Tech in Asia Magazine Issue 13 (End August 2014) by Tech in Asia

HIGHLIGHTS

54 Play to the crowd: how crowdfunding changed the status quo among Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardware startups

ight now, chat apps may look innocent and frivolous. But when you look at chat apps through the lens of 1950's America,

you can see thatchat apps are for Asia's youth like what television was for America's youth.

By Paul Bischoff

Eka Pramudita Muharram,

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey

Xiaomi unveiled its first ever

co-founder of the popular

Moore is one of those rare books

tablet in May in the form of

Surabaya-based game develop-

that every aspiring tech entre-

the MiPad. After living with the

ment firm Mojiken Studio

preneur should read right before

MiPad for a week, these are our

believes the archipelago is the

going to that first luncheon with

writer's thoughts.

next hotbed for game makers.

soon-to-be co-founders.

2 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

Editor-in-Chief Steven Millward

CONTENT LIST

Editor Terence Lee Contributors Leighton Cosseboom Enricko Lukman Terence Lee Daniel Tay Paul Bischoff Malavika Velayanikal Rui Ma Marcus Chow & Hazel Ho Steven Millward Anh Minh Do Lead Designer Andre R. G. Susi Susanti Production Manager Emily Goh

05 09 13 20 24 30 34 38 42

Marketing Vanessa Tan Esther Taan Website www.techinasia.com

54 60

Contact Us editors@techinasia.com 10A Trengganu Street, Singapore 058464 Advertise With Us nathan@techinasia.com Media Partnership

64 69 73

partner@techinasia.com

Asia This Week As Indonesia’s gaming industry heats up, new startups enter Indonesian government ramps up transparency efforts with new websites and online services The future of online Asian travel isn’t up in the air; it’s buses, taxis, ferries, and trains 10 angel investors in India who bet on young tech startups 3 points to consider before you make your first angel investment in China Launching a startup in Singapore? 4 things you need to know Here are 5 #HumansinTech who are living proof that academic success is not the be-all and end-all Crossing the Chasm is the bible for entrepreneurial marketing (book review) Xiaomi MiPad is a pretty package for just $240 (REVIEW) Exclusives Play to the crowd: how crowdfunding changed the status quo among China’s hardware startups If you want to understand Asia's chat apps, look at 1950's America Startup Highlights This father-son duo just made free voice calls a reality PitchXO: analytics for your slide deck Gaming, dating, and chatting: former Zynga exec has created China’s most promising new social network

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ techinasia

Startup Curation & Startup Events

Twitter@Techinasia Production 2014 Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 3

EDITORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LETTER

hat apps and crowdfunding are two consumer tech trends that have swept the region. In our first exclu-

sive article for the emagazine, Anh Minh Do argues that a new crop of full-featured chat apps are undergoing an early adopter phase much like television in the 50s. The difference is that while television sets are fixed at home, chat apps deliver content to you wherever you are. Our second exclusive piece, by Paul Bischoff, explores the rise of crowdfunding in China, and how it adopts the mechanics of Kickstarter while adding a unique cultural twist: that of taking a popular Western idea and cloning it in the East. Both articles remind us that ideas can only succeed if the culture allows for it. Chat apps with cute stickers can prosper because of widespread acceptance of kawaii culture even among adults. Meanwhile, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s large population makes indigenous crowdfunding platforms viable. At this point, none of the crowdfunding platforms made elsewhere in Asia has taken off yet. Terence Lee Editor, Tech in Asia

4 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

AS INDONESIA’S GAMING INDUSTRY HEATS UP, NEW STARTUPS ENTER By Leighton Cosseboom

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 5

ASIA THIS WEEK

oday, mobile devices are the preferred channel for internet

usage in Indonesia, and McKinsey Global Institute projects that with its current growth rate of 20 percent annually, internet access in the archipelago will reach 100 million users by 2016. Last October, the Asia Game Business Summit featured stats that Indonesia currently generates US$20 million to 30 million in revenue annually from a population of roughly five million active gamers. Those numbers are not incredibly large when pitted against other figures on Indonesia’s blooming ecommerce, booking, and social media sectors. However, Eka Pramudita Muharram, co-founder of the popular Surabaya-based game development firm Mojiken Studio believes the archipelago is the next hotbed for game makers. “As a market, Indonesia obviously has a huge amount of internet, smartphone, and gadget users and is still growing strong each year,” Muharram explains. “Indonesia is also a unique market that has a tendency to share something on social media once they get hooked.” 6 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK REAPING THE EARLY FRUITS Although Muharram, 25, only founded Mojiken last year, the studio’s products have seen signs of early success with titles like Vamp’s Revenge and Ninjakira Combo Showdown appearing on free-to-play sites like Kongregate and Armor Games. No one on Mojiken’s team is over the age of 30, but their work is clearly competitive at an international level. This is so much the case that a China-based developer even allegedly pirated and published one of Mojiken’s games on the App Store last month in an effort to pawn the title off as his own work. Muharram explains, “We contacted Apple regarding this matter and we provided some evidence that we actually made the game [...] We waited roughly two weeks, and then Apple took down the stolen Vamp’s Revenge.” Muharram believes Indonesia is a fascinating place to enter the internet market as a game developer. According to him, universities are now introducing game development as one of their disciplines, the local governments support game development as a serious industry, and there is an increasing number of game-related events popping up across Java each year. Other game studios have also done well in Indonesia’s tech market. Highlights include Anton Soeharyo’s famous Touchten Games (which received early investments from CyberAgent Ventures and Ideosource), Kris Antoni’s Toge Productions (which another alleged pirate developer also victimized), and Dien Wong’s Altermyth, one of the nation’s top game development firms that doubles as a mobile app studio. Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 7

ASIA THIS WEEK CAPITALIZING OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL Muharram and his team have their feet firmly

he and his team are planning to look for invest-

planted in Surabaya, the capital of East Java and In-

ment sometime in the future, but for another un-

donesia’s second largest city. While other Indone-

named project, and not Mojiken itself. He cites the

sian game developers feel the need to be close to

strategy as an effort to maintain control over the

the hustle and bustle of Jakarta’s business scene,

studio as a creative venture. According to him, Mo-

Muharram says the Mojiken team prefers East

jiken’s plans don’t extend far beyond maintaining

Java for its stress-free atmosphere and low cost of

and increasing its own work efficiency. “Right now,

living. He adds, “Since we’re aiming for the inter-

we’re aiming to stabilize our income and survive as

national market, I think it doesn’t matter where we

long as possible,” he explains.

are, as long as there’s a good internet connection.” Addressing Indonesia’s inevitable increase of game But Muharram does concede that Jakarta has more

development competitors, Muharram says, “The

opportunities for growth and is undoubtedly the

market is getting smarter. So, if we want to survive,

place to find investment for scaling up. According

we should focus on creating great games – games

to him, Mojiken plans to bootstrap the venture for

that we can enjoy and that are actually fun.” u

a while longer and see where it leads. He says that

q Mojiken Studio team. Eka Pramudita Muharram back row, far right

8 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT RAMPS UP TRANSPARENCY EFFORTS WITH NEW WEBSITES AND ONLINE SERVICES

By Enricko Lukman

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 9

ASIA THIS WEEK

ndonesian startups don’t really talk that

Hopefully, the best is still to come. Tech in Asia sat

much about the government. Besides

down and talked to three representatives from the

the annual tech competition INAICTA,

President’s Delivery Unit of Development Mon-

a lot of people stil feel that the government doesn’t

itoring and Oversight (UKP4). Just like the name

understand the tech scene. Thankfully, that

entails, this group works and reports directly to the

perception could change in the coming years

president. They are also one of the government

as more government departments are starting

institutions in charge of running Open Government

to embrace the open government initiative.

Indonesia (OGI).

Thanks to the initiative, citizens can access public

Khrisnaresa Adytia from UKP4 and OGI says that

information much more easily from the internet,

their job is to promote transparency and innova-

and be more proactive in utilizing the raw infor-

tion from the government side, as well as participa-

mation. During the recent presidential election

tion from the citizens’ side. The way they do that

for example, citizens created numerous websites

is by liasing with various government entities and

to count the official vote tally documents made

encourage them to index all available public infor-

available on the General Elections Commission’s

mation they have on the internet. Established in

website. Netizens also had a blast in poking at

September 2011, the OGI team has also created

presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s election

two websites to pool important information from

appeal documents available on the Constitutional

multiple institutions.

Court website.

10 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

LAPOR First is Lapor (which means “report”), it is an online

reports will themselves be reported to the presi-

tool to collect citizens’ reports regarding the gov-

dent.

ernment’s performance. For example, Indonesians can report a broken traffic light or an unofficial

Currently Lapor receives over 13,000 reports every

tariff. The team will then process the reports and

month with more than 250,000 registered users.

distribute it to corresponding government institu-

Lapor can be used on its desktop website, various

tions. Agencies which don’t respond to the citizens’

smartphone apps, and even SMS.

SATU LAYANAN Second is Satu Layanan (which means “One Ser-

programs and budgets. One particular product that

vice”), it is an online directory which lists frequently

looks exciting is Open Data Portal, to be formally

asked questions and answers of more than 300

launched at the end of this month. The website

government services. Users who want to learn

lists out all raw information regarding Indonesia, so

about the requirements and fees to get a passport

you can get official data like the number of house-

or visa, for example, can go to this site. The service

holds or number of blood donors online.

has around 100,000 unique users per month. “We’re like the catalyst of information,” says Adytia, Other OGI products in the pipeline include Satu

“citizens can then use this raw data for their own

Peta (means “One Map), an online geospacial map,

needs.” In the long run, OGI team wants to build

and Satu Pemerintah (means “One Government),

APIs around it so Indonesians can extract and use

an online portal which lists out crucial information

the data easier for various purposes.

regarding Indonesia’s government institutions like

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 11

ASIA THIS WEEK

TRANSPARENCY BUILT INTO INDONESIAN LAW “Actually, according to the regulations, Indonesian

If you don’t want to go to court and still insist on

government has the obligation to share any public

getting certain information, you can use Lapor.

data to citizens, no questions asked,” says fellow OGI representative Agus Rachmanto. The citizens

The team says it welcomes any feedback regarding

are protected under a 2008 regulation concerning

OGI. They even held an online contest last year to

public information transparency. They can even file

pool users’ ideas. The contest collected over 3,200

a lawsuit with the government if they are denied

entries, and some of them have been implemented

public information.

in OGI’s action plan.

“At least the government has the obligation to re-

The contest is now closed, but if you have any

spond whether particular information can be made

feedback regarding what OGI should do, or if you’d

public or not when enquired by people,” Rachman-

like to collaborate with them, you can contact the

to says.

OGI team here. u Cover photo by Flickr user Eric Tastad.

12 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

The future of online Asian travel isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t up in the air; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s buses, taxis, ferries, and trains

By Terence Lee

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 13

ASIA THIS WEEK

ravel involves more than flights and

everyone wants to crack hotel and flight bookings,

hotels. It’s about the journey from the

turning that segment into a highly competitive field

airport to your lodging. It’s about making

inhabited by naive entrepreneurs and carcasses of

the ride as smooth as possible: knowing which cabs

broken dreams.

to book, where and when to book them, and how much to pay. That’s why hotels double as concierg-

But internet companies are wising up. They are real-

es. Transportation in cities is complex.

izing that travelers don’t just care about the lowest prices and best deals, but about making the entire

And transportation isn’t getting simpler. Cabbing

process of getting from home to hotel room pain-

involves a series of complex decisions. You decide

less. Part of the answer lies in ground transport.

where you’re going, the best route to take, and how long it takes to get there without being late. Supply

Budget air travel is a luxury

and demand mismatches can mess you up. Cabs may not be around when you need them to be. The situation gets hairier if you’re a hapless foreign-

It’s more than just catering to cosmopolitan travel-

er: now you have to deal with language barriers,

ers after they touch down. Another huge opportuni-

new environments, and unfamiliar, often unfriendly,

ty is ripe for the taking. While budget air travel has

taxi operators. This friction erases the joy out of

taken off in the past decade, it’s still expensive. A

travel. Railway and subway in Taipei, for instance,

trip to a nearby holiday destination and back will set

run on separate ticketing systems. Auto-rickshaws,

a person back about US$300, not including hotel

or tuk-tuks as they’re called, need you to know

stay. The cost to ride on a tuk-tuk, by contrast, is

obscure locations in the city and pronounce them

loose change.

correctly. Showing drivers the map doesn’t work; some can’t read, and some can’t afford prescription

By fixating on flights, internet companies missed

glasses.

out on a huge segment of travelers: the intra-country tourists in land-wealthy China and India, the

Fixing these problems is hard, but the solution

intrepid Malaysian braving the traffic jam between

is easy to articulate. It’s called networked travel,

Johor and Singapore for work each weekend, and

where old-fashioned motor-and-wheels pair up with

the unhurried urban dweller seeking a cheap get-

computing, mobile, cloud, and software technolo-

away. Entrepreneurs can make money not just from

gies. The goal: to make travel as seamless as possi-

these travelers, but also the bus, taxi, ferry, and train

ble through the use of both individual and operator

operators that move people by the truckloads. Non-

data.

flight travel has a lower barrier to entry for consumers, which is why they do it day after day.

