Startup Magazine of Hong Kong: Jumpstart Issue 22 (July/August 2018)

EDITOR’S NOTE OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

By Glen Watson

W

E ARE INTERESTING creatures for many reasons, but one of the things I think makes us very special is our desire to travel, explore and see the world (or worlds, eventually).

Until my early 20s, so long ago now, I’d traveled coast to coast in Canada several times and been to England, Wales and the United States. My idea of travel then was mainly in the form of boating, camping, road trips and cottages.

As soon as I graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto in 1991, I packed up the car my mom gave me and headed west to British Columbia and the start of my career. The nearly 5,000km drive took about a week, stopping to visit places, friends and family along the way.

Loved it, even if my girlfriend’s mom joined us on the trip.

Another graduation gift was the Dr Seuss book “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” from dear family friends I’ve known my whole life, the Wellnhofers.

Not an unusual gift these days, but keep in mind it was printed in 1990 and I got my copy the following spring. I still have it. I’m sure most of you will recall the intro: Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

It’s an excellent book, and still a great gift for someone who is moving on to a new chapter in life.

But read more of the book, and you’ll find this part: I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on.

You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.

And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

This is so true about travel. Not all trips go as planned, for better or worse.

Certainly I’ve been in a slump while on the road, or after returning home.

To me, this is why TravelTech matters.

It’s not only about cheap flights and budget hotels. It’s the experience, the adventure, the unknown, the obstacles… all of that great stuff that sometimes leaves you weeping with joy, or occasionally drowning your sorrows. Anything that helps us travel better, or farther, or to places we never dreamed we’d go – sign me up for it, especially if it helps avoid or get through the slump.

In this issue, the Jumpstart team has explored far and wide in Asia to find interesting examples of how tech is impacting the travel industry. We’ve avoided the obvious, big-name and well-funded startups because there’s so much more to travel than getting cheap airfares and hotels.

I like to tell people that “I travelled so far west, I ended up in the Far East”. I love Hong Kong, especially for its airport. Which leads me to other places I’ll go, eventually.

Thanks to TravelTech, it’s cheaper, easier and more interesting to visit them.

Bon voyage!

Glen Watson glen@jumpstartmag.com

Issue 22 | 1

C

CONTENTS JUMPSTART magazine JULY/AUGUST 2018 1 EDITOR’S NOTE GUEST COLUMNS 7 Modern Customs 9 Profoundly Simple 11 Tale Of Two Cities 13 The Best Job In The World?

14 NEWS 18 LIFESTYLE FEATURES 22 Balancing Act

COVER STORY

TRAVELTECH

Who Has Time For Holidays?

By Glen Watson, Editor-in-Chief of Jumpstart

24

WHERE TO NEXT?

Future Of TravelTech Lies In Crossing Verticals Of New Deep Technology

By Peyton Ong, Journalist in Residence of Jumpstart

28

FEATURE

CAPTURING MEMORIES When Photography Meets The Tourism Industry

FEATURE

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?

38

Amadeus Is Working Closely With Entrepreneurs To Help Ignite And Advance Ideas

By Sarah Pearce, Founder of Travelshoot

By Matt James, Regional Head of Account Management of Amadeus

42 FEATURE

BREAK NEW GROUND

How Blockchain Will Revolutionize The Travel Industry

By Dirk Eschenbacher, Co-founder of Zanadu

30 32 34 36 40 41 42 44

Surf’s Up Inspiring Journey The Next Stage Transparency, Convenience & Engagement Finding Your Roammate Rediscover Your Hometown Issue 22 | 3 Break New Ground EVENTS

Issue 22 Jul/Aug 2018 Managing Director James Kwan Editor-in-Chief Glen Watson Associate Director of Content Development Chloe Wong Associate Director of Content Operations Tiffany Wong Director of Community Engagement Anita Chan Director of Product Development Maggie Lau Community Evangelist (Silicon Valley) Li Xing Chang Founder/Advisor Yana Robbins

Joseph Chow

Advisors Shitiz Jain Leo Ku

Journalists in Residence Quách Toàn Long Tieza Mica Santos Priscilla Tan Nelson Ng Sabrina Wang Peyton Ong

Ming Chen Ashley Galina Dudarenok James Durston Dirk Eschenbacher

Derek Kwik Interns Huey Wong Nayantara Bhat Jessie Yang Kelly Cho Yoyo Shek

Faridah Wu Shona Yang

Contributors Matt James Bay McLaughlin Sarah Pearce Hannah Ryan

Amit Saberwal Divya Samtani Fan Zhang

Special Thanks Joyce Ngo

Jumpstart is available at over 1,500 locations in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, China, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, Sydney, Melbourne, New York and Silicon Valley.

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Copyright © 2018 Jumpstart Media Ltd. The contents of the magazine are fully protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted without permission. The publisher and editors accept no responsibility in respect to any products, goods or services that may be advertised or referred to in this issue or for any errors, omissions, or mistakes in any such advertisements or references. The mention of any specific companies or products in articles or advertisements does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by this magazine or its publisher in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. Published articles do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Jumpstart Media.

SEP 14, 2018

WELCOME TO THE MOST HUMID SLUSH SEASON!

SINGAPORE.SLUSH.ORG

GUEST COLUMN

MODERN CUSTOMS MOBILE INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY ARE CHANGING HOW CHINESE TOURISTS TRAVEL

By Ashley Galina Dudarenok

There are comprehensive travel guides, user-generated content and Q&A services on Mafengwo.

pick them up on arrival. There are also service providers that help tourists with visa applications so they only need to provide documentation and pay without needing to go in person.

User Community For Information Sharing And Q&A

C

HINA HAS A huge population of over 1.3 billion people and, with rising incomes and reduced travel restrictions in recent years, enormous potential in terms of outbound tourism. Statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism reveal that the tourism sector contributed around RMB 9.13 trillion to national GDP in 2017, accounting for 11.04% overall.

Chinese tourism has seen other important changes. Younger people are now travelling more. They rely heavily on smart devices and the mobile Internet, and generally prefer arranging things online instead of visiting brickand-mortar travel agencies.

Online Booking

Now that almost everyone has access to the Internet, online booking is the new norm. There’s also more than simple transport and accommodation that can be booked in advance.

Online travel apps like Ctrip (携程), Fliggy (飞猪), Tuniu (途牛) and Qunar (去 哪儿) cooperate with travel destinations, insurance sellers and telecommunication companies to sell admission tickets, travel insurance, local phone cards and Wi-Fi eggs, so that tourists can buy them in advance and receive them digitally or

There are also online communities for tourists and travellers. They share user-generated content on sites such as Mafengwo (马蜂窝) that is like TripAdvisor. People detail their experiences and offer practical tips to fellow travellers and many visit these platforms to do research as they plan their trips.

Customized And Small Group Tours There’s also a growing trend among Chinese tourists for flexible timetables and a more individualized experience.

And instead of travelling with strangers in a large group tour, they’d rather go with their close relatives and friends.

So customized and small group tours are becoming more popular with Chinese tourists.

Most travel apps provide customization options for this growing demand. Users can fill in their basic trip information and the app sends it to

one or more travel agencies for them to design an itinerary with all services and accommodation included.

Virtual Reality (VR) And Augmented Reality (AR) Tech Support VR and AR tech is also being used in the tourism industry. For example, digital travel agency Zanadu (赞那度) has the app Travel VR (旅行VR) where users can watch 360-degree videos of travel destinations and hotels. The VR technology creates an immersive feeling that works as a powerful promotional tool to attract potential tourists and guests.

Baidu Maps has developed an ‘Intelligent AR Guide’. When users arrive at a destination, the app presents background information about historic sites, famous landmarks or art exhibitions. It also offers realtime navigation to help orient visitors.

More advanced AR technology can even present representations of rebuilt historical sites.

The mobile Internet and new technology will definitely keep bringing new visions and opportunities to the tourism industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ashley Galina Dudarenok is an entrepreneur, professional speaker, and vlogger.

She is the founder of several startups, including social media agency Alarice. com.hk and resources platform ChoZan.co. She runs the world’s largest vlog about the China market, consumers and social media on her YouTube channel Ashley Talks. Her latest bestseller, Unlocking the World’s Largest E-Market: A Guide to Selling on Chinese Social Media, is available on Amazon. The Ashley Talks Podcast is available on iTunes. | ashley@chozan.co

Issue 22 | 7

THE BUSINESS OF

Sponsored Content

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

I

t is no surprise that by 2030, Colliers forecasts that co-working spaces will occupy 30 percent of the office market, with multinational enterprises being the major occupants. While not as technologically advanced as our northern counterparts, Hong Kong remains a thriving city for anyone wanting to start their entrepreneur ambitions, and hence the boom in the co-work industry. How exactly then, can a co-work space help elevate these businesses to a greater level? Over at theDesk, it is all about bringing people together.

Growing A Community The co-working and events space company humbly opened its first site in the heritage-rich Sai Wan neighbourhood in May 2016. Unlike most of the big players, theDesk is a Hong Kong company founded by locals – CEO Thomas Hui and CIO Adrian Yap. They saw the added-value of relationships built by proximity, and thus the importance of building an inclusive community for the benefit of both the members and the neighbourhood. theDesk actively established collaborations and shared neighbourhood stories through online platforms, working closely with neighbouring F&Bs, artists, non-profit organizations and hotel groups. The 8,000-square-foot space was recognised at the DFA Design for Asia Awards and also brought the Sai Wan community closer.

Befriending A Giant Not only does theDesk team take the time to understand each and every business or individual in the spaces, they also facilitate introductions to help open doors for potential collaborations.

This ethos struck a chord with Hysan Property Development.

Within a year of operating, theDesk became the first co-working company to lock in a collaboration with the biggest portfolio landlord in the prime district of Causeway Bay, where theDesk opened two new sites at One Hysan Avenue in December 2017 and Leighton Centre in March 2018. The former is a 5,000sq ft bright and boutique space, while the latter is a versatile 15,000sq ft space. With a minimalistic design intention to steer away from the gimmicks of whatever is popular now, both spaces have secured 80 percent occupancy as of June.

The Human Connections The building blocks are simple for theDesk. The industryagnostic company strives to create a sustainable and transparent business made accessible to all types of businesses. It has since attracted a diverse range of professional and mature businesses.

Microsoft, Loreal Group, Founder Institute and Good Concept Group have conducted events or expanded their business operations with theDesk.

The established loyalty and trust between members and theDesk are reasons why the company has kept a healthy retention rate of 89% since opening. Future expansion plans are on the way – locally, and regionally in China and Southeast Asia.

People are what make a space into a place, and this community is only about to grow bigger and closer.

To learn more or arrange a visit, go to www.thedesk.com.hk or email info@thedesk.com.hk.

HOW BRINC EVALUATES INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

GUEST COLUMN

PROFOUNDLY SIMPLE

By Bay McLaughlin

I

N HONOR OF this edition of Jumpstart being about TravelTech, I’m going to share one of our biggest secrets at Brinc... how we evaluate investment opportunities (tips for all the Investors out there) and share a story of our thesis in practice (tips for all the Founders out there).

There are a lot of ways you can spend your money and time these days. There are also a lot of problems to solve in the world.

But after a decade in Silicon Valley and almost five years in Asia, I’ve found that it’s more exciting and rewarding to work on problems in Asia vs developed world problems… what I like to call ‘Silicon Valley problems’ like apps that help you have craft beer delivered faster.

Instead, we focus on problems that pass our internal litmus test... what we call the IoT Value Equation. It’s simple, but profound.

X (Problem) x Y (Effect) x Z (Duration) = Impact or Opportunity

Let’s take the travel industry for example. When you take your luggage traveling, you assume it’s safe. Well, you may not be surprised to hear that… it’s NOT! While it may not have happened to you, 23,000 people report that their luggage is tampered with (broken into, items stolen, or foreign objects placed into the bag) EVERY DAY. What’s more is that 50% of incidents go unnoticed or don’t get reported (that brings the number up to 46,000 incidents per day).

Let’s evaluate this opportunity using the IoT Value Equation. 46,000 pilfered bags per day x US$101 average cost per incident x 365 days = US$1.7 billion dollars lost every year due to this problem. Even worse, 74% of baggage claims are rejected due to lack of proper documentation or proof.

Enter the Lantrn Protect, one of Brinc’s portfolio companies and a story to learn from for Investors and Founders alike.

TravelTech seemed sexy back in 2015 when we met Aaron Cooper, the Founder of Lantrn, but his solution wasn’t really solving the real problem that faced the industry. But we invested in him, not his solution, and worked with him for nearly a year to chip away at this challenge.

Once he stopped focusing on what the industry, Silicon Valley and the media were saying was cool (think back to all the ‘smart bag’ companies that have now come and gone), he figured it out… the lock! It’s the only part of luggage that has become a standard and so he set out to make it smart.

