Travel Site Burufly Sees Content and Social as Key Strategies

Founded in April of 2012, Indonesia-based travel startup Burufly helps users discover fun places to travel in Indonesia, while making it convenient for users to book hotels and flights online. In some ways, it is similar to sites like Wego, Traveloka, and Flocations. Founder Pete Goldsworthy said that rather then just being another travel meta-search engine or aggregator, Burufly prides itself as being a content-first travel site.

So if you look through Burufly.com, you will a lot of content that helps users understand how they can get to a particular place of interests, what they can do, and how much it costs to get there. In the sidebar, users can book flights and hotels directly.

There is so much content on Burufly (including great photography) that it feels more like an online travel magazine in a Pinterest skin. Goldsworthy, who is half-Indonesian, believes that most meta-search travel sites focus too much on pricing and neglect that the decision to go on a trip also requires research and discovery.

He also believes that having good travel related content also helps Burufly acquire users more efficiently. While competitors are spending a huge online advertising budget to bring in visitors, Burufly enjoys a lot of organic traffic generated by people who search for content. The site is extremely social as well. Every user, be they a travel agent or a travel enthusiast, can create their own collection of places. Users can click “want” to save a trip or “done” when a particular trip has been explored. Launched this past November, Burufly now has more than 178,000 registered users who have clicked the “want” button over 800,000 times.

Pictures on Burufly are either be uploaded from users, or they come from its photo database provided by Majalah Tamasya, a popular local travel magazine. The site’s written content is either created by its editorial team or by its horde of travel-happy users.

Of course, the cost of creating original content is expensive, but could be more cost effective than online ads in the long run, as the archives will continue to serve them in the future. Currently 20 percent of the content is generated by users, and we can expect that figure to soon increase, thus bringing down the overall cost of content creation for Burufly.

Burufly received investment by Ardent Capital and is also self-funded by Pete. Prior to this startup, Pete was the managing director of Admax Network in Indonesia and Malaysia and also the country manager of iProperty Group in Indonesia. In the future, he plans to expand his travel service to Thailand and Malaysia.

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Philippine internal revenue authorities want to tax buy-and-sell activities

Tax authorities in the Philippines have warned e-commerce sites and online sellers against tax avoidance. Will this discourage entrepreneurs from bringing their business online?

e-Commerce is thriving in the Philippines, with startups like Sulit, Ayosdito and Ensogo, as well as established brands like eBay Philippines, gaining popularity in the mass market. But even as these buy-and-sell services offer small entrepreneurs the ability to market their products and services online, Philippine tax authorities are warning against tax avoidance or evasion, particularly unregistered and untaxed online sales.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares warned that any entrepreneur who makes money, but are not registered with the Department of Trade and Industry, nor paying their taxes with the BIR, will be liable. In the same light, any platform that offers e-commerce activities to such unregistered and non-taxpaying entities can likewise be liable, reports Interaksyon.com.

“We will file cases against sellers who fail to issue receipts and pay taxes, but we will also file cases against the websites which provide such service,” said Henares.

She stressed that these platforms operate much like malls and commercial establishments that offer entrepreneurs to do their commercial activities on-site. According to the bureau’s Revenue Regulation 12-2001, “it shall be the primary responsibility of all owners or sub-lessors of commercial establishments/buildings/spaces to ensure that the person intending to lease their commercial space is a BIR-registered taxpayer.”

“In the same way, if you operate a buy and sell website, you have to make sure that your members or subscribers are registered with us. These websites have to make sure that the sellers are issuing receipts, otherwise, they will also be held responsible,” quips Henares. She further said that no additional ruling is necessary explicitly covering online sellers since the National Internal Revenue Code says receipts are required “for each sale or for service valued at P25 or more.”

Will this discourage entrepreneurs?

One question that will come to the mind of any Filipino entrepreneur or casual user then is whether such a ruling will discourage online commerce. What if one is selling a used or second-hand item, and not necessarily earning a profit from their activities? What about swaps or online exchanges of real-world goods?

Additionally, we can perhaps expand this argument to cover independent online workers. Given that Filipinos are already a leading service provider on freelancing platforms like oDesk, how will the local authorities consider freelancers who charge by the hour? Should they also file lawsuits against oDesk for tax evasion or avoidance?