Unfortunately, folks think of networked travel too narrowly. Within the online travel industry, 14 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK So, unless true airline innovation happens, non-

focused on ground transportation have collective-

flight travel can make even further inroads into

ly raised US$605 million between 2005 to 2013

consumers’ lives. Telepresence technology could

– the highest of all travel categories. The invest-

lessen the need for business trips, while driverless

ments could accelerate in 2014. Witness Uber’s

vehicles can make ground travel pleasurable and

US$1.2 billion fundraise in June. With its recent

productive. Think of how cruise ships became pop-

expansion, the company’s Asian operations seems

ular despite sea travel fading with affordable flight.

likely to receive a sizable chunk of that investment.

Similarly, as robots take over the wheel, manu-

Also, local players are taking the fight to Uber and

facturers could put a higher premium on in-car

raising money of their own. GrabTaxi in Southeast

entertainment. Apple and Google know this is the

Asia, TaxiForSure and Olacabs in India, as well as

future, which is why they’re focusing on customiz-

Didi Dache in China come to mind. And where

ing iOS and Android for cars.

opportunity beckons, you can guarantee Rocket Internet is there – its EasyTaxi is available in many

The money is pouring in. A PhocusWright report

major Asian cities.

Photo by Flickr user George Ruiz

observes that in Asia, online travel companies

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 15

ASIA THIS WEEK Now, here’s an important segway: transport-

taxi industry run by a handful of players, TaxiFor-

ing people shares similarities with transporting

Sure co-founder Raghunandan G says that Ban-

goods. Networked travel can fix the problems

galore, the tech capital of India, has about 3,000

faced by both. Mobile technology, big data, and

cab companies, while Delhi has 4,000. Most are

GPS can help drivers find optimal routes despite

tiny firms with a few dozen taxis running in limited

ever-changing traffic. Software can improve fleet

areas.

management, while algorithms could balance supply and demand. Robots are probably 10 years

This situation is highly unfavorable for consumers

away from taking drivers out of the equation.

and operators alike. Locals and especially foreign-

The implication is this: once a consumer-oriented

ers are overwhelmed by the choices and they

ground travel startup scales up, it could remodel

have a hard time figuring out which companies are

itself to do logistics and delivery.

trustworthy. Meanwhile, smaller cab firms are failing to gain traction since Indian consumers call for

It’s starting to happen. Uber is thinking about it,

cabs rather than hail them on the streets. Yet, even

but startups like Easyvan and Gogovan have al-

though taxis are still considered expensive to many

ready hit the ground running in Hong Kong. But

Indians in the cities who prefer riding tuk-tuks or

we may not need to wait long for Uber to saunter

their own scooters, the demand still outstrips sup-

into logistics. With its resources, it doesn’t need to

ply. Taxi call centers become a bottleneck as they

be the first-mover and can afford to wait, observe,

struggle to keep up.

and absorb the lessons made by smaller competitors.

The massive inefficiency proved perfect for an internet company like TaxiForSure. With its expertise

Uniting thousands of little tribes

in web and mobile apps as well as digital marketing, the company has became a channel to drive customers to cab companies. It gives consumers one platform to engage different operators, reduc-

The massive shift towards ground travel is caused

ing clogging on the call centers. It uses a demand

by necessity as the online air and lodging bookings

prediction algorithm to create heat maps which

industry have become overcrowded, PhocusWright

drivers can access.

analyst Chetan Kapoor tells Tech in Asia. He adds that the “largely unorganized nature of the taxi,

By uniting all these little kingdoms with a layer of

ferries, and bus transportation modes across Asia

technology, TaxiForSure uplifts the entire industry.

makes it ripe for intermediaries to enter, innovate

Unlike Singapore, where taxi companies are waryof

and apply technologies to benefit customers.”

GrabTaxi for pocketing booking fees that would have gone to them, Raghu claims that cab firms in

Nowhere is the chaos more serious than in India.

India are happy to work with TaxiForSure.

While Singapore has a small and tightly regulated 16 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK “A wife of a taxi driver we’re working with

cleans the car the next morning. The kids join

wanted to meet us. We didn’t understand

in. He earned more money and spent on a tele-

why. But when she did, she started crying and

vision and refrigerator. The kids started going

thanked us. She told us that her husband used

to school. We didn’t know we were making that

to work for someone else, and the little money

kind of impact.”

he got was used to get drunk. He would beat the wife and kids, and he would have no sav-

Raghu has seen cab drivers who were earning

ings,” he tells Tech in Asia.

less than IDR40,000 (US$819) a month start making more than IDR50,000 (US$1,023) af-

“But after working with TaxiForSure, we were

ter working with TaxiForSure. Meanwhile, cab

giving him so much business that he would

operators who earned IDR50,000 a month have

spend 10 hours outside. He’d be tired by the

tripled or quadrupled their revenues.

end of the day. So instead of going to the li-

Photo by Flickr user Didier Baertschiger

quor store, he goes home, eats and sleeps, and

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 17

ASIA THIS WEEK All shapes and sizes

multi-modal metasearch startup doing something on those lines by aggregating feeds from multiple providers.”

Taxi apps are hogging the limelight, but they aren’t the only play. Another Bangalore company RedBus has left its mark in the tech world in Asia with ticketing reservation software for bus operators that syncs with a website for people to find and book bus tickets. While the company was sold and went through internal turmoil, its business model has

Rome2rio sees itself as a Google for transport data. It wants to organize the world’s transportation information to give users a full itinerary combining various forms of travel. It eases the traveler’s dilemma of choosing alternate transport modes and routes by displaying all the options side-by-side

been replicated across Asia.

and including pricing. It integrates open-source

In Singapore, companies like BusOnlineTicket and

it even supplies its own API for app developers

Easibook are using software to replace pen-andpaper records for bus operators plying the Singapore and Malaysia route. The Philippines has PinoyTravel, which signed deals with the two largest bus companies in the country. VeXeRe is doing something similar in Vietnam, where instead of calling to book a bus, Vietnamese can now do the same thing online. While Asia’s geographical and cultural diversity serves as barriers to startups, it could also help by making cheap, cross-border getaways by bus or ferry enticing. For example, Batam island in

data, APIs, and its own manual data entries, and to access search results. It shows what open data exchange can create – a single platform to make travel planning and booking easy. Working on a slightly different approach is 12go. asia, a website launched in 2012 that offers a different sort of data integration. Based in Singapore and Bangkok, 12go runs like RedBus but incorporates ferry tickets too. It’s now selling in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Brunei, and hopes to offer minivan, rail, and flight tickets in the

Indonesia is a short boat ride from Singapore.

future.

Kapoor believes Asia is at an early stage where

“We’re not really only about selling a bus ticket

traditional transportation services are just starting to come online. Startups in this space are tackling local opportunities rather than going regional. He has some thoughts about what the next step might look like: “We can expect some companies to offer a fullsuite of transportation services under one platform. Australia-based Rome2rio is an interesting

[…] the goal is to create a pan-regional clearinghouse and data standard to allow people to pay for any travel needs from a single source,” says founder and CEO Alexey Abolmasov, who secured US$300,000 in seed funding to kickstart his project. Eventually, 12go hopes to roll all the trips you need to take from one place to another into one standard ticket – an ambitious undertaking that could

18 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK save consumers a lot of pain. It even hopes to inte-

cloud services would go to work crafting an opti-

grate with cab booking services like EasyTaxi.

mized itinerary for you. Then, it’s just one click to book all your tickets at

All these signs point to one thing: We’re not too far

one go. The journey itself could be just as seam-

from a revolution in how people move within and

less: an app notifies you of the flight details. You

across borders, as many of the pieces are already in

get a Yo from a cab company, signaling that your

place. As these online services grow in popularity

ride - sans driver – is waiting at the doorstep to

and consolidate, we could reach a state of intel-

whisk you to your destination. u

ligent travel where all you need to do is key in a

Cover photo by Flickr user Giulia Fiori.

Photo by Flickr user Connie Ma

travel date and destination, and a whole cohort of

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 19

ASIA THIS WEEK

10 angel investors in India who bet on young tech startups

In Silicon Valley, technopreneurs who have made big exits are at the forefront of angel investments into early stage startups. In India, successful technopreneurs in the past have mostly made their money in the outsourcing and servicing business, which is very different from software product startups which typically have longer gestation periods. This is beginning to change. Although the Indian startup scene has yet to see the big exits that happen with regularity in more mature ecosys-

By Malavika Velayanikal

n the first part of this series, we looked at the most active institutional investors in Indian tech startups.

The ranking was based on the number of deals made in the last financial year, which saw an investment of US$1.3 billion across 266 deals, including a multi-year high of US$427 million in the first quarter of 2014. The upswing in in-

tems like Silicon Valley or Israel, there is a growing band of angel investors who see great future potential in India. Some are run by corporations, others are individuals or networks. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re driven as much by passion as hard-nosed business logic. What they have in common is a desire to spot a fledgling startup with promise, and a willingness to take a bet on it. Here then is a list of 10 such angel investors and seed funds who are active in India â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in no particular order.

vestments has continued this year, with Flipkart alone raising a whopping US$1 billion just last week, which was immediately followed by Amazon announcing US$2 billion of fresh investment to scale up and strengthen its Amazon India marketplace. The large venture capital investments are obviously skewed towards startups which are well into their growth stage. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much harder for a startup to attract seed funding in the early stages when it is building a product or service that is yet to be validated in the market.

20 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK Indian Angel Network

Mumbai Angels

This is the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest network of angel

This one too dates back to 2006, when angel

investors, which started in 2006. Last year, it

investing was still a new phenomenon in a con-

signed 18 term sheets and completed 11 deals

servative Indian setup. Adtech company InMobi

in a broad range of companies from food tech

and fashion estore Myntra, recently acquired by

startup Mukunda to an online marketplace for

Flipkart, were some of its early bets. One of its

co-operative and community-based producers

first members was Sasha Mirchandani, who went

GoCoop. It runs an incubator too, and ventured

on to found venture capital firm Kae Capital.

into Sri Lanka and the UK recently.

Mumbai Angels made 14 investments last year.

Harvard Angels

Chennai Angels

India-based Harvard alumni formed this network

This is another angel network with a proven

in Bangalore in 2011. They have been mostly

track record. It has become more active recently,

focused on tech startups in Bangalore, Mum-

with seven startup investments last year, from

bai, and Delhi. What differentiates them is the

bus ticketing platform TicketGoose and edtech

strength of the alumni network, which has chap-

startup Skyfi Labs to bioinformatics company

ters in several countries. The HBS Angels annual

Xcode. Chennai is also the home of IIT Madras,

conference in Silicon Valley brings together glob-

(Indian Institute of Technology, Madras) which

al chapter leaders for sharing and collaboration.

acts as a hub for technopreneurs. Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 21

ASIA THIS WEEK Hyderabad Angels

India Quotient

Another regional angel network growing fast is

This one is an institutional investor but its focus

in Hyderabad, the capital of the recently formed

on pre-revenue early stage startups makes it

state of Telangana. The Telangana government is

more like an angel. Started by Anand Lunia, who

committed to promoting a startup hub in a part

was earlier with Seedfund, India Quotient has

of Hyderabad that is known as Cyberabad. Local

made recent investments in consumer-oriented

activity and tour discovery platform Thrillophil-

companies like property portal Grabhouse and

ia is one of the companies Hyderabad Angels

pet network Dogspot.

invested in last year.

