VIPShop Priced at $6.50 on IPO Debut, Falls Sharply in First Hour

The Chinese discount e-commerce site VIPShop (NYSE:VIPS) has just bucked the trend – and beat expectations – by floating on the New York Stock Exchange, which has just opened for business on Friday. VIPShop’s starting price is $6.50 per share, well below its aim of $8.50 to $10.50. Goldman Sachs (fresh from plunging several continents into recession) and Deutsche Bank will act as lead underwriters.

But it’s already getting whipped by the markets – and after nearly an hour of trading VIPShop has fallen over 10 percent to stand at $5.75 per share at the time of publishing.

VIPShop has raised $71.5 million after selling 11 million American depository shares. It’s the first Chinese web company to list in the US since last August, after a particularly frosty winter caused primarily by a lack of confidence in Chinese firms’ financials. That was triggered by the Longtop fraud scandal last summer, and caused the cancellation of a handful of planned IPOs by other local tech companies.

Click to enlarge. (Via @iMeigu on Sina Weibo)

Earlier today we looked at VIPShop’s IPO prospectus which touts revenues of $227 million and a total of 7.27 million e-commerce orders in 2011. But that masks the fact that VIPShop has yet to crack a profit – but, hey, neither have Youku (NYSE:YOKU) or Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) – and even saw its losses spawn like microbes in 2011, going from $8.4 million in net losses in 2010 to $107.3 million for the whole of last year. It was started up in 2008 as a site for discounts and flash sales, which it focuses on to this day. VIPShop claims to partner with over 1,000 brands to bring items at appealing prices to consumers, and mainly covers clothing and home electronics. Interestingly, it’s the first small-ish, specialist Chinese e-commerce site to IPO, perhaps starting a trend.

With fellow B2C e-commerce sites like Vancl hoping to list in the US but not able to muster the strength, VIPStore is taking a risk to test the waters. Some analysts would say that backing $VIPS is a risk as well.

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Angry Birds Space Gets Animated

Yesterday we were delighted to try out Rovio’s new game Angry Birds Space at an event in Tokyo. Since then the game has hit number one in the App Store at least 28 countries so far, according to Inside Mobile Apps.

But let’s be honest. You really can’t say you’ve made it until you’ve been animated by Taiwan’s NMA.tv. So no doubt the folks over at Rovio are likely pretty ecstatic that their angry birds have been turned into animated cartoons!

No wait. It’s an animation of an animation.

In a dream…

Where’s my spin-top?

But in all seriousness, Angry Birds Space is a pretty elegant spin-off on their original hit game. The mechanics are all twisted, but yet still based on real physics. It’s just outer-space physics now.

Check out NMA’s take on Angry Birds Space in the video below.

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Watch IPL5 online on Indiatimes, the official broadcaster of IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has joined hands with indiatimes to be its official online broadcaster for IPL 2012.  IPL 2012 on indiatimes.com will bowl over every cricket enthusiast in India like never before and some of the features plannned include video scorecards, hat will change the way they watch and experience a cricket match.

Some of the other features that Indaitimes will bring to online viewing is the ability to click on a timeline and see wickets, fours and sixes on demand and out-of-the-box content encompassing every ball, every wicket, every update and every minutest detail of IPL5.

So, for now it’s Indiatimes :1, Youtube : 0.

What a match!

Also, BookmyShow is the official ticketing partner for IPL5.

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Weekday vs. Weekend Mobile Internet Browsing : Unique Users Dropped by 2% During Weekend

Do you think people browse more of mobile Internet on weekends than weekdays? A report from Opera suggests that 33 countries had fewer unique users on weekend days, while 17 countries had more unique users on weekend days.

- Two thirds of the top 50 countries saw fewer unique users on weekend days.
- One third of the top 50 countries saw more unique users on weekend days.
- Romania, Belarus, Moldova, the United States and Poland had the biggest drops in users on weekend days.
- Egypt, Iran, Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania had the biggest gains in users on weekend days.
- India witnessed 2% jump during weekend, though 5.6% increase in pageviews during the weekend.
- 5.7% increase in data transfer (in India) during the weekend, as opposed to 4.3% drop in USA.

That is, even though there was a drop in unique users count, people still consumer more pageviews.

