Research from MBAonline.com also shows that other than higher revenues, women entrepreneurs received only 12% of the funding of their male counterparts. The interesting study also reveals the rising trend whereby women are increasingly involved in the tech field, both as consumers and as practitioners. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since over half of social media...
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Research from MBAonline.com also shows that other than higher revenues, women entrepreneurs received only 12% of the funding of their male counterparts. The interesting study also reveals the rising trend whereby women are increasingly involved in the tech field, both as consumers and as practitioners. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since over half of social media...
The post Women entrepreneurs have 12% higher revenues than their male counterparts appeared first on e27.
Intel Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in Hungama.com that distributes and streams Bollywood & regional movies and music. Investment in Hungama is a part of Intel Capital’s plan to fund $ 40 million across 10 technology startups in India, China and Brazil.
Recently, Hungama announced its global plans and the company has entered the UAE and Singapore markets. Hungama claims to have 20 million users via various touch points and is launching version 2 of Hungama.com on HTML 5 with a freemium model.
From our earlier conversation with Hungama COO, Siddhartha Roy:
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Pi: What are the new initiatives in pipeline from Hungama?
SR: We are launching version 2 of Hungama.com on HTML 5 with a Freemium model. The new site will have streaming and download options, and a very cool new feature to discover new music.
Version 2 will be live in the next 2 weeks. In the new version, one would also be able to listen and stream on all iOS platforms like iPhone, iPad and iPod, Android and the Windows 8 platforms, and download on the Android and Windows 8 platforms. The service already exists on Blackberry and Symbian Platform. The new version will have more social connect besides our existing Hungama My Play application, consumers will be able to sign on through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and get social feeds as well. We will offer a freemium model with streaming options with more focus on applications and music on cloud as some of the key features.
Pi: With regards to content Hungama is partial DRM protected and partial is free. What is the strategy behind such a model?
SR: Depending on the subscription pack one chooses, the content provided is either DRM protected or DRM free. We have an unlimited plan for INR 99 which has DRM protected content however the INR 99 for 99 pack gives you each piece of content for Re. 1, which is DRM free. This is thought out to suit every user’s consumption pattern and pocket size.
Pi: Flipkart’s Flyte also offer DRM free content. Why would one want to come to you?
SR: Hungama.com gives consumers DRM protected as well as DRM free content. Our storefront caters to every kind of digital entertainment, music being only one part of the overall offering. The storefront has over 2 and half million pieces of content across genres and languages, in the form of music tracks, movies, music videos & dialogues and mobile content such as ringtones & wallpapers.
A unique feature on Hungama.com is that consumers can access and download the services either on the web or on their mobile through one single sign up, and carry their music wherever they go. Close to 90% of our content consumption is through mobile devices, through our partnerships with telcos and our convenient WAP offering m.hungama.com. This is the biggest opportunity with close to 700 million active mobile subscribers in India. Besides as mentioned earlier, we are the ONLY store front available through various access points like web, mobile, smart TV’s, tablets and all connected devices.
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Earlier in 2011, Intel Capital had invested around $18 million in Indian companies, out of which 2 were new deals and 3 were follow-on investments. Last year, Intel Capital had invested $ 9 million in Policybazaar (online insurance aggregator), undisclosed amount in Robotic Surgery Centre (SSARC), a provider of advanced robotic surgery procedures for specialty areas such as cardiac, urology, thoracic, gynaecology etc.
In addition to that Intel had also invested in Telibrahma, a developer of mobile solutions using augmented reality, Bluetooth and WiFi technologies for advertising and retail segments including Yatra, among others.
After weeks of anticipation, 21 finalists have been announced for the PhilDevs 2012 Silicon Valley Comes to the Philippines (SVC2PH) event, “Hack2Hatch” to be held from October 5 to 7 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City, Philippines.