Now, the Lantrn Secure is the first suitcase to come preinstalled with Lantrn’s smart TSA-approved lock. It monitors everything, and responds to any tampering attempts with a high powered LED light to make people

think twice before doing things they shouldn’t.

It knows and records if the TSA opened your bag, if someone tries guessing your combination, or if someone tries to break in with a screwdriver.

If you’re within Bluetooth range, it will send you an alert.

To learn more, check out Lantrn.co, or ping me @Betabay if you want a discount on your very own Lantrn protected bag.

Takeaway For Investors And Founders

Investors… there are CRITICAL problems to solve and here in the East, we have the opportunity to set the tone by investing in Founders and problems that will do real good in the world. Invest in Founders not products or solutions, allow your Founders to take their time vs pressuring to launch, and be willing to jump into the trenches with them on weekends, nights, and holidays to help refine the idea until you find the diamond in the rough… and stop taking cues from Silicon Valley, the media, or whatever is hot right now.

Founders… be obsessed with a problem, not your solution. Aaron wanted to fix the travel industry, but his first ideas weren’t going to move the needle. If you relentlessly focus on your problem, you won’t care if you need to change your solution. Aaron changed his dozens of times before he figured out the magic bullet.

And make sure to stay lean as long as you can.

You don’t want to rely on investors to make your company a reality… you need to make it happen no matter what.

Feel free to reach out to me for anything.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the IoT Value Equation or anything else from my article.

And always feel free to ask me anything using #AskBetaBay on any social channel. Until the next edition of Jumpstart… Keep Living In Beta… peace!

Brinc.io

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bay McLaughlin, aka BetaBay, is a Co-Founder of Brinc and the COO. Bay is an active Investor with 50+ portfolio companies, sits on the board of four companies, writes a weekly column for Forbes called This Week in China Tech, and is a professional speaker and KOL for Huawei and Insta360. bay@brinc.io

Issue 22 | 9

Wan @ Tsuen

t.. q s q..fft s 0 0 0 0 0 , 0 , 0 0 2 2 accee pa sp rs or oo ffllo Serviced Office Space

Great

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COOL!

rt!

Located in Tsuen Wan, Smart-Space 8 is the latest co-working space launched by Cyberport.

It is designed specifically for young entrepreneurs* who aspire to turn their innovative ideas into impactful products and solutions through digital technology. Join the Cyberport community and enjoy a wide range of entrepreneurial support as well as incubation programmes. $

Funding & Incubation Programmes

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Easy Access (a quick walk to MTR)

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ss8.cyberport.hk leasing@cyberport.hk

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Unit 01, 25/F., CDW Building, 382-392 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan *One of the founders of the company must be within the age of 18-35

Join O ur Commu nity!

HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

By Divya Samtani

E

NTREPRENEURSHIP. STARTUPS. CREATIVITY. As cities around the world race to give birth to the next billiondollar idea, the question on everyone’s minds seems the same: what makes an ecosystem so innovative, and how can it be replicated?

The key to success is derived from two factors. First is a city’s ability to create a truly collaborative community. The second is the extent to which they allow things to get weird.

Here are two examples that explain why.

Tel Aviv, Israel

When it comes to creating a thriving startup ecosystem, it has been proven that social cohesiveness matters. Perhaps no place better demonstrates this fact than Tel Aviv, a city known for only having one degree of separation.

When asked about the secret to Israel’s success, the Godfather of the Startup nation – Yossi Vardi – maintains that “It has less to do with funding or technology, and everything to do with spirit. You need to create events, meetups, hackathons – opportunities for collaboration. I call it ‘social glue’, where people can support one another and the community.”

GUEST COLUMN

TALE OF TWO CITIES

According to Vardi, Israeli companies can compete, but they will still help each other. Such steadfast camaraderie – often a result of serving alongside one another in the military – defines the very fabric of Tel Aviv’s culture and leads to more opportunities for serendipity, as well as a greater chance for business success.

Austin, Texas

One of the world’s quirkiest cities (by most standards), Austin boasts one of the fastest-growing tech ecosystems. The unofficial motto of this state capital is “Keep Austin Weird”, and you’ll find it proudly plastered across everything from T-shirts to office walls.

Initially a slogan to promote small businesses, it has since come to represent the city’s emphasis on resourcefulness and personal expression — ideals that the citizens of Austin take very seriously. The fact that Austin is open to anything and everything is precisely what makes it so appealing for entrepreneurs looking to dream big without being ostracized.

So there you have it, two cities with very important lessons to share – integrate, collaborate, and keep things weird. Because as Steve Jobs would say, “the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Divya Samtani is a professional communicator, connector, and content creator. Through her role as Mettā’s resident Ecosystem Explorer, she works to unite the international startup community by establishing partnerships and knowledge-sharing with entrepreneurial organizations across the globe. www.metta.co

Issue 22 | 11

GUEST COLUMN

Sponsored Content

12 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

GUEST COLUMN

THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD?

INSIDER ADVICE FOR WRITERS/BLOGGERS TO SCORE THAT DREAM ASSIGNMENT

By James Durston

I

N 2009, TOURISM Queensland in Australia ran arguably one of the most successful marketing campaigns of any industry in recent years. Under the title ‘The Best Job In The World’, they arranged a recruitment drive to find a ‘caretaker’ for the Great Barrier Reef who would live in a palatial luxury villa on Hamilton Island for six months, tour the islands, blog about the activities and get paid more than US$100,000.

Nearly 35,000 people applied from all over the world, and after hundreds of media reports in all the biggest media titles, 8.6 million web hits and an estimated US$325 million in public relations value, an effervescent Brit named Ben Southall walked into the multi-million dollar villa with snorkel in hand, to the dismay of his 34,684 competitors.

Everyone, including Southall, was focused on the glamour, the luxury, the twinkling ocean, the money. It really did sound like the best job in the world.

Then, reality struck. During his half-year in paradise, Southall had

to write more than 60 articles, took 2,000 photos, tweeted 1,500 times, made 47 video diaries and conducted hundreds of interviews – 124 of them in just 24 hours after he won the job. ‘It should have been called the busiest job in the world’, he said afterwards.

Southall’s experience is a good reminder to all who think they want to be travel writers or bloggers that yes it can be great, but it’s hard work, and extremely competitive.

The ‘gig economy’ as it has become known, offers freedom, and it’s booming – growing 27% faster than regular employment, according to CNBC. In the United States, it’s estimated freelancers will make up 40% of the workforce by 2020.

Travel writing and blogging have mushroomed in popularity in recent years. So if you’re one of the tribe of journalists, writers, editors, photographers and videographers who are flooding into this freelance career, here are three top tips for standing out.

Over-deliver

If you’re a writer, also offer to help source photos, or do revisions, or extra research.

A lot of freelance writers come with a noticeable sense of entitlement, and if you can stand apart by offering more not less, your editor will remember you, hire you again, and when you’re more established you can start to charge more.

Pitch Properly

Without a good pitch, your genius article might never see the light of day. If you can put together a pitch with a full but brief description of your story and send it to the right editor at the right publication, you’ll already be among the better ideas that editor gets that week. I built Pitchwhiz.com to help with pitching ideas.

Always Sell An Idea

Moldova is a place, not a story idea. Too many times editors get the laziest pitch that exists: ‘I’m going to XXX, do you want a story?’ Always provide details and an angle. www.pitchwhiz.com TravelWriteEarn.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Durston is the former Senior Producer for CNN Travel, current Digital Editor for Discovery, the inflight magazine, and Founder of Pitchwhiz.com – a platform that helps freelance writers structure and sell their stories, and editors find writers with great ideas. James is also the author of the TravelWriteEarn.com blog, and has written two books giving travel writing advice from the editor’s side of the desk: “How To Sell Travel Stories”, and “Why Editors Don’t Reply”.

Issue 22 | 13

NEWS SINGAPORE AIRLINES AND AIRASIA PARTNER WITH PLUG AND PLAY TO MENTOR TRAVEL STARTUPS AirAsia is partnering with Plug and Play Tech Center to help develop new travel startups, they announced in March. Plug and Play is a global startup innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley. The partnership will see AirAsia in the role of anchor partner in Plug and Play’s Travel and Hospitality programme to mentor new businesses and collaborate with emerging technologies. AirAsia will identify, observe and support relevant startups as they develop new products and technologies for the travel sector.

In April, Singapore Airlines (SIA) also announced a partnership with Plug and Play to further promote creativity and innovation within the airline industry using digital solutions.

Plug and Play’s Travel & Hospitality programme launched in 2016 and has accelerated 95 startups. www.singaporeair.com | www.airasia.com www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

ATARI CO-FOUNDER TED DABNEY DEAD AT 81 Ted Dabney, who Co-founded Atari in 1972 and helped launch the video game industry, died on May 26 at the age of 81, according to Huffington Post.

Dabney had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer late last year and was told he had just eight months to live, according to Eurogamer.

Video game historian and scholar Leonard Herman told HuffPost he heard of Dabney’s death from a colleague and phoned Dabney’s wife, Carolyn, to confirm the news and offer his condolences.

Herman then relayed the news to his Facebook followers: “RIP dear friend. Your legacy will live on a long time!” he wrote. www.atari.com

TRIP GURU CONTINUES TO GENERATE TRACTION Travel platform Trip Guru from Betatron cohort 2 in Hong Kong has closed its seed round, raising US$500,000, according to Betatron Director of Marketing Sam Ameen.

“The TravelTech startup raised funding from a total of eight investors, ranging from angel funders and family offices to venture capital firms and publicly listed companies on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited 14 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

(SEHK),” Ameen says, adding that Trip Guru Co-founders Sebastian Renzacci and Francesco Piccolo plan to inject the new funding into market expansion.

The goal is to achieve regional scale in its primary market, Southeast Asia, in the first semester of 2018. Aside from cementing its presence in seven countries and 16 destinations in the region, Trip Guru also plans to open tours in new Asian markets including China, India, Nepal and Myanmar.

In addition, Trip Guru will channel the new funds into the launch of its progressive web app (PWA), targeted for Q3 2018. The startup plans to transition its current mobile platform into PWA, which delivers an app-like experience to users from their browsers, without them having to download a native app from Google Play / Apple Store. www.thetripguru.com www.betatron.co

NEWS

HKU SPACE ROLLS OUT DIPLOMA IN eSPORTS SCIENCE PROGRAMME

THE HUB SINGAPORE REBRANDS AS FOUND

HKU Space and Cyberport are teaming up to offer an eSports diploma. Comprising six modules, the course outline of the Diploma in eSports Science resembles the industry value chain, allowing attendees to catch a glimpse of the sector’s landscape. In addition, the program has an extensive coverage, including the e-sports business ecosystems, history, streaming technology, event planning and management, as well as ethics, safety and law.

Meanwhile, the multifunctional e-sports facility at Cyberport that is under planning can be used for students to gain experience in organising e-sports events and tournaments to enrich their learning experience. The Diploma in eSports Science program starts in early July 2018. www.hkuspace.hku.hk | www.cyberport.hk

The Hub Singapore is rebranding as Found, and it wants to be a community and professional services provider for Southeast Asia’s startups, according to a Tech In Asia article in May. The Hub Singapore is one of the oldest co-working spaces in the city-state. It has been a fixture of the local startup ecosystem since 2012.

After six years as part of the global Impact Hub network, the company is venturing out on its own, shedding the Hub license and rebranding itself as Found. The new entity will continue to work with its current clients and boost its consultancy services aimed at entrepreneurs and corporates.

It will also expand to new cities in Southeast Asia.

From its Hub incarnation, Found inherits two locations in Singapore and is about to open one more, which will host a 50-50 mix of corporate clients and startups.

Found.us

NOIZ TOKEN LAUNCHED TO SUPPORT NEW AD EXCHANGE NETWORK NOIZ Chain, a company founded by Andy Ann – the award-winning serial entrepreneur of NDN Group, a digital marketing conglomerate of nine companies – launched NOIZ tokens in June with lead investors MindWorks Ventures and Blue Block.

Developed by Hong Kong-based NOIZ Chain Ltd (a member of NDN Group), NOIZ tokens’ launch provides a ground-breaking solution revolutionizing the current “Walled Garden” closed advertising networks to form an open and decentralized direct buy/sell P2P digital advertising exchange network.

Digital media was estimated to take in US$237 billion annually which makes up 40% of the global ad spend. This figure is expected to grow to US$291 billion or 50% of total ad spend by 2020.

NOIZ is unique as it revolutionizes traditional modus operandi of the ad exchange system with the introduction of a open, decentralized ad network that aims at giving control of advertising back to the community, while eliminating fraud, driving engagement and social impact.