[Download the report]

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Google to Pluggd.in : You Promote Products! [and we don't like that]

A few days back, some of our readers told us that Pluggd.in articles aren’t being seen on Google news anymore. Not that we care about traffic from Google news, but once we confirmed ourselves, we asked Google to take a re-look as we thought it was probably a mistake by the G-iant.

The (Better) Google of 1998

 

And this is what Google has to say  (highlighted):

———-

Hi Ashish,
Thank you for your note.
We reviewed your site and are unable to include it in Google News at this time. We found that the articles on this site promote your own product.
We appreciate your taking the time to contact us and will log your site for consideration should our requirements change.

———-

Momentary lapse of reason?  Or a mediocre Google in making?

I say mediocre because even a 10 second visit to Pluggd.in will tell you that we do not have a product! I mean, we just do not have a product! Seriously, we do not have a product (yet) to promote!

On the other hand, we actually talk (a lot) about product startups and in Google’s language, promote them (i.e. give visibility) at a juncture when they need it the most (take a look at some of the testimonials).

Aside, we also cover the latest news and updates from industries like India Online, Indian Telecom, Business and a whole lot more – which is where Google news inclusion is relevant.

Long story short, it seems Google has blocked us because we give visibility to startups or ‘promote products’ (in Google language)?

Not good.

If a company continuously fails to understand the context of why (is this site talking about products), it’s a DNA issue. To me, a dangerous sign of mediocrity which needs to be culled before it spreads like wildfire.

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Understanding Shops & Establishment license for Businesses in India [Whiteboad Friday]

Shops & Establishment is a state based license, which is applicable  if you are opening a shop or commercial establishment.

In this episode of “eLagaan Whiteboad  Friday”, the eLagaan (http://elagaan.com ) team explains, the concept behind Shops & Establishment license, who needs it & why it is needed. They also discuss what are the various returns related to Shops & Establishment & what records do businesses need to maintain to stay compliant.

More @Pluggd.in/TV

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The Creative Finder, Wants to Empower Creative Professionals Around the World

Talented designers are increasingly in demand because they can help a brand or product finds its unique identity. But for people that complain about how to find these designers, there are existing online networks which makes the search actually very easy.

One such network is Singaporean based The Creative Finder, which launched back in 2003. Created by Design TAXI, the network aims to inspire, promote and empower creative professionals around the world. ‘Creative professionals’ sounds broad and it is. But it includes people such as graphic designers, painters, interior designers, 3D graphic artists, cinematography and the list goes on!

The newly revamped site offers a platform for creative professionals to showcase their design, illustration and photography work as well as connect with others in the international community. Like any other social network, you can like, comment, share and message other people on the network. One cool feature is its real-time user activity, which allows users to see live-updates on what’s going on and see the latest design trends.

For creative professionals that want to showcase their work, they can set up a free ‘Basic’ account which permits up to ten published images. For people or businesses that want to track the work of creative professionals and communicate with them, they can set up a ‘Finders’ account.

Realizing the power of social media sharing, The Creative Finder has integrated the ability to share work across Evernote and Pinterest. Of course, if picked up across something like Pinterest or Tumblr, creative people could find their work going viral.

Of course, this isn’t the first creative professional network to exist. Probably the most prominent, is Behance.net, which sees some of its artists such as being picked up by big brands for high-end corporate work. Another is Australia’s The Loop, which focuses on helping creative’s expose their work and find projects and jobs.

I believe China has a groundswell of creative talent that needs its own online network to show how good they are. Start-ups like Nuandao.net, a flash sale site for designers is a good start to supporting them.

 

 

Related posts:

1. RenRen Go for IPO in NYSE, Raising US$584 Million
2. TaoMee Vs. Tencent: Battle in Kids Social Networking Market
3. Tianji CEO Says It Is the Best Professional Social Network in China – Interview Part II

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Restarting OpenCoffee Club in Singapore – 29 Mar

Now a worldwide movement, OpenCoffee Club originated in London and was started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to organise real-world informal meetups to chat, network and grow a better ecosystem. Singapore saw several OpenCoffee sessions organized by Frank Bomers and Arnout Mostert before but it has since died off. This time, Vinnie Lauria (Golden Gate VC) and Christian Geissendoerfer (YOOSE) are restarting it. (Thanks to Arnout Wagenaar for the tip.)

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Event Details

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When: Thursday, 29th March 2012
Time: 10am-12noon
Where: The Pigeon Hole, 52 & 53 Duxton Road, Singapore, Singapore 089516

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