The event, which is intended to be a kick-starter for the 2012 PhilDev Economic Forum to be held in the capital of Manila, has already sold out. The 21 startup teams chosen for this once in a lifetime opportunity are:
| CodeToki | MRTtrackr | Unli FM |
| Bolooka | Bronze Age Media | SulitApps |
| FamilyKo | Paybilis | TweetCaddy |
| Spelldial | MiiMove | Orchestrack |
| Pinoy Auto Trader | H1red | Spicy Deal |
| RocketLabs | Pancake Servers | Ridefind |
| QuickPayroll | Jekket | StaffWisely |
Regular readers might notice we’ve covered a few of those before: RideFind, Unli FM, MRTtracker, Familyko, and SpellDial.
The brainchild of Winston Damarillo, CEO of Morphlabs and DevCon founder, Hack2Hatch (H2H) is a series of pitching sessions wherein various startup groups get the opportunity to present their products and ideas to some of the industry’s biggest players and luminaries, with the pot at the end of the rainbow being instant seed fund amounting to PHP 100,000.00 (USD 2,400) for the top six teams.
They will also receive one-on-one mentoring from some of the leading global entrepreneurs, as well as learn how to present to VCs.
According to Alvin Gendrano, H2H co-chair and the director for developers and platforms at Microsoft Philippines, aside from the mentoring onsite and P100K grant, their intention is to provide continued mentoring, software and cloud hosting, and the facilitation of introductions to investors, with the hope of establishing a new angel network for Philippine startups.
Once narrowed down to the top six, the startups will be flown to Manila for the 2012 PhilDev Economic Forum, to meet up with top tech entrepreneurs from around the globe.
With the requirement that only operational startups would be accepted, and not startup “ideas,” the 17 finalists, comprised of no more than 5 members each, will be given two opportunities to pitch their young businesses, first on October 5th for the elevator pitch taht’s limited to three minutes, and then on October 7th for the final pitch where they will be allotted 15 to 20 minutes of stage time.
Finalist groups are also asked to bring business cards, laptops, and Wi-Fi dongles (for emergencies), and of course, their product presentations and prototypes, if available. And as all work with no play tends to take the “start” out of the startup, they are also asked to bring Hawaiian attire for the party to held at the Mactan Shangri-La Hotel on October 6.
The post 21 Finalists for Hack2Hatch Announced appeared first on Tech in Asia.
How are ecommerce companies handling cart abandonment? While some of them follow up with email, nothing beats an on-site upselling/remarketing.
Bangalore based NudgeSpot has launched it’s service that helps ecommerce companies nudge their visitors after they have abandoned the shopping cart or haven’t completed the purchase within a stipulated time. The product is in private beta currently and the startup is working with 17 stores at the moment(across 8 countries including India).
The way NudgeSpot works is that once you signup, you need to embed nudgespot’s JavaScript code, which will nudge the visitor based on their site activity and convert the visitor into a customer.
You can create targeted promotions targeting specific segments of your visitors. You can reward frequent visitors, improve conversions on social media referrals or just tie your promotions to your ad campaigns.
In terms of benefits to ecommerce stores, founder Suresh shares that the product is currently enabling customers to close orders worth about $1000/day (across all customers).
Here is a short QnA with Suresh Harikrishnan, founder of NudgeSpot.
Pi: Why only ecommerce ? Why not extend to SAAS as well?
Great point! To successfully nudge a visitor, it is important to understand what the visitor is looking for. The objectives of both the merchant and visitor is very clear in the case of ecommerce stores – visitors are looking to buy products, and merchant is trying to sell them. In the case of saas, people usually sign up for a free trial, and if the service works out for them, they decide to continue. The ways to nudge a visitor in that case is going to be substantially different from e-commerce visitors, hence not our priority at the moment.
Pi: Future plans?
We plan to come out of beta in another month. NudgeSpot already integrates with Shopify – so merchants using Shopify will be able to use NudgeSpot with ease. We plan to integrate with a few more platforms like Shopify in the coming weeks. We want to simplify selling for merchants by understanding their visitors better – and we are looking to partner with people/companies that can help us reach our goals.
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If you are running an ecommerce company, do give NudgeSpot a nudge and share your comments.