Seedfund

Sharad Sharma

Again this is a venture capital firm that is focused

Talking of individual angels, one of the best

on early stage investments, and it had some big

known is Sharad Sharma, former R&D head of

ticket ones like RedBus. One of the co-founders

Yahoo! India. Investments in rising data backup

is Mahesh Murthy, a familiar figure in the Indian

and analytics firms like Druva and PeelWorks

startup ecosystem and prolific writer. He went

show his tech focus. He is also one of the most

from selling vacuum cleaners to becoming a cre-

active evangelists in the Indian startup ecosys-

ative director in advertising before striking it rich

tem, being a co-founder of iSPIRT (Indian Soft-

in Silicon Valley.

ware Product Industry Round Table).

22 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK Rajan Anandan

Ravi Gururaj

The Google India MD – who is of Sri Lankan

He chairs the product council of NASSCOM,

origin – is also one of the most experienced

the country’s biggest software industry associa-

individual angel investors in India. He has backed

tion. Gururaj has been a successful entrepreneur

more than 40 Indian startups, the most recent

himself with two exits from startups that were

one being SocialCops, which provides data

acquired by US companies. He is now a leading

analytics for better administration of welfare

member on several angel platforms. His current

schemes. A number of companies in his portfolio

focus is on driving the 10000 Startups program

have a social focus.

backed by NASSCOM and Google.

A caveat is in order here. This is an indicative

VC firms also invest in an individual capacity.

rather than an exhaustive list. Many angel

Also, large tech companies have incubators

investments are made in stealth, so it may not

and accelerators that look at early stage

be clear who are the most active right now.

investments. And we’re seeing a trend of start-

Besides, large VCs too are putting aside capital

ups preferring to bootstrap with the founders’

for early stage ventures – especially if they’re

savings or money from friends and family,

ecommerce, adtech, mobility, and internet-

until they’re ready to scale up and attract a

related. Several of the people running these

good valuation. u Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 23

ASIA THIS WEEK

3 points to consider before you make your first angel investment in China By Rui Ma

have had the great fortune to work across several different industries

entertainment to technology, and from angel/ seed stage to late/pre-IPO stage, I have accumulated both breadth and depth in expertise. In an effort help overseas investors get savvy when preparing to make their first investment in China, below Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve compiled a list of some common traps that angels new to China fall into. A lot of this is also what I wish I had known coming in, not just for technology seed investing, but for deal making in general. Most of these ills are common across multiple geographies, but I hope you at least get a chuckle out of these (occasionally painful) personal anecdotes.

and investment stages in the seven

years or so that I have worked as a finance professional in China. From real estate to

24 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK There are those who embel-

being launched and landed a

lish, but in China many go far

copywriting position there.”

beyond that. A friend who ran an HR consultancy in China

This behavior is not just rele-

once told me that as many as

gated to locals — many expats

78 percent of Chinese appli-

have localized well. There are

cants lie on their resumes.

a few overseas companies, even publicly listed ones, who

1. In China, accuracy is optional , and the truth is open to interpretation.

I myself have been the vic-

probably do not realize how

tim of blatant resume fraud

many “founders” they have

– someone who worked with

running around in Beijing and

me, and who actually asked

Shanghai. The story of my

me to be an employment

friend’s healthcare company

reference, basically gave

who only found out that their

themselves a paper promo-

head of China was simulta-

tion that was worth at least a

neously working as head of

decade in professional experi-

China for another competitor

ence. I was disappointed, but

after one year probably takes

mostly flabbergasted. I don’t

the cake, don’t you think?

generally suffer from pedigree

Another hilarious (or depress-

worship, and am less

ing, depending on your sense

concerned about education

of humor) example is when

(although you’d be surprised

my boss Dave McClure and

to know that Summer School

I showed up at the offices of

at Harvard might qualify many

a China-based accelerator. I

to call themselves Harvard

had known of the entity for

alumni). But I always poke

a while but had never made

around when I see resume

any official contact, and it was

lines along the lines of “I

never on my list of top part-

started X.com which had

ners.

40mm users. However, the investment ” You’d be surprised how

manager attended a talk we

many times that means, “I

hosted and insisted that we

was about to be fired from an

visit their headquarters and

Internet company but begged

“exchange information for

my way to a new initiative

future cooperation.”

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 25

ASIA THIS WEEK When we arrived, we were photographed as if we were movie stars and handed thick, colorful introductory booklets of the fund, its history and vision. I usually leaf through

Pro tip:

such things quickly out of politeness, but one paragraph caught my eye – 500 Startups was listed as an official partner to said entity. We guessed that was why our mugs were so valuable – it would give credence to the company’s claims that we were their intimate overseas partners.

360-degree due diligence is a must. Relying on trusted local co-investors may be common sense, but it’s a lifesaver in China. I am lucky in that in my nearly seven years here I have been able to build a solid local network that allows me to do quick due diligence within my circle of contacts. But even then, moving from city to city can mean adjusting to an entirely different ecosystem where information asymmetry is high. When building out new networks from scratch, I advise taking statements with an oceanful of salt.

Conflicts of interest are more

Fail. This happens with start-

difficult to discover than inci-

ups as well. It is important to

dents of resume fraud. I have

ask about the details behind

no doubt conflicts of interest

certain business arrangements

occur in many other parts of

that sound too good to be true,

the world, but a few of my

because often they are really

first-hand experiences take on

“related-party transactions” and

a uniquely Chinese flavor. For

not repeatable, scalable, nor

example, when I first arrived

ethical.

in China, an old classmate

2. It’s normal to not disclose conflicts of interest

asked to borrow some money

Additionally, in at least one

and I gladly obliged. However,

head-scratching acquisition I

what he claimed was “small

know of, the deal carried forth

side business working capital”

solely because it would deliver

turned out to be arbitraging the

outsized returns on the decision

commission cuts between what

maker’s friend’s angel invest-

his large multinational employer

ment. I’m guessing the decision

was paying the subcontractors

maker received some amends

he was responsible for vetting.

as well, especially as they were

26 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK eventually fired when the huge-

least some instances no such

ly underperforming deal was

rules exist. As a result, many

more closely scrutinized.

people haven’t even developed these sensibilities.

To make matters worse, media in China operates like a black

In fact, culturally, conflicts of

box, and while tech media is

interest can be considered com-

much better, I’ve not seen any

petitive advantages and lack of

consistent disclosure standards

disclosure doesn’t always point

there either. Given all these

to criminal wrongdoing. When I

considerations, whenever there

briefly worked with a very large

is a story that doesn’t seem to

Chinese company a few years

make much economic sense,

back, I saw the first nascent

Once again, trusted and

I try to corroborate the story

attempts at transparency and

knowledgeable insiders

with as many people involved

accountability in their employee

as possible. There’s often more

agreements (“This is the first

than what meets the eye.

year we are having new hires

Unfortunately, the lack of prop-

sign these,” I was proudly told).

er disclosure may not change

These measures are still evolv-

any time soon – not necessarily

ing and maturing, and overseas

because people are flouting the

investors should by no means

regulations but because in at

take them for granted.

3. Government relations very rarely make a business.

Pro tip:

are the key.

If you have any contact with

the more brazen souls), but

Chinese businesses, I’m sure

mostly it is via a (sometimes

you’ve been pitched a busi-

absentee) co-founder, an

ness that has “government

advisor, or an investor. While

backing.” In some rare cases,

government relationships

the entrepreneur him/herself

are crucial in the real estate

claims to be related to some-

industry, they are not helpful

one “of great importance” in

for a fledgling technology

the Chinese government (the

enterprise.

Politburo is often hinted at by

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 27

ASIA THIS WEEK Another successful founder whose company reached a market cap in the billions once dissected the “role of government” with me in detail. While it may be true that only a handful of regulators played any substantial role in technology two decades ago, that is no longer the case. There are likely thousands of “relevant officials” in various oversight departments, meaning there are pitifully

Pro tip:

few bureaucrats who can make sweeping life-or-death

When I asked one of the most successful VCs in China point blank what her views on government influence were, she said, “We don’t look at governmental ties at all. In general, we find that the government becomes a beneficial force when your business succeeds. Most of the governmental support our businesses have received have been well after they commenced operations, and played no part in their initial growth.”

decisions that affect a start-

If an entrepreneur mentions

up. Moreover, if they could,

government relations as a core

they probably have better

selling point in his/her pitch,

things to do. For a startup,

don’t walk away – run.

good government relations

Additionally, differentiate

are a positive, but not rocket-

between information and

ships – and bad government

influence. It is often helpful

relations represent speed

to understand governmental

bumps, not death.

stances on either heavily regulated or nascent industries,

It’s possible that for certain

but there is a big difference

protected industries, govern-

between awareness of pending

ment connections can make

regulation and the ability to

or break a company. But why

guide it.

would you, a China newbie, be offered such sweet deals? Especially when there is more than enough capital in China to fund these deals a few times over?

28 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

Rui Ma is the Greater China Venture Partner for the global seed fund

Wrap-up

and accelerator 500 Startups. She has been

China, like any new-ish start-

Startup entrepreneurship has

working in finance for

up ecosystem, is full of flaws

taken China by storm. As one

over a decade and is

and pitfalls waiting to ensnare

experienced founder, I recent-

well into her second

the uninitiated and unin-

ly hosted for an event said on

year as a professional

formed. Any risk that typically

stage, the number of founders

angel investor. Follow

comes with making

has probably grown by 100

her on Twitter @ruima.

early-stage investments is

times in the past decade, to

amplified, sometimes due

the point where if you don’t

Disclaimer: the opinions

to systemic issues and not

do a startup, you are looked

expressed in this piece

always out of malintent. That

upon as unambitious. Given

are the author’s own

being said, this doesn’t mean

the tremendous increase in

and not those of her

there aren’t a lot of diamonds

startups within a short span

employer or colleagues.

in the rough, waiting to be

of time, it’s even more import-

found.

ant investors do their best to separate the grade A fakes from the real deal. u

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 29

ASIA THIS WEEK

Launching a startup in Singapore? 4 things you need to know By Marcus Chow

he growth in the technology eco-

Entrepreneurs must have a basic understanding

system in Singapore has attracted

of the key considerations in setting up, including

investors and fund seekers alike. This

issues on incorporation, fundraising, managing

is intended as a useful primer for all eager entre-

shareholders and employees, and protecting

preneurs kickstarting their companies and work-

intellectual property (IP) and personal data.

ing towards the first million dollars.

30 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK appointment of, a local company secretary who

Incorporating a company

will go through the Accounting and Corporate

Startups may run their

Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA) to re-

business through different

serve the company name and submit the relevant

vehicles, such as sole pro-

incorporation documents, such as the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

prietorships, partnerships or

memorandum and articles of association.

companies. Most startups in

Venture capital investments

Singapore prefer operating through a private limited company given that it is a separate legal entity and gives limited liability.

