Kita’s mission is to elevate the livelihoods of Filipino farmers collectively and sustainably with the use of modern supply chain tech and AI
Philippine startup Kita Agritech has secured US$3 million in an “oversubscribed” seed funding round co-led by Gentree Fund and Altara Ventures.
Kita plans to use the money to digitalise the agriculture supply chain using big data and AI technologies.
Kita was launched in 2022 as a supplier of fruits and vegetables for restaurants in Metro Manila. The company supported local farmers by financing their agricultural inputs and directly procuring their goods for distribution to various enterprises, such as hotels, restaurants, and food manufacturers.
According to the company, this approach eliminated the expenses linked to conventional supply chain systems, ensuring profitability for farmers, and delivering the freshest, top-quality produce and ingredients to clients.
As an agricultural economy, the Philippines plays a significant role in the regional agricultural supply chain market, accounting for US$30 billion in trading volume, about 10 per cent of its GDP, and employing over 20 per cent of its population. The country is Southeast Asia’s second-largest producer of fresh vegetables, yielding over 5 million tons annually, following Vietnam.
As of October 2023, Kita operates three warehouses and a fleet of cold chain-enabled delivery trucks, serving major restaurant and hotel chains in the Philippines.
“Much of the initial growth and success in Kita can be attributed to having a very good team in place and focus on cash flow and profitability,” said Marc Concio, Founder and CEO of Kita.
“I have seen something further under the sun, that the swift do not always win the race, nor do the mighty win the battle, nor do the wise always have the food, nor do the intelligent always have the riches, nor do those with knowledge always have success, because time and unexpected events overtake them all.”
As it said in the scriptures mentioned, “..time and unexpected events overtake them all”.
I am sure we were all surprised by the recent COVID-19 crisis, and never in our lives did we expect it would happen to us or our country. But still, it happened. That is because we are not soothsayers or fortune tellers. We are not capable of predicting the future. Simply put, there are many things that are not under our control, yet we dwell or blame ourselves for negative outcomes that come out of these events.
There are many things you can’t control. Work within your means and capabilities. Maybe what you are trying to achieve is beyond you.
I always use the example of 4-foot-11 man who wants to be an NBA basketball star. Yes, there are probably a few of those, but a FEW. Being exceptional comes with hard work and extraordinary effort. Win first in your own world, then break out if there is opportunity. Learn to let go of things beyond your mental and physical capacity, and move forward.
I once wrote in a social media post, “We have to be products of our own ingenuity, or we are not geniuses at all.” In other words, we have to walk the talk. Look at yourself first, and demonstrate it outward to other people so that you may lead by example.
The first thing you have to do is have the humility to accept and admit that you are limited. That means you have to love yourself, with all your shortcomings, before you can influence others. You should be able to realize that your weaknesses can only be complemented by the strength of others. Moreover, you have to be able to accept criticism as well. Being a leader to yourself, is all about accepting your imperfection. You don’t have all the answers, but some do.
Secondly, being humble then brings you now to keep learning, and creating a plan to improve yourself. Self-improvement and growth requires you to realize that you have to better for the benefit of others.
Lastly, being a leader to yourself means being able to master your emotions at the same time, being conscious of your spirituality, in turn being effective in controlling your actions. If you do not have a technique to control yourself when faced with temptations, then you cannot tell those who follow you to do so.
History tells us that failure is inevitable. That’s how people learn. That’s how societies thrive and grow. If we know that failure is inevitable, then we also know that unexpected events overtake us all. Accept the realities of life. Things happen. And you are not the only exception. Once you realize this, then every failure is just a step towards your objective.
The danger is this: if you have a pattern of failure, and you don’t put in the effort to get out of it.
You have to determine your pattern of failure. You may be repeating the same failure over and over again. You have to be conscious of this pattern, and you need to confuse and break it. If you were habitually late, how do you break it? By intentionally creating a break in the middle. Wake up for that single day you decide to confuse the pattern and be there 15 minutes early. Is your work making you bored and demotivated? Then take control of your boredom and find things that are satisfying with it.
Secondly, diagnose and cure. Be very curious about why you are stuck in this pattern. Ask for professional mentorship, especially from those who have experienced the same type of failure. Once you have diagnosed it properly, then have that conscious effort to change, whether it is your attitude, your habit or your circumstances. I cannot stress it more: Diagnose, diagnose, and diagnose. Sometimes, it is also a good idea to ask someone close to you to tell you honestly if he sees this pattern of yours. A third-party perspective helps you diagnose without bias.