Noizcoin.com

Singles Travel Club and other events for mature singles in Hong Kong meetmozaic.com.hk Issue 22 | 15

NEWS THE HKAI LAB LAUNCHES Alibaba Group Holding, SenseTime and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) have announced the launch of The HKAI Lab. As a not-for-profit initiative, The HKAI Lab aims to advance the frontiers of AI with cuttingedge technologies and expertise, empower startups to commercialize their new inventions, and inspire new ideas and knowledge sharing among academics, scientists and entrepreneurs in the field of AI. Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, established by Alibaba to support young entrepreneurs, and SenseTime will provide funding for the operation of the lab.

The first initiative rolled out in May by the lab is a six-month accelerator program. With support from Alibaba Cloud and HKSTP, the program will provide funding, AI technologies, network and working space to prospective AI startups in Hong Kong as an effort to cultivate a local community of talent and startups in AI and data science. www.hongkongai.org | www.alibabagroup.com www.sensetime.com | www.hkstp.org

100K ONEPLUS 6 PHONES SELL QUICKLY IN CHINA In China, the OnePlus 6 phone sold 100,000 units in 12 minutes through various channels including its official website and JD.com, the e-commerce retailer. Sales topped 100 million yuan in 50 seconds after the start of online sales, the company said on May 22.

OnePlus has catapulted to top position in the US for open market sales of US$400-US$600 models with a 44 per cent share, according to a recent SCMP story. The OnePlus 6 sports the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, a choice of 6-gigabyte or 8GB of RAM, as well as a 3,300mAh battery with fast-charging technology. The handset starts from 3,199 yuan (US$503) in China while an Avengers edition of the phone costs from 4,199 yuan. The base model starts at a slightly higher price of US$529 in the US. Tech review site Engadget gave the OnePlus 6 a rating of 91 out of 100. www.oneplus.com/6

AIRBNB SAYS PLATFORM HELPS FIGHT MASS TOURISM

500 STARTUPS INVESTS US$20M IN CAROUSELL Early-stage venture capital firm 500 Startups disclosed on June 4 that it cut its largest deal in Asia with a US$20-million investment in Singapore-based Carousell’s recent US$85million Series C round, according to DealStreetAsia.com.

The deal also marked the VC firm’s first investment made through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in Southeast Asia.

Carousell’s Series C round was co-led by existing investors Rakuten Ventures and EDBI. Other participating investors in the round were Golden Gate Ventures and Sequoia India as well as Asian financial services group DBS. The SPV raised US$20 million in just six weeks, says 500 Startups Managing Partner Khailee Ng. The VC is now looking at bigger ticket sizes and more such SPVs for similar deals.

500.co | www.carousell.com 16 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

Airbnb released a Healthy Travel and Healthy Destinations report in May that shows its platform and community model helps fight mass tourism and promotes sustainable travel. It is also changing the economics of travel and tourism – now one of the largest industries on earth and representing more than 10 percent of the world’s gross domestic product – to benefit local families and communities.

Across the eight global tourist destinations studied, at least two-thirds of all guest arrivals on Airbnb take place outside of traditional tourist areas, and 72 to 93 percent of Airbnb listings are located outside of areas that are at risk for over-tourism, as a result of homes being less concentrated than hotels.

This encourages geographic diversity and distribution of guest arrivals. A first-of-its-kind global analysis of over 2.8 million Airbnb host guidebooks also shows hosts are helping fight tourist crowding through local and unique recommendations to guests. www.airbnb.com

NEWS

CYBERPORT ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR SMART-SPACE 8 IN TSUEN WAN Designed for young entrepreneurs, Smart-Space 8 aims to bring Cyberport’s wealth of experience in fostering startups, its extensive network and resources to society, offering more development and cultivation opportunities for the young generation while helping aspiring business novices to realise their dreams. Smart-Space 8 is Cyberport’s first off-site coworking space. Entrepreneurs who wish to tap into the digital technology sector can apply for a place at Smart-Space 8 via the online application system. For applications by individuals, the applicants must be aged between 18 and 35. For applications by a company/team, one of the co-founders must be aged from 18 to 35 while the company should not have commenced operation for over 7 years.

Ss8.cyberport.hk

SENSETIME GETS US$620M IN SERIES C+ FUNDING China’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime completed its US$620 million series C+ funding round, led by prominent investment firms such as Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake and Tiger Global. Qualcomm Ventures and other investment firms and strategic investors participated. SenseTime now enjoys a total financing of more than US$1.6 billion and a valuation of over US$4.5 billion, maintaining its position as the world’s largest and most-valuable AI unicorn. www.sensetime.com

Issue 22 | 17

LIFESTYLE | PRODUCTS

ORDER IN A SMART WAY

Frustrated by the interminable wait for waiters at restaurants, Dining Butler Founder Chuian Feng decided to make things easier for customers and business owners. Launched in 2016 and currently available in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Dinner Butler is an app that aims to change the food and beverage industry.

The app makes it simple to place an order, which will be sent directly to the kitchen. Even when manpower is at a minimum, the restaurants can guarantee efficient service to customers. www.diningbutler.com

CHEERS TO CLEAN WATER

More than 780 million people in the world don’t have access to safe water, leaving them at risk of diseases or even death.

Available in several models and sizes, LifeStraw can convert contaminated water into clean and safe drinking water, which can benefit people following natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, as well as while traveling, hiking or camping.

Lifestraw products can remove 99.999% of microplastics from drinking water, according to independent lab testing. www.lifestraw.com

WEATHER THE STORM

We’ve all had that frustrating experience when an umbrella turns inside-out during strong winds. Fortunately, thanks to Dutch ingenuity, the senz° umbrella means we no longer have to worry about it. By applying laws of aerodynamics, the stylish senz° umbrellas can handle storm winds of up to 100km/h and still look amazing. www.senz.com

BE HAPPIER

Pacifica is an essential tool in today’s fast-paced, high-stress societies. Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Pacifica users can track their moods and identify the key roles impacting thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, the app can improve health habits such as sleep, exercise, and caffeine intake. It also has a peer support community, where people can share their stories and experiences with others. www.thinkpacifica.com

18 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

The MFB 5.0 was designed by five secondary school girls in Hong Kong during The Mills Summer Program 2017 with the goal of inspiring families to travel and spend more time together. There’s a backpack for dad, a tote bag for mom, and a detachable dinosaur backpack for a child. It also has a picnic blanket and USB phone charger, and is water resistant and mosquito repellent. www.themillsfabrica.com

WHEN PHONES COME IN HANDY

Providing a tailor-made mobile ecosystem for hotels and guests, HK-based Tink Labs’ handy smartphone enhances the traveling experience for travelers with hospitality. Next time you book a hotel, choose one that offers handy phones.

Whether it is exploring the best spots in town, instant access to hotel facilities, or personalized travel guide, handy makes sure the services are in the hands of travelers. www.handy.travel

LIFESTYLE | PRODUCTS

THE MULTIPURPOSE BACKPACK

CATCHING YOUR EYE

Personalized eyewear is a must-have fashion this summer. Instead of stocking a large amount of massproduced inventory like traditional optical shops, Hong Kong startup 3DNA creates bespoke eyewear in collaboration with the customer using 3D scanning and interactive design software. Each stylish frame is adjusted to match the slope of the nose and curves behind the ears to fit perfectly. www.3dna.org

SOME HELP FINDING THE RIGHT ONE

Building a relationship might be hard, but Kuala Lumpur startup wowwwz aims to create a global social network to solve relationship problems through friends praising each other. Based on the idea that people generally meet partners through their extended networks, the platform can help you discover fun activities and gather like-minded people to build lasting relationships.

Blog.wowwwz.com

Issue 22 | 19

LIFESTYLE | PRODUCTS

INTERACTIVE VIDEOS

YouTube comment sections can now come to life and run simultaneously with the video thanks to ReCactus, a live-reaction social media app where content creators and viewers can record creative responses to online videos.

More often than not, the reactions will become more popular than the videos. The split screen on the app shows the videos and reactions alongside each other, creating great entertainment. www.recactusapp.com

!QUIT YOUR JOB!

We love the name of this craft beer from HK’s Yardley Brothers.

Available in bottles or on tap around the city – including the Yardley Bros’ Beer Shack on their home island of Lamma – this tasty saison beer is a Belgian farmhouse ale (ABV 5%) with strawberry and vanilla notes, and a peppery finish. Like all Yardley beers, the label is designed by Ben Appleby. Whether or not you keep your job, you’ll keep drinking this beer once you try it! www.yardleybrothers.hk

RENT A RIMOWA, CAMERA, ETC

If you are keen for an adventure tour, camping, sightseeing, or a luxurious trip, JOYO can provide you (temporarily) with equipment you need. Travelers can pack the sharing economy with them thanks to JOYO’s impressive collection of rental cameras (DSLR, GoPro or DJI drones), Travis portable translators, unlimited data SIM cards and WiFi, just to name a few. You can also buy discount plane tickets, travel insurance and Airport Express tickets. Those who have lots of travel gear can sign up and share it with others as well. JOYO offers a sustainable solution for travel essentials. www.joyo.world 20 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

FRESH DIRECTION

LIFESTYLE

Sponsored Content

12NOON OFFERS HEALTHY OPTIONS FOR BUSY HONG KONGERS

By Nayantara Bhat FINDING TIME FOR a healthy and leisurely lunch can be a challenge in Hong Kong. It’s busy, it moves at breakneck speed, and often the only way to grab a bite is to drop into a fast-food place and get something to go – often fried and full of preservatives. Enter 12NOON. The ethos of 12NOON centers around healthy eating, fresh food, and cold-pressed juices. Founders Pascal and Sylvie de Sarthe had this in mind when they conceptualized the store – they realized that quick food doesn’t have to be unhealthy, and that healthy food can be tasty, too.

Pascal’s job requires him to travel extensively. He would often be jet-lagged while rushing to a meeting, forced to pick up junk food because it was the quickest option. He soon realized that his lifestyle wasn’t doing him any good, and came up with the idea of a fresh fast-food chain.

“The alternatives are not that tasty,” he says. “I’m not vegan… I still enjoy a burger once in a while. But I have to have a more healthy daily lifestyle.”

Since opening last year, 12NOON’s menu changes regularly to introduce spontaneity and keep customers interested. The three signature salads remain constant, but recent offerings include fresh cup noodles, green tea soba, and tofu banana & mango pudding. The menu is also localized to Hong Kong – the fresh cup noodles feature carb-free glass noodles made from yams, and fresh-made fish balls in true Hong Kong style.

General Manager Melvin Reyes’ pride and joy is 12NOON’s selection of cold-pressed juices. He waxes

eloquent about the healthy juice blends – the most popular is Power Drink, a mixture of carrot, ginger, turmeric and pineapple. Unlike regular juices, cold-pressed juices are made using a hydraulic press to extract the liquid from fruits and vegetables.

The juices at 12NOON are also special because there’s no pasteurization or high pressure processing (HPP) involved in their production. These methods are typically used to extend the shelf life of fruit juice by weeks or sometimes even months. In Reyes’ opinion, this is cheating.

“I’m a firm believer in fresh juice, that’s why we want to call ourselves fresh fast food,” he says. “Once you do HPP, that means the shelf life is extended to a week, a week and a half.

Would you eat food that stays in your fridge for a week and a half, and still call it fresh?”

Sustainability is increasingly the name of the game for startups, and 12NOON has partnered with HK Recycles to make sure all the packaging is recyclable. The salad jars appear to be plastic, but are actually a plant-based material. The cutlery is recyclable.

12NOON also provides paper straws rather than plastic ones.

The de Sarthes and Reyes have an action plan for expanding 12NOON, and it’s currently the only fresh fastfood chain in the city – with a branch in Central’s Nan Fung Place and another in Wan Chai’s Hopewell Center. Also, the food and juices can be ordered from many food-delivery companies. www.twelvenoon.net

The team behind 12NOON is determined to stay focused on the customer and keep the food sustainable and healthy while the innovative menu and cold-pressed juices take Hong Kong by storm.

Issue 22 | 21

FEATURE

Balancing Act

BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR IS DIFFICULT. SO IS BEING A MOM. MEET A MOMTREPRENEUR

By Nayantara Bhat

B

ALANCING business and family can be a challenging proposition.

Corporate events clash with school plays. Important calls with overseas clients take away from downtime with the spouse. The hectic work week can leave very little time for unwinding and enjoying some alone time.

Prospect Resourcing Co-Founder Emma Dale has mastered this balancing act over the years, through starting her company’s Asia operations from scratch at the same time as getting her kids into school and raising them.

22 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

Dale and Co-founder Colette Brown started their business in London in 2002, and were picking up traction when a takeover from another company began to threaten what they had worked to build. Dale and Brown were wary of the changes in culture their company would have to go through, and they knew it was time to split. After long discussions, Dale realized what she had to do: move her family to Hong Kong and start setting up Prospect Resourcing Asia.

They had to think very carefully about how to

proceed. They knew family would be important to both of them, and they wanted to create a company culture that promoted a boundary between work and personal life`. For Dale, moving to Hong Kong also meant a boatload of work on both sides of the equation.

