ShopSpot had a rough 2012 when, after a hot start, its peer-to-peer mobile marketplace struggled to take off. Now, with a SGD 779K (USD 628K) cash injection from Jungle Ventures and SingTel Innov8, the Thailand and Singapore based startup is giving it a second go.
While the app (available on iOS) received 10,000 downloads in just over a month when it launched in April last year, CEO and co-founder Natsakon Kiatsuranon found 60 days in that the Craigslist model does not seem to work well in Asia. That was not the only challenge.
“It was so much harder than we thought to built a two-sided marketplace,” said Nat, echoing another startup that faced similar challenges and had to pivot. Read more
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 Zap wants to change the Philippines' retail landscape using NFC tags. |
The Philippines is ripe for disruption. With its economy soaring, consumer spend rising, and investment money flowing in, the nation’s tech startups are put in position to shape a new normal across industries and sectors.
Leading the charge is a posse of young entrepreneurs, defined not just by geography, but by the fact that they’ve received a lease of life from Kickstart Ventures, a PHP100M (USD2.45M) early stage fund that began setting its wheels in motion last year.
With 10 investments so far, Kickstart has become one of the most important catalysts for the country’s startup aspirations.
One of its investees is Zap, a company that, while shy to reveal its exact investment sum, gladly laid out its plans to transform how retail rewards is done in the Philippines.
Founded by Dustin Cheng, Justin Lim, Terence Lok and Angelique Uy, Zap is a marketing platform that connects retail businesses to consumers through web and mobile technology. It benefits businesses by making marketing as painless and targeted as possible, while at the same time giving them tools to gauge their marketing spend and track customer data. Read more
Between's new sticker store
VCNC, the startup behind Between, a popular communication app for couples, has raised a KRW 3B (USD 3M) round from four investors, reported Korean tech blog beSuccess.
The app enables couples to engage in private conversations, share moments and milestones, and create memos for date ideas.
The participants in the round are all Korea-based VC firms. They are: Stonebridge Capital, KTB Network, Capstone Partners, and Softbank Ventures. Stonebridge and KTB invested USD1M each, while Capstone and Softbank contributed USD500k each. Softbank had earlier contributed USD1M in seed money to the startup.
The latest capital injection will be used for overseas expansion and for hiring experienced developers to improve Between’s backend, VCNC founder Jaewook Park told beSuccess. Read more
A client approached us recently to help sell his business. He designs, manufactures and sells designer greeting cards.
He has run the company for a few years and found it difficult to run multiple companies, so he has decided to sell one and focus on running the other.
He approached us for advice on how to sell his company and value his business. To begin, we collected a few facts so we could get a sense of what kind of business we are selling. Read more
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