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SG-Based Sprooki Gets $480k, provide retailers mobile solutions to engage customers

Mustaza Mustafa — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:55:39 +0000

Singapore-based startup Sprooki has raised US480k in second round seed funding for its mobile application that provides end-to-end solution for retailers to engage with shoppers, makes a total of SGD1m seed funding received from startup incubator Get2Volume.

The second round funding is in partnership with NRF, made under the co-founding initiative Technology Incubator Scheme.
Sprooki offers malls and retailers the ability to send location-targeted messages or ads to its mobile platform, makes it easier for customers and shoppers to get updated promotions and make purchases directly from the application and skip queues. The mobile solution helps retailers to capture sales from shoppers even outside the mall, and hrough its platform, Sprooki also provide retailers with access to it own custom Shopper Analytics and Location-Aware Management Tools.

The startup has tied-up a strong partnership with Orchard Road mall 313@Somerset since launch on October 2011, and has since partnered with over 60 malls and retailers in Singapore and Asia.

The mobile commerce market in Singapore is growing since 2011.

Consumerism in Malaysia, How Startups Can React With Confidence

Kianglek — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:10:49 +0000

This year, ASEAN’s top five economies are forecasted to register a grand GDP of US$ 1,889.84 billion. Malaysia’s share is estimated at 14.16%, a clear sign of the country’s vitality as a regional powerhouse driving growth and development. Like any other globalising economies, foresight stems from logical interpretations of data and trend, enabling cold-calculated risk taking for aspiring enterprises.

Since 2010, Asia’s ad impression through mobile apps and smartphones grew by 113% and 41% each.

Meanwhile, the average Malaysian consumers’ acumen in retail brands and promotion savvy is largely virtual, with 69% likely to respond positively to online advertising.

To quote from AC Nielsen’s David Webb, “As social media increasingly becomes a mainstream activity, brands have been quick to ‘get on board’ to better understand and connect with consumers when it comes to their advertising strategies, engagement and conversion.” Comparatively 73% of Southeast Asia’s consumers are likely to be moved by advertising using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, a figure high by global standards. Both Indonesia and Malaysia, two culturally and economically intertwined countries, fare high at 64% and 63% respectively, ahead of fellow ASEAN member Singapore, at 53%.

Polling a trend typical to capitalist economies, most people are likely to engage in petty consumerism that reflect a general spread of disposable income, namely on luxuries such as food, clothing and value-added experiences. Out of the 10.9 million Malaysians who do shop online, between 50 to 60% spend on items with rapid turnovers, such as tech accessories, movie tickets, and general consumer goods. Faring lower, but still significant are jewelry, CDs and DVDs, and computers, at 43-48%, presumably for reasons of security, triviality or simply a matter of confidence. Top of the list among those who made the aforementioned purchases are books and travel itineraries, including air tickets, ranging from 69 to 82%. Recently, MHBuddy, a Facebook app by Malaysian Airlines (MAS) won praise by for its innovation in simplistic usability.

Entrepreneurs should take good note of this to better poise their products and services to meet a set of more affluent, mature and mobile target consumers. Close to 54% those fall within the age bracket of 26 and 40, with those between 26 and 30 at 19.7%, the largest by far. Introducing gaming, health and lifestyle products and services with mature, sophisticated content to this younger, coming-of-age group may well be a food for thought for upcoming startupers. Another important point to ponder, 38
% of Internet users polled in 2010 “do not need to buy online,” and at least 28% are discouraged due to logistics and “not having credit cards.” Startup products and services would have to worry less about tech illiteracy and pricing, instead coming up with more creative ways of quality and servicing, as evident in more than 50% of online shoppers believing in reliability and safety issues.

Late in 2011, the 4^th Mobile Commerce Summit ASIA held in Kuala Lumpur gathered regulators, retailers, telecom operators, banks, payment processors, technology providers and hardware vendors to explore comprehensive and effective platforms for all the stakeholders to share, discuss, explore, learn and take the first movers’ advantage. And the infrastructures are being laid down through key initiatives, as the Malaysian government already mandated the Multimedia Development Corporation to draft a framework a digital Malaysia. It seems that the society is headed towards some degree of k-maturity. Already in the Asia Pacific, the country ranks sixth in the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010, coming behind Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Singapore to launch the World’s first Groupon retail shop this July

Cherrelle West — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:32:23 +0000

Groupon has announced the official launch of the world’s first and only Groupon Shop in Singapore, which will happen on 4th July. According to ZDNet, the store had already opened its doors on 30th April and consists of three terminals where visitors can buy and redeem coupons right at that moment.