I like the argument against using brick-and-mortar models in solving high-tech problems. Perhaps the BIR should not be imposing strict revenue rulings against online sellers and the platforms through which they offer their goods, but without offering an easy and convenient way to pay their dues. If the authorities can provide an easy and convenient online platform for small entrepreneurs to register their businesses and pay their taxes, then the government may be effectively expanding its tax base at the same time.

For instance, oDesk and other platforms already support tax reporting for U.S.-based users and American citizens working abroad. oDesk even has a Payroll service, which handles both reporting and payments for eligible user.

The issue of taxing freelance work and online commerce in the Philippines is not entirely new, and has been discussed at length time and again. Perhaps the best way to address these pressing concerns are to provide easier and more convenient ways for the people to comply. For instance, if the BIR were to work out a system with platform providers for reporting and making payments — rather than threatening these platforms with lawsuits — it will likely encourage compliance among online entrepreneurs and freelancers.

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Japan’s Crowdworks Partners with Yahoo Japan, Expects Massive Traffic

Crowdworks, a Tokyo-based startup providing a crowdsourcing platform that matches engineers and designers with job postings, announced today it has partnered with Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) to integrate its platform into a service called Yahoo Crowdsourcing.

Yahoo Crowdsourcing was unveiled as a beta service last year and seemed to gather a limited number of users for testing, but still only has been showing a teaser screen publicly. With this new integration, a part-time worker who takes on an interesting work project can now get Yahoo Japan’s reward points as compensation, which can then be used to to purchase many services on the Yahoo Japan site.

Our readers may recall that we previously featured this startup when it raised $3.75 million from three notable Japanese VC firms. They have brokered about $10 million worth of job matchings so far, and have more than 3,600 corporate clients ranging from listed companies to SMEs.

The post Japan’s Crowdworks Partners with Yahoo Japan, Expects Massive Traffic appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Philippine internal revenue authorities want to tax buy-and-sell activities

Tax authorities in the Philippines have warned e-commerce sites and online sellers against tax avoidance. Will this discourage entrepreneurs from bringing their business online?

e-Commerce is thriving in the Philippines, with startups like Sulit, Ayosdito and Ensogo, as well as established brands like eBay Philippines, gaining popularity in the mass market. But even as these buy-and-sell services offer small entrepreneurs the ability to market their products and services online, Philippine tax authorities are warning against tax avoidance or evasion, particularly unregistered and untaxed online sales.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares warned that any entrepreneur who makes money, but are not registered with the Department of Trade and Industry, nor paying their taxes with the BIR, will be liable. In the same light, any platform that offers e-commerce activities to such unregistered and non-taxpaying entities can likewise be liable, reports Interaksyon.com.

“We will file cases against sellers who fail to issue receipts and pay taxes, but we will also file cases against the websites which provide such service,” said Henares.

She stressed that these platforms operate much like malls and commercial establishments that offer entrepreneurs to do their commercial activities on-site. According to the bureau’s Revenue Regulation 12-2001, “it shall be the primary responsibility of all owners or sub-lessors of commercial establishments/buildings/spaces to ensure that the person intending to lease their commercial space is a BIR-registered taxpayer.”

“In the same way, if you operate a buy and sell website, you have to make sure that your members or subscribers are registered with us. These websites have to make sure that the sellers are issuing receipts, otherwise, they will also be held responsible,” quips Henares. She further said that no additional ruling is necessary explicitly covering online sellers since the National Internal Revenue Code says receipts are required “for each sale or for service valued at P25 or more.”

Will this discourage entrepreneurs?

One question that will come to the mind of any Filipino entrepreneur or casual user then is whether such a ruling will discourage online commerce. What if one is selling a used or second-hand item, and not necessarily earning a profit from their activities? What about swaps or online exchanges of real-world goods?

Additionally, we can perhaps expand this argument to cover independent online workers. Given that Filipinos are already a leading service provider on freelancing platforms like oDesk, how will the local authorities consider freelancers who charge by the hour? Should they also file lawsuits against oDesk for tax evasion or avoidance?

