“ALL of the plans were well written and deserving of submission. The teams can all be congratulated for the professional work.”

For the first time, leading international venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson is opening their business plan competition to global participants. Having this opportunity to win the top prize of minimum funding of US$250,000 and mentorship from DFJ and Cisco are 4 lucky Singapore startups.

Helping make this possible, DFJ has tied up with Cisco to use the latter’s Cisco TelePresence™ technology to enable collaboration via a live, face-to-face network communications experience. Finalists can then present their business plans in real time to a joint panel of DFJ and Cisco executives based in San Jose.

The competition seeks to find new technology-oriented ideas from aspiring college and university student entrepreneurs around the world.

Competition finalists will be selected on various criteria including the quality of the management team, technical innovation, addressable market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency and financial projections.

16 finalists will be announced on June 19, 2009. The winner, who will be announced on June 30, 2009, will receive a minimum of US$250,000 seed money. The winner will also receive professional feedback and mentorship from both DFJ and Cisco.

Prior business plan competitions have produced great successes, including DFJ-backed winners DirectHit, which was acquired by AskJeeves in 2000 for US$532 million, and Webline Communications, acquired by Cisco for US$325 million in 1999.

TheMobileGamer

Overview: TheMobileGamer’s product is GameMo, a free mobile application that lets users find and try mobile games before they buy them; right from their mobile devices. They can play before they pay on-the-go and on-demand. It is also a social network where users can invite friends, challenge them to beat high-scores and find out what others have been playing.

Team members: Alvin Yap – CEO, graduated with Diploma in 2006 from Ngee Ann Polytechnic; Vincent Wang – COO, currently pursuing Degree at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM); Casper Peh – CFO, currently pursuing Degree at SIM; Chua Khim Teck – CTO, currently pursuing Degree at NTU; and Leong Yew Wai – Systems Architect, graduated with Diploma in 2004 from SIM.

Phokki

Overview: Phokki serves as an online marketplace for photo-retouching and photo-styling services. Based on a mass collaboration (Wiki-style) and crowd-sourcing approach, it leverages on the digital artist community to uniquely style your photos at a significantly cheaper price or even free of charge. Phokki leverages on the trend that artists like to showcase their talents and help people beautify their photos as a hobby, only asking for recognition of their works. What drives these artists are recognition and appreciation, not monetary greed. Phokki acknowledges this trend and fuses into its business model.

Team members: Sean Seah – CEO graduated in Computer Engineering (2nd Upper Honors) with Minor in Business in 2005 at NTU; Kris Kasidit – Marketing Director graduated in Computer Engineering (2nd Upper Honors) in 2008 from NUS; Zhou Jun Jie – Technology Development Lead, graduated in Computer
Engineering faculty in 2008 at NTU; and Bernie Khaw – Technology Development Lead, graduated in Computer Science faculty in 2008 at NUS.

E-Thermity

Overview: E-Thermity takes baby-care to new heights with Chromi, a family of non-toxic, light-weight and durable baby milk bottles that changes color according to the temperature of the bottle contents, aiding parents and care-givers and providing greater safety to infants.

Team members: Brenda Goh – CEO; Fan Shufen – CTO; Tsang You Jun – CFO; and Chen Yijun – CMO; all currently pursuing or graduated with Bachelors of Engineering in Material Engineering at NUS.

Zimplistic

Overview: 800 million Indians eat 2.4 billion rotis everyday since Chapati or roti is a staple in Indian diet. Yet it can take over 30 minutes to prepare a simple meal of roti. Repeating this at least three times every day is a cumbersome process. Zimplistic’s invention is an elegant “patent filed” automatic roti-maker set to be the rice cooker of India. The RotiMatic can mix,make and bake rotis with just a click of a button. User is required to only refill flour and water once in a couple of days.

Team members: Pranoti Nagarkar Israni – CEO, graduated with Bachelors in Engineering (Mechanical Engineering in 2006 from NUS; Nuwan Wanninayake – Mechatronics Lead, currently in Mechatronics Engineering School in Temasek Polytechnic; and Varun Bhalerao – Electronics Lead, currently studying Astrophysics at Californita Institute of Technology.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson (“DFJ”) backs extraordinary entrepreneurs everywhere who set out to change the world. DFJ achieves its mission through its DFJ Global Network of Partner Funds. Together, DFJ and the Network manage over $6B and have made more than 600 investments on four continents. With a 24-year history of success across diverse sectors and market conditions, DFJ has led the way investing in emerging technologies, from the Internet and life sciences to clean energy and nanotechnology.