The new Groupon Store aims to connect better with Groupon fans by bringing the deals to the physical store and making it easier for visitors to understand the deal and have all the information needed before purchasing the deal. The Groupon Store is located in the heart of Singapore at Suntec City Mall, which makes it even easier for Singaporeans living near and far to visit the store.

It’ll be interesting for us all to see how Groupon’s decision to start a physical presence will gel with its business model. The technology company has now jumped into retail.

Within the e-commerce space in Singapore, popular blogshops have also set up physical shops to improve better connections with their customers. Popular blogshops such as tracyeinny and MDS are examples. However, prices of the products seem rather high.

The physical store allows Groupon Singapore to have the personal touch and puts a face to the Groupon name.

Social publishing platform FashionSpace gets 6-figure for regional expansions

Cherrelle West — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:55:04 +0000

Singapore-based social publishing platform in the fashion industry, FashionSpace has received six-figure investments from Crystal Horse Investments (CHI) and a private investor and is now ready to execute regional expansion plans. This was announced in a press release on 31st May. The investment received definitely topped the S$250k seed funding it received last year from CHI.

“We’ve come this far on organic traffic alone. Now, we are at the point where we’re ready to make a more concerted marketing effort to further build our user base in Asia and around the world,” said FashionSpace CEO Danielle Siauw.

Crystal Horse Investments (CHI), an angel investment firm that is also based in Singapore has helped FashionSpace make headway in Fashion Technology Startup space, since its launch in May 2011.

FashionSpace has increased hundreds of thousands of fashion products as Asia’s first Fashion Affiliate Program during the prestigious Audi Fashion Week’s Star Creation Competition. FashionSpace is a website that allows users and fashionistas to discover emerging designers and follow latest fashion trends and monetize it with a Fashion Affiliate Program.

Whenever a user purchases an item, after being redirected to a merchant site from FashionSpace, publishers will then get a cut of the successful transaction. FashionSpace is also a performance based advertising system, which matchmakes fashion e-tailers with other shoppers and publishers.

There are three types of users on FashionSpace, publishers, fashion merchants and members. Publishers are the bloggers or any traditional magazines who are interested to create content for their own websites or blogs, while fashion merchants are allowed to showcase their products and are able to create their own lookbook. Members consist of anybody who is interested in fashion, shopping and browsing the website.

The startup, FashionSpace, has hosted many fashion products. It has hosted internationally recognizable brands such as Gucci, Prada and Lanvin. FashionSpace has plans to roll out the Fashion Affiliate Program to other regional merchants in the coming months.

Facebook Buys Instagram For $1 Billion, To Grow Strength, Remain Standalone

Mustaza Mustafa — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:59:29 +0000

Facebook announced earlier this morning that it has agreed to buy Instagram for US$1 billion, just one week after the number 1 photo-sharing app released its version for Android. Not since Google bought Youtube have we heard of such a huge acquisition in the tech startup scene.

“I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook” – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder, Facebook.com

Google and Facebook had both approached Instagram since the past 18 months, but clearly it seems Instagram knows its worth a premium offer.

The San Francisco startup has only 13 employees, with 27 million registered users worldwide on iOS alone. Its Android version saw 1 million download in the first 24 hours after the official release last week, making it worth everything Facebook has to offer. Instagram was first released for iPhone users in October 2010, and have since grab the attention of photo lovers including professional photographers.

“It was not just a photo-sharing app. It was a way that people were communicating with each other the same way they might have on Facebook,” Paul Kedrosky, Kauffman Foundation

The Facebook CEO and founder has pledged to allow Instagram to remain as it is, independant. “We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products,” Zuckerberg said. “At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.”

Twitter brand pages has landed in Japan

Mustaza Mustafa — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:00:09 +0000

Twitter has launched pages for brands in Japan, four months after it was introduced in the US last December and DoCoMo, Lawson and Warner Entertainment are said to be among the first companies that will be using the service in Asia, after US and UK.

Twitter brand pages are pages for companies and brands that will have a little more features added to the page.Among the features are header customization and the ability to stick a status at the top of tweet timeline. Unlike Facebook which offer Facebook Timeline for companies and brands at free cost, the Twitter brand pages are only offered to companies who spend $25,000 or more on Twitter advertising.

How To Find A Technical Cofounder [Startup]

Mustaza Mustafa — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:25:52 +0000

To turn idea into reality, you will have to find development resources, assuming that you are the one with non-technical background. It is not a rare problem but technical co-founder is not a scarce resource as well. However, when you go to business events, you still can hear the “Wanted for developer or technical co-founder” lookout.

You don’t find a technical co-founder, you earn one – Jason Freedman

As an entrepreneur, nobody can help you on this. Figure out a solution is just as teaching you a lesson. It is the first obstacle you face, but not the biggest throughout your start-up life span. The above quote pops a question up for you to think: What you have been doing in seeking a co-founder? If you think what you’ve done is good enough, why still nobody work with you?