I like the argument against using brick-and-mortar models in solving high-tech problems. Perhaps the BIR should not be imposing strict revenue rulings against online sellers and the platforms through which they offer their goods, but without offering an easy and convenient way to pay their dues. If the authorities can provide an easy and convenient online platform for small entrepreneurs to register their businesses and pay their taxes, then the government may be effectively expanding its tax base at the same time.

For instance, oDesk and other platforms already support tax reporting for U.S.-based users and American citizens working abroad. oDesk even has a Payroll service, which handles both reporting and payments for eligible user.

The issue of taxing freelance work and online commerce in the Philippines is not entirely new, and has been discussed at length time and again. Perhaps the best way to address these pressing concerns are to provide easier and more convenient ways for the people to comply. For instance, if the BIR were to work out a system with platform providers for reporting and making payments — rather than threatening these platforms with lawsuits — it will likely encourage compliance among online entrepreneurs and freelancers.

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Beauty Box Startup Bellabox Raises $1.37 Million

We’ve seen the subscription e-commerce (aka: subcom) model, which delivers a box of goods to your doorstep every month, proving popular in Asia recently. Today, another such startup, Bellabox, which focuses on cosmetics, announced that it has attracted AU$1.3 million (US$1.37 million) in series A funding.

Bellabox operates in Singapore and Australia and was founded in October 2011 by twin sisters Sarah and Emily Hamilton. The startup’s investors in this major round are Lance Kalish from skincare brand Yes To Carrots, and Elevation Capital partner Trevor Folsom. Those two led the round, and there was participation from “a syndicate of tech, beauty, logistics and financial investors” that includes Monash Private Capital, SquarePeg Ventures, and Apex Capital Partners.

According to SGE, the Asia-Pacific make-up and cosmetics market is valued at US$45.7B, not counting China and India. The market is surely big enough for more players to enter and build up. Other beauty box subscription services in Asia include Vanitytrove by seasoned entrepreneur Douglas Gan and also MyLuxBox in China. The same subcom model doesn’t just doesn’t apply to beauty products but also to wine, clothing, and cool Japanese toys.

Bellabox has monthly boxes of cosmetics for both women and men, with annual membership costing AUS$165. The twin sisters started the e-commerce site as they both have a “passion for luxury and discovering ‘the undiscovered’ online.” Emily is the managing director in Singapore, while Sarah runs the Australian side.

For folks who are interested to find out more about beauty box subcom industry in Asia-pacific, you might consider purchasing this report written by the good folks at SGE.

Note: Co-authored with Willis Wee

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Subscription commerce service Bellabox raises USD2.2M series A round

Image: Bellabox

Australia’s Bellabox announced today that it has raised a USD 2.2M (AUD 2.1M) series A round, led by Lance Kalish, co-founder of skincare brand Yes To Carrots and Elevation Capital director Trevor Folsom, reported e27.

Monash Private Capital, SquarePeg Ventures, Apex Capital Partners and other investors participated in this round. Monash Private Capital also assisted with transaction structuring and negotiations. 

Beauty box companies are taking Asia by storm. They are a kind of subscription commerce service where end users pay a monthly fee in exchange for curated and personalized products. Many of these companies have expanded into other verticals, namely fashion, men’s beauty, and baby products.

Launched in October 2011 in Australia, Bellabox expanded to Singapore in April 2012. The beauty box brand has shipped 60,000 boxes to date since December 2012. It is founded by twin sisters Sarah and Emily Hamilton.

The funding will be used to broaden the management team, conduct marketing activities in the region, and grow its e-commerce site.

Besides sending customers boxes filled with cosmetic samples, Bellabox also operates an online store where users can purchase full-sized products. Cosmetic brands like it because the store allows them to directly measure the ROI of seeding samples in beauty boxes.

Bellabox is facing strong competition from VanityTrove in Singapore and LushHaveIt! from Australia. VanityTrove recently made a move into Taiwan and is in the midst of raising a round of funding.

For complete insights and analysis of beauty box companies in Asia, purchase our premium report “Unwrapping the Beauty Box industry in Asia-Pacific.” You will get an in-depth look at:

• the business model of beauty box companies and how it should be executed,
• facts and figures on the industry and individual competitors’ latest developments,
• the growth potential of beauty box companies in Asia,
• challenges they’re facing and how they can be mitigated.

The post Subscription commerce service Bellabox raises USD2.2M series A round appeared first on SGE.