Startups require large capital

This means that the owners of the company will

injections for working capital.

only be liable for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debts up to the

Beyond angel investments,

amount of their shareholder investments, except

such funding is usually ob-

in cases where they are found to be personally

tained from venture capital-

liable by law, such as fraud or breach of directorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

ists (VCs). In Singapore, VCs

fiduciary duties (where the shareholder is also a

may come in at the early stages of fundraising as

director).

angel investors or Series A investors. The Singapore government supports early stage VC invest-

The Singapore corporate tax rate is also attractive

ments through various funding initiatives includ-

to foreign startups that are profitable. The prevail-

ing the co-investment equity scheme between

ing corporate tax rate is 17 percent of chargeable

the National Research Foundation and selected

income for each Year of Assessment (YA). Under

venture capital firms, known as the Early Stage

a tax exemption scheme for new startup compa-

Venture Funding Scheme, which targets local

nies, a newly incorporated company that qualifies

technology startups. The authors will be pleased

for the scheme may claim full tax exemption from

to provide summaries of all existing funding

the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on the

schemes in place upon request.

first S$100,000, and a further 50 percent on the next S$200,000 of chargeable income for each of

As VCs tend to have high demands on their

its first three consecutive YAs.

returns and often play an active role in how the company is managed, startups must have in place

In order to incorporate a company in Singapore, a

relevant legal agreements with VCs in order to

startup must have at least one company director

stipulate and regulate the interests of the compa-

ordinarily resident in Singapore (i.e. a Singapore

ny and the founders to avoid misunderstandings.

citizen, a Singapore permanent resident or an employment pass or entrepass holder), and a mini-

An investment agreement is typically entered into

mum paid-up capital of S$1. Incorporation usually

to capture the main investment terms, such as

takes place through, and concurrently with the

how the investment amount will be utilized, the Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 31

ASIA THIS WEEK valuation method for subsequent rounds of fund-

share option scheme to incentivize them to work

ing, the exit plan, rights of first offers, rights of

towards the success of the company.

first refusals, drag along and tag along rights, veto and other reserved rights, board composition,

In cases of strategic investors, a technology

anti-dilution and other “make good” provisions.

transfer or assignment agreement is typically also

The subject of early stage VC investments tends

entered into to regulate and govern the use of

to be preference shares, although occasionally

such technology.

there are also hybrid mezzanine structures which involve investments through convertible notes,

IP protection

convertible loans, and ordinary shares. For preference shares, it is important to stipulate whether

IP protection is important

such shares carry cumulative dividends rights, are

when companies are creating

redeemable or convertible into ordinary shares,

value. To protect new patents

and enjoy liquidation preference.

and designs, companies can apply to the Intellectual Prop-

It is also important to have a shareholders agree-

erty Office of Singapore to

ment to govern the relationship between the

shareholders. This may include matters such as

have been registered yet. This should be done

pre-emptive rights for the issuance or transfer

at the earliest opportunity as the first person to

of shares, voting process, dividend policy, roles

file the application will have priority over others.

of the founders, veto and other reserved rights,

However, such protection will only apply in Singa-

shareholders information rights, and board com-

pore.

position. For good order and to satisfy the law, the memorandum and articles of association of

Companies looking to protect new patents or

the company will also need to be updated and

designs outside Singapore will therefore have to

amended to reflect the terms of the investment.

make separate applications in individual countries or file an international application with the World

One of the main concerns of VCs is ensuring that

Intellectual Property Organisation to simultane-

a company’s key personnel, such as the manage-

ously obtain protection in various countries. As

ment, remain employed with the company during

the above applications are usually complex and

the period of their investment, such that the

time-sensitive, startups should engage a regis-

company continues to be well-managed. Startups

tered patent agent or professional legal advisers

should therefore have formal employment agree-

to assist them.

ments with their employees to cover matters such as the employee’s duties and termination of

Other protective measures would include

employment. They should also consider issuing

having relevant assignment and confidentiality

shares to key personnel and consultants under a

clauses in the company’s agreements with

32 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK parties that provide services to the company,

organization cannot send marketing messages to

such as employees, consultants and contrac-

it unless it has obtained clear and unambiguous

tors. The assignment clause should provide that

consent to the sending of the marketing messag-

any IP created by such parties are to be fully

es from the owner of the number.

assigned to the company, whereas the confiden-

Conclusion

tiality clause would restrict such parties from disclosing commercially sensitive information or trade secrets of the company to third parties.

Many startups get derailed by failed business plans, lack of funding, stalled economies, and

Personal Data Protection Act

unsuccessful pivoting. As a startup navigates through the valley of death, Series A funding

Startups that handle person-

will be a welcome sight. It is not however the

al data will need to comply

only thing. Doing it the proper way and paying

with the Personal Data

heed to legal and regulatory considerations set

Protection Act (â&#x20AC;&#x153;PDPAâ&#x20AC;?)

out above will save unnecessary headaches and

which came into force in

heartaches. u

2014. The PDPA governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal data in Singapore. Under the PDPA, organizations are required to obtain consent from an individual

Marcus Chow is a

to collect, use or disclose his personal data for a

partner of ATMD Bird

stated purpose. An individual is deemed to give

& Bird LLP. He is du-

such consent to an organization if he voluntarily

ally qualified in New

provides his personal data to the organization

York and Singapore

for the stated purpose and if it is reasonable that

and his practice areas

he would do so.

include corporate finance, private equi-

The PDPA has also introduced the Do Not Call

ty, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions.

(DNC) Registry, whereby an individual can reg-

ATMD Bird & Bird LLP is a leading Singapore

ister his Singapore telephone number with the

commercial law firm in a global association with

DNC Registry to opt out of receiving marketing

international law firm Bird & Bird. It provides

messages (i.e. voice calls, text messages and

clients with the full range of commercial and

faxes) from organizations. Before an organization

corporate law services, with a focus on

sends any marketing messages to a Singapore

Singapore and Asian regional work. For further

telephone number, it is required to check every

details, please contact Marcus.Chow[at]twobirds.

30 days that the number is not registered with

com or Hazel.Ho[at]twobirds.com.

the DNC Registry. If a number is registered, an Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 33

ASIA THIS WEEK

Here are 5 #HumansinTech who are living proof that academic success is not the be-all and end-all By Daniel Tay

sians are well-known for their aca-

gave a collective nod of agreement to the por-

demic prowess, to the extent that

trayal of Asian parents who typically cannot

the overachieving-Asian-with-over-

accept anything below an A grade from their

bearing-parents has been cast as a stereotype.

children. Naturally, the internet came up with

In fact, when Amy Chua wrote the bestseller

the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;High Expectations Asian Fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; meme to

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the world

get a laugh out of it.

34 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

Truth be told, many students and their par-

for Google, reportedly declared in an inter-

ents still believe that education is the one

view with the New York Times that “GPA’s

and only path to success. In a report on USA

are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test

Today, Hwy-Chang Moon, professor and dean

scores are worthless [...] We found that they

of Seoul National University’s graduate school

don’t predict anything.”

of international studies, puts it as such: “There is a mentality of a first tier [...] You have to be

In other words, academic success is not a good

first-rate, otherwise you may not be able to

way of knowing whether one will be successful

survive.”

in a job, much less in running his or her own business. Here are five entrepreneurs that

Recent times, though, have seen several rep-

have gone on to do well in their respective

utable companies coming forward to debunk

endeavors despite not nailing those A-grades

this myth. Most famously, Laszlo Bock, the

earlier in their lives.

senior vice president of people operations

Anders Tan,by his own

I was in the Normal Technical

admission, was one of the

stream in secondary school,

many Singaporeans who fell

and went on to ITE [Institute of

through the cracks in the

Technical Education], followed

country’s education system,

by polytechnic, and then army,

which is incredibly competi-

and finally university. It was the

tive.

long route! Because I don’t come from a rich family, my parents

Anders Tan, co-founder of Edusnap

Despite his low-prestige

did not have the capability to

academic background, Tan

send me for additional enrich-

was determined to create a

ment programs. As a result –

platform that would connect

and I believe this is one of the

willing tutors with students

main reasons why I wasn’t able

who didn’t have access to

to do better in my studies in the

mentors like their well-off

earlier days – I gave up study-

peers did. After a period of

ing completely. To me, studying

blood, sweat, and coding,

was costly and unfavorable for

Edusnap was born.

people who are not rich.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 35

ASIA THIS WEEK From a young age, Pina’s

within eight years, and is now

interest lay primarily in tech-

valued at US$50 million.

nology. In high school, his focus shifted from hardware to software, and he couldn’t concentrate on his studies. After dropping out of university, Pina set up a software business with his friends out of a local computer shop, and an 8-bit Japanese word processor for the NEC platform

Yoichiro “Pina” Hirano, founder and CEO of Infoteria

that he created became a national best-seller. Not content with that, he founded Infoteria later in 1998, which became a listed company

Suhaili’s journey began on the small Indonesia island of Bangka, where he completed half of his elementary years there. Thereafter, he studied in Jakarta, Singapore, and finally Los Angeles. He faced many difficulties along the way, to put it mildly. After experimenting with multiple business ventures, he built PriceArea in 2008 to

Andry Suhaili, founder and CEO of PriceArea

help enable people find the most updated offers online.

36 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

I was writing software code in my notebooks all day long. I was almost dead last in my graduating class – there were 10 classes with 45 students each and all three years (Japan has six years of elementary, and three years each of junior high/high school) I was in the bottom 40. I didn’t study, I just programmed.

Being a kid from a small town, I had trouble coping with studies and making friends – mainly because the language barrier from [Bangka] dialect to proper Bahasa [Indonesia] – but I managed to pass the class [in Jakarta]. I faced the same problem [when moving to Singapore]. But that time was much harder, because it’s English, and I barely passed my first year in junior high school.

ASIA THIS WEEK Like any child, Lim had wild

a startup in Australia called

dreams: he wanted to be

Launchbox, a company that

an astronaut. However, his

wants to build and launch a

teachers didn’t take too kind-

satellite into space.

ly to his ambitions. Lim did badly in school because it bored him. While he put his dreams on hold to get a university degree in Australia, he returned to it with a vengeance when he bumped into one of the

Brian Lim, founder and CEO of Launchbox

Whenever I talked about silly ideas, I was told to sit down. I didn’t pass my ‘O’ Levels, and got kicked out of polytechnic after my first year.

lecturers at the International Space University, an organization that teaches the basics of space to students around the world. Today, Lim runs

In 2002, Maimun dropped

the leading internet service

out of college after visiting

providers in the country.

Jakarta during the end of his

Indowebster, Indonesia’s

semester and opened the

world-renowned multimedia

city’s first 24-hour hybrid

file hosting website, came

between a gaming center and

soon after.

a traditional internet cafe, which he later named AMPM to reflect its nonstop operating hours. After a while, the market started to demand a high speed internet connection on par with what he was

Juny “Acong” Maimun, founder and CEO of Indowebster

offering at AMPM. According to Maimun, AMPM

I didn’t know what I was doing. I did not know what will happen next. I didn’t know anything about ISPs. I only knew how to sell the bandwidth and remake the bandwidth, and that’s it.

is now recognized as one of Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 37

ASIA THIS WEEK

Book Review: Crossing the Chasm is the bible for entrepreneurial marketing By Leighton Cosseboom

rossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore is one of those rare books that

every aspiring tech entrepreneur should read right before going to that first luncheon with soon-to-be co-founders. Moore’s third edition of Crossing the Chasm brings it up to date with dozens of new startup successes and failures. It also includes fresh marketing tactics for a modern digital world. Tom Byers, faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, laudes the book as “the bible for entrepreneurial marketing.” Moore’s thesis is based on an idea known as the technology adoption lifecycle (TALC), a bell curve that breaks down the process of how high-tech products become absorbed into the mainstream market. Crossing the Chasm categorizes tech consumers into the following segments. 38 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

Innovators

Early adopters

The Chasm

These people are the technol-

This group is second in line.

According to Moore, this

ogy enthusiasts and they are

Moore refers to early adopters

stage is the danger zone of

the smallest group of people in

as “visionaries.” They are often

the TALC – the gap between

the TALC. They were the very

industry professionals who

visionary acceptance and that

first to join LinkedIn, get their

are looking for the next break-

of the early market majority

hands on the first iPhone, test

through product to give their

pragmatists (ie: consumers at

out Google Glass, and down-

business a competitive edge.

large). This stage is the focal

load Instagram. They have few

The book claims these people’s

point of the book, and serves

qualms with early bugs in sys-

importance lies in their ability

as the playground for Moore’s

tems, so long as the product is

to fund development as well

marketing advice. Highlighting

the newest one on the market

as publicize the product within

the difficulty of traversing the

and they are the first to get

key industries.