If you’re starting a web company and you can’t code, there are a few things you can bring to the table, including: experience managing a successful startup, sales and marketing experience, valuable connections (especially in a startup environment), money – Ryan Waggoner

If you can tick the first three out of four things, you should not read this article now because you will earn a developer and use the last thing to hire him or her. Ryan Waggoner, who was once doing freelance development, also advises that you should split the EQUITY pie accordingly.

Although you discover the value, research the market and define the business strategy and model, your work volume seems like far outweigh their tasks. Effort is not judged in this way. They do spend their time to support the development effort which should not worth 10 or 20 percent. It is a team where no one can be better off without each other. Either you or he quits; the start-up idea will not turn into a real one.

Go Out And Hunt

After correcting this perception, go out to find the talented developer. You meet every technical person through events and websites but not everyone can be your co-founder. However, they can recommend you to a friend. They are developers, and they know developers. Hence, your target is to INSPIRE them so that they would not forget you easily.

Co-founders are going to develop a closer relationship to make this team a success. Before pitching your start-up to someone, your first pitch would be to a co-founder. You both must share the ambition and enthusiasm of the same value. It is the gap between technical co-founder and technical consultant.

It’s marketing yourself; It’ll prove your intelligence and your marketing abilities to your future co-founder – Jason Freedman of 42Floors

Bob at 47hats mentioned about interviewing with Dave Feinleib. He said the great first step to find a technical co-founder is making a 30 second video explaining what will be different and valuable in the app, put it up on Youtube and start evangelizing it everywhere you can. You are an idea guy, and now you share your idea.

Somehow people will afraid of going public until the beta is done. It is silly as nobody would bother to steal it. Also, you desire to make someone like it and the “someone” is your future partner. Your willingness to make a PITCH means that you take it serious.

If you are introvert, do change it. You do not expect of finding the right co-founder by sitting at your home chair. Sites, venues, conferences, events and meetups are worldwide. Co-founders are from strangers. NETWORKING is crucial to begin as soon as possible. Some of them have already in partnering or implementing their own ideas. If you happen to live in Silicon Valley, that is a great start to attend different start-up events, especially the Co-Founders MeetUp.

My favorite example was from the first Co-Founders Meetup: two women pitched their idea. At the business level, they sounded about equally interesting to me. But one presenter was all-business, while the other one took the opportunity of her pitch to give us a striking demonstration of yoga. I know which one I want to work with, and so did everyone in the room. Choosing was made so much simpler by discovering the person behind the idea. – Alain Raynaud

TechCrunch also shares more creative examples of where you can find your co-founder. For example, you can talk to the Research and Development Leader or Chief Technical Officer from well-known start-up. Of course, you cannot hire them. But their social circle is your point. Remember that your PERSONALITY speaks success. Looking at the quoted example, how to impress and inspire is what you should have in your mind.

If you think you have done sufficiently but cannot find the suitable developer, try to re-think your idea as well as the requirements. What do people say when listening to your pitch? Is it boring or extremely impossible? Sometimes, you should kill your ideas to let it grow.

Worth Mention;

If you happen to be in Malaysia, there are many startup events or rather meetups organized by the local community that’s best for you to find possible co-founders and partners. You may want to follow these groups and their events & activities;

Or if you are looking for a group of people with specific technical skills, you may try here;

Also, there are places created to help you find co-founders;

5 Reasons Why Startups Fail and How to Avoid Them

Kianglek — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:38:20 +0000

Verily, it is said, that ventures either flourish or die. Every now and then the cycle renews itself with many apps gone defunct, making room for exciting newcomers. We have also seen how Sprouter joined the deadpool and managed to come back last year.

Next in line will be soon-to-be memorable Google Wave, come April 30th, joining the familiar headlines by Limewire, Notifo, Brandstack and Plancast. So what went wrong? (It) turns out that lacking a single, stable and well-defined users’ base may not be the only axe needed to put an end to everything. Let us examine.

Innovation

When Yap Voicemail chose to cease operations early last October, the app is already in direct competition with existing apps which converts voicemail into text for less fuss and more management. Evidently it’s safe to argue that developers of the app duplicated, rather than innovate from the likes of Google Voice, YouMail and VoiceCould, to name a few. Accordingly, the lack of this pioneer status should be remedied by researching more on the existing problems existing players largely ignored, and come up with simple, intelligent solutions.