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Startup Housing.co.in takes a brilliant data based approach to house hunting

So you are looking for a place for rental and practically speaking, your requirement ranges from a good house to approachability of the place to whether there are schools/departmental stores nearby or not. In most of the cases, you often tend to waste a lot of time  visiting flats which you would have outrightly rejected, if you had more details prior to the visit (read: The Broken Online Classified Services in India and an opportunity ro create value).

Most of the online real estate search has been around just the property alone, but Mumbai based startup, Housing.co.in has launched a brilliant map based product that actually maps out the details of the property. That is, not just geocoding of the property, but everything else you’d like to know about the property – right from pictures to rental, security deposit, details if furnished etc.

The way Housing.co.in works is very simple –  just start your search and refine using multiple filters and once you are done, you can call up the broker or fill up the form and they will call you back.

Unlike several other sites which tried to shortcircuit the middlemen (i.e. the broker), Housing is clear on the part that brokers will continue to play an important role in the entire food chain and real value for a customer should be around information (and not saving the broker’s fee).

As far as monetization model is concerned, the startup charges a subscription fee (bi-annual and annual) to brokers which allows them to upload unlimited listings on the website. Listings for landlords is free for now and the startup may start charging a nominal amount later.

What about conversion? “We track total number of hits and queries for each flat. Our metric is number of leads generated per listed home and not conversion because the latter depends upon knowledge, expertise, responsiveness and negotiation skills of the broker in question.”, mentions Advitiya Sharma, cofounder of Housing.co.in.

Isn’t this a ‘feature’ for big real estate sites? 

Cofounder, Advitiya Sharma shares :

“No, it can’t. Bigger real estate websites leave it upto the brokers to upload data who frequently spam the website with fake listings just to increase their visibility on the website. To put it more accurately, the bigger websites serve as no more than a crude ‘telephone directory’ to search for broker contacts. By investing in an in-house data collection team, we ensure that we showcase only genuine flats with verified pictures and details.

To sum it up, if you just want to find a broker, maybe you’ll be better off with bigger real estate websites (for now, until we get all brokers in Mumbai on our portal). However, if your preference is finding a flat instead of a broker, Housing will give you a plethora of ‘real’ flats (with real, verified pics and details) to choose from. Moreover, the bigger websites can never geocode each and every flat accurately. Since we do, we can provide additional information such as neighborhood and commute details for every flat on our website.

We’re big on data and technology. We believe good and genuine data separates good real estate from a bad one. Data mapping is not a different ballgame for us. It’s just an extension of the benefits of accurate data collection.”

Quite an interesting approach to building this business and if you are based in Mumbai, do give Housing.co.in a spin and share your comments.

Earlier, Commonfloor too launched its map based search product and raised Series B funding from Accel Partners and Tiger Global.

Given the offline nature of this business, it will be interesting to see how Housing.co.in grabs mindshare from the bigger real estate sites. What are your thoughts?

Related posts:

1. 100Floors – Real Estate Marketplace
2. Roundup: SearchMyCampus: Education Worldwide, PerSquareFeet’s Property Price Index
3. Mumbai Based grtDeal Brings Group Buying To Real Estate Business

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Indonesia’s Telkom Eyes Expansion to Seven More Countries

Kompas reported over the weekend that Indonesia’s biggest telco Telkom is looking to expand its business to seven more countries in the future through its subsidiary company Telin. This is all part of Telkom’s vision to become a global player.

At the moment, Telin is operating in three countries, namely Singapore, Hong Kong, and most recently launching in Timor Leste (also known as East Timor). The company is now conducting assessments in Australia and Myanmar for potential expansion programs. The other five countries being eyed by Telin have not been named.

Telin’s cellular product Telkomcel officially launched in Timor Leste on January 17th. The telco has prepared a $50 million investment to be used until 2015 in order to build further 2G and 3G infrastructure in Timor. Telkomcel is targeting 60 percent market share among mobile telcos in the country by 2018.

Telkom’s ambitious expansion plans should be well received by startups in Indonesia. This could mean further business opportunities for Indonesian companies wanting to expand their business reach together with Telkom in other countries. Think how SingTel has helped – or acquired – Singaporean startups. We’ve already seen some web companies expanding via Telkom’s subsidiary company Telkomsel, such as with Ngomik and Kotagames.