“There was a hell of a lot of pressure on me at the beginning to make this happen,” she says. Not only did she need to set up the business, hire employees and

find clients, she needed to settle into a house and find schools for her children.

According to Dale, many of the women she’s encountered in her career and through her position as a mentor with The Women’s Foundation (TWF) don’t believe it’s possible to have both career and family. Although women’s entrepreneurship has seen

an uptick and there are more professional and careerdriven women than ever, many of them think it’s necessary to step away from their career for years – with some choosing not to reenter the workforce at all.

Dale says she still struggles at times to balance different parts of her life, and she relies on her partner to get her back on track.

“It is a challenge, but I just have to be really ruthless and organized,” she says. She relies on strict

scheduling to stay on track, and always keeps time on Friday mornings to unwind with a hike through Hong Kong’s hills.

In the early days, working in a cold and isolated serviced office, it was easy to get lonely. Once her team started expanding and co-working spaces started to grow in presence, her team shifted to the WeWork branch in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. She says the shift has helped the team to network and meet

like-minded individuals, integrating them into the community.

For small businesses like Dale’s, flexibility is key.

The team has a small office with three desks at WeWork, but Dale occasionally uses the rest of the space for networking events that are key to Prospect’s work in sourcing talent.

Dale considers herself an advocate for work-life balance, and has interviewed leading communications heads and managing directors on their work-life balance.

The survey came back with worrying results: “67% or nearly 7 in 10 respondents to our salary and benefits survey said that they have to respond to calls/emails when taking annual leave.”

While she can’t fix these issues in the greater community all by herself, she makes sure that her staff keep a balance just as she does. She says that setting a good example as the leader and making her priorities and schedule clear go a long

way towards making her employees comfortable with taking time for themselves.

“When you explain to your children or to your team what’s going on in your diary, they get it,” she says.

“But I definitely think that everybody, kids or no kids, are looking more and more for work-life balance.” www.prospectresourcing.com www.wework.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nayantara is an intern at Jumpstart in Hong Kong. She studied journalism at The University of Hong Kong and is passionate about innovation, social enterprise, and alternative finance. She’s a hobbyist photographer, and is currently on the lookout for the best burger in Hong Kong. nayantara@jumpstartmag.com

Issue 22 | 23

COVER STORY

TRAVELTECH WHO HAS TIME FOR HOLIDAYS?

By Glen Watson

A

S WE PUT TOGETHER this TravelTech issue, a new Japanese law came into effect requiring Airbnb hosts to register with the government. This immediately cost the hosts, and the company, a lot of money with some media estimates placing Airbnb’s loss of revenue in the millions. This isn’t the first market where Airbnb’s disruption of the hotel industry has ruffled feathers, and it won’t be the last.

We also had discussions during editorial meetings about whether we should consider transportation companies such as Uber and Grab to be part of TravelTech (yes). While Airbnb apparently is losing revenue in Japan, Grab and Toyota recently reached a US$1 billion investment deal that puts Grab’s valuation at about US$10 billion. You can be sure that Grab will be keen to start spending that money, especially in Asia.

Keep in mind, Grab also recently took over Uber’s Southeast Asia operation in a deal placed at about US$1.6 billion. According to several media reports, this deal is facing a lot of hurdles and could be in jeopardy.

“Just when it appeared Grab would have a wide-open road in Southeast Asia, the Singaporebased ride-hailing firm is now facing a new regional competitor and potential roadblocks from antitrust regulators,” the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported at the end of May. “Grab’s US$1.6 billion acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia business in late March had seemed to set the stage for an easy race to the top of the region’s rapidly expanding ride-hailing market by forcing out the company’s top competition.

However, [on May 24] Indonesian upstart Go-Jek announced plans to invest US$500 million to bring its rivalry with Grab to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines in the next few months.”

The total contribution of travel and tourism to the global economy was US$8.27 trillion in 2015, according to Statista, while global tourism revenue was US$1.27 trillion. “Worldwide, the tourism industry has experienced steady growth almost 24 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

every year. International tourist arrivals increased from 528 million in 2005 to 1.19 billion in 2015. Figures were forecasted to exceed 1.8 billion by 2030. Each year, Europe receives the most international tourist arrivals. It also produces the most travelers: with approximately 607 million outbound tourists in 2015, the region had more than double that of the secondlargest tourist origin, the Asia-Pacific region.”

So this summer while many of us are vacationing, or even staycationing, TravelTech companies in Asia and around the world are working frantically in the background to not only keep up, but also introduce new products and features, solidify and expand markets, pursue or fight off acquisitions, and of course make travel as affordable, hassle-free and interesting as possible.

The TravelTech startups in this issue are not the big names (Klook, Agoda, LY.com, etc), and to be frank several of the companies on our wishlist were simply too busy to be interviewed or contribute to Jumpstart this time. Fair enough, they’re working hard to help not only make our summer travel plans come true, but also make the experience better.

TOURISM BY THE NUMBERS

Almost 40% of the world’s international tourism expenditure comes from Asia and the Pacific, which generated US$473 billion in international tourism expenditure in 2016 – both overnight and same-day travellers – some 39% of the world total, up from 20% in 2000. Northeast Asia accounts for the largest part of this spending (74%).

China continues to lead global outbound travel after recording double-digit growth in tourism expenditure every year since 2007, contributing to inbound growth in many destinations in Asia and the Pacific, as well as the United States and several in Europe.

China now accounts for more than half of Asia’s outbound expenditure (55%), and generates some 21% of global tourism receipts.

Spending by Chinese travellers increased by 12% in 2016.

The Republic of Korea is the 2nd largest tourism spender in the region, with US$27 billion recorded in 2016. Australia is the 3rd largest with a US$25 billion in tourism spending.

China’s demand for international travel can also be seen in its volume of outbound trips. Mainland Chinese travellers took 135 million trips abroad in 2016 (departures as reported by China), the majority of which to North-East Asian and South-East Asian destinations. This makes it the largest generator of trips in Asia and the world.

Other large markets measured by departures are the Republic of Korea and India, both reporting 22 million trips in 2016, as well as Japan (17 million) and Taiwan (15 million).

– Source: UNWTO/GTERC Asia Tourism Trends Report (2017)

MOST-ACTIVE TRAVELTECH STARTUP INVESTORS

Take the Hong Kong startup Wandersnap, which offers travelers the services of photographers to capture candid moments while on vacation. What makes Wandersnap stand out to us is the mission of Founder Jen Loong and her team “to partner with local NGOs around the region to deliver training program and exhibition opportunities to low-opportunity youth, so they too can create art for a living.”

TravelTech is evolving rapidly, moving on from offering discounts to helping with travel planning, providing ways to make transfer money and purchases while visiting other countries, and enhancing the travel experience in a wide variety of ways including the use of virtual reality (VR) as well as augmented reality (AR).

It’s not only FinTech companies are branching into TravelTech. There is a lot of crossover happening, and the travel industry is going through rapid changes in order to meet the demands of consumers, especially Millennials.

Driven by income growth, the Asian Millennials’ expenditure on international travel is expected to increase to US$340 billion by 2020, according to research by the Singapore Tourism Board.

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) research suggests that between 2016 and 2026, the top 10 fastest-growing destinations for leisure travel spending are expected to be India, followed by Angola, Uganda, Brunei, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Oman, Mozambique and Vietnam.

How this all plays out remains to be seen.

The Asian TravelTech startups are keen and plentiful, the market and financial rewards are there, the investors are interested, and the consumers are set to reap the benefits.

The biggest downside at the moment is that Star Trek teleportation is still a long way off, so there’s no chance of just beaming to a beautiful beach in seconds. But when that day comes, maybe we’ll all have time to travel to exotic places for a holiday.

500

500 Startups is the most active VC investor in TravelTech, with 16 startups in its portfolio since 2013. Its investments span from the US to Southeast Asia to Europe, with a significant number focused on accommodation booking such as Denver-based Silvernest and Francebased Misterb&b.

500 Startups recently added the Thailand-based self-described “Airbnb for your car” Drivemate to its portfolio, the firm’s second TravelTech investment in Thailand this year. Previously it participated in vacation rental company FavStay‘s financing round in Q2’17. Other Southeast Asia TravelTech portfolio companies include Singapore-based MetroResidences and RedDoorz as well as India-based Tripoto and Malaysian early stage company Catch That Bus. In second is Global Founders Capital, the Rocket Internet venture investing arm, with 10 unique travel tech investments between 2013 and 2017 YTD, including the recently listed Indonesia-based unicorn Traveloka. The majority of Global Founders Capital’s TravelTech portfolio companies are based in Europe and in the US. They include TravelBird, an online booking website offering a daily curated list of deals and smart luggage direct-to-consumer brand Away, among others. Its most recent investment was a seed round to US-based home rental Stayawhile in Q2’17.

The third most active VC in the TravelTech space since 2013 is China-based Gobi Partners, with eight unique investments since 2013. Gobi Partners is clearly focused on Asia, with seven out of eight TravelTech portfolio companies located in either China (three), Indonesia, (two), Singapore (one) or Malaysia (one). Its sole TravelTech investment outside Asia is USbased WayBlazer, an AI-based travel recommendation engine.

STARTUPS

GLOBAL FOUNDERS

CAPITAL

GOBI PARTNERS

PLUG AND PLAY VENTURES

The fourth position is shared between Plug and Play Ventures, smart money investor Accel Partners, and Spain-based Caixa Capital Risc, with seven unique TravelTech investments each. Plug and Play Ventures‘ TravelTech portfolio is very US-centric, with investments in AI-driven price forecasting FLYR and travel planning startup Utrip. Caixa Capital Risc focuses on seed investment in Spanish startups.

TravelCompositor, a travel sales system, is its most recent investment in the space (Q2’16).

Although Accel Partners [didn’t make] any new investment in TravelTech [in 2017], its portfolio comprises a number of well-known TravelTech companies such as car-sharing French unicorn BlaBlaCar and hotel booking platform HotelTonight.

– Source: CB Insights (Oct 2017)

CAIXA CAPITAL RISC

ACCEL PARTNERS Issue 22 | 25

COVER STORY

WHERE TO NEXT? FUTURE OF TRAVELTECH LIES IN CROSSING VERTICALS OF NEW DEEP TECHNOLOGY

By Peyton Ong

T

HE FUTURE POTENTIAL of TravelTech, or travel technology, is a time for new technology to cross verticals and pivot innovation with more intensive research and development of the travel scene. TravelTech is meant to reflect the improvement of travelers’ experiences with better implementation of information technology.

We are in an era where the travel industry is booming rapidly due to the decrease in the cost of flights, competitive travel packages and the growing demand for travel and adventure. We’ve seen very successful TravelTech startups emerge such as Airbnb, OyoRooms, Tripadvisor, Expedia, Couchsurfers and Booking.com.

However, many of these are skewed towards online platform aggregators or marketplaces focusing on competitive deals for transportation, accommodation and local guide experiences.

There have been some advancements in robotics or humanoid assistance in hotels, connected devices, airport automation, and TravelTech gadgets that are amazing.

With gravitating interest in the form of global funding and investments towards this industry, more tech startups with deep technology (AI, machine learning, robotics, IoT, cloud-based solutions, blockchain and AR) or vertical focused (FinTech, HealthTech and InsurTech) will have great breakthroughs if they work towards customizing their technologies to improve the travel sector.

AI And Machine Learning

Imagine you just entered another country and open an application that helps you to swiftly handle the arrival logistics with all your digital tickets and ID stored, welcomes you to the country by telling you the local culture and other need-toknow stuff, suggest things you can do based on your likes and travel habits, and helps you plan out your day trip to eateries and attractions.

26 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

While roaming the streets, you have an intelligent assistant that prompts with information about discounts, retail outlet reviews, finds local friends you can meet up with, and maps out how you can commute to your desired location through augmented reality.

When it comes to communicating in different languages, you no longer need to master the language but will have a device such as Travis the portable translator or an app that translates as you speak with someone. The problem of understanding signs that are displayed in different languages can be solved simply by using a phone camera that recognises the wording and translates it.

Google Trips, Maps, Lens and Translator can now execute all the above and take a pretty good lead when it comes to designing around travelers’ experiences. Still, there is much room for innovation, for example: creating machines that can understand each traveler’s personality, setting the right algorithms to learn progressively through travel experience data, and then formulate personalizations like a best friend that just knows all your travel desires.

Even better, there will be direct booking after suggestions are prompted, and your safety will be taken care of with geolocation tracking and emergency alerts linked to local police.

Robotics Engineering

The future world of robotics and humanoid assistance in hospitality and airport logistics has been imagined to bring the world to the next level. We’ve seen the latest breakthrough of smart humanoids travel assistants that greet travellers in various languages and provides information like Junko Chihira created by Toshiba, as well as those that help with hotel room services for travelers like CLOi created by LG. Leo at Geneva Airport has been getting good responses to improving the ease of airport check-ins and baggage handling

by serving travelers right after they exit their vehicles at the airport, leaving them hands-free to roam on the way to the boarding gates without queueing.