Exclusivity

Too often, charismatic founders found themselves too obsessed coming up with The Thing, serving a market niche too exclusive. To keep up, ever maturing startups will have to choke up with feasible deals able to minimally sustain an operation. Consider HiGear, having forced to shutdown due to an unforeseen loom; auto theft preying on their luxury car owners. Rather than high-rolling on a marginal few, there exist vast untapped potentials in a singular trend the good old-fashioned way of carpooling.

Adoption

Arguably the one critical factor affecting the survival of startups is the degree and pace of market adoption of products and services. There is no room for redundancy or fanciness. As in the case of Notifo in September 2011, a platform which allows any web site or service to easily create mobile notifications, attempt s by the Company to serve suffered an expected snag when, just about every potential client would indigenous apps to handle problems themselves.

Enduring a similar fate is Plancast, which was unable to move beyond the early adoption phase into more established users’ base. Entrepreneurs often fail to adequately simulate the market. Conduct a SWOT analysis. Eliminating unnecessary ideas is one thing, knowing how best to support the best of ideas is another.

Service and Quality

When Brandstack launched, it seemed like haven for amateur and freelancing designers. The idea was to create a marketplace where creative types could sell off their logo concepts as they came to mind, rather than on “spec work” conjured up by a client. Then all of the sudden the Company’s transactions become mired in credit card fraud, forcing it to shut down.

It seems Brandstack was unprepared in developing a solid framework for transactions and other policies entailing intellectual property, instead focusing too much onto profit making. As in the case of BeeTV, there isn’t much effort in forming longer term strategies to support traction. It now becomes imperative that prior to launching, significant tests are required to ensure reliable and quality service of which users can relate meaningfully. There is really no point raising a significant users’ base and plenty of capital if there is no underlying strategy but a mere novelty.

Corporate Savvy

And at the end of the day, it all boils down to the people factor. Starting-up alone never provides any real advantage; it only leaves the founder overwhelmed. Evidently, recruiting remains essential to enlist positions tailored to strengths. Down the road, a startup may encounter new-found challenges and stakeholders, which require further re-alignment of tasks and objectives. And as the Company’s portfolios grow, it’s always a good idea to recruit more, but not unnecessary manpower with overlapping responsibilities. Adapt but never overstaff.

So it remains that founders should be the ones running the Company, while stakeholders come in to add to the democratic process. At the end of the day, they only hoped for a stable and meaningful startup. Half of the energy should be diverted to product development and market research; they know best how to notice a worthy startup.

5 reasons why you should attend DEMO Asia in Singapore

Down Under Ecosystem Hatches BugHerd

Paul Spence — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:08:08 +0000

In typical fashion, BugHerd co-founders Alan Downie and Matt Milosavljevic set out to solve a problem that had annoyed them for years. Now web designers and developers everywhere have begun to sit up and take notice of their application, which aims to overcome the traditional tension between end users and web developers by making bug reporting and tracking seamless and easy.

The software cleverly tags, describes and assigns issues on a visual overlay of any web page. Bugherd also helpfully integrates with popular project management tools as well as accounting software service Xero.

They obviously cracked the solution wide open because the dynamic duo have been fielding a steady stream of offers from technology incubators and start-up funds both at home in Australia and in Silicon Valley. After a killer pitch at Tech23 the company went on to become the first Australian venture to be selected for the high profile 500 Startups accelerator programme based in Mountain View, California. BugHerd also recently secured $500K in funding from Melbourne based Starfish Ventures, the same investor that backed creative out-sourcing marketplace DesignCrowd.

BugHerd exemplifies the kind of lean, laser focused, problem solving web companies that have been emerging from Australia and New Zealand lately. In many cases founders are building upon experience gained with a previous related venture or have been able to bootstrap to the point of customer acquisition by consulting or working a second job. Founders are also finding more success as the entrepreneurial ecosystem evolves steadily Down Under and successful entrepreneurs reinvest their time and money into the next generation of upstarts through local vehicles such as Starfish and Webfund which in turn have links to markets in the United States.

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Free Online Course for Startup Entrepreneurs by Stanford Professors

Evan — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:40:47 +0000

You heard it right, although there are bunch of free courses available online, you may not want to miss out the Lean Launchpad course for startup entrepreneurs by Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur who is also a professor at the Stanford University. Steve Blank is one of the top 10 influencers of Silicon Valley, as reported by Mercury News in late 2009.

The Lean Launchpad is one of the free courses available at Coursera, a new online learning startup founded by Stanford professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. The class will be focusing into turning great idea into great company, offered at free cost starting this month, and open to public.

“This class is not about how to write a business plan. It’s not an exercise on how smart you are in a classroom, or how well you use the research library. The end result is not a PowerPoint slide deck for a VC presentation. Instead you will be getting your hands dirty as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup actually works.”

There is no specific date when the class will start, however it is set to begin this month.