After interacting with the various players in the Singapore startup ecosystem, Tai-Ku, cofounder of Gumhoo shares his takeaways to fellow Taiwanese startups and foreigners who are exploring the possibility to set up a base in Singapore. Last week, e27 hosted seven Taiwanese startups who were on a fund raising trip to Singapore. During the three...
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After interacting with the various players in the Singapore startup ecosystem, Tai-Ku, cofounder of Gumhoo shares his takeaways to fellow Taiwanese startups and foreigners who are exploring the possibility to set up a base in Singapore. Last week, e27 hosted seven Taiwanese startups who were on a fund raising trip to Singapore. During the three...
The post A Taiwanese opinion on Singapore for foreign startups appeared first on e27.
Russel Simmons is in Singapore on October 15th to speak at FailCon, a one-day conference for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers and designers to study their own and others’ failures and prepare for success. Check him out on the panels ‘How to be a kickass CTO’ and the ‘Metrics of Success’.
Russ is a card carrying member of the Pay Pal Mafia, a small group of early hires at the legendary payment platform that have gone on to build their own successful companies. In 2004 Russ and his business partner Jeremy Stopplemen set out to tackle that oh-so familiar problem of where to find the city’s best coffee / dentist / bowl of char keow teow. Their company, Yelp.com, went IPO in 2012 and launched in Singapore just last month. With all this success behind him, we wonder, what is Russ going to speak about at FailCon?
As it turns out, Russ has a lot to say.
The importance of data
Since being founded in San Francisco in 2004, Yelp has grown to become one of the most popular and influential customer review websites but it didn’t start off that way. In this early interview, co-founders Russ and Jeremy explain that the first version of the site focused on asking friends for recommendations via email. Looking at the data they found that early users didn’t email friends for recommendations, but instead found a link buried in the site that allowed them to create their own unsolicited reviews. Today yelpers have written over 30 million local reviews.
His new company isn’t so lucky
These days Russ is working on Learnirvana, a two-person startup that’s reimagining the experience of learning. As Russ explains it, “my current company is an epic business failure, since it has not yet had any real success after a year.” The core product, Lentil, helps students learn not through countless flash cards and route memorization, but by combining ideas in knowledge modeling, psychology, and interface design to create a streamlined and rewarding learning experience. As Russ says, “I am OK with having a “business failure” if I love what am working on (and can afford to fund it, hah!)”
So what is it that keeps him going, even when his company isn’t seeing the astronomical growth that this start-up celebrity is used to? His response – “I am mostly happy and relaxed about work”.
Hear more from Russ and 13 other awesome entrepreneurs at FailCon on Monday, October 15th. Bonus! Use the code SGEwin to get a 20% discount on your tickets!
The post Folks @ FailCon Singapore: Russel Simmons – Cofounder of Yelp appeared first on SGE.
Pouch is the latest startup in Indonesia which aims to bring customer loyalty to the mobile. Mobile loyalty is nothing new. We have covered the various players in this space extensively on e27. In Singapore, one of the leading players in this space is Perx, which has awarded more than a quarter of million “chops”...
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Pouch is the latest startup in Indonesia which aims to bring customer loyalty to the mobile. Mobile loyalty is nothing new. We have covered the various players in this space extensively on e27. In Singapore, one of the leading players in this space is Perx, which has awarded more than a quarter of million “chops”...
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A study by Kaufmann foundation shows that the proportion of immigrant-founded companies nationwide has slipped from 25.3 percent to 24.3 percent since 2005. The drop is even more pronounced in Silicon Valley, where the percentage of immigrant-founded startups declined from 52.4 percent to 43.9 percent.
The report, which evaluated the rate of immigrant entrepreneurship from 2006 to 2012, updates findings from a 2007 study that examined immigrant-founded companies between 1995 and 2005.
From the 107,819 engineering and technology companies founded in the last six years, the study examined a random sample of 1,882 companies in a nationwide survey. Of those companies, 458 had at least one foreign-born founder.
The exceptions to this downward trend were immigrants from India. Although founders in the study hailed from more than 60 countries, 33.2 percent of them were Indian, an increase of 7 percent in 2005. Indians, in fact, founded more of the engineering and technology firms than immigrants born in the next nine immigrant-founder countries combined.