One of the most advanced, intelligent and human-like robots – Sophia created by Hanson Robotics in Hong Kong – is proof that there are immense possibilities for fully automated and friendly robotics that feel and think at the same level as humans.

This creation combined with the rapidly evolving drone technologies would help in servicing travelers, and could definitely be a travel attraction on its own.

Internet Of Things

One thing that would revolutionize the TravelTech scene is a telecommunication network that is either human-to-human, human-to-things or things-to-things. A future where network connectivity is united as one would boost the efforts towards realizing smart cities and a connected world.

We still have a long journey before all of this happens, but the rise and hype of the highly anticipated 5G technology gives tremendous hope of a paradigm shift for many IoT startups.

“5G will intelligently understand the demands of users in real-time, dynamically allocating network resources depending on whether the connected device needs voice or data connectivity,” says Professor Rahim Tafazolli of the University of Surrey in England.

We’re getting close to eliminating the need to change SIM cards for different countries so that travelers can just go swiftly in and out of them while remaining connected. This hassle-free situation would allow devices to capture data continuously and analyse needs before the user even knows it.

Real-time data transmitting would be a huge plus for machine-to-machine communication as it is able to speak to each other and enable automation without human interceptions.

Applications or new technology that builds upon 5G implementation into IoT would make it possible to know if travelers are running low on local currency and directly convert additional funds for them, or give an alert when overpurchasing happens that might cause overweight baggage, or send information about their desired next move while working in the background to make sure everything is ready for them when they arrive.

revenue line. A good example of startups that noticed this golden opportunity and took the lead are challenger banks like Starling, Monzo and Revolut in the UK. They are full-pledge, digital-only mobile bank apps that managed to solve the problem of hidden charges by eliminating non-sterling transaction fees and ATM fees, as well as offering real-time Mastercard exchange rates.

Enabling someone to spend local currency easily through a card that automates currency exchange without the need to notify banks is made possible by its ability to self-track travelers’ locations. Other beneficial features include near field communication (NFC) payments, getting spending insights, real-time notifications with local and home country exchange rates, and even splitting bills with friends.

This advancement had been a great breakthrough, yet there have been some hiccups to this technology such as the mobile app’s compatibility due to its inability to run on rooted devices that restrict user downloads, banking charters and regulatory aspects. However, this is still seen as FinTech booming in the right direction for TravelTech.

HealthTech And InsurTech

Global medical healthcare for travelers is still on the tough end. Travelers often face issues with travel insurance, seeking medical attention, hospital transfers, inability to undergo surgery due to inaccessible insurance coverage, and worries about hidden costs.

Challenger banks like Revolut have taken the step of offering international medical and dental travel insurance via a mobile platform. It charges only £1 per day, and uses geolocation technology that enables the insurance automatically so that you only pay when you are abroad.

Additionally, HealthTech startup Doctor on Demand offers a 24/7 connection and appointment scheduling worldwide with certified doctors in minutes over live video. Startups such as these mark the beginning of the integration of HealthTech and InsurTech into TravelTech.

These can be pushed further through designing a complete journey of travelers experiencing illness by providing ways for them to know easily where they can seek medical care and be worry-free as they are covered internationally by their insurance.

Exploring ideas and innovating new ways to solve current traveler problems will result in a massive amount of opportunities for tech startups, and in the end will make travel experiences more smooth and less frustrating.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peyton Tian-Yan Ong is an innovator and design strategist in Kuala Lumpur who is enthusiastic about rethinking and

FinTech

Currency exchange and overseas spending have been a source of frustration during travel activities, yet the ease of executing these are still a burden for many travelers. Problems such as having to estimate currency needs, incurring losses due to exchange rates, getting charged high transaction fees for overseas spending, nonconnected banking accounts, and most importantly having to exchange cash before making a trip are just a pain.

FinTech holds a very dominant role in TravelTech scene and catering to travelers can result in a new and accelerating

redesigning the different things that matter with lasting and thoughtful new experiences.

In addition to working with the SuperCharger FinTech accelerator and leading the KL FinTech Academy, she is a Journalist in Residence for Jumpstart magazine whose writing is inspired by her interest in technology research and background in leading digital transformation projects. peyton@jumpstartmag.com

Issue 22 | 27

FEATURE

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?

AMADEUS IS WORKING CLOSELY WITH ENTREPRENEURS TO HELP IGNITE AND ADVANCE IDEAS

By Matt James

T

HE BEST THING about my job as Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy and Business Development in Asia Pacific for Amadeus – the leading provider of IT solutions to the global tourism and travel industry – is discovering exciting and innovative ideas that will change and shape the future of travel.

From concepts founded in High Accuracy Geolocation technology, to AI and Chatbots and now we are seeing a trend in startups moving towards sustainable travel and tourism, there certainly isn’t a shortage of good ideas!

Amadeus Next launched in 2015 as an initiative to help build and foster the cutting-edge TravelTech startup community in Asia Pacific. We work closely with entrepreneurs to help ignite and advance their ideas. With the support of Amadeus and our trusted partners, we help create an environment in which startups can grow. Because even as a huge global company, we recognize that we cannot do it all on our own.

So what is in it for startups? How do we help? Once part of Amadeus Next, startups have access to Amadeus’ tech to build their MVPs, our in-house experts to gain knowledge on how the travel domain works, and of course Amadeus’ customers to validate their products. We also connect startups to venture capital around the world if they are in need of funding. To date, Amadeus is working with 33 startups in the program and more than 70 active partners.

28 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

As you know, airports are busy places. IATA reported 4 billion air passengers for 2017, and expects that to reach nearly eight billion by 2036. With this many people comes a whole array of issues such as congestion, which leads to severe delays. Startups are ideally placed to help airports solve some of these issues.

In Hong Kong, we are working with the startup Ubudu (Ubudu.com) that recently launched a technology based on Ultra Wideband and Bluetooth 5 (BLE) to track the real-time location of physical things in large venues. This technology could help airports better understand the usage of assets such as luggage trolleys, ensuring that they are available according to passenger traffic in different zones of the airport. Staff could automatically receive alerts when trolley numbers are low to ensure efficient replenishment.

We see High Accuracy Geolocation technology being used increasingly in the airport environment helping travelers navigate through the airport, but also being leveraged by the airport to have a greater understanding of their operations therefore improving their efficiency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Based in Bangkok, Matt’s role is to look outside of Amadeus and identify companies in Asia Pacific that use the latest technology and leading solutions that Amadeus could look to collaborate with to enhance the travel experience. Originally from the UK, Matt started his career in the travel industry in London before moving to work for an online travel agency in Australia. Matt joined Amadeus in 2005 and has been in the Corporate Strategy team for the past eight years.

The start of 2018 saw Amadeus launch a pilot for travel agents in Thailand – @flightbot on LINE.me. This latest flight search innovation leverages artificial intelligence (AI), messaging technology and Amadeus’ search expertise to help travel agencies connect with travelers any time, anywhere via the LINE messaging platform.

The use of mobile messaging has been on the rise among travelers, according to ARK-Invest.com, with six out of the Top 10 most used mobile apps being messaging apps (rising to 8/10 if social apps are included).

To cater to the ever-growing market demand and the digitally savvy traveler, Amadeus developed an AI-powered bot in partnership with Amadeus Next startup GoHero.ai. Designed to mimic human conversation, @flightbot is a user-friendly platform that helps travel agents keep up with travelers’ demands for information and options in real-time. Users on LINE can search for and befriend @flightbot via the messaging platform, chat privately with the bot and receive assistance for any flight-related queries.

As a bot, @flightbot will be in constant learning mode and its capabilities will develop over time. Throughout the test period, the bot will address queries related to air travel bookings, departure city and destination, and flights with the best prices, in English or Thai.

Ultimately, thanks to AI, @flightbot can become the perfect travel companion for travelers, providing round-theclock conversational replies that can meet the personalized needs of travelers promptly and efficiently.

This year also sees us broadening our perimeters by entering into new industries, some of these new collaborations include CarePod, Global Himalayan Expedition, HeyCars and Qiantech. ∙ Through CarePod (care-pod.com), new enterprise solutions are created to boost airline ancillaries, seeking to improve the experiences of ‘pet owner’ passengers and their pets throughout the entire air travel process. ∙ Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE.co.in) is the latest to join the Next program. This social enterprise is focused on providing energy, education, connectivity and livelihood access to remote Himalayan villages. ∙ HeyCars.com is a Chinese startup making airport transfers easy. Book online and get picked up from the airport terminal – simple! ∙ Qiantech (Lixiaoqian.cn) is the latest startup using AR to help tourists have an immersive experience when visiting attractions, historical and cultural sites.

We look forward to discovering more TravelTech startups in Asia Pacific and working with them to make travel experiences even better in future. next.amadeus.com Issue 22 | 29

FEATURE

SURF’S UP KKDAY LEADING TOURISTS IN NEW DIRECTION

By Chen Ming

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HE MOTIVATION of KKday is very simple: to experience a local’s way of life. In fact, many will agree this is the core idea of traveling, but it wasn’t possible just 10 years ago. Back then, most Asian travelers would choose only packaged tours that catered to all tourists, young and old, meaning that personalized experiences like kimono dress-up or Thai cooking classes were never within easy reach.

The Story Behind KKday

After being in the online travel industry for almost 20 years and having founded two listed Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) in Taiwan, I was able to witness the surge of trends that were forging together and making KKday possible.

With the rise of mobile web and devices, traveling has become a lot more spontaneous without relying on tour guides. Google Maps tells you how to get around and Yelp offers the best local restaurant recommendations. If you don’t know how to communicate with locals, don’t worry, you have the Google Translation app.

The second is the rise of low-cost airlines. Passengers no longer have to rely on travel agencies to book their flights for a better price; they can book their flights directly on a low-cost airline’s website.

The third trend is the upsurge of lodging and accommodation booking websites like Agoda, Hotels.com, and Trivago that undermine traditional travel agencies’ position in a traveler’s arrangement-making.

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The last is the rise of social media and growing population of millennials.

For the younger generation, the biggest priority for traveling abroad is how ‘Instagrammable’ the destination is for the pictures they take not just to look back on the memories of their trips, but to share their unique and intriguing travel experiences with their friends and followers.

With these four game changers coming together, we could see the growing trend of self-guided travel.

Although it is easy to book flights and hotels online, an easy platform was lacking for tour planning and indestination itineraries. That is what we are going after: the ‘tours and activities’ market.

We hope through a collection of highly curated experiences, KKday is able to provide travelers an avenue to find

exciting off-the-grid activities and book them easily through us, making ‘travelling like a local’ easy and accessible.

Expansion And Challenges

As a startup entrepreneur in Taiwan, the biggest advantage and challenge are the same for me: talent. Don’t get me wrong, Taiwan has top talents with high work ethics: from engineers, marketers, to designers and social media experts. Also, the younger generation are passionate team players who can contribute a lot to teamwork.

However, as we expand our business to 11 countries across AsiaPacific region, the biggest challenge lies in talent recruitment. We believe that locals know best about their people, places and the language. Therefore, we insist on recruiting local people to run their markets. That is why we cannot

rely only on Taiwanese talents, we need more local talents to join us. And we need A LOT – not just a squad, but an entire army!

Furthermore, it is important for us to make sure that our services can cater to local markets. With the use of AI and big data, we analyze and predict the next big travel trends in different regions and thus optimize marketing resources to always stay in-tune with the local markets.

Booming TravelTech Industry

One of the most exciting things happening now in TravelTech is the fastgrowing need for tours and activities packages. While people are used to booking hotels and air tickets online, almost 80% of the transactions for indestination tours and activities are still happening offline. There is a substantial room for new technology platforms like KKday to digitize suppliers’ inventories and this is why many bigger players like Airbnb and Expedia are coming into the game.

However, three things make an in-destination TravelTech stand out.

First, prompt and convenient services are TravelTechs’ best feature. Booking tours and activities has become more spontaneous with technological development. For instance, through the use of API integration and QR code redemption, KKday users can book a ticket last minute or on the spot, and get confirmation within seconds, redeeming the e-vouchers easily by mobile phones.

Second, the ability to provide personalized itineraries with the use of data. TravelTech companies now have access to a vast database of users’ behavior. We can analyze customer trends and present them with tailormade recommendations for the next trip.

Last but not least, the ability to build up a brand identity and cultivate brand loyalty is crucial. Being in a rather fragmented market with many players, we noticed the lack of brand loyalty among customers. Building a unique identity that sets us apart from the rest is essential.

‘time makes heroes’. A hero is a product of his time. This means you always need to be on the lookout for the trends in your industry.

With that being said, if you are certain that starting up a company is what you want to do, then start it early.

