StartupRootsSG Panel 2: From start up to IPO – Tales by two veterans

On 4th July, StartupRoots kicked off its speaker series, which was held for the second year running. The audience was invited to a friendly debate on “Which language is right for your startup“, between three respected geeks in Singapore, Calvin Cheng (Python), Michael Cheng (PHP) and Sau Sheong (Ruby).

This coming Wednesday, StartupRoots seeks to close the widening gap between fresh blood and the seasoned leaders in Singapore’s startup community. For those venturing into their own business (especially for the first time), here’s an opportunity for you to find out how to build a company that lasts.

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Event Details

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When 18th July 2012 (Wednesday), 7.00pm – 8.30 pm

Where: HackerspaceSG, 70A Bussorah Street, Singapore City, Singapore City 199483

Synopsis of the panel: There has been a rise in the number of events in Singapore’s entrepreneurship community, most of which revolve around new startups, competitions and weekend hackathons. On 18th July, the team at Startup Roots seeks to address the growing gap between the different generations of Singapore’s startup scene.  Veterans David Leong of iPropertynet and Shirley Wong of TNF Ventures will share about the process of going through the entire startup lifecycle. Expect candid sharings about hiring, scaling and building a company from start up to IPO.

Register here

(Note: In the first StartupRoots event, some advice were given on hiring developers. Read about them here.)

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Game Publisher Qeon Interactive Acquires Bouncity

Bouncity, the location-based gaming platform, has been acquired by the Indonesia game publisher Qeon Interactive for an undisclosed amount. The move was closed early last month but has only just been revealed by Kevin Osmond, who was the COO of Bouncity. It isn’t really a surprise since we haven’t heard much about Bouncity in the last few months. In this deal, all of the startup’s shareholders exited except Jeffry Anthony, who has joined Qeon Interactive. Kevin says that Bouncity will still continue as a standalone company though he hasn’t heard any updates on this situation since he departed from there last month.

Launched one year and one month ago, Bouncity clearly had great expectations and was seen as one of the region’s strong products that could make serious revenue. It was even included in the three startups from Indonesia that pitched at Echelon 2011, when Bouncity was only one month old. The service reached 300,000 users in one year (right before the acquisition) and set a milestone of being the first startup involved in a nationwide campaign with Mizone that saw it being promoted in more than 7,000 outlets of the Alfamart group.

Qeon Interactive itself is a game publishing company which officially launched around two months ago focusing on bringing games from Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan to the Indonesian market. At launch, Qeon introduced a first-person shooter online game called Shadow Company. Qeon Interactive is part of the MidPlaza group (which will add an e-payment system soon) and is supported by Biznet.

To clear some of the rumours/false perceptions, Kevin Osmond explained more to us about the company structure: Bouncity and Tiket isn’t owned by PhaseDev. PhaseDev is a former company that was founded by Wenas Agusetiawan, Jeffry Anthony, and Dimas Surya. For Bouncity, the shareholders are PhaseDev plus Kevin and an angel investor. While Tiket has PhaseDev with Kevin Osmond, Gaery Undarsa, Richard Fang, and an angel investor.

When asked what is the lesson learned from this startup journey, he answers:

Startups need founders who are strong, solid, ready to do the dirty jobs, and also share the same vision. Funding isn’t everything for a startup, but also requires good planning and great execution in order to achieve success. This experience is an expensive lesson to take.

With this acquisition, and Yahoo shutting down Koprol, plus other local LBS startup like this one, I’d say that such apps just don’t work here – except Foursquare. Now, Kevin Osmond together with Richard Fang (who has also quit Tiket.com) co-founded Weekend Inc., a design and technology studio which provides startup development and consulting services. They will launch a new startup early in August 2012, and I have a feeling it’s this one. Stay tuned as we will keep updated with the latest startup from Kevin and Richard.

The post Game Publisher Qeon Interactive Acquires Bouncity appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Mojostreet and MeraEvents Partner : Now check-in to events and collect coupons

Mojostreet and event ticketing/promotion company, MeraEvents have partnered to enable event attendees to check-in to events. As part of this integration, members of mojostreet will be able to Check-in to various events where ticketing is powered by Meraevents.com. Users will be able to check-in quickly without having to create a location and also get coupons which they can redeem on Meraevents.com for their next purchase.

Mojostreet currently has more than 100,000 users and is witnessing activity from nearly 2500 cities across the world. Mojostreet users can get real world freebies and discounts at more than 4000 merchant locations. The startup earlier partnered with Deccan Chargers team, Mast Kalandar and CCD.

MeraEvents has its own event networking solution called MoozUp, which enables event attendees to network pre and post the event, though partnership with Mojostreet makes it much more meaningful (aside, MeraEvents is also launching its own app as well).