(Sources: Kompas #1 and #2)

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Google not worried about cheap tablets from Acer, Asus eating into Nexus 7 sales

Google is okay with Taiwanese branded tablet-makers undercutting the Nexus 7 tablet in price, if only to improve Android’s market share.

Google is not worried about cheaper tablets from Acer and Asus competing with its own Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 line. Even as the Apple iPad is still currently leading in the tablet market, Google’s Nexus 7 made waves when it was introduced in mid- 2012. Although Taiwanese device-makers Asustek and Acer plan to offer cheaper tablets within the year, Google will still be happy to see low-priced competition from other branded Android tablets, if this will help improve the platform’s market penetration.

Manufactured by Asus, the Nexus 7 provides a “pure Google experience” with a “vanilla” or stock Android installation and the assurance of timely updates. The device was officially launched in Asia starting September (in Japan, Singapore and South Korea), and has been going out of stock in online and offline retailers in its target markets. One reason has been the reasonable price, which started at US$199 for a full-featured Jelly Bean device.

Asus and Acer are going to offer tablets starting at the US$150 price point, reports DigiTimes, but both companies say Google does not have any qualms against their plans to undercut the search giant in its own device ecosystem. Acer plans to market 500,000 to 600,000 in the first quarter of 2013 starting at a US$99 price point, initially targeting China, Taiwan, India and South America. Meanwhile, Asus is targeting 5 million units.

Other vendors are planning to follow suit, with the entire platform targeting a 50% sales penetration within 2013. Sources, however, indicate that it will be white-box tablet makers that will likely bear the brunt of competition from cheaper tablets from the established brands.

The post Google not worried about cheap tablets from Acer, Asus eating into Nexus 7 sales appeared first on e27.

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[Singapore] [Malaysia] SiTF-PIKOM Cross Border Pitching Session

SiTF and PIKOM are organizing a cross-border pitching session , bringing together startups and investors from both Singapore and Malaysia.

We are looking to give 15 startups the opportunity to pitch to some of the top Angels and VCs in the Singapore and Malaysia. The pitch will be in a speed dating format with the startups rotating from table to table to pitch to the investors. A lunch and networking session will follow, providing a great opportunity to catch up with the participants.

Details:
Date: 26th Jan 2013, Saturday
Time: 10am to 12.30pm (Pitching session)
12.30pm to 3pm (Networking session)
Venue: Amazon Web Services Office
23 Church Street,
Capital Square #10-01,
Singapore (049481)

Startups interested to apply for pitch, please drop us an email at charleen@sitf.org.sg

Event details:

• Start: Saturday, 26 January, 2013 09:00 a.m.
• End: Saturday, 26 January, 2013 03:00 p.m.
• Venue : Amazon Web Services Office, 23 Church Street, Capital Square #10-01, Singapore (049481)
• Organizer : SiTF

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Private tutor starts online SAT prep course TestRocker to never turn away another student

TestRocker wants to help students ace their SAT.

What happens when you’re a sought after SAT tutor who has prepared over a thousand students from around the world?

While most would probably be content with turning away students or jacking up their fees, Suniti Mathur took a different tack: She transformed her one-woman operation into a scalable Ed Tech startup.

Suniti sought help from her two daughters, Sonali and Urvashi, and together they founded TestRocker, a Singapore-based startup offering online SAT preparation through the use of teaching videos complemented by online quizzes, as well as personalized curriculum.

To make it happen, they engaged New York design firm Barrel to create the website, and it shows.

The website has all the latest bells and whistles you would normally in Silicon Valley, making it a great introduction to what the trio calls the ‘TestRocker curriculum’.

The curriculum is based on Suniti’s method of teaching students how to maximize their SAT and ACT scores, refined from over a decade of experience. Lessons are delivered through 1,200 videos, all focused on the SAT. That’s like watching 11 movies back-to-back.

“To put this in perspective, Khan Academy — a company we admire — has about 3,800 videos covering K-12 math, biology, chemistry, physics and so on,” Sonali told SGE via email.

Besides interactive content, a key feature of TestRocker is personalization. Students who join the site for the first time can complete a 70 minutes diagnostic test or a quick checklist that would result in a customized study plan based on their strengths and weaknesses.