Chasm, he writes:

it. Moore says innovators are crucial because they act as the

"Pragmatists do not see a

gatekeepers to the mainstream

complete solution to their

market. He also highlights how

problem, plus there is no group

important it is for startups

of references that have formed

to impress them, as approval

that they trust. In addition,

from this group will ultimately

they want to see the solution

decide a product’s fate.

working live at customer sites. Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 39

ASIA THIS WEEK

The Chasm

Early majority

Late majority

Revenue growth ceases or

The book calls this market seg-

This segment is much more

even recedes in the Chasm.

ment “the bowling alley.” Here,

conservative than the early

The length of this market lull is

a product’s momentum picks

majority. They don’t see value

uncertain.”

back up, as early pragmatists

in technology just for technolo-

in certain segments overcome

gy’s sake. They tend to stay out

their reluctance toward dis-

of the market as long as they

Moore’s advice for startups

continuity and adopt the new

can, finally making the leap

entering this “Chasm” is to

tech to solve niche problems.

because they fear being left

target a “beachhead niche” in

The term “bowling alley” is

behind. Conservatives are sen-

the mainstream market (similar

appropriate as it describes

sitive to price and demanding

to the Western Allied forces

the idea of knocking down

of value. Moore says the key

invasion of Normandy in World

one specific “kingpin” (cap-

to success in this segment is to

War II). Within the chasm,

turing one powerful segment)

offer the add-on products that

Moore stresses the importance

in order to cause a domino

can command a price premium

of carefully gaining a foothold

effect. The book suggests that

from conservative customers.

to survive.

by dominating several of these segments, your company may start to emerge as a sector leader.

40 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

Moore’s extensive research

Laggards

on this topic has opened up

This group, which Moore also calls

many doors for him profession-

“the skeptics,” represents the most

ally. Moore’s resumé includes

difficult, but less crucial audience to

founding his own consulting

capture. These consumers will un-

firm, and holding a venture

consciously or begrudgingly accept

partner position at Mohr

the technology. Skeptics are defend-

Davidow Ventures. He is a

ers of the status quo and want solu-

founder of both The Chasm Group and TCG Advisors,

tions that have no risk. Historically,

where he serves as chairman executive of those firms

these folks could be categorized as

along with the Chasm Institute. Moore’s client base

those who continued to ride hors-

includes firms like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia,

es even after cars were being mass

and Cisco Systems.

produced. However, Moore claims that if your product can successfully

It’s extremely difficult to criticize Crossing the Chasm,

win over this segment, then you’ve

as Moore’s expertise and delivery of information hit the

achieved “total assimilation,” or uni-

mark in both the shallow and deep ends of the pool.

versal societal acceptance, which is

Tech startups would do well to drink this book in as the

of course is the end goal of any tech

overarching theorem behind their marketing activities. u

startup.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 41

ASIA THIS WEEK

XIAOMI MIPAD IS A PRETTY PACKAGE FOR JUST $240 (REVIEW) By Steven Millward

Xiaomi unveiled its first ever tablet in May in the form of the MiPad. Available initially only in mainland China, it costs RMB 1,499 (US$243) for the 16GB model and RMB 1,699 (US$276) for the 64GB one. The MiPad went on sale in June. Although itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only available to Chinese shoppers, I wanted to review this from more of an international perspective, so I requested a review unit and loaded it up with all the apps that I use on my old Nexus 7. After living with the MiPad for a week, these are my thoughts. 42 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK Before we leap in, let’s weigh up the very strong-

likely targeting consumers who seriously cannot af-

ly specced MiPad against its rivals on price. Let’s

ford the extra couple of hundred bucks for an iPad.

not include the much pricier iPad Mini with retina

That’s where the MiPad scores an early win against

display, because if a brand is going in cheaper than

brands like Samsung with specifications that whip

an iPad, it’s venturing into price-sensitive territory,

its similarly priced rivals:

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 43

ASIA THIS WEEK HARDWARE – LOOK AND FEEL

The MiPad hardware itself is an insight into Xiao-

and vibrant it is. The 7.9-inch screen is on a par –

mi’s secret sauce. It looks good from a distance,

and identical in size and specs – to the iPad Mini.

and it looks and feels nice in the hand. While it

There will be more expressions of surprise when

couldn’t be described as premium – with a plastic

you say the MiPad costs just RMB 1,499, which is

rear and plastic buttons made to look like metal

a whisker over US$240.

– few people would say that it looks bad. Indeed, the MiPad itself feels solid and well put together.

That’s pretty much how Xiaomi has rocketed from

Individuals who get a glimpse of the MiPad up

zero to a target of 60 million phone sales for 2014

close, whether friends or waitresses, have been

in the space of just over three years – with hard-

impressed with it and asked to hold it.

ware that’s good enough to pass muster allied to a price that’s half of what you’d pay for similar gad-

The good first impression turns to gasps of surprise

gets.

when they turn on the screen and see how crisp 44 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK On the left side of the MiPad there’s a slot for a mi-

around the side and is visible from the front – just

cro-SD card (no, it’s not for a SIM card, though it’s

like with the iPhone 5c. Indeed, Xiaomi’s homepage

identical to an iPhone SIM slot cover), while on the

cheerfully admits that it looks like the 5c. It’s one

right there’s a volume rocker atop a power/screen

of many borrowed design cues that have recently

button. Headphone jack is on the top; a standard

got the company in trouble with media for alleged-

mini-USB slot at bottom.

ly emulating Apple in some very specific ways.

On the rear there’s an 8MP camera (more on that

Can the MiPad be grasped in one hand? For me,

below), while opposite there’s a 5MP camera that

with my rather small hands, the answer is yes,

looks really good as a webcam. There’s a pair of

just about, but not for extended periods of time.

speakers on the rear.

I have a Nexus 7, which is easy to grasp in one hand because of its more rectangular screen, but

The MiPad’s plasticky rear cover doesn’t feel good

I’d say that the squarer screen of a MiPad (or iPad)

– it’s a bit slippery. While it is solid (no squeaks

is worth it for the extra space, especially for usage

or creaks), that also means it’s non-removable,

in landscape mode. One-handed use of a tablet is

so there’s no way to change the battery. The rear

not a primary concern for me, so I don’t mind using

cover – available in numerous other colors – wraps

two hands for the MiPad or an iPad.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 45

ASIA THIS WEEK SCREEN AND SOUND

As I’ve just mentioned, the screen is a delight with

The only quality tablet that matches the MiPad on

colors that pop. The MiPad beams out of 2048 x

screen and price is the Nexus 7 (US$229). Howev-

1536 pixels to give it a “retina”-level 326 pixels per

er, the slim phone-like screen on the vanilla Google

inch (PPI). But many tablets are doing the same, so

tablet feels very cramped. The Nexus 7 works fine

it’s not a stand-out feature in itself. The larger Sam-

in portrait mode, but it’s awful for situations where

sung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 has 2,560 x 1,600 pixels

you want to read or write in landscape. The Nexus

for a slightly crisper 359 PPI, as does the identically

7 simply works better in portrait mode like a giant

sized Samsung Galaxy Tab S.

phone. As a (not very satisfied) Nexus 7 owner, I much prefer the squarer screen of other tablets

The MiPad’s screen becomes more remarkable,

– including the MiPad – and certainly won’t buy

however, in light of its much keener price. The low-

another widescreen-style tablet.

lier Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (with its 8-inch screen) costs the same as the MiPad but sports a relatively

Towards the bottom of the MiPad’s rear side is a

disappointing 720p screen (not 1080p) that carries

pair of speakers. While they’re stronger than those

only 1,280 x 800 pixels.

of my Nexus 7, the unfortunate placement on the MiPad means they’ll often be muffled by one of your hands if you’re using it in landscape mode.

46 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK SOFTWARE - MASSAGING MIUI So now we know how Xiaomi lures people in on

buy themes is limited. This is a key consideration

strong specs and decent hardware at a lean price,

for designers when they spend lots of time making

does it even need to worry about the software?

themes for MIUI. That said, we are testing a theme

The answer, of course, is yes. A manufacturer’s

store for [MIUI-based tablets] and may launch it in

interpretation of Android is essential as both a

the future.”

standout selling point, a way of locking in users, and an ongoing revenue channel. For Xiaomi, all

Another curious tweak – though not an omission –

this is done with MIUI, which is what it has built

is the way the MiPad handles Android widgets. On

atop Android. Here’s a 15-second UI run-through I

most tablets, widgets can be added on any screen

just posted to Instagram: sirsteven

so that users can mix icons and widgets wherever they feel like it. The MiPad is trying something

For the MiPad, MIUI is built on Android 4.4. MIUI

different, however. The MiPad only permits wid-

is essentially the same on the tablet as it is on

gets on the left-most homescreen (pictured above).

Xiaomi’s phones – though, this being Xiaomi’s first

When you first buy and turn on the MiPad, it’s

tablet, MIUI has had to undergo a few changes

filled up with some of Xiaomi’s own widgets, but

for its big-screen debut. Most of those tweaks are

you can swap them out for your own. Actually, you

good – but some are a bit surprising.

can add extra widgets-only homescreens, but it’s not very clear that you’re permitted to do so.

Most of Xiaomi’s own apps have had a refresh for the larger screen, and that’s visible in both portrait

That could lead to some confusion if you try to

and landscape modes. Where relevant, like in the

add a widget on another screen (one that’s only for

notes and email apps, columns of content appear.

icons) and find – as I did – that there’s no option to do so. All widgets – including third-party widgets

What’s so surprising in the MiPad’s software?

from your preferred apps – must go onto a wid-

Those familiar with Xiaomi’s phones will notice

gets-only screen. It’s a bit counter-intuitive at first,

the absence of a Themes store – and therefore

but I actually liked this idea once I’d got the hang

no themes at all – on the MiPad. Xiaomi has long

of it – and once I’d realized, quite by chance, that

sold the Xiaomi on its easy themeing – something

you can make more widgets-only homescreens. It

that’s now being copied by other phone brands.

leaves your other homescreens dedicated solely

That could be a disappointing omission for some

to app icons and folders, and that looks tidier. It

users. When questioned about this, Xiaomi inter-

makes the icon-only screens more reminiscent of

national VP Hugo Barra explained, “The number of

iOS. The arrangement won me over in the end, but

MIUI tablet users is not high at the moment, and

not without initial confusion. Here’s the screen for

therefore the potential number of users that will

adding widgets: Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 47

ASIA THIS WEEK And then, voilà:

There’s a reason why that was done, apparently. Barra explains to Tech in Asia:

‘‘

On a tablet with stock Android, the dock will move to the right when you put the device in landscape mode. This makes sure that the usable space for widgets and icons keeps the same aspect ratio whether you are in portrait or landscape orientation. Because of that, widgets will look consistent in either modes. However, we feel that the dock should remain at the bottom of the screen whether you are in portrait or landscape mode. Because of that, the area on the screen changes when you go into landscape orientation on the Mi Pad, which could cause problems for widgets that can come in many different sizes. Because of that, a dedicated screen that does not have a dock will give a more consistent experience.

‘‘

48 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK Indeed, all the widgets-only screens you create

third-party app, my Nexus 7 shows a media player

will have no dock at the bottom (pictured above in

on the lockscreen, which is really useful; but the

screenshot). So the dock – which can house up to

MiPad, and MIUI in general, shows nothing. I also

six icons – only appears on icon-only screens.

missed the multi-user support for tablets in stock Android. This is Xiaomi’s first tablet, and it feels

Android purists might miss a number of Android

like the software needs to do a bit more to play up

4.4 features in stock versions of the OS – such

to the extra space available – and to the different

as what appears on the Nexus 7 – that fit in

way that people use tablets, such as sharing them

nicely with a tablet. For example, the MiPad has

amongst a household.

no lockscreen widgets. There are some other things missing too – like when I play audio from a

Here’s my Nexus 7 side by side with the MiPad:

On the whole, MIUI’s software is slick and

closer to stock Android if it’s me forking out the

quick on the MiPad, much like it is on Xiaomi’s

cash for a new gadget.

phones. I prefer the look of it to most other Android skins – especially Samsung’s clunky

Actually, scratch that. If I’m going out right now

TouchWiz – but I’d still vote for something

and buying a new tablet, it’d be one of the iPads. Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 49

ASIA THIS WEEK The Android tablet app situation is still bad.

Looking to the near future, Android fans might

In contrast, developers love the iPad and have

want to wait for the next line of Nexus tablets that

created far more apps that adapt to the extra

will almost certainly come with Android 5.0. But for

space; on Android, you’ll mostly just be seeing

people who don’t hanker after stock Android, the

blown-up phone apps. However, as I mentioned at

MiPad and its MIUI engine have oodles of appeal

the top, this is a price-sensitive market, so not all

up against their (pricier) rivals.

consumers will be thinking the same way.