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News Roundup: Maharashtra govt collaborates with CDAC to enhance e-governance initiative

Maharashtra govt collaborates with CDAC to enhance e-governance initiative

In order to provide a fillip to its e-governance initiative, the Maharashtra government has announced to set up a Centre of Excellence for Marathi in Pune with collaboration of city based based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

The proposed Centre will assist the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) of the state government in international consortia and other standardization bodies so that Marathi language gets its “rightful place” in national and international scenario. The Centre will evolve guidelines for creation of knowledge repository of various resources available in Marathi such as dictionaries, e-books, audio and interactive books and assist DIT in development of Marathi lexicons and standardised dictionaries and terminologies that can be used for e-governance applications.

Shareaholic raises USD 3 million from Kepha Partners & existing investors

Boston and New Delhi-based Shareaholic, Inc., which runs the content sharing site that enables users to share content across various social networking sites has raised $3 million in Series A funding from Kepha Partners and its existing investors like General Catalyst Partners, NextView Ventures, 500Startups, Boston Seed including angels participated in the round.

The company was founded by Meattle, a US-based entrepreneur of Indian origin, in 2008 and it claims to reach to over 300 million users across the globe through web browser extensions, open platform APIs, and networks of content publishers. Currently, Shareaholic employs 10 people across engineering, product and marketing divisions, with 2 employees from India.

Hiring up by 9 percent in mobile & internet sector on Naukri

According to Naukri‘s Job Speak Index, an indicator of job listings on its portal, the hiring activity in the Media sector has increased by 9% in June 2012, when compared to May 2012, and by 19% compared to June 2011. In Media/Entertainment segment, Mumbai was the leading location, followed by Delhi-NCR and Bangalore.

The Naukri Job Speak index for the sector pegged around 944 for June 2012, a 9% increase from 861 last month. Apart from media sector, there was an 8% month on month increase, in demand for IT/Telecom jobs in June 2012. According to index, there was a 17% increase in demand from April to May 2012, and 3% from March to April 2012. In IT/Telecom segment, Bangalore was the leading location, followed by Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

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Viki enters China by partnering with Renren, one of the country’s top social networks

Viki, a video site that translate content into 150 languages, has announced last week a deal with Renren, known as China’s Facebook, to release content on both renren.com and 56.com.

In 56.com, a video sharing site owned by Renren, users will see a dedicated section for Viki content starting in August. It will be called VikiZone.

The ‘zone’ will broadcast hundreds of hours of Cartoon Network content, TNT dramas from the United States, and other global TV programs. The latest content will be made available a day after airing in the US.

Korean and Japanese videos will also be featured. The Singapore startup, which also has an office in San Francisco, has collaborated with Korean independent record label SM Entertainment to bring K-pop music videos and behind-the-scenes interviews to China. Partnering with Japanese licensors, Viki will also stream 50 classic Japanese titles to Renren and 56.com.

Since securing around US$20M in Series B funding and US$4.3M in Series A funding from prominent Silicon Valley VC firms like Greylock Partners and Andreesen Horowitz, Viki has embarked on a plan to secure more content and expand to more markets.

Viki’s partnership with Renren could provide a significant boost to the startup’s foray into China. Renren, being one of the most prominent social networks in the country, has a pre-IPO userbase of 31 million active monthly users (the figure, however, is mired with controversy).

The startup’s claim to fame is that the translations on the site are provided by an active community, sort of like a Wikipedia for video entertainment. In October 2011, it received about 8.5 million unique visitors and 36 million visits in one month — four times the traffic from the previous year.

Some of its other investors include: Neoteny Labs from Singapore, BBC Worldwide, SK Planet, and Charles River Ventures.

Check out our full coverage of Viki.

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India’s Makemytrip Makes an iPhone App, Finally

India’s biggest online travel service, Makemytrip (NASDAQ:MMYT), finally has an iPhone app to its name. Coming two months after the launch of its Android app, it means that iPhone users can now also do lots of things on Makemytrip via their smartphones: compare fares, book flights, manage trip itineraries, and check flight schedules.

Announced on the Makemytrip official blog, the company claims that it “now has the distinction of being the only Indian online travel company to have an iPhone app in the App Store.” Unfortunately there’s no dedicated iPad app, and the new app isn’t ‘universal’ either. Makemytrip already has an app for BlackBerry devices, and a general mobile website that’s optimised for smartphones, giving the company a way to reach out to pretty much all of the country’s middle- to upper-income demographics.