How TestRocker’s SAT prep course works:

According to Sonali, having a plan reduces students’ anxieties and boosts their confidence in answering questions. That’s because they would know that they’re adequately prepared.

While startups these days would typically offer a freemium service or a tiered subscriptions scheme, TestRocker has done away with the concept. It still offers the prerequisite free trial, although a six month access to the site will cost parents a one-time fee of USD 699.

The price is steep, which was why Sonali explained that it wasn’t an easy decision. But they went ahead with it because they didn’t want to distract students with payment reminders or shut down the service just because the credit card expired.

“Nor do we want this to be a decision a parent has to make every single month,” she said.

In the 20 days after launching in mid-December, TestRocker has registered some 200 free trials and 20 paid users from Singapore — not including signups globally, which Sonali declined to reveal. That’s USD 14k in revenue right away — a promising start.

Ed Tech startups are the hottest ticket in Silicon Valley right now. Coursera, for instance, has raised USD 22M in venture funding led by KPCB, while Udacity has received USD 15M in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, and Steve Blank. There’s also Khan Academy, a non-profit that received an investment from Bill Gates, and Lynda.com, an online jobs training business that raised USD 103M.

TestRocker is certainly keen to raise money at a time when investor interest in Ed Tech is high. While there are a number of SAT prep software out there, the company believes it can set itself apart with the star tutor’s track record as well as its video-driven approach, which has proven to be effective thanks to these other Ed Tech startups.

This year, TestRocker is pushing to sell at least 1,500 units in Southeast Asia alone, peaking around the May and October SAT test dates. They also plan to unveil their ACT program, an alternative to SAT.

The startup will be expanding their team. Outsourcing is not a permanent solution, so they intend to hire their own development team. They’re also seeking qualified educators to get involved in other verticals, including language classes.

It’ll be nice if Asia has a few successful Ed Tech startups to call its own. Naturally, with the academic center of gravity still situated in the West, Asia’s entrepreneurs can’t leverage on the ability to offer students online access to lectures in a top-flight university like Harvard or Stanford.

They’ll have to find another way. TestRocker, situated right in exam-obsessed Singapore, might just be the ticket.

The post Private tutor starts online SAT prep course TestRocker to never turn away another student appeared first on SGE.

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Newest CyberAgent Ventures Funding Makes it a Dedicated Follower of Taiwanese Fashion

Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures has had a Taiwan office for well over a year, and now the VC firm has yet another local site on its portfolio. This morning CyberAgent Ventures revealed its investment in Fashionguide, which it calls Taiwan’s largest beauty and cosmetics-oriented social networking service, but no funding sum was disclosed.

Fashionguide is essentially a socially-equipped clothing and make-up portal that has a mix of news and lots of user-submitted product reviews and enthusiast fashion blogs. CyberAgent Ventures’ Catherine Chang explains to TechinAsia that Fashionguide, although it looks fresh, has been around since 1997 and is one of Taiwan’s top 100 sites by Alexa’s rankings, with millions of monthly unique visitors.

The fashion site will use the funding, according to today’s announcement, to launch a flurry of new sections and services “targeting related women’s lifestyle categories” such as catalog shopping and hair design. The biggest boost will go to the recently launched ‘Ai Piao Liang‘ (literally “Love Beauty”) feature, which is a Pinterest-like social network for fashion and accessories. The hope of the CyberAgent VC office in Taiwan is that Fashionguide can “become the leading women’s lifestyle portal in Taiwan.”

Catherine tells us that the social portal has no current plans for expansion outside of the island. Fashionguide did venture into mainland China a few years ago but “found that market difficult to monetize.” So the focus will remain on Taiwan “where ARPU is higher.” The site monetizes with a mix of advertising and referral links, just as we’ve seen with Meilishuo in China.

CyberAgent Ventures’ last funding round was in the Taiwanese social recipes startup iCook.

Today’s announcement details that the Fashionguide investment “was made through CA-JAIC China Internet Fund II, which is jointly managed by CyberAgent Ventures and Japan Asia Investment Co.”

The post Newest CyberAgent Ventures Funding Makes it a Dedicated Follower of Taiwanese Fashion appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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