CAMERA

The camera software and UI is quick and minimal,

male partners – need to be in possession of some

offering options for shooting images, videos, ap-

digital derma sorcery.

plying one of over a dozen filters, and a skin softener. Yes, a skin softener. Hugely popular apps like

The camera itself, which packs 8MP, is crisp and

Camera360 and Meitu have shown that women in

serviceable, but the images lack a degree of feeling

China – and men taking photographs of their fe-

and true color compared to those from my iPhone

50 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK 5c – perhaps mainly due to the MiPad having no

that they need them so as not to lose out in the

setting comparable to Apple’s excellent and very

mobile arms race. Xiaomi’s pair of cameras are

subtle HDR. Here are some sample (totally uned-

especially strong compared to their rivals at sim-

ited) photos I snapped with the MiPad (click to

ilar prices. The MiPad packs 8MP and 5MP while

enlarge):

the almost identically-priced Nexus 7 offers only 5MP and 1.2MP. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0

I’m not really convinced that tablets even need

is lacking too, with only 3MP and 1.3MP shooters

cameras, but most manufacturers seem adamant

built in.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

The 6700mAh battery inside the MiPad also beats

watching downloaded movies (offline).

its two budget rivals from Samsung and Asus/ Google. While the sizable battery seems to add

In less intensive usage for reading the news, lis-

a bit of weight to the MiPad, it also extends the

tening to occasional online radio, and checking

usage time. Despite the 1080p HD screen, the

personal mails and social media – as I work from

MiPad was good for about seven solid hours of

home and do work-related stuff on my main laptop

online video streaming with one app open, wifi on

– the MiPad lasted two days in that kind of ad-hoc

(of course), and the screen set to about 75 per-

scenario where the screen wasn’t always on.

cent brightness. You could get even longer from it

RIVALS As I’ve said a few times in this review, the MiPad’s

price goes down at the expense of a lot of speci-

slim price-tag sweetens the deal a lot – especially

fications – especially its very average 1280 x 800

as there aren’t really any glaring downsides to the

pixels resolution. The Galaxy Tab 4 is now reduced

new gadget. Able to compete on specs, it’s inev-

to US$239, which is level with the MiPad.

itable that its price – RMB 1,499 (US$243) – will factor in for a number of people.

Over at Apple, the newest iPad Mini with a retina display is priced at US$399 for the wifi-only 16GB

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S, the closest to the Mi-

model. The strongest value-add for consumers in

Pad in specs, (see its review on Engadget) is priced

getting the iPad is the far superior tablet app line-

at US$399.99. If you trade down to the smaller

up available on iOS.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (with its 8-inch screen), the Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 51

ASIA THIS WEEK

MIPAD PROS

MIPAD CONS

Great price

Plastic rear doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel good to hold

Very nice 1080p screen

No 3G or 4G option

Strong specs

Missing some software features com-

No major sacrifices for the low price

pared to stock Android

MIUI is attractive and slick

Lockscreen feels like wasted space

Strong cameras

compared to iOS and many other

Decent build quality

Android skins.

52 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

ASIA THIS WEEK

CONCLUSION Ultimately, the MiPad is a real charmer – not just

Once the MiPad hits new markets, it’ll need a few

because of its price, but because it delivers the

more things to keep it tempting – options for 3G

goods with no significant compromises to its small

or 4G, especially, as well as support for Google

price-tag. There are no disasters, no slip-ups. A big

services. The current MiPad, made for mainland

bang for few bucks is Xiaomi’s Tao Te Ching.

China, has no Google apps.

For Chinese consumers, the MiPad is clearly the

The MiPad is a very convincing first big-screen

best tablet they can buy for that money. That’s also

effort from Xiaomi. The slippy plastic rear was the

pretty much the case for overseas geeks look-

only thing I disliked about it. Some software up-

ing for a new tablet, but it’s hard to be definitive

dates to make better use of all that screen space

on that yet before Xiaomi confirms any plans to

and the lockscreen would be welcome, but there’s

launch the MiPad outside China. Barra promises

not much else of substance to critique in this little

they’re working on it.

cutie. u Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 53

EXCLUSIVES

Play to the crowd: how crowdfunding changed the status quo among Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardware startups By Paul Bischoff

54 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

EXCLUSIVES

n Shenzhen, China, hardware start-

thing is 'Taobao's away', why bother waiting

ups are popping up at a faster rate

months for something that might become

than ever before. The ecosystem,

obsolete?" Ebersweiler explains.

built on the backs of big established hardware manufacturers there, is becoming an interna-

That mentality shapes the way startups in

tional hub for entrepreneurs with dreams of

China plan their campaigns, and marks one of

inventing the next smart gadget to enter the

the biggest differences between the Chinese

homes, cars, and bodies of the masses.

and western way of crowdfunding. On Kickstarter, many projects start raising funds with

"It's been about two years since crowdfund-

little more than a video and proof of concept.

ing hit China, and before that startups were

But in China, the gadgets are usually nearing

just trying to get to market on their own.

production stage and will ship shortly after

Even now, there's a striking difference be-

the campaign ends.

tween what's happening here and abroad,"

Building an entourage

says Cyril Ebersweiler, founder of Shenzhen's international hardware startup accelerator, Haxlr8r. "There are now multiple platforms

Crowdfunding isn't meant to be a substitute

around. There are more people committing

for venture capital - many companies are

more money, but it's still very far from the

rushing to meetings with potential investors

main foreign platforms out there."

even as their campaign is ongoing. Although the extra cash certainly gives the company a

In Kickstarter, many projects start raising funds with little more than a video and proof of concept. But in China, the gadgets are usually nearing production stage and will ship shortly after the campaign ends.

boost, it serves many other functions. Most notably, crowdfunding engages consumers. Startups can gauge the public's interest, rile up hype, and build a community. If those community members feel invested in the project, they'll give feedback and new ideas. And it's not just customers shopping around for the next cool contraption. CB Insights

China's biggest hardware crowdfunding site is

published a report in August showing that big

Demohour, but even here most of the proj-

venture capital firms like Andreessen-Horow-

ects still raise less money than their western

itz and Sequoia Capital keep an attentive eye

counterparts on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

on crowdfunding platforms for early-stage

"It's a market reality: people don't like to

hardware plays. The report shows one in 10

pre-order in China. In a world where every-

projects that raised over US$100,000 went on Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 55

EXCLUSIVES

to get funding from VCs. While that figure in

beat them to the Chinese market that success-

China probably isn't as high, the trend leans

fully raised funds on Demohour. Oculus fans

further and further in that direction.

have denounced the quality and functionality of ANTVR, a like-minded competitor, while Leap

Monkey see, monkey build

Motion founder Michael Buckwald has pointed out the difference between his product's "mo-

Even though a crowdfunding campaign is grow-

tion control" as opposed to the inferior "gesture

ing to be a obligatory phase of every startup's

control" used by competitors like Vid. But the

lifecycle, it doesn't come without its drawbacks.

average consumer might not realize or even care about those differences, especially without

"If you are not ready to ship in the next few

an established brand name. Demohour is lit-

months, you might shoot yourself in the foot

tered with Chinese adaptations, lookalikes, and

and wake up competitors - or create new ones

outright clones like these. On a side note, both

with deeper pockets, better execution capabili-

ANTVR and Vid were designed by the same

ties, or distribution channels," Ebersweiler says.

Shenzhen-based industrial design company,

And it's on Demohour where many of these

LKK Design.

competitors sprout up, looking to beat their Kickstarter counterparts to the punch.

Ebersweiler says another hurdle to deal with

Leap Motion, Coin, and Oculus Rift, for

post-campaign is getting traffic back to the

example, all have up-and-coming rivals trying to

companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. "In some cases, the SEO

56 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

EXCLUSIVES juice is going against you, and the campaign ends at the top of search engines before your website," he says. That means the community that a startup builds up is on the crowdfunding site and not on the company home page. He adds, "most of the available tools linked to crowdfunding sites aren't great at handling some exhausting campaigns with multiple rewards or SKUs." Finally, besides the emergence of competitors, a crowdfunding campaign puts extra pressure on startups who have to face their customers as they develop the product. "If you fail, the stigma might pursue you despite the potential." If a crowdfunding campaign does fail, Ebers-

costs, then figure out the minimum amount

weiler says it isn't the end of the world. "The

you will need to produce that minimum num-

campaign is just a milestone, and it could fail

ber of units." He says some common factors

for a myriad of reasons," he says. "The only

in successful campaigns are a great video, a

way to know if your hardware startup is suc-

personable story, some level of credibility, and

cessful is once people actually buy the prod-

good spirit. "And, of course, something people

uct once it ships, and most likely in a store.

want."

Until then, you are still selling a story. Once you ship, it's all about executing on sales and

"So far we've had healthy successes going this

marketing."

route, and we get to know better how to use crowdfunding at our advantage," Ebersweiler

Campaign crafting

says.

Ebersweiler encourages Haxlr8r startups to

"We have lots of data across the HAX startups

crowdfund, and offers a few helpful guidelines

and we host entire sessions and a good chunk

for crafting an effective campaign.

of the program preparing them for launch. Being ready for it is key."

First, set the funding goal. "We advise companies to consider this as a retail exercise,"

Haxlr8r startups have run 19 successful

he says. "Multiply your BOM (bill of materi-

Kickstarter campaigns.

als) by three or four, add tooling and other Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 57

EXCLUSIVES

Dual campaigns

“We originally planned to just have one cam-

The hardware crowdfunding fad is still

from people in China who’d seen our campaign,

evolving, especially in China where crowdfund-

but preferred to use more mainstream (in Chi-

ing was virtually nonexistent just a couple years

na) payment methods such as Alipay, as well as

ago. One small but growing trend is startups

to have a Chinese translation,” founder Nelson

running campaigns on both a Chinese site and a

Zhang told Tech in Asia.

paign up on our site, but got many requests

western site, sometimes even simultaneously. “Since they [Demohour] are much more The first company to do this, according to Eber-

accustomed to ‘order now’-type projects where

sweiler, was alertness-tracker Vigo, a graduate

the product is almost or already rolling off the

of Haxlr8r's third batch. He says some com-

production line, and can ship within a month,

menters "weren't very positive" toward the dual

they’re not comfortable with an actual crowd-

campaigns. However, many more startups have

funding campaign at this point. As a result, we’ve

attempted it since, and the stigma seems to be

decided to postpone the Demohour campaign

fading.

until much later on, likely in August, when we’re closer to production,” Zhang explains. “Seems

Another startup, social headphone maker Wear-

like it’s the reality of adapting a crowdfunding

haus, had planned on running simultaneous

model to China, where consumers put much

campaigns using Crowdtilt on its own website

more weight on getting a product in hand ASAP.”

and Demohour in China.

He notes this isn’t part of Demohour’s official policy, but it’s a model that works well in China.

58 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

EXCLUSIVES “Seems like it’s the reality of adapting a crowdfunding model to China, where consumers put much more weight on getting a product in hand ASAP.” As a result, Zhang won’t know how much money Wearhaus can raise until much later in the manufacturing process, but the company can get more exposure in the long run.

The future of the crowd In the future, Ebersweiler says crowdfunding will extend to funding local businesses that aren't startups. Want a new restaurant featuring your favorite cuisine to open in your hometown? Crowdfund it. Need a dry cleaner that you don't have to drive across town to get to? Crowdfund it. The movement to remove regulatory hurdles for crowdinvesting - wherein backers buy a small amount of equity in the company rather than the product and a free t-shirt - is gaining steam. But this model doesn't look to be in China's foreseeable future. Meanwhile, more crowdfunding platforms are opening up in China and are raising more and more money, including one by ecommerce giant JD. Demohour remains the biggest for hardware startups. "Demohour keeps pivoting and will become, ultimately, something distinct and adapted to China," Ebersweiler says. "They are learning, fast." u Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 59

EXCLUSIVES

IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND

ASIA'S CHAT APPS, LOOK AT 1950'S AMERICA By Anh Minh Do 60 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

EXCLUSIVES

n the 1950's, America experienced a renaissance of advertising and marketing. World War 2 was over and the new peace gave rise to a refreshed optimism. Young people could now indulge fully in consumer culture.

