Singapore-based media startup Tech In Asia lately announced an $18 per month paywall and the subscription went live this week. This was built to make the business self-sustaining after a tricky period of business in which the company observed an ICO and was forced to lay off its staff.
The company made cutbacks of s many as one-third of its team after it went back on a plan to raise money from an ICO. It was in July that the company canceled its ICO plans and fired 18 of its 60 employees in Singapore.
“Our goal is to give Tech In Asia back into the hands of the community and harness community forces to bring us closer to our mission of building and serving Asia’s tech communities,” the company stated.
Most of the layoffs were in non-editorial business lines such as the company’s jobs division. Though the fundraising amount for the ICO was not revealed, the plan was to get in enough fresh investment to extend the company’s eroding runway.
The ICO was part of ‘Project Tribe,’ a strategy to develop a decentralized platform that would enable any organization to develop online communities.