans are dabbling in the emerging field themselves.

• Off to the races: Two major NFT creatives in Singapore got off to a good start: Dark Zodiac and Luna Kiddy. The former made over US$1 million from its first NFT collection of trading cards in September, while the latter sold out its first collection of NFT artwork within 16 hours, bringing its total earnings from the sale to roughly US$30,000.

• I ask heaven for Mandopop NFTs: Even Mandopop singers like Teresa Tseng are getting in on the action. The 2006 runner-up of Singaporean singing competition Campus SuperStar has tokenized a set of “music visuals” in partnership with Hong Kong-based music producer and songwriter Terrence Ma.

• The question of legality: As a nascent space, NFT creators face difficulties in being lumped together with crypto scammers and face uncertainty when it comes to regulations. However, Singaporean creators in the space are still confident that the trust they’re formed with buyers can help them make a name for themselves.

Read more: Meet Singapore’s pioneering NFT creators

US$3 million finds a new home