Companies like Coca-Cola, Almond Joy, Dr. Pepper, Philip Morris, and more started to target America's emerging youth culture. Who can blame them? After all, teenagers were a $9 billion-a-year market. Today, chat apps like LINE, KakaoTalk, Viber, BeeTalk, Zalo, and others are also zeroing in on Asian youth culture. And it's for very similar reasons to the brands of the 1950's targeting American teenagers. The key realization in 1950's advertising was that by targeting the youth, the companies gained a loyal base of customers that would stick with them into adulthood. Thus, instead of targeting older adults, it was better to target the youth, whose buying power would only grow over time. Chat apps want exactly the same thing, they basically want to "win the brand loyalty of these customers at an early age". This targeting of youth is most apparent with the stickers that come shipped with most chat apps. The stickers are fun, bright, melodramatic, over the top, slapstick basically, everything you would associate with youth culture. And the explosive uptake in chat app users in the past two years indicates the youth targeting is working.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 61

EXCLUSIVES

WHAT DOES THIS

The success of youth targeting also gives us another insight. Youth culture commonly emerges in times of prosperity where new values of independence emerge in society.

‘‘

TELL ABOUT

They appear most frequently where significant realms of social autonomy for young people become regularized and expected features of the socialization process.

‘‘

US ASIA'S GROWING REGIONAL

We are witnessing the flourishing of the most independently minded

YOUTH

impacts of Asia's "greatest generation" will play out in the decades to

CULTURE?

and largest group of youth that Asia has ever seen. The economic come and the companies behind all these chat apps plan to be right there.

1950's advertising:

62 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

EXCLUSIVES

CHAT

It provided entertainment, news, and was the number one pastime

APPS

center of our mobile universes.

ARE THE NEW TELEVISION

for millions of Americans. Chat apps, in the years to come, will be the

We can already see it coming. LINE wants to get into ecommerce. WeChat has partnered with EasyTaxi to do taxi booking. The chat app giants are experimenting with what services they can ship on their platforms. They're already ready to turn their young audiences into older ones. With the case of Zalo, Vietnam's local chat app winner, it's most starkly clear in its television advertising.

Right now, chat apps look inno-

In a TV ad Zalo ran 8 months ago, Zalo features one of Vietnam's top

cent and frivolous. Some may

female celebrities in a bikini, it's clearly targeting a younger crowd.

even scoff over all the chat app

Even the language strikes a teenage nerve. Then there's the ad Zalo's

hype. But when you look at chat

been running for the past month. The ad sifts through images of a

apps through the lens of 1950's

woman being pregnant, grandparents, a man bungee jumping, and

America, you can see that chat

parents watching over their children. Thus, the youth have become

apps are for Asia's youth what

the jumping off point to other generations, just like television was.

television was for America's

What can be said about TV in the 1950's is all too true about chat

youth.

apps in the twenty teens:

televisions were being used across America. This was the golden age of television. By 1970, there would be more than 200 million TV sets worldwide. The 1950's was the early adopter period for TV. The teen-2000's are similarly an early adopter period for chat apps. Television,

‘‘

While such a message appealed to marketers looking to expand sales, images of teenagers as consumers also encouraged the home audience to join in by buying the sponsor’s products.

‘‘

By 1951, more than 8 million

in the decades to come, became

The big difference though, is that this time the platform is in your

the center of the family.

pocket, and it's linked directly to your phone number. u

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 63

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

THIS FATHER-SON DUO JUST MADE FREE VOICE CALLS A REALITY

By Daniel Tay 64 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

or the first time ever in 2013, the number of 2G subscribers in the world began its descent, falling three percent to 4.8 billion, according to TeleGeography. Despite this, 2G users continue to account for roughly 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion mobile

subscribers, many of whom live in rural areas and developing markets and can hardly afford the 2G connections that they have, much less 3G or 4G. And as we all know, the rates charged for phone calls can be extortionately high. The solution would naturally be to turn to online telephony (VoIP) apps, such as Skype or Viber, to make free online calls. Martin Nygate, the founder and CEO of Singapore-based mobile technology company Gentay Communications, says that there are two huge problems with this. “First, they aren’t very reliable, especially in a poor cellular network environment. They struggle in congested 3G networks and just don’t work in 2G,” he explains. “Second, you can only call app-to-app for free. App-to-non app calls such as calls to landlines cost money. Telcos have been exploiting this for years by charging high roaming charges.” The solution? Create an app that allows quality calls to be made even on 2G networks – which is exactly what Nygate set out to do with the creation of mobile VoIP app Nanu:

‘‘

Whereas apps such as Skype and Viber operate in a high bandwidth environment such as 3G/4G/Wifi, naNanunu uses low bandwidth VoIP technology that allows it to provide quality calls where other apps can’t, including on 2G networks. This means it is truly mobile, and you can use it pretty much anywhere.

‘‘

Quality is also assured because of the low bandwidth that Nanu requires put together with the team’s network infrastructure. The team has tested Nanu in rural regions with limited connectivity and according to Nygate the “results have been very positive”. Voice calls made on Nanu are absolutely free, too – even for app-to-non app calls. To make this happen, Nanu inserts an advertisement that plays over the ringtone while you are waiting for a call to be picked up. “The revenue from the ad subsidizes the cost of the call so you can make it completely for free,” says Nygate. He says the ad is designed to be as inconspicuous as possible. Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 65

Photo by Flickr user Ron Pyke

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

IT BEGAN AT SEA The founding team comprises of a father-son duo. Nygate and his son, Daniel, were attempting to solve the problem of mariners on vessels at sea not being able to call their families on shore using products like Skype and Viber. VoIP applications such as Skype and Viber were unable to operate via satellite communications systems due to the low bandwidth available. “Daniel innovated a new approach to reducing the bandwidth required to deliver VoIP calls, resulting in a reduction of bandwidth requirements in comparison to conventional VoIP applications by 80 percent – and the solution was found,” Nygate recalls. The duo quickly realised that there were far wider applications for such technology, and so Nanu was born.

66 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

SCALING QUICKLY Currently, Nanu’s infrastructure can support up to 50 million users, with more network capacity to be added as the user base grows in the near future. “The more calls are made through our network, the more revenue it can generate from advertisers, and the more free calls Nanu can then give back to our subscribers,” he says. Not surprisingly, that is the startup’s primary mission now: to rapidly expand its user-base and expand the list of countries whose landlines Nanu users can make calls to. The number of countries stands at 73 at present. Nygate adds that this model also gives advertisers an opportunity to deliver targeted ads to the mass market, particularly in emerging markets. Gentay Communications, the company behind Nanu, has had interest from investors, most of whom Nygate believes “have understood the potential for Nanu to be a game changer in the global telecom industry”. It received initial funding from an unnamed Japanese corporate investor, and has recently received a substantial investment from an investment group led by Sim Wong Hoo, the former founder and CEO of Singapore-based Creative Technology.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 67

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

FREE, BUT LIMITED The app is currently only available on Android, but will be arriving on other OSes later. It has received a fairly positive reception as of now, with some exceptions:

At the moment, it seems that Nanu to non-Nanu calls are limited to a mere 15 minutes. Nygate clarifies:

‘‘

The first one million users will receive free unlimited Nanu-to-Nanu calls, as well as 15 free minutes of Nanu to non-Nanu calls across 73 countries.

‘‘

Understandably, this has caused confusion and annoyance, and led to a wave of one-star ratings for the app in Google Play. As earlier mentioned, with more users, more free minutes will be made available. u

68 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

PitchXO: analytics for your slide deck By Terence Lee

n a world where data analytics

is the new god, the process of pitching to clients or investors is surprisingly primitive. Marketers pick from hundreds of tools to measure their campaigns, startups A/B test their websites to the literal death, and professional sports teams slice and dice game data to win the elusive championship.

management system that also hosts slide decks and tracks how people view them.

But people in sales and marketing, who send out PDF proposals to prospective clients, have no

It changes the usual sales flow for sales people:

way of analyzing how leads look at slide decks.

instead of simply emailing the deck to leads, the

For example, they can’t figure out which part of

saleswoman now uploads it onto a website. She

the deck a client is most interested in without

then sends the link to potential clients, and if she

asking. Is it the slide showing that condo by the

sets the document to private, they must login

seaside? Or the one showing the villa atop a hill?

with their social accounts to view the slides.

PitchXO is a web app that seeks to answer that

The deck resides in PitchXO’s servers, allowing

question. It’s a visual website builder and content

the service to track which slides people view, Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 69

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

and for how long. PitchXO integrates with over 300 apps, including CRM tools like Salesforce,

Scratching an itch

feedback systems like UserVoice, or even the

PitchXO is the product of Hong Kong-based

versatile Google Sheets.

startup StefanXO, although the core team works in Bangkok. It was founded by Markus Stefanko

So, if a person logged in with a social account,

and Morten Lund, who was an angel investor in

the saleswoman can follow up by sending a

Skype. They share a long working relationship

message to the prospective customer. She could

at startup incubator OnlyXO, which now has 16

trigger automatic updates on her CRM service or

companies in its network, including PitchXO.

an email that reaches her leads three days later.

Stefanko tells Tech in Asia:

But the tool isn’t free. Plans start from US$59 a

“Morten had a problem two years ago of sending

month and goes up to US$89 for the more ad-

out lots of different pitches and presentations to

vanced version. Both come with a seven-day free

different startups and investor groups. He just

trial. If your company has more than 300 leads,

couldn’t keep track of it all. He’d send a PDF to

an enterprise plan is available. PitchXO isn’t the

a hundred different contacts. A week later he

only one offering analytics for PDF documents.

didn’t know who he sent it to.”

DoxIQ in San Francisco does it too, in addition to supporting Microsoft Office documents and

Stefanko stepped in. He put the presentation

having a free plan. Both aim to help users turn

behind a social login system, and within a few

viewers into customers.

weeks collected 800 sign ups. That gave them enough impetus to make it a full-fledged startup.

70 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

PitchXO Markus Stefanko and Morten Lund

The team is now building an “email-first”

in the company’s intellectual property. The

approach into the product. It’s a technique,

startup could then prepare for the meeting

embraced by Y Combinator startup Product

accordingly.

Hunt, which uses email not only as a customer acquisition tool, but also a means to turn

PitchXO finds that people typically spend

using the product into a regular habit.

five to nine seconds on a page. A slide with a lot of text would capture attention for 15

“If you want to make clients happy, they

seconds, while the ones that genuinely hold

should not have to go to your app. You should

a viewer’s interest would seize their eyeballs

have information they want sent to their in-

for 20 to 30 seconds.

box.” Their company faces the test of convincing In PitchXO’s case, users would receive email

enough skeptical customers to pay for the

updates detailing who has viewed their deck

product. Given this new and unfamiliar ap-

and which slides they were more interested

proach to sales, it may take some convincing

in.

for salesforces and startups to fork out money for PitchXO. For now, the team is working

A person can use the data to fine tune his

on further improving the user experience. “No

approach to a follow-up meeting. If a startup

shaving until we’re done with everything,”

finds that an investor viewed the technology

says Stefanko. u

slide far longer than the others, that could be a sign that the investor has keen interest Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 71

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

GAMING, DATING, AND CHATTING: FORMER ZYNGA EXEC HAS CREATED CHINA’S MOST PROMISING NEW SOCIAL NETWORK By Paul Bischoff

engpeng is a social mobile gaming app from China for Android

and iOS. Upon first hearing that description, you’d be excused for raising a skeptical eyebrow – social and gaming are two of the toughest consumer sectors to penetrate on mobile. But after the Beijing-based startup raised US$4.2 million in funding at the beginning of this year, we lowered our eyebrows and turned our heads. Tech in Asia sat down with founder Andy Tian to discuss Peng72 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS peng, which he says already has

people. I think I’ll meet that

300,000 daily active users just

person.’ You don’t do that in real

two months after launch. Tian

life,” says Tian. People meet for

is no rookie entrepreneur with

lunch, go to parties, attend con-

The app blurs the lines between

pipe dreams of building the

ferences, and, in this case, play

gaming, social, and dating. By

next Facebook; he’s the for-

games. That’s where most real

default, you’ll mostly see users

mer general manager of Zynga

relationships begin.

of the opposite sex. Tian says,

BLURRED LINES

“We’re about the highest female

China, and he understands the intricacies that make social

“I’m not aiming at the mobile

percentage among all the mobile

networks tick.

game audience at all. A mobile

phone apps in China. We’re 50-

game user is not my user. A non-

50.” That’s quite a feat, as most

“There’s such a huge difference

game user who’s never played a

apps’ user bases are 30 percent

in how young people use mo-

game; that’s my user,” Tian states.

or less female. The fact that the

bile and anyone who is slightly

“These games only serve to be

app is built around gaming makes

older,” says Tian, explaining why

social. It’s only fun when you’re

it even more impressive.