Immerse yourself in that industry and accumulate knowledge and information of that field. As a result, when the wave comes, you are equipped and ready to surf. www.kkday.com/en

Global Brand, Local Touch

The startup scene in Taiwan is very vibrant, and we are seeing more and more startups with a global business vision in mind. In addition, the time is ripe for talents to join. More young Taiwanese people are turning to startups or becoming entrepreneurs with ideas and technologies that can make a difference.

Aside from growing our business in our current markets around the Asia-Pacific region, we are also looking to expand into the United States and Europe, focusing on the Asia-travel segment. However, to excel in the global startup scene, we need more incentives and government support to attract foreign talent and investors to make Taiwan a promising Asian startup hub.

Remember that there is no such thing as ‘heroes shape time’, but only

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ming Chen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of KKday. He has devoted himself to the online travel industry since 1999. He was one of the Co-founders of eztravel.com.tw, which was established in 2000 and later acquired by Ctrip Inc. He also co-founded startravel.com.tw in 2003 and brought the company public in 2008. In 2010, Ming took the role as the General Manager of ezfly.com and led the company to become a TPEx-listed company. With over 16 years of experiences in the online travel industry, Ming Chen is undoubtedly a prominent entrepreneur with a solid foundation in the field.

Issue 22 | 31

FEATURE

INSPIRING JOURNEY SINGAPORE’S RASCAL REPUBLIC IS MAKING INVESTING EXPERIENTIAL

By Tom Wheeler and Stephen Ebsworth

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XPERIENTIAL INVESTING is an unheard of concept by many and a term that the team here at Rascal Republic in Singapore coined as the common thread to tie together our multiple investment projects. We have seen an increasing demand for unique and rewarding investment opportunities in Asia, ones that not only generate a financial return, but that bring exciting new concepts to market and offer the investor the opportunity to be part of an inspiring journey.

Thus, we founded Rascal Republic this year as a platform to encapsulate our existing projects and pioneer new opportunities. As a portfolio of development prospects that offer both financial and lifestyle returns, Rascal Republic presents dynamic investment opportunities in everything from luxury sea voyages to curated land ventures – from the world’s highest al fresco bar, Singapore’s iconic 1-Altitude, to Rascal, the luxury phinisi yacht in Indonesia – all of our projects share the key philosophy of promoting ‘Experiential Investing’.

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With a collective and clear business strategy, we take a hands-on approach to each of our projects, often from the point of conceptualisation, selffunding and fund-raising, through to development and management.

Rascal Republic’s brand’s roots trace back to one of our earliest projects, 1-Altitude, in 2009. It wasn’t until being given a landlord’s tour of Singapore’s tallest skyscraper that we saw the potential for a game-changing, al-fresco bar on the roof, and we oversaw a lot of intensive manual work before our vision to introduce Singapore’s highest rooftop bar finally was realized.

Sipping on a Singapore Sling as the sun sets against the backdrop of panoramic cityscape views is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding achievements to date. From that point on, we sought to continuously to push boundaries with redefining concepts in consumer lifestyle industries, only embarking upon projects that excite us and our investors.

Hospitality and travel are areas in which we see huge opportunity.

FEATURE

In 2017, we launched the meticulously handcrafted luxury charter yacht, Rascal, and are in the process of expanding the fleet, with new Rascal yachts set to sail the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand, with unique itineraries around The Maldives and Cambodia to come.

From the outset, Rascal has been committed to protecting the seas it cruises, and this is translated in Rascal Republic’s philosophy of conserving to preserve. A recent expedition to Raja Ampat in partnership with Conservation International saw significant scientific breakthroughs, unveiling crucial information of some of the planet’s most threatened species.

With the Conservation International series set to continue, this rewarding journey is the first of many.

It is these kinds of curated initiatives that set Rascal Republic apart; by offering opportunities to acquire stakes in handpicked businesses that investors can connect with, we ensure that the yield is both financial and experiential. As with 1-Altitude, most of our projects are initiated organically, through a collective vision for a concept. By investing at the source, developing local teams on the ground, and implementing robust legal agreements, we successfully generate high yields and value from these grassroots companies to pass on to our investors.

As the biggest investors ourselves, our strategy is to be diligent throughout the experience and ensure all projects are fully researched.

Dependent on the profile of our investment partners, our track record of investment returns on our projects has ranged from 10% to 250%.

Today, the Rascal Republic asset base stretches across Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Australia, operating across the four main divisions of Rascal Voyages, Rascal Ventures, Rascal Developments and Rascal Digital.

Based in Singapore, we are at the epicentre of the exponentially growing Asian market, a key demographic considering the emerging middle class, enabling us to be intimately involved with the sourcing and securing of opportunities, ensuring the expansion and prosperity of Rascal Republic’s portfolio of experiential investment projects.

Rascalrepublic.com

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Rascal Republic Co-founders Steve Ebsworth and Tom Wheeler are from the United Kingdom, boast extensive international experience, and have been based in Singapore for around 15 years. Prior to founding Rascal Republic this year, they made a series of property and lifestyle investments throughout Southeast Asia, which have culminated in the formation of an international portfolio of experiential investments.

Issue 22 | 33

FEATURE

THE NEXT STAGE

AI WILL HELP CONSUMERS GET PERSONALIZED TRAVEL PRODUCTS AT LOW PRICES

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By Zhang Fan Translated By Jessie Yang

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ITH THE DEVELOPMENT of information technology, the ways people travel have been changing constantly.

In the past 20 or 30 years, China’s tourism model has undergone two major evolutions. First, from priceoriented tours to package tours.

Second, from package tours to selfguided tours. However, both models have reached a plateau after the rapid surge of demand.

The changing demand from customers is facing more challenges, especially with the addition of AI technology. It is said that the third evolution in the tourism industry is happening right before our eyes.

Although we can’t predict the future, we can analyze some of the clues from the past two evolutions.

Package Tours

In the era of package tours, travel information was unbalanced. Resources were in the hands of experts and tourist products were controlled by only a few professionals.

All the products had to be purchased from specific channels.

Take plane tickets as an example.

Convenient booking websites were nonexistent, so customers could only buy tickets through travel agencies or check the price though global distribution systems. People even had to communicate directly with airline companies to negotiate the price.

All of these operations required professional skills, as did booking hotels, tour guides, buses, and so on. The advantage of relying on experts is their professionalism, but the disadvantage is the cost, which can only be reduced by providing repeated travel schemes.

Therefore, travel agencies came in to sell the tours, and package tours become a trend. At this stage, professionalism is the key, but personalized products are missing. However, in the early stage of tourism development, this mode perfectly met the needs of customers.

Self-guided Tours

After 2005, a new era of self-guided tours began. The reason is because of millennials, who care more about personalization than the previous customers. More importantly, the emergence of online travel agencies (OTAs) has made plane tickets and hotels available online without requiring any professional knowledge.

As a result, the production model has gradually changed from expert-oriented to self-production. Although it sacrificed professionalism to some degree, a more flexible and personalized experience still satisfies many newgeneration customers.

Embracing The New Era

Today, self-guided tours also face some challenges.

Customers now demand more personalized tours, and the supplies are more diverse as well. These two reasons directly enhance the complexity of demand and supply.

According to data given by Expedia in 2013, on average users visited around 38 websites before deciding on the itinerary. It appears to me that the number is beyond the limit people can accept. So from this phenomenon, we must find new ways to connect demand and supply. This is what Mioji is working on.

The essential part is to solve the low connection between the increasing demand for personalization and the increasing supply of products. We can discuss this issue from two parts, the resource and production.

The first thing to do is unify the resource layers, and at present there are very diverse products in the supply market. In addition to air tickets and hotels, there may be many new categories, such as train, ferry, cruise, car rental, RV, tent area, entertainment tickets‌ etc.

The way of obtaining and using the data are completely different, so if we do not integrate such massive and heterogeneous data together, it will not be possible for us to improve production. Therefore, Mioji redesigned the bottom data structure of the tourism industry, making it comprehensible to machines.

Moreover, we have done a lot of basic research using deep-learning techniques for computers to simulate human brains and build a portfolio including all possible tourism product combinations and rank them, finding the best solution efficiently.

I believe with the aid of AI, the next stage of tourism is coming in which everyone can get specialized travel products at very low cost.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Zhang Fan is the Founder and CEO of Mioji. He is the former head of voice semantic technology at Tencent Innovation Product Center, and the former Director of Voice Assistant Technology at Sogou. Zhang completed his degrees at the French National Center for Scientific Research and Lorraine Research Laboratory in Computer Science. www.mioji.com

Issue 22 | 35

FEATURE

TRANSPARENCY, CONVENIENCE & ENGAGEMENT TECH IS DISRUPTING SOUTHEAST ASIA’S HIGHLY FRAGMENTED HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

By Amit Saberwal

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OUTHEAST ASIA IS RIPE for technology disruption. It has the third-largest population at 680 million after China and India, with 48% living in urban areas, more than 50% are below age 30, and 330 million monthly internet users, according to recent Google Data. Indonesia is the apple of the eye of Southeast Asia being its largest economy: 7th largest economy in the world, 4th most populous nation, and extremely high mobile (90%) and Internet penetration (143 million users).

Travel is an important economic contributor in Southeast Asia, accounting for at least 10% of total GDP for all ASEAN countries with the exception of Brunei and Myanmar, according to DBS. It is also a region with high domestic travel (Indonesia expects 275 million domestic trips a year by 2019). This opens a huge opportunity to serve a frequent domestic traveler’s needs, which are different from an international traveler’s.

Travelers, especially millennials, have a unique travel behavior driven by the latest technological trends. About 40% of millennials share their trips on social network, according to the Euromonitor (EIU) Annual Report 2015. Half of the millennials in Indonesia book their travels through a mobile phone – according to a report

by Expedia in 2015. It was also reported that millennials in the same year made 260 million trips.

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Google Data shows that 80% of millennials go online to plan for a travel stay. Within the millennial segment in Indonesia, there are 10 times more budget travels than non-budget ones, according to BPS Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism.

All the above allows for the growth of new businesses that can engage a new generation of travelers in a meaningful way. In just a little less than five years, a new business model was developed by companies like OYO, FabHotels, Treebo (India), and Tujia (China) to solve this problem and they have raised more than US$1 billion along the way. They help aggregate hundreds of unbranded properties into a single well-known brand that customers love, with technology at its core.

In Southeast Asia, companies like RedDoorz, ZenRooms, Nida Rooms and Tinggal have also joined the bandwagon to take a crack at a market triple the size of India, which according to a Phocuswright Report (2014) stands at US$55 billion.

Though many struggled and went out of business, those who are able to serve the needs of millennial travelers and also solve the fragmented nature of Southeast Asia grew with strong traction. We will call this new generation ALCs (asset light companies).

FEATURE

Key Trends

To capture the needs of a modern millennial travelers, ALCs focus on delivering three key values superbly – Transparency, Convenience, and Engagement.

Transparency

Instead of getting a bed of roses or a marble bathtub that customers don’t need most of the time, ALCs start to offer the most basic but fundamental requirements of a modern traveler: fast wifi, clean linen, clean toilet, bottled drinking water, satellite TV, and a nice toiletries kit. This simple brand promise creates transparency that gives comfort to a generation of increasingly savvy traveler.

Convenience

The last thing a business traveler wants is to get stuck in a Grab or Go-Jek in the middle of Jakarta traffic in the evening (good luck if it rains!). Imagine the convenience of a 7/11 store where a person can get what he needs at every relevant street corner. That’s the vision of ALCs – to make finding accommodation as easy as a walk across the street after a long business trip meeting. For example, RedDoorz has more than 100 properties across 18 cities in Southeast Asia, making it easy for a traveler to have a convenient stay.

Engagement

The customer relationship doesn’t end the moment they

hand back the room keys. For example, at RedDoorz we are very active on social media and hold fun competitions to keep them engaged. Our attractive prizes include free trips and accommodation to Singapore, an aspiration for many young Indonesians.

We held a countrywide band competition in Indonesia this year, where winning bands in each city will compete in Jakarta at some of our flagship properties. Millennials enjoy being engaged with unique experiences and share them generously on social media.

Technology At Its Core

ALCs are able to offer a great stay experience at only a third of the price for an equivalent stay experience at other branded hotels because of smart pricing through technology that results in an

increase of occupancy by 150%. Additional revenue generated is distributed back to the community – higher income for property owners, and a great value stay for travelers.

Quality assurance is possible at scale because of the ability to track customer satisfaction and property owner’s behavior in real time, followed by necessary interventions. Many property partners experienced a major improvement in hotel management and service levels after joining the network of ALCs. Technology also helps ALCs to scale quickly because of the ability to predict accurately high-demand areas through aggregating data on demand indicators such as commercial, travel, and Google search queries and then directing property

acquisition teams for ground assessment. Instead of building physical hotels one by one – which would take decades to cover the region – ALCs partner with existing property owners and drive customers to them.