After India, immigrant founders represented China (8.1 percent), the United Kingdom (6.3 percent), Canada (4.2 percent), Germany (3.9 percent), Israel (3.5 percent), Russia (2.4 percent), Korea (2.2 percent), Australia (2.0 percent) and the Netherlands (2.0 percent).
While immigrant entrepreneurship has stagnated, the rates of Indian and Chinese startups have increased. In 2005, Indians and Chinese entrepreneurs accounted for 26.0 percent and 6.9 percent of immigrant-founded companies, respectively.
Singularity University’s Vivek Wadhwa, in his book The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent has covered the alarming drop in immigrant entrepreneurship in U.S.
..issue is not simply the threat of “reverse brain drain” but a newly identified and historically unprecedented halt in high-growth, immigrant-founded start-ups. The U.S. hasn’t yet responded to the intensifying competition that countries such as China and India offer, and has left some of the most educated and talented entrepreneurial immigrants with no choice but to take their innovation elsewhere. The consequences to our economy are dire; our multi-trillion-dollar loss will be our global competitors’ gain. [source]
While Vivek Wadhwa is batting for visa for immigrant entrepreneurs, the other reality is that the local markets in other geographies are picking up and entrepreneurs are also looking at these virgin territories.
- Related Read: Startup Visa And The Impact on Indian Startup Ecosystem
- Opinion piece : Cultural Differences between Indian & Silicon Valley Startups
- Must Read: How Indian entrepreneurs can really disrupt American markets
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) says it has settled a legal case against China’s 3322.org (recently rebranded as PubYun), which was identified as a major malware hub – and even a host for the Nitol botnet. No financial damages seem to have been involved, according to the short piece that the AP put together from a Microsoft source. The crux of the deal is that 3322 and its owner, Peng Yong, have agreed to work together with Microsoft and Chinese authorities to weed out the cybercriminals who are using the hosting service.
This diversion of illegal activity on 3322 forms an effective sinkhole, filtering the malware-oriented activity towards Chinese authorities who can use it to piece together criminal evidence.
Malware is a headache for Microsoft, creating a viral effect whereby infected computers can themselves serve unwittingly as botnets, distributing yet more viruses or being harnessed for DDoS attacks on various websites.
The legal action was instigated by Microsoft last month in the US – though 3322 appears to be based in Shanghai, China. In its initial court filings, a Microsoft representative detailed how the 3322-powered malware was even being found on some low-end brand-new computers, such as several made by fakesters Hedy. Microsoft explained last month:
In short, 3322.org is a major hub of illegal internet activity, used by criminals every minute of every day to pump malware and instructions to the computers of innocent people worldwide.
Microsoft will be hoping that 3322 is no longer such a criminal underworld, leaving the computer giant to go play whack-a-mole wherever the malware peddlers turn up next.
[Source: AP via HuffPo]
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“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s theory of business success was on the right track. But there was one important ingredient he forgot to mention – the need to get the word out. Without a growing user base, even the most brilliantly designed mousetrap will eventually be...
The post To 1,000 and beyond: Startup growth hack strategies appeared first on e27.
“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s theory of business success was on the right track. But there was one important ingredient he forgot to mention – the need to get the word out. Without a growing user base, even the most brilliantly designed mousetrap will eventually be...
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Here’s an interesting interview in The Atlantic with Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa. He talks about why America’s immigration policy is hurting the country’s chances for growth, and is conversely benefiting entrepreneurship in emerging markets overseas.
[…] Silicon Valley immigrant-founded entrepreneurship proportion has dropped from 50 percent to 44 percent, that’s a huge drop within the last seven years or so. […] If you look at Brazil or China or India, the economies are booming, entrepreneurs see better opportunities back home.
If you took the risk of leaving a country, let’s say India and China, you would be a risk taker. […] They work extremely hard, they take risks, and they bet it all on entrepreneurial success.
Thanks to Jeffrey Char for pointing out this piece.
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