Ecomi gains users on NFT wave

Singapore

DAVID Yu has stumbled upon a treasure trove. The chief executive and co-founder of Singapore-registered Ecomi began dabbling with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2017 - the year the company was founded - partly out of personal interest and partly because he thought there might be some kind of business opportunity in it. But little did he imagine the interest that his company's VeVe app - an online marketplace allowing users to buy and sell digital collectibles - would draw.

The market for NFTs - digital collectibles which come with certifications of authenticity - has ballooned almost overnight. VeVe's user base has rocketed some 11,225 per cent in the past 90 days and currently stands at 86,000, scattered across 186 countries. The number of users continues to increase in the thousands on a daily basis, according to Mr Yu.

Besides being able to trade with each other, users of the VeVe app can also participate in a weekly platform "drop". A new product is released every Thursday and users can queue for a chance to purchase it.

Collectibles on the platform also have a rarity level attached to them: common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare and secret rare. Users can then showcase them in virtual showrooms.

Users on VeVe are typically aged 25 to 45, with North America and Europe being the top two markets. Singapore is among the app's top 10 most active markets.

"People in Singapore love collecting things; they love buying toys and love things, cute things," said Mr Yu. Many of the collectibles on his platform are also linked to well-known icons and brands that are popular among Singaporeans, such as the Japanese-inspired brand tokidoki.

"I guess a lot of our customers now have a job... (so) they're probably buying them for two reasons. One is they love it and buy it for themselves. Two is that they buy it and use the app to show it to their kids, because we're getting a lot of posts online where their kids are standing next to superheroes, so we can see that engagement really happening."

Ecomi has partnerships with Capcom, Cartoon Network, DC, tokidoki and General Motors, among others. Its collectibles span pop culture, evergreen characters, gaming, movies and television, as well as sports and cars.

Users on the platform carry out transactions on VeVe through a currency called Gems, which they purchase in the app.

One Gem is worth US$1.

Mr Yu said the idea for Ecomi stemmed from a passion for collecting. As a child, he collected everything from stamps to telephone cards to comics.

In the mid-90s, he began distributing games and collectible toys - a business he continues to be involved in today.

Operating within the gaming world, Mr Yu noticed how important digital goods were to gamers.

"Some people spend thousands of dollars buying Gems to level up, to (get) better helmets, better weapons... a lot of people really treat that as a tangible asset even though it only belongs in the world of gaming," he said.

He was already familiar with digital assets, having worked with his longtime friend Daniel Crothers, Ecomi's other co-founder and chief operating officer, to come up with a means of protecting digital assets from being stolen.

The two had devised the Ecomi Secure Wallet - a physical device allowing users to store cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and more than 680 other coins or tokens. Assets can be transferred into or out of the device via an encrypted Bluetooth connection with a paired Apple or Android device. The wallet was Ecomi's first product release.

At the same time, they wanted to take their work in digital assets further, and in 2017 began working on the development of VeVe. They also established partnerships with various brands to obtain licences for their product releases. The net revenue from Ecomi's sale of collectibles is shared with its licensors and partners.

Ecomi launched a closed beta version of VeVe last December and released this beta to the public in January.

Although Ecomi is registered in Singapore, Mr Yu is a New Zealander living in Auckland. He said he was drawn to Singapore by the activeness and innovativeness of the Singapore government in the technology scene.

Another pull factor was the favourable laws and structures in place, such as taxations and availability of grants. The strong global connectivity of Singapore also made it a strategic location.

Next on the radar for VeVe, Mr Yu said, would be expanding its digital collectibles offerings. The company is looking into the world of fashion and art. There are also plans to increase the utility of its NFTs through gamification, and for the creation of a Metaverse.

While there are sceptics of NFTs, Mr Yu believes that NFTs are not going to go away and that the "key players in the industry who will set the standards will always survive".

He said: "It's a great way to solve digital ownerships, so (the) asset class is going to be around, because people now treat that with real respect."

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