Conclusion

In order to capture the needs of today’s millennial traveler in Southeast Asia, constant technological innovation is needed. If ALCs are able to deliver on the latest trends with smart technology deployment, they have the potential to change the budget accommodation landscape in their regions. www.reddoorz.com

ABOUT AMIT SABERWAL Amit is the Founder and CEO of RedDoorz, a leading and fastgrowing budget hotel online booking platform in Southeast Asia that is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2015. Amit drew on his wealth of experience in the online travel, e-Commerce and hospitality sectors and saw the opportunity to address the lack of standardisation in the budget hospitality segment in Southeast Asia. To date, RedDoorz has grown to more than 500 properties across Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines with offices in all three and a strong technology centre that supports the backend in all technological aspects of its proprietary platform.

Issue 22 | 37

FEATURE

CAPTURING MEMORIES WHEN PHOTOGRAPHY MEETS THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

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RAVELSHOOT captures memories for couples and families while on holiday, or at home. We connect travellers with trusted photographers around the world.

Our experienced team coordinates all bookings and ensures both the photographer and client have full details about the photoshoot, and any preferences the customer has for the experience.

While we could be a fully automated platform, we choose not to be – a photoshoot is a personal experience, so we’ve invested in team members who build great relationships with the customer and photographer.

The Idea Behind Travelshoot

I had some professional photos of my husband and I done in New York a few years back, and I realized how incredible 38 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

By Sarah Pearce those memories are – our travel photos were usually blurred selfies, or shots without us both in the frame. So the idea stemmed from my own experience, and we’ve witnessed how special travel memories are to people – our clients are booking a Travelshoot for bucket-list trips, honeymoons, wedding proposals, or even just updating their family photos in the backyard.

The Industry

Australia has a thriving and solid population of photographers, and the industry is seeing many professionals start to specialize in areas of photography due to the growing demand of niche types of photography such as newborn, maternity, commercial, headshots, and studio work. The alignment to the tourism industry – which is booming in the area of

inbound and outbound leisure travel – is still developing, and that’s where Travelshoot fits in.

We originally thought our Travelshoot packages were just for travellers – that our global location offering would appeal to those going to a destination for a special holiday or event. We’ve since learned that our pricing and all inclusive packages have a strong market fit for domestic bookings as well, so families are using the Travelshoot product at home for onlocation portrait shoots, as well as for travel adventures.

Our Big Break

In 2015, we won the My Shark Tank Australia competition, a national competition hosted by Channel 10 and Optus to find Australia’s best new innovative business. We were fortunate

Customer Centric

Travelshoot’s core value is to be great at being customer centric – do whatever it takes to help people capture the moments that matter most.

From the beginning, we decided to make all business decisions with the customer and the experience front and center. For the company to be sustainable, we feel the focus shouldn’t be on new product development, but instead being focused on the quality of the service and gaining customer loyalty so we can help capture multiple life events.

on. So now, we only have a few key projects we commit to at a time, and unless a project has a clear benefit we don’t do it.

We are fortunate to be working with some of Australia’s largest travel brands, and the future is focused on delivering great client experiences so we can continue to grow these and other new partnerships.

FEATURE

to make the final round and have our pitch televised. Even better, we won the national vote for people’s choice that provided a huge amount of media interest in our startup at the beginning.

www.travelshoot.com

The Travelshoot Experience

It’s really hard to choose a single most memorable Travelshoot experience as the reasons behind a Travelshoot are sometimes incredibly personal. Albums that capture once in a lifetime moments are my favourite – recently we’ve had a joint 40th birthday getaway to Greece, a surprise wedding proposal in Central Park in New York, a family reunion in Barcelona – moments like these are always special for our photographers to capture.

Progress

The biggest difference between Travelshoot’s previous and current operations is focus. There are hundreds of ways you could market our product, and so many opportunities to work with partners and other brands, but earlier on we were inundated with projects and things we lost focus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR From Brisbane in Australia, Sarah Pearce is a former communications manager, an avid traveller (30 countries), and mother of 2 kids under 2! Sarah is the Founder and CEO of Travelshoot, a global marketplace that connects travellers with professional photographers in over 90 countries.

Issue 22 | 39

FEATURE

R U O Y G N I D FIN E T A M M A O SOULR TRAVELING ALONE IS FUN, BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LONELY

By Chloe Wong

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HIS IS A STORY about a girl who doesn’t want to spend Christmas alone. When Hannah Ryan was a college student in the US, she decided to take a break from graduate school and explore the other side of the world by backpacking, solo. And she did, packing her bags and going on a four-month journey in Southeast Asia. It was all new and exciting at first, but she encountered a recurring problem.

Like many other solo travelers, Hannah loves backpacking but always had a hard time finding companions for certain sightseeing activities.

“I kept having the same problem of missing out on travel experiences when I didn’t have enough people to join me. It was really frustrating,” Hannah says.

She tried to take the initiative and organize travel plans via online platforms and meetup apps, but they often went south because certain excursions had a minimum requirement on numbers of people. Having experienced repeated discouragement and frustration over and over again, Hannah just accepted the fact that this is one of the downsides of travelling solo and she is bound to miss out on some fun travel experiences.

“I remembered backpacking in Bangkok around Christmas time. As much as I love travelling solo, I didn’t want to spend Christmas alone,” says Hannah, who decided to do something about it… to solve this problem once and for all, not only for herself but backpackers all over the world. “I knew I was surrounded by many solo travelers just like me, but I just couldn’t seem to find a way to connect with them.”

Increasingly, travelers accept each other’s advice and recommendations over all other resources out there when it comes to where to go and what to do.

Holding on to the idea that we are living in the age of technology and meeting 40 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

strangers online is no longer a taboo, she started to brainstorm something with her techy housemate Daniel O’Reilly, who is a Co-founder of roammate.

They started to put ideas into motion – to create a community where travelers can connect effortlessly and post travel hangouts, excursions, and events for other nearby travelers to join. It started with a Facebook group and eventually evolved into the app, roammate. They chose Singapore as a base and launched the app in March 2017.

There are many social apps out there that allow you to connect people online, and possibly find your travel buddy. With these apps, you most likely have to scroll or swipe through pages of selfies sending “Hey, want to go sightseeing?” messages.

But the truth is that finding companions with similar interests, schedules and traveling styles is often more difficult than we think.

“Ultimately, it is the travel experience that brings people together, not selfies,” says Hannah. With roammate, users have to indicate their travel styles, budget, flexibility, then they can post a plan such as “Let’s go sightseeing” at a specific destination and date. Other travelers in that particular location can request to join the plan if they are interested.

ABOUT HANNAH RYAN An American Entrepreneur living in Singapore, Hannah Ryan, 27, has a background in Chemistry Education but she now focuses on User Experience and Product Development as the Co-founder and CEO of roammate, Inc. She is also involved with the entrepreneurship programs at the Singapore American School and offers validation and user research mentoring to young startups.

In that way, you can look through the relevant profiles of users who requested to join in order to safely choose good matches to meet. To reinforce the functionality, profiles also have referrals and validations from other users who have met up in the past. ID verification will also be added in the near future to protect users’ safety.

To Hannah, travelling used to be a temporary escape, a chance to recharge and put a halt to the reality. Gradually, she came to realize that it is also a selfenriching opportunity for us to learn and try new things.

“It is a way to connect with the people from all over the world. I realized how small our planet really is and how connected and similar we all truly are,” says Hannah.

When asked to choose one place that impressed Hannah the most during her journey in Southeast Asia, she recommends Ayutthaya in Thailand. It used to be the capital of Thailand until the late 1700s, and now the ruins of Ayutthaya are a historical marvel with considerably low crowds and incredible local food.

By the way, Hannah did spend that Christmas in Bangkok alone. www.roammateapp.com

REDISCOVER YOUR HOMETOWN EXPERTS LEADING LOCALS TO EXPLORE DYING TRADITIONAL ARTS AND CULTURES

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By Maggie Lau

HEN YOU TRAVEL to another city, you strive to soak in all that that city has to offer and experience as much as possible during your stay. You try local food, learn the city’s history and culture, explore the outskirts, and maybe even meet some of the locals. A good trip would mean that you left feeling like you knew more about the city and the local culture.

Although that is how people commonly behave when they are traveling, they rarely carry this same inquisitive attitude towards their own city. As we go about our everyday lives, it’s easy to get sucked into what we’re comfortable with and not explore anything beyond our day-to-day routes to work, school, or meeting friends. We get it. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept it.

With our new line of experiences called Sam the Expert, Hong Kong residents can explore their city through curious and refreshed eyes and rediscover all that it has to offer. Sam the Expert works with experts and trade masters to curate these experiences revolving around dying industries and arts.

There are currently six experiences, including practicing traditional lion dancing with one of the few remaining associations, meeting an award-winning milk tea master and learning how to make Hong Kong-style milk tea, learning how to hand carve mahjong tiles from one of the five masters left in Hong Kong, getting an introduction to traditional Chinese medicine concepts with a seasoned practitioner, learning how to play a classic Chinese string instrument with an accomplished guzheng performer and teacher, and seeing areas of a traditional village not normally accessible to the public with the village’s Deputy Director of Welfare who also grew up in the village.

We want people to be able to jump in and get a deeper dive on cultural elements that are undeniably Hong Kong.

Sometimes they may be more difficult to access or find, and they may only speak Cantonese. We have sifted through to ease these roadblocks and curate the most interesting experiences with masters who love their craft.

We also ensure that if English translation is needed, it would flow along smoothly as well. We want to allow people to continue exploring the city, but also bring exposure and sustainability to these dying industries and arts.

So next time when you’re pondering activities for the weekend with friends or a birthday celebration, consider picking one that allows you to be a tourist in your own city. www.SamExperiences.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maggie is the Co-Founder and CTO of Sam Experiences. Their two product lines, Sam the Local and Sam the Expert, allow people to explore Hong Kong through Locals and Experts. Launched in 2015, Sam the Local is a platform that connects people to Local Insiders for private, customized Outings to experience Hong Kong through their own interests. They already have more than 75 Locals who cover 12 languages, 10 interest categories, and come from 8 countries from around the world. Just recently launched in 2018, Sam the Expert gives people access to experts and trade masters to learn about dying arts or industries that are culturally significant but hard to access. The company has partnered with key industry leaders, such as Swire’s The Upper House, Cathay Pacific, and Uber.

Born and raised in California, Maggie moved to Hong Kong in 2011 because of her love for the city. She has not stopped exploring all that this city has to offer since then and hopes to share it with the rest of the world.

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BREAK NEW GROUND HOW BLOCKCHAIN WILL REVOLUTIONIZE THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY

By Dirk Eschenbacher

I

T’S BEEN SEVEN YEARS since we launched the first version of our zanadu.cn website. What originally started as a curation of the world’s finest and hippest hotels has become the leading luxury travel platform in China.

From ski weekends in Niseko to luxury safaris in Kenya or cultural journeys through South America, Zanadu not only covers all aspects of luxury travel, but also inspires and informs Chinese travelers –

Dirk Eschenbacher 42 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

the largest travel market in the world – with quality content on its social media, video channels and print publications.

As curious travellers and passionate entrepreneurs, we Founders have experimented all along with new technologies and creative product designs. We were one of the first teams globally to produce high-quality 360° VR travel content, we opened an experiential pop-up store in Shanghai to showcase the future of travel, and together with friends we make our annual journey to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, to be inspired and bring back fresh ideas.

Our latest idea, and this may be the biggest yet, is called Atlas. Admittedly, it took us some time to really understand the potential and possibilities of blockchain technology. But now we are convinced that blockchain technology – with all its advantages – has the potential to break new ground when it comes to building a new and more efficient travel ecosystem on a global level.

Changing The Travel Industry

Travel is one of the most traditional verticals on this planet, and therefore the potential for disruption is big.

Apart from a few stellar business ideas like Airbnb and Uber, not much true innovation has happened since Thomas Cook organized the first tour group in 1841.

The most significant development happened over the past two decades with the advent of the Internet, when online travel agents started to aggregate accommodation, transport and experiences to sell them to consumers online. Now through a series of mergers and acquisitions, a powerful few conglomerates control the majority of the market, control the data, the content and the traffic. As founders of the leading luxury agency in China, we know how hard it is to compete with these monopolies.

Blockchain, though still in its infancy, threatens to disrupt this status quo. It can give back to the user control over identity, control over transactions, and the intellectual rights on content created. It can give businesses a direct and transparent channel to conduct transactions, without the need for a middleman or agent, and in that way save substantial commissions. Also it can give power to a new generation of businesses and developers to create applications that are powered by a community that believes in the advantages of the blockchain and its token economy.

Getting Paid For Creating Content

A core component of the travel industry is the business of travel content and reviews of hotels, vacation rentals and travel experiences. Content is potent, more than 80% of travelers make booking decisions based on these reviews and ratings.