The iPhone app promises secure online payments that accept credit cards, debit cards, and net-banking. The fact that Makemytrip targets wealthier consumers therefore makes it immune from the e-payments issue that’s holding back Indian e-commerce as a whole. There’s also some bare-bones social support in the app, letting you post to Facebook and Twitter from within it.

Get the new Makemytrip iPhone app in the iTunes store, or the young-ish Android version is in Google Play.

The post India’s Makemytrip Makes an iPhone App, Finally appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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New NUS International Research Centre to Boost Social Media Applications, Bridging the Cyber and Real World

A tripartite collaboration between the National University of Singapore (NUS), Zhejiang University (ZJU) and Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has resulted in the setting up of a new International Research Centre (IRC). Called the Sensor-enhanced Social Media Centre (SeSaMe), this will create design techniques for social cyber-physical systems, which bridge the cyber-world of computing and communications with the physical world. SeSaMe will also develop social media applications for these systems. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed today by Professor Barry Halliwell, NUS Deputy President (Research and Technology), Professor Chen Kunsong, Executive Vice Dean, Sci-Tech Academy of Zhejiang University and Mr Michael Yap, Executive Director of the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office at MDA, to formalise SeSaMe’s establishment. This was witnessed by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts and Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, NUS President.

“Through our IRCs, NUS has established strong collaborations with a number of international institutes, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Chinese Institute of Automation, Keio University and Tsinghua University. We
are delighted to be able to work with Zhejiang University as one of our global partners. It is with the support from such partners that our IRCs can conduct cutting-edge research, which has the potential to change the way we perceive the world, the way we communicate and the way we live,” said NUS President, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan.

“We are very happy to partner with NUS and MDA to set up the Sensor-enhanced Social Media Centre in Singapore, which is Zhejiang University’s first overseas research centre. Through this collaboration, we look forward to building up our presence in Singapore, which is well-regarded as being an interactive digital media hub within Asia,” said Professor Wu Zhaohui, Vice-President, Development and Planning, Foreign Affairs & Overseas students, Zhejiang University.

Over the next five years, a total of S$24 million will be invested into SeSaMe, through funds from MDA, support from NUS and ZJU in terms of manpower, equipment and intellectual property management, as well as industry contributions. SeSaMe has already established its first research collaboration with NetEase, a China-based internet company. NetEase has committed RMB 10 million (approximately S$2 million) over the next two years, to support a research project on Ad-hoc Cyber-physical Network over Heterogeneous Mobile Sensors.

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3. Around! A New Mobile LBS App to Get Local Deals

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Finding the right social media platform for your startup

Social media is a tricky and complex thing. Setting up Facebook and twitter accounts for your startup may not necessarily be a wise idea. It must ultimately lead to engagement and conversion for the right target market.

Leveraging on social media to spread your brand is not as simple as tweeting about the company’s progress or posting pictures onto Facebook Timeline. Having your consumers like your page or comment does not garauntee anything to help your business.

On the other hand, social media is free and multi-purposed. It can be used for marketing purposes. Small businesses can use it to gather marketing intelligence, build their brand, enhance their reputation, efficiently manage customer service, and find new sales leads.

However, as a smart entrepreneur, you must make sure that not too much time and resources in placed onto social media for too little return.

Facebook

This is a great way to build strong customer relations and create brand loyalty. Analytics and insights from Facebook are becoming a way for even the largest companies to bring in added value to their organization. However, note the short shelf life of a Facebook post and be prepared to think of creative ways to engage fans others than simply posting pictures or comments.

It is also debatable that one should not create a Facebook page before the product has been officially launched to prevent the Facebook hype from dying out before the actual launch. Therefore, analyze carefully the business development stage and select the appropriate timing to set up a Facebook account for your startup.

LinkedIn

Great for B2B engagements, hiring, finding the appropriate clients or strategic partners and also showcasing your expertise, LinkedIn would be more valuable for service-based companies. Starting or joining an existing group will help you discover trends in your industry, identify influencers in the space and create a network of like-minded professional and companies.

Twitter

Although Twitter can also be a fast track to landing your startup into a social media disaster just like MacDonalds‘ did, it is nonetheless a great way to build positive customer relations, and can become an effective form of customer service because you can listen to what your customers are saying and respond in real time.

However, know who to follow on Twitter and make sure that the people that follow you is in your target market. For example, if you want a bigger following among tech enthusiasts, writers, and editors. Search for Twitter users who use hashtags or social media management tools with various keywords such as technology and writer. The key here is not about the number of followers you have but the quality of the connections and whether it can result in any useful conversations and future influence.