Did you know that if the sun came even 1 inch closer to Earth, it will burn us all to a crisp? When you repeat small poor judgements, it compounds into catastrophic results. If you create a good habit that you do a little each day, it compounds into great results. Do not underestimate small degrees of change. Be who you want to be by developing good habits a day at a time. If it’s hard to change, change your environment. It’s easier to eat healthier when only healthy food is around. Remove any sensory cues that can make you fall into the pattern of failure.
REFLECT: Think about a failure in your life and see if it has become a pattern. Think of ways to break free.
If you are tall, you can just stretch and get it. If you are short: then you can ask someone to get it for you (delegation)
Climb on the shoulder of a tall friend and get it (teamwork) Use a ladder, climb it, and get it (leverage) Get a long stick with a hook and get it (innovation) If none of these work, Shake the tree until it falls. (brute force) If it doesn’t fall, buy an apple from the supermarket. (outsourcing) There is no excuse for no execution because of your weakness.
Your weakness evaporates with results.
If you are afraid to move because of your weaknesses, then think about this apple from the tree. There are many ways to get to the result. Delegation, Teamwork, Leverage, Tools, Brute Force and Outsourcing. If you cannot do it yourself, then find another way to execute, then your inabilities becomes irrelevant. At the end of the day, you have the apple in your hand, and that is what matters.
We are officially META! Congratulations again to our Bounce Back PH Official team and the other global communities who were chosen to be part of the 2021 “META” acceleration program with $7M USD funding, training and a global network.
Less than 1% of the best communities in the world! Amazing work team! Creating bigger impact in helping the MSME community.
I founded Bounce Back PH on March 12, 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us globally in order to support the MSME’s.
One of our key food and beverage ventures FRITO KING will be launching its first branch in Marikina on Saturday April 23, 2022, 2pm together with brand ambassador Troy Montero. FRITO KING is a brand of our franchise arm FBSV, INC. which features the Crispy Pugon Pata, Pugon Liempo, Best-selling Sisig and Frito Fried Chicken.
The group plans to open 50 to 100 branches in the Philippines within the next 2 years.
Recognizing the explosive growth of blockchain, NFTs, and cryptocurrency globally, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), the country’s digital innovation pioneer, has embarked on a journey to become the first Philippine bank in the Metaverse, in partnership with Filipino Blockchain startup Ark of Dreams.
UnionBank has always been at the forefront of technological innovations to empower consumers and make them future ready. It was the first Philippine bank to introduce the following that have been game-changers in the way we do banking: (1) mobile banking through wireless application protocol-enabled cellphones; (2) launch a banking website; (3) use an online payment card through EON; (4) use a chat bot (“Talk to Rafa”); (5) launch its own stablecoin (PHX); (6) introduce mobile check deposit through its award-winning app UnionBank Online; (7) opened the first fully digital bank branch in the country, The ARK; and, most recently (8) the first Philippine bank to go fully on the cloud.
Today, UnionBank blazes the innovation trail anew by being the first local bank to enter the Metaverse.
“This collaboration with Ark of Dreams gives us yet another opportunity to forge forward in our pursuit of tech-ing up the Philippines and reinforcing our commitment to deliver superior customer experience across channels; and now, even the Metaverse! We are excited to be the leader in this revolution as the digital asset space keeps maturing and consumer demand for it grows exponentially,” said Henry R. Aguda, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer at UnionBank.
The founder of Ark of Dreams, Jason Dela Rosa says that “Ark of Dreams is a unique metaverse project” he envisioned this NFT project to provide opportunities that will allow to uplift people’s lives.
“We wanted to create an engaging and immersive virtual experience that is seamlessly connected to the real world. That means interacting with their favorite brands while availing of services like e-Commerce and earning rewards and benefits on the platform, which may be redeemable even in the physical world. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with UnionBank to provide value to our community and to keep innovating in this space,” Jason dela Rosa added.
“With this partnership, the integration of a suite of financial services with UnionBank’s innovations merged with the principles of Blockchain technology through a gamified NFT platform that is Ark of Dreams, there are unlimited possibilities to serve the whole ecosystem. Our imagination is the only limitation, “said Ark of Dreams CEO, Angeline Chii Viray.
Aguda added that the partnership is intended to familiarize and safely bring everyone into Metaverse, through collaborative ideation and co-creation of experiences and products among Ark of Dreams, UnionBank and the SME community.
The Ark of Dreams (AOD) is a unique, decentralized, and immersive blockchain-based shared human experience NFT game connecting the real world to the Metaverse through mobile play to earn, NFTs, meta-commerce, and brand integration.
AOD interacts with the real world by incorporating online shopping, NFTs, online activities, social events, gaming, virtual world exploration, and activities linked to well-loved brands and icons.