Pengpeng’s users are by and

playing with other people.”

large China’s “post-90s” (born after 1990) youths. The location-based app lets you meet strangers through social games, which include quizzes, personality tests, horoscopes, and some simple competitive games. After completing a game, users can chat and befriend each other in a chat app-style interface. The app also supports a Facebook-style feed and group chats. Most of the games are developed in house for now, but the app has an open API for developers to submit their own creations. Tian says the games serve as an ice breaker from which new relationships can emerge. “You don’t just say, ‘oh, I want to meet Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 73

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS

‘‘

“Guys are attracted by hot girls, but girls are attracted by conplaying,” he says. The app’s UI is different depending on if a user signs up as a male or female. The color scheme is altered, and the home screen displays different game categories – like personality quizzes for girls and competitive games for guys. “Girls and guys are so different. Why should they have the same screen?” Tian asks.

It’s an 80s-themed party or a 90s-themed party or World Cup-themed party or toga-themed party or vodka shots party or so on and so forth. Every good party has a theme. It’s well-organized, there are good-looking people there, it’s fun, and there’s lots of alcohol and good music, right? But, if you say, ‘I’m throwing a singles party only for singles to find your dream other people,’ then the people who show up are kinda sketchy – not nearly as fun. That’s what happens in real life. That’s what happens in online dating.

‘‘

tent and their friends that are

“In the future, the two UIs will diverge much more.” Tian expects the one-to-one gen-

“Guys and girls become attracted

smattered on Facebook: what

der ratio to remain the same as

to each other when they get to

kind of lover are you; which char-

more users pour in. “Ultimately,

know each other in a more re-

acter would you be in a popular

the strongest undercurrent is to

laxed environment when they’re

TV show; what does your fashion

meet new people of the opposite

having fun,” Tian explains.

sense say about your personality.

sex. But that’s the undercurrent,” he explains. “If you make it too obvious, you change people’s

“Is it accurate? I don’t know, but

MATCHING UP

behavior in a way that’s unhealthy for the network.”

it’s fun,” he says. But users’ answers aren’t just dis-

Personality tests and quizzes

regarded as frivolous pseudo-sci-

are a big part of how Pengpeng

ence. When applied to big data,

This is where dating and social

uses virality to attract new users,

the results from those quizzes

sites and apps often fall flat, Tian

especially women. “Girls love per-

can reveal a lot about someone.

says. “The key is to offer a variety

sonality tests. Girls love to find

The data is amassed into individ-

of fun. I think that’s where a lot of

out how much they know about

ual personality analyses, which

the current social apps fail. They

their friends,” Tian says. “Girls

users can compare between each

don’t offer fun. They offer people,

share two to three times more

other to see if they are compat-

but no fun.”

than guys.”

ible. Tian says, “OkCupid and eHarmony have something like

Tian gives the analogy of throw-

They are the same sort of

that as well, but the problem is

ing a party:

pop-culture quizzes you see

the way they reach this is very

74 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS boring. You answer a whole

purposes. One is that the com-

from playing on HTML5 to native

bunch of questions yourself.”

pany doesn’t have to resubmit to

installs is high.

the app store every time content By integrating these evaluations

is updated. Secondly, there’s no

“Most users have WeChat and

into the games, users don’t have

need to download and install

play with something else,” Tian

to spend time filling in informa-

games for people outside the

says. WeChat games require a

tion. Furthermore, quizzes are

network – an important factor for

download and only work inside

useful for measuring a person’s

teens and 20-something kids.

the app, which gives Pengpeng’s

degree of interest. “The more

web-based games an advantage,

interested you are in something,

Pengpeng is one of the earli-

according to Tian. He shows

the more you will know about

est apps to utilize WeChat’s

his own WeChat account as an

it,” he says. “In general, there’s a

third-party login platform.

example. “The most popular

pretty strong relationship

WeChat, of course, has its own

game on WeChat has 500 friends

between what you know and

games, but Tian doesn’t see it as

playing. I have over 3,000 friends

what you’re interested in.”

a competitor. In fact, being able

on WeChat. That means less than

to play games within the app

20 percent have played the most

So while those goofy personality

boosts Pengpeng’s virality, and

popular game on Wechat.”

tests and quizzes might not have

Tian says the conversion rate

any scientific basis, Pengpeng can use them to effectively match the interests and personality traits of its users.

q Pengpeng female homepage (left) and male (right)

FACEBOOK AND WECHAT ARE ALREADY OUT OF STYLE FOR CHINA’S YOUNGSTERS While Pengpeng is a native app, the majority of its content is webbased. That means native app users can play with friends on any platform that supports HTML5, including browsers or even in WeChat. This serves several Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 75

STARTUP HIGHLIGHTS Tian is in his 30s with a wife and

too old-fashioned for someone

Tech in Asia asked Tian if he

child, but he emphasizes the

who is 19.”

thinks Pengpeng will go out of

need to stay tuned in to how

style in two years.

China’s wired-up younger gener-

“It’s boring, Facebook. Same UI,

ation thinks in order to grab their

same old shit. And your parents

“If we go out of style like Face-

attention and retain it. He notes

are commenting on every single

book, I don’t mind it.” u

no one can make a one-size fits

picture,” he says. “Young people

all social network, which is what

need to have their own social

he says Facebook is attempting

network for their own age.”

to do.

‘‘

I think Facebook is making a big mistake. The way to do that is not to change the platform to please them. It’s to create new ones. Create new brands. It’s what consumer companies do all the time. Coca Cola has how many beverage brands? Hundreds.

q World Cup quiz (left) and 2048 (right)

‘‘ Pengpeng recently added Facebook integration, revealing its eventual goal of going beyond China’s borders (Facebook is censored on the mainland). But when asked if he thinks Facebook and WeChat are old-fashioned, Tian replies, “Of course it is. Anything over two years old is 76 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

elcome to the Startup Curation page! Here you can browse a selection of startups and access their websites. We also give you a brief summary of what services they deliver, and the industries theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re making a huge impact on.

Click on this icon to read more about the startups.

Click on this icon to access the startupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s websites.

STARTUP CURATION

SHOPLINE (HONG KONG)

GOGOVAN (HONG KONG)

VM5 (TAIWAN)

Ecommerce service that

Logistics startup that helps

Startup that lets users demo

helps Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shopkeepers

consumers and business-

an app without downloading

build their own mobile web

es get their stuff delivered

or installing it.

stores.

quickly.

PREBURN (INDIA)

TARGETING MANTRA

OMISE (THAILAND)

(INDIA) Offline app distribution net-

Developers of a tech tool that

Online payment system that

work that helps app publish-

lets ecommerce companies

offers solutions for developers

ers reach more users.

deliver personalized choices to

and non-developers.

customers.

78 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP CURATION

RESEARCH AND INNOVA-

SEKAI LABS (JAPAN)

CLASSDO (JAPAN)

Startup which specializes in

Startup that connects Japa-

Virtual classroom that allows

market research support.

nese corporations to individ-

people to share their knowl-

ual or team-based contrac-

edge without being hired by

tors around Asia.

a school.

KIMONO (JAPAN)

GEAR2CAM (SINGAPORE)

CHEF BOX (SINGAPORE)

Startup that enables users

App that connects Android

Meal delivery startup that lets

to easily create APIs out of

smartphones and Samsung

customers be their own chef.

regular websites.

Gear 2 smart watches for photo

TION (JAPAN)

taking.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 79

STARTUP CURATION

VERSAFLEET (SINGAPORE)

LAW CANVAS

GRAIN (SINGAPORE)

(SINGAPORE) Cloud-hosted one-stop por-

Web service that provides

Startup that delivers healthy,

tal that helps fleet operators

small businesses in Singapore

ready-to-eat dishes.

effectively manage their

with a library of free legal

operations.

templates.

LESSONS GO WHERE

SETIPE (INDONESIA)

SPA VISTA (INDONESIA)

Online marketplace where

Online dating service that

Online platform that lets con-

teachers and students can

allows users to remain anony-

sumers search for and book

list, discover, and book of-

mous.

beauty and wellness services.

(SINGAPORE)

fline lessons.

80 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP CURATION

RUANGGURU

STEALTH MESSENGER

(INDONESIA)

ADSKOM (INDONESIA) Startup that offers a

Online marketplace that offers

Android chat app that en-

programmatic advertising

various courses, and connects

crypts messages, and is free

platform.

private tutors with students.

of privacy and security issues.

JIUXIAN (CHINA)

CHUNYU YISHENG

XINGSHUAI TEACH

(CHINA)

Online liquor store that spe-

App that lets users remotely

Online education startup for

cializes in wines and Chinese

consult with physicians to diag-

designers and animators.

baijiu.

nose their ailments.

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 81

STARTUP CURATION

MAIMAI (CHINA)

MAKEBLOC (CHINA)

Enterprise chat app which

Startup that offers program-

features chats, a news feed,

mable robotic and enterprise

and a referral system.

kits.

For startup tips or story suggestions, feel free to email us or tell us about your startup here: techinasia.com/ startup-submit

82 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

STARTUP EVENTS

6 t’ 0 p e S

7 Sept’ 0

Sept’ 08

Sept’ 0

Sep t

’ 10

’0 pt e S

Se pt ’1

Se pt ’0

’1 pt Se

Se pt’ 0

13 pt’ Se

Sept’ 15

Sept’ 01

Sep t’

’ 14 Sept

SEPTEMBER 01 SEPTEMBER 15

September 02 (MY) 6th Bank Tech Asia 2014

TECH STARTUP EVENTS 2014

Singapore Japan Taiwan Hong kong Australia Malaysia Vietnam China India Thailand Cambodia US

Tuesday Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

September 03 (MY) 6th Bank Tech Asia 2014 Wednesday Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com // 83

STARTUP EVENTS September 03 (SG) Kopi Chat for Entrepre-

September 11 Chi Minh city, Vietnam

neurs with Joel Fu (SGCar

September 13 Institute of Technology of Cambodia

Mart)

(SG) Backstage Pass by Peatix

Wednesday - 04.00pm

- The $ Edition

(SG) Battle Hack

Plug-In@Blk71 71 Ayer Rajah

Thursday - 06.45pm

Saturday

Crescent #02-18 Singapore

Lime House, 2 Jiak Chuan Rd,

Check out: https://2014.bat-

139951

Singapore

tlehack.org/ for more details

(SG) Network at Entrepre-

September 12

neurs Corner at SMU

September 14

Wednesday - 06.30pm

(US) beGLOBAL 2014

(KH) BarCamp Phnom Penh

SMU Administration Building,

Friday - 09.00am

2014

Level 6

InterContinental Mark

Sunday - 05.30pm

Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco,

Institute of Technology of

California 999 California St.

Cambodia

September 05

San Francisco, CA 94108

(SG) SLUSH in Singapore

(SG) Battle Hack

Friday - 04.00pm

(VN) 2nd International Talent

Sunday

The Joyful Frog Digital Incu-

Assessment and Develop-

Check out: https://2014.bat-

bator. 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent,

ment Conference

tlehack.org/ for more details

#05-16 Singapore 139951

Friday - 05.00pm Pullman Saigon Center 148

(SG) JFDI Open House

Tran Hung Dao Boulevard, Ho

Friday - 06.00pm

Chi Minh city, Vietnam

71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #0516 Singapore 139951

(SG) JFDI Open House Friday - 06.00pm

September 11

71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #0516 Singapore 139951

(VN) 2nd International Talent Assessment and Develop-

September 13

ment Conference Thursday - 08.00am

(KH) BarCamp Phnom Penh

Pullman Saigon Center 148

2014

Tran Hung Dao Boulevard, Ho

Saturday - 08.00am

84 // Tech in Asia Magazine / End August 2014 / techinasia.com

for further information, please open: http://www. techinasia.com/ tech-startup-events/