Rocket Internet, a German company well-known for their ability to clone thriving businesses and execute it in other geographical markets, have launched a Pinterest clone called Pinspire, reported Daily Social.
Not exactly an inspiring name, but Rocket Internet is not known for being original either. What’s unique about them though, is how fast they are able to copy a business idea and get it up and running in no time. Read more
Ru-Net, a Russion VC firm focused on funding Internet and IT industries, has plans to invest US$50M in Southeast Asia in the next two or three years, reported Penn Olson.
Successful companies that they’ve already invested in include: OZON.ru, an Amazon-like website, BigLion, a daily deals site, and ivi, an online video site. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, News Stop, Technology, Venture Capital & Private Equity, WebTags: biglion, digital media partners, ivi, mj group, ozun.ru, rtp ventures, ru-net
QR codes have taken off in a big way in the marketing world lately, and PayPal is the latest to get in on this craze.
Just recently, they launched a pilot program in Singapore’s train stations to allow locals to purchase Valentine’s Day gifts at discount using QR codes, reported AllThingsD.
To purchase a gift, commuters would need to download a QR code reader on their mobile phones to scan the right spot on the poster. They will be brought to a webpage where they can purchase the product using PayPal. The experiment is being run on 15 subway stations in Singapore. Read more
Depending on who you ask, HTML5 is the future of mobile apps. Juha Paananen, founder and CEO of GamesMadeMe, a Finland and Singapore-based games studio, certainly believes it.
Having received some seed funding from Lifeline Ventures, they are now betting big on the technology with the launch of their first HTML5 game, Dollar Isle.
It is a CityVille-like game that puts you in charge of creating your own city from the ground up. As you complete more goals, you unlock more buildings and plots of land where you can expand your city. You can even decide if you want to pursue the evil industrialist path or the earth-loving, eco-city one.
You will even get a custom URL for your own city (mine’s here, although it’s not exactly a metropolis). Read more
It was not a happy year for big bookstores.
In August and September 2011, Borders closed both its outlets in Wheelock Place and Parkway Parade. In October, Computer Book Centre, at Funan IT Mall, followed suit, becoming an exclusively online business.
More bad news followed in December: Home-grown book retailer Page One announced that it will close its store in VivoCity on 19th February this year in VivoCity due to high rentals. The company has been incurring major losses since its opening in 2006. Read more
Filed under Featured, Innovation & Technology, News Stop, Retail, Special Commentary, Technology, WebTags: booksactually, borders, harris bookstore, pageone, the pigeonhole, woods in the books
Imagine a world where all co-working spaces around the world are linked to a talent marketplace. That is the promise of Coworkify, an upcoming Facebook app from Japan which lets users find talent and like-minded people in co-working spaces outside of their own.
The team won the grand prize at Startup Weekend Kyoto 2011, and the founder, Kenshin Fujiwara, told SGE that they are actively partnering with co-working spaces globally. He’s also looking for beta testers to try the app, which is now still in development.
“Already, some space owners from Poland, Germany, Brazil, US, Korea, Australia and so on have agreed to join,” he said. Read more
Over 19,000 commercial buildings and offices since December 2011 have been hooked up to Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN), a government program to wire up the entire country with a fibre optics network that can provide Internet speeds of up to 1Gbps or more. Read more
Adfonic, a global mobile ad marketplace that claims to have an audience of 200M unique monthly users and a network of over 10,000 publishers, announced last week that it has launched its Asia-Pacific operations in Singapore.
Kartik Ram has been appointed general manager for the region. He will lead all Adfonic’s business activities in Asia-Pacific, as well as the hiring of new talent. Read more
After being at SGE for about seven months now, I’ve noticed something about Singapore entrepreneurs: We’re pretty adept at taking a business concept from overseas and applying it locally.
Which is fine by the way — as long as it isn’t blind copying.
The latest to follow in this fine tradition is Singapore-based Connoisseur Club, which is essentially an online restaurant reservation site combined with a group buying site. Think Open Table and Groupon‘s love child. Read more
If you are a HTML5 developer with some bright ideas for apps, Microsoft wants to give you a Nokia Lumia 800. The only condition? You need to submit some approved apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace.
You must also be based in Singapore.
Here are the steps to own your Windows Phone: Read more