Pinterest

Since this social media platform is picture-heavy, it might be more suited for companies that are product based to use as a great advertising tool. It is very visual based, and will be able to spread your brand fast through social sharing and recommendations. If your startup deals with softwares or is a B2B company, investing time into a Pinterest account might be a waste of resources.

Blogs and Forums

A highly effective and often underestimated form of social media, blogs and forums can be effectively used to give exposure to your product. It can also provide you with invaluable (but sometimes hurtful) opinions from the online community as to how you can continuously improve your product. If you have just recently launched your product, reach out to influential and related bloggers to not only review your products but also help you reach out to their readers.

In all social media platforms, remember to avoid using them as though you were managing your own personal accounts. Remember to be strategic and discerning so you never make in onto the list of “Biggest social media fails“.

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Finding the right social media platform for your startup

Social media is a tricky and complex thing. Setting up Facebook and twitter accounts for your startup may not necessarily be a wise idea. It must ultimately lead to engagement and conversion for the right target market.

Leveraging on social media to spread your brand is not as simple as tweeting about the company’s progress or posting pictures onto Facebook Timeline. Having your consumers like your page or comment does not garauntee anything to help your business.

On the other hand, social media is free and multi-purposed. It can be used for marketing purposes. Small businesses can use it to gather marketing intelligence, build their brand, enhance their reputation, efficiently manage customer service, and find new sales leads.

However, as a smart entrepreneur, you must make sure that not too much time and resources in placed onto social media for too little return.

Facebook

This is a great way to build strong customer relations and create brand loyalty. Analytics and insights from Facebook are becoming a way for even the largest companies to bring in added value to their organization. However, note the short shelf life of a Facebook post and be prepared to think of creative ways to engage fans others than simply posting pictures or comments.

It is also debatable that one should not create a Facebook page before the product has been officially launched to prevent the Facebook hype from dying out before the actual launch. Therefore, analyze carefully the business development stage and select the appropriate timing to set up a Facebook account for your startup.

LinkedIn

Great for B2B engagements, hiring, finding the appropriate clients or strategic partners and also showcasing your expertise, LinkedIn would be more valuable for service-based companies. Starting or joining an existing group will help you discover trends in your industry, identify influencers in the space and create a network of like-minded professional and companies.

Twitter

Although Twitter can also be a fast track to landing your startup into a social media disaster just like MacDonalds‘ did, it is nonetheless a great way to build positive customer relations, and can become an effective form of customer service because you can listen to what your customers are saying and respond in real time.

However, know who to follow on Twitter and make sure that the people that follow you is in your target market. For example, if you want a bigger following among tech enthusiasts, writers, and editors. Search for Twitter users who use hashtags or social media management tools with various keywords such as technology and writer. The key here is not about the number of followers you have but the quality of the connections and whether it can result in any useful conversations and future influence.

Pinterest

Since this social media platform is picture-heavy, it might be more suited for companies that are product based to use as a great advertising tool. It is very visual based, and will be able to spread your brand fast through social sharing and recommendations. If your startup deals with softwares or is a B2B company, investing time into a Pinterest account might be a waste of resources.

Blogs and Forums

A highly effective and often underestimated form of social media, blogs and forums can be effectively used to give exposure to your product. It can also provide you with invaluable (but sometimes hurtful) opinions from the online community as to how you can continuously improve your product. If you have just recently launched your product, reach out to influential and related bloggers to not only review your products but also help you reach out to their readers.

In all social media platforms, remember to avoid using them as though you were managing your own personal accounts. Remember to be strategic and discerning so you never make in onto the list of “Biggest social media fails“.

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Police Warn of Dangers on Tencent’s Weixin

Tencent’s (HKG:0700) Weixin messaging app (known as WeChat outside China) is growing more popular by the minute (it now has more than 100 million users). Although it’s turned off by default, many users (especially younger ones) have really taken to the app’s LBS friend-finding feature, which allows you to see which strangers in your immediate vicinity are on Weixin and, the idea is, make friends.

Of course, there are plenty of other things one can use the service for aside from making friends, and yesterday, China’s Xinhua wire service ran a report urging Weixin users, especially young women, to remain vigilant when dealing with strangers on Weixin. According to the report, the service has been used by some criminals as a tool to assist in fraud, robbery, and rape.

Of course, criminals have been using social networks to stalk and victimize people for as long as the internet has been around. Since Weixin’s LBS feature is by default set to off, only users who opt in are in any danger of being somehow victimized by fellow users in their geographical vicinity. As long as people are aware of the dangers, I’d say the LBS feature could still be a cool way to meet some new friends. But it’s something to be careful with, and definitely something to keep children away from.

You’ve been warned!

[Legal Daily via Sina Tech]

The post Police Warn of Dangers on Tencent’s Weixin appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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