At the moment, the few big travel review and booking platforms take full ownership of this content, and then sell the data and traffic to advertisers. This

FEATURE

centralised data ownership model is the core business for companies such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. (TripAdvisor, for example, has over 315 million registered users and hosts over 500 million reviews and opinions about hotels, restaurants, attractions and experiences, which are created by users, but owned and monetized by the platform.)

In a blockchain based ecosystem, content creators will have control over their content, information and transactions. The blockchain is an open and distributed ledger that records all transactions in a verifiable and permanent way. In that way it enables the attribution of digital content, with unique IDs and certificates of authenticity, to protect the authors. It will facilitate tracking of the content, author, timestamp, viewership, comments, as well as votes or likes in a public record that does not belong to anyone.

Now that content is owned by the author, who will get compensated if it delivers value within the travel ecosystem. For example, a hotel can offer bounty rewards to well-written content about the service. Through engaging with the content, by liking or commenting, the community will vote on its value. That way will determine how much the author will be rewarded for the value contribution.

single organization (like a bank, or an agent) acted as middleman, now transactions are shared and authenticated every time they are written on the blockchain.

So called smart-contracts allow the automatic enforcement of rules and conditions to facilitate these transactions. This, in turn, enables a decentralized travel ecosystem that is self-regulating and transparent and doesn’t need the players to trust one central authority.

Without this middleman, there won’t be the need for businesses like hotels to pay commissions on bookings. Without having to pay the commission, hotels and other service providers can reinvest their savings, for example into upgrading their facilities with some much needed innovation.

The Future Of Travel

The world of blockchain is in a very early stage. It has been only a couple of years since a few enthusiastic programmers and entrepreneurs started to grasp fully the potential of this new technology. We are in the phase of building new infrastructure, blockchains like Ethereum, Neo and Steam that let us create powerful applications on the blockchain.

Atlas will be such an infrastructure project. It aims to provide a robust blockchain-based travel environment, that incentivizes content creation, gives ownership of data back to the user, and provides the opportunity for businesses to conduct secure and trusted transactions without paying hefty commissions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dirk is an award-winning Creative Director and tech entrepreneur based in Beijing who works in design, technology, filmmaking, branding and digital marketing. He is a Co-founder of Atlas. In 2012, Dirk also co-founded Zanadu, China’s leading high-end travel agency and

Zero Commission Marketplace

One of the core benefits of blockchain technology is that it offers a secure and trusted way of recording transactions, agreements and contracts. Whereas traditionally a

travel media channel. Before Atlas and Zanadu, Dirk held several senior creative positions with OgilvyOne, Ogilvy & Mather and DDB, across China and Asia. Last year, Dirk joined the team behind the NEU Future Festival – China’s first forum that links technology, art, culture, media and lifestyle with a focus on life in the future.

Issue 22 | 43

EVENTS | PREVIEW

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2018 July 4-5 Menara Mandiri, Jakarta In this two-day event hosted by Tech in Asia, Product Development Conference will gather the developer community, thought leaders and product practitioners to share insights and discuss about the latest trends. Participants can get practical guidance in product development, experience new technology and products, explore career opportunities and make new connections. This year, more than 16 topics over four stages will cater to a wide variety of interests and expertise, such as product management, data and analytics, scalability, user experience, machine learning, human management, cloud native, and more. pdc.techinasia.com

RISE HONG KONG July 9-12 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center As the largest tech conference in Asia, RISE has attracted 15,000 attendees and over 300 speakers from around the globe. Produced by the team behind Web Summit – Europe’s largest tech conference – the expo has attracted Founders and CEOs from the world’s most influential companies. Representatives from Alibaba, Sequoia Capital, Didi Chuxing, Amazon, Microsoft, and GGV Capital have spoken at the conference to share their knowledge and expertise. They will be joined by more than 650 media, including Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Financial Times, CNBC, Xinhua News Agency, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes at this legendary networking event. riseconf.com

2018 SVIEF (BEIJING) July 3 Beijing International Conference Center

TECHSPO SYDNEY 2018 As one of the largest cross-border technology innovation conferences in The Greater Bay Area, SVIEF has benefited numerous business professionals, entrepreneurs, government officials and investors from China and the US. The exhibition was established in 2011, and has been held consecutively for seven years. In 2016, it was brought to China in Beijing and Chengdu. A year later, it expanded to Xi’an and Shenzhen. SVIEF has received recognition and support from local governments and has helped over 100 high-tech projects to launch in China. Each year, the exhibition features 150+ products and attracts thousands of investors and entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and form new partnership. www.svief.org/2018/beijing

August 22-23 ANZ Stadium, Sydney TECHSPO Sydney is a two-day technology exhibition that brings together developers, brands, marketers, technology providers, designers and innovators to disrupt the technology industry. It will showcase projects such as Internet, mobile, AdTech, MarTech, and SaaS technology.

Exhibitors will showcase their innovative solutions and latest technology. The event agenda incorporates plenty of time for networking with potential consumers, investors, the media, and tech enthusiasts. Be prepared to be inspired, amazed and educated on cutting-edge technology and how it will reform businesses for the better. techsposydney.com

INSURTECH WORLD FORUM August 23-25 Beijing

Edited By Huey Wong

BLOCKCHAIN SUMMIT SINGAPORE InsurTech World Forum (ITWF) gathers market leaders from across the globe to talk about innovation, the latest trends, and methods to meet and exceed customer expectations. Insurance leaders can come together to benchmark strategies, generate synergy, assess technology trends, and disrupt the insurance market. Technological advances have brought an enormous change across all areas of the global insurance market. Through the programs at ITWF – including conference sessions, workshops, live show, case demos and mentoring clinics – practitioners and innovators across the international insurance ecosystem can gain knowledge and develop connections to thrive in this technology-driven era. it.thefintech.org 44 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

August 28 Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Center In this one-day conference and exhibition, Blockchain Summit Singapore will bring together over 700 industry leaders, business decision makers, tech innovators and investors. Blockchain Summit is the largest dedicated blockchain event series in the world, with unparalleled content and abundant networking opportunities. The exhibition will involve case studies on procedures to capitalise on blockchain technologies across a variety of industries such as finance, insurance, logistics, utilities, media and entertainment, and more. There will also be roundtable discussions and hosted networking sessions for participants to connect with peers and delve into topics of their interest. www.blockchainsummitsingapore.com

EVENTS | REVIEW

ARABNET DIGITAL SUMMIT 2018 April 30-May 1 Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai The sixth edition of the region’s most influential digital business and entrepreneurship conference drew over 1,600 attendees from around the world to discuss the technologies and trends disrupting traditional sectors and transforming business operations. Many topics were covered in the five forums, from Money, Real Estate, Smart Economy, Media & AdTech to Investment. ArabNet aims to build business bridges across the MENA and support the creation of new businesses and job opportunities for the youth. arabnet.me

J.A.D.E. CONFERENCE 2018 May 15 Deloitte’s Atrium, Admiralty, Hong Kong J.A.D.E. aims to build up “not the largest, but the most deep dive in Asia”. It attracted a total of 300 entrepreneurs to learn from top-notch speakers including AI and deep learning specialist Dr Sohila Zadran from Stanford, design thinking expert Stephen SY Wong, the CEO of Asiamiles, and many more. It builds up the Hong Kong startup ecosystem by elevating innovators and investors through cross-pollination with Silicon Valley’s practical experience, knowledge, and network.

The-jade.org

iDIGITAL BRAND SUMMIT 2018

TECH IN ASIA SINGAPORE

Edited By Kelly Cho

May 15-16 Suntec Convention Center, Singapore One of the largest technology conferences in Asia, Tech in Asia Singapore brought in 185 startups from 21 countries to showcase their products and services. Over 5,000 attendees were able to learn about the latest and greatest in the tech scene, as well as hearing from industry experts across a variety of verticals such as AI, blockchain, FinTech, SaaS, and more.

Prominent speakers from Facebook, Microsoft, OCBC Bank, HubSpot, Carousell, Didi Chuxing and more were featured. techinasia.com

May 21-23 Sanya, China The iDigital Brand Summit was an invitation-only premier event for around 200 attendees including 80-100 senior brand marketers and key solution providers, agencies and publishers to converge and discuss the top digital strategic issues. The iDigital Brand Summit in China is a leading global platform for marketers who want to fully embrace, utilize and execute marketing campaigns that allow them to meet and exceed their marketing objectives. www.e27.co

BRINC SPRING INVESTOR DEMO DAY

May 23 Cyberport, Hong Kong Hong Kong-based hardware accelerator Brinc’s spring Investor Demo Day introduced investors to many exciting and innovative projects from around the globe. Among them were a biometrics startup analyzing eSports players from Portugal, and a smart irrigation and fertilizer system from Indonesia. The startups presenting at Demo Day were raising seed funding in the range of US$500,000 to $1.5 million. Many revealed during the presentations that their products were through the prototyping stage and ready for commercial manufacture.

Brinc.io 46 | JUMPSTART JUL/AUG 2018

June 8 Central, Hong Kong The SuperCharger FinTech accelerator demo day showcased the astonishing progress made by 10 companies from seven countries working on accounting, financial management with AI, analytics and insights, and more. The companies demonstrated their products and shared their growth over the previous 12 weeks. Attendees had the opportunity to meet the startups in person at their booths, and network with SuperCharger’s partners, mentors and FinTech enthusiasts. SuperCharger is based in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and offers startups access to go-to-market resources and outstanding mentorship. www.fintechsupercharger.com

THE CONSUMER GOODS FORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2018 June 12-15 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore The annual Global Summit was the CGF’s exclusive flagship event, and this year the focus was on “Consumer Centricity in a Data-Driven World”. The event brought together more than 1,000 CEOs and other top-level executives from 70+ countries. It was a great platform for attendees to exchange ideas on future business trends, network and share knowledge.

Singapore provided the perfect backdrop for such discussions because it has Smart City qualities, some of the most important players and innovative startups. www.theconsumergoodsforum.com

EVENTS | REVIEW

SUPERCHARGER HONG KONG 2018 ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

THE LAUNCH FESTIVAL

June 19-21 SMC Conference & Function Center, Sydney, Australia

YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP SYMPOSIUM 2018 June 18-21 Marina Square, Singapore Organised by nEbO, YES is an annual four-day event for young people aged 17 to 25 to explore the essentials of starting up. In its 11th edition, this year’s theme was “Start Real, Stay Relevant”. Students were able to find out more about entrepreneurship including the fundamentals, potential trends, business opportunities and more through keynote talks, workshops and network sessions. They were not only exposed to different business fields and equipped with relevant skills, but were also allowed to explore their internship or part-time opportunities in the entrepreneurship start-up scene. www.nebo.sg

The LAUNCH Festival has been hosted in San Francisco for 10 years and this was the first time that LAUNCH brought the event to Sydney. During the first two days, there were five startup competitions on crowdfunding, frontier tech, blockchain, cryptocurrency, best startup products and ideas. The demo pit, startup pitches and demos, fireside chats featured over 1,000 participants. The day after LAUNCH Festival Sydney ended was the Startup Safari, where ticket holders and Founders could visit the offices of various stakeholders in the Sydney startup ecosystem. www.launchfestivalsydney.com

Issue 22 | 47

EVENTS | REVIEW

PITCH FOR CHARITY @ HKTDC ENTREPRENEUR DAY

May 17 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center

The Pitching for Charity event co-organized by Jumpstart Media and Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) was held during Entrepreneur Day 2018. Six startups were invited to participate, be creative with their presentations and support a good cause.

Winners of this competition, Origami Labs, had HK$5,000 donated in their name to Junior Achievement, a non-profit youth organization in Hong Kong.

Entrepreneur Day is two-day event is hosted annually, and this year’s showcase was marketed as the ‘most international and techfocused’ E-Day yet. Over 18,300 visitors came to this year’s show to see the record 276 exhibitors from across the globe.

Startups from India, Indonesia, Portugal, and Estonia among others were exhibiting at E-Day for the first time. More than half of the exhibitors were tech startups.

From the Imaginarium zone for innovative tech startups to The Boosters – an area designated for startup support like angel funding and coworking spaces – E-Day 2018 offered a wide range of opportunities for startups of all sizes. Pitching seemed to be the name of the game this year, as many of the key events hinged on learning how to pitch.

Outside the organized seminars and contests, startups were able to take advantage of the event to set up booths to promote their products or services. www.hktdc.com

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香港亚洲最大硬件创客展

ASIA’S LARGEST HARDWARE STARTUP LAUNCHPAD TRADESHOW Startup Launchpad (SULP) is Asia’s largest hardware trade show that facilitates global distribution between startups and renowned online and offline retailers.

Exclusive 5% off any exhibition booths with code JUMPSTART.

October 18th-21st, 2018 AsiaWorld-Expo, HongKong (The promo code cannot be combined with any additional offers.)

To sign up, scan the qrcode