Popular brands and icons have joined the movement such as Pugad Baboy by Pol Medina Jr., Mercato Centrale, United Mercato Kitchens, Bianca King’s MadeMindful, Kimstore, HKT, Warehouse Club, Winkle Donuts, Nature2Nurture, PGA which includes top electronic brands such as Philips, Sony, Targus, Audio-Technica, Euroo, The Artisan Bakers Company, Frito King, KITA.PH, Orange Daily and many more are being signed up.
With the exploding popularity of NFT gaming and Metaverse initiatives globally, an all-Filipino team has recently set out to carve its piece of the market. Ark of Dreams (AoD), which symbolizes “sailing to the new world” and “hope,” aims to launch an NFT game that merges the virtual world to the real world through brand integration, which the team calls “metaverse living.”
Within a month from its initial release, the Ark of Dreams team has already sold millions of pesos of its token $AOD (Arkonia) through a silent private sale and is on its way to offering its NFTs and pre-sale to the public in March 2022.
To date, the Ark of Dreams community has grown to almost 2,000 members on its Discord channel, and the team reveals that there will be more aggressive and creative programs coming to build its presence in the Philippines and offshore.
It is not a surprise that Ark of Dreams is already making waves in the crypto communities. “Ark of Dreams is not just your usual NFT Play to Earn Game. We want to make it a sustainable metaverse game that will allow people to be who they want to be by giving them opportunities to earn, learn and build as they interact with different brands,” says Angeline Chii Viray, AoD’s chief executive and co-founder, who is also the founder of group Cryptocurrency Philippines.“
We coined a term called X2Earn — which means you don’t just play for rewards, but “X” can mean watching, creating, learning, shopping, working, and doing all sorts of other things in the metaverse and earning rewards in real life.
The daily interaction with our brand partners will form a daily habit that will make AoD a sustainable platform.
Brand integration allows brands to do in-game advertisting for exposure to Ark of Dreams players.The Ark of Dreams metaverse environment gives brands limitless possibilities to engage with their customers through immersive gameplay and the X2Earn Platform.
As a matter of fact, Ark of Dreams has already caught the attention of popular brands and companies to participate in its metaverse game — which the team will be rolling out very soon.
Everything in AoD is all about NFTs with utility. Imagine a “Store NFT” that gives you access to actual income from total sales of a particular product in the metaverse — or for example, a burger brand is offering 50% off for first time purchase to those who has its limited edition burger NFT.
So when a user purchases the burger NFT and use it in-game (e.g. feed it to the game character), the character gets boosts, at the same time, the user receives a one time voucher for actual purchase.
One of the key differentiators of Ark of Dreams among other NFT games, is its core — which is brand and real world rewards integration.
That is why AoD invests on its marketing and merchant acquisition team, headed by eCommerce vetaran and co-founder, MJ Gaan together with the copywriting top dog Mark Darwin Balaswit.
Arkonians get a free NFT ID that powers up their citizenship and rewards.
The Ark of Dreams is also attempting to be more innovative in the blockchain space. Blockchain expert and development lead, Christian Blanquera, says that AoD will be multi-chain and cross-chain, which means the team is seriously looking into platform interoperability.
NFTs will be available on three chains: Etherium, Polygon, and the Binance Smart Chain, which also offers the flexibility of choice for our buyers.
What can one expect from the Ark of Dreams?
Players, or Arkonians, can expect to experience a fun mobile metaverse game that allows you to earn its in-game token Arkon Crystals which can be exchanged for real world rewards. NFT Origin and Legendary Pets will be available for sale as well which can be used in the game.
AoD founder Jason dela Rosa, the head of SME recovery and resilience group Bounce Back Philippines, will be using Ark of Dreams as a vehicle and catalyst for social impact. “A chunk of our revenues will go to the recovery and development of MSME’s and SME’s as one of our impact missions. Our brand integration strategy also helps small business owners gain access to a whole new consumer market as well as help bring them to a new digital age which includes blockchain and NFTs.” His venture firm, Innovative Impact Ventures, Inc., focuses on startups that deliver innovative products and services and have solid social impact goals.
Ark of Dreams delivers a lot of promise, largely because of its no-nonsense team, the Founding Arkonians, which is made up of seasoned tech, marketing, and legal entrepreneurs. “We have committed members that have a long history of performance, technical capability, and delivery,” says Dela Rosa. “and our strengths across diverse industries help us perform well as a group.” The group also ensures its legal, privacy, and government compliances by bringing in top blockchain lawyer Atty. Rafael Padilla as its legal advisor.
The team is gearing up for its NFT and Token Pre-sale this March 2022 and the game launch this April 2022, which requires a reservation and whitelisting before purchase.