DFJ has been proud to back over 500 companies across many sectors including such industry changing successes such as Hotmail (acquired by MSFT), Baidu (BIDU), Skype (acquired by EBAY), United Online (UNTD), Overture (acquired by YHOO), Athenahealth (ATHN), EnerNOC (ENOC), TicketsNow (acquired by TicketMaster), Feedburner (acquired by Google), Interwoven (IWOV), Four11 (acquired by YHOO), Parametric (PMTC), and Digidesign (acquired by AVID).

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco products are supplied in Singapore by Cisco Systems International, BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

Overall, Cisco has approximately US$1.3 billion in venture capital investments under management and has been an early and active investor in major markets such as the U.S., China, India, Israel, Russia and Europe. Cisco is a strategic investor in start-ups and venture funds around the world and focuses on partnering with young, innovative companies.

Our friends at Tech65 start their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape last week: [1] Media Hub from Linksys® by Cisco, [2] LG Prada II, [3] The New Atom N280, [4] Six editions of Windows 7, [5] Change in Windows Mobile team, and schedule of future releases, [6] SingTel and HTC Introduce the HTC Dream in Singapore, [7] Google Latitude, [8] Yesterday.sg makes a splash! & [9] BarCamp Singapore 3 and Byte of the Week: Google Calendar Offline (*Post Production Note from Tech65* “We found out that this is only avaliable for Google Calender avaliable through Google Apps. We applogise for the misinformation”). Do click and check out their podcast.

Singapore, 29 April 2008 – World’s first concept business café, Geek Terminal, joins hands with global leader in networking, Cisco; kicking-off the café’s massive branding overhaul to spotlight its growing fan base of top senior executives and corporate business travelers. Through this collaboration, Cisco’s state-of-the-art Unified Communications System pioneers the creation of a secure network access and a robust, high-speed wireless infrastructure to enable the CBD cyber lounge a media-rich communications experience and easy-to-use teleconferencing. First in Series of “Hardware” and “Software” Upgrades at Geek Terminal to Indulge the Upwardly Mobile Business Community. Melding Form & Functionality, Geek Terminal’s New Interior combines Cisco’s Unified Communication Systems (TM) as key Design Feature whilst Empowering Work Users in a Luxury Space Away from the Office

Wireless access points will be available throughout Geek Terminal to add a twist to mobility. Say goodbye to power points, multi plugs, and untidy coils of connecting wires. With wireless access points, connectivity will be convenient, hassle-free, and very, very tidy.

Said Mr Christopher Lee, CEO of Geek Terminal Pte Ltd, “Our re-branding will involve a rapid fire series of upgrades to transform the Geek Terminal space into a congenial space for enterprise and networking. Cisco’s secure network access underscores the core and anchors the very ‘heart’ of Geek Terminal’s brand repositioning efforts by bringing enterprise communities together via real time communication.”

One of the outstanding highlights of the rebranding campaign is to reintroduce gadgets and high-tech business appliances as part of the interior fixtures and fittings within the lounge. Apart from being merely tool applications to deliver customized business communication solutions, aesthetics and form will be a precondition for the new devices installed. Cisco’s Unified Communication Systems are tastefully melded into the stylish acrylic casing of cool blue that adorns the café interior as a signature wall piece to the décor.

“We are delighted to be working with a forward-looking organization like Geek Terminal who shares our vision of enabling workspace everywhere, helping to provide its customers with secure connectivity while on the road,” said Tom Cheong, Managing Director for Cisco Singapore. “An integral part of Geek Terminal’s transformation, Cisco’s networking solutions is the platform which will help enable Geek Terminal to position itself as an alternative business venue by providing the necessary collaboration tools for business productivity.”

At the end of the “transformation”, users at Geek Terminal will be able to use the upgraded facilities and services as part of their business dealings on-the-go; while enjoying a peace of mind of protection and security that most wi-fi cafes are not currently able to provide.

About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco products are supplied in Singapore by Cisco Systems International, BV.

About Geek Terminal
Geek Terminal is Singapore’s premier executive lounge and business office for the corporate executive. Geek Terminal links and empowers like-minded professionals to connect to new business services.

Built specifically for business travellers and mobile business executives looking for a place to meet, Geek Terminal serves great coffee and food and offers full access to state-of-the-art business centre facilities for executives to work and communicate while away from the office.

Geek Terminal is strategically located in the Business District of Singapore and serves breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner from 7.30 am till 10 pm on weekdays and from 9 am till 6 pm on Saturdays (closed on Sundays and public holidays).

For more information, visit www.geekterminal.com.

Issued on behalf Geek Terminal
By Kaiiten Communications Pte Ltd

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Esmond Wee at +65 6327-9727/ +65 9146 8630
esmond@kaiiten.com

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Esmond Wee
Project Executive
Kaiiten Communications Pte Ltd
Investor Relations. Corporate & Media Communications. Event Concepts
Email: esmond(at)kaiiten.com