Recently, TenCube, one of our local mobile security companies have made a lot of headway in the international scene. First they won the recent Google Android Challenge 2 competition with their flagship product, WaveSecure. We have received news from Darius Cheung, the CEO of TenCube, since it is near Christmas, as a giveback to Android users support that made their ADC win possible, they are offering an unlimited free lifetime account for Android users. To do that, the users can head over to Android Market and download WaveSecure before 31st Jan 2010, the new user will be able to enjoy a free WaveSecure account for as long as you use that Android device.

On the whole, looking at how TenCube has evolved this year, they have made a lot of headway in both Google Android and Nokia Ovi, despite they are being shut out of the iPhone platform because of similar iPhone features. With their win in Google Android Challenge, TenCube is also now a Finalist at GSMA’s prestigious Asia Mobile Awards based on their work in partnership with mobile operators such as SingTel. TenCube has also acquired accolades over the year
like the overall champion of the Mobile Monday Peer Awards in Singapore, and the first runner-up in NAVTEQ’s global LBS challenge.

As of today from TenCube, the product WaveSecure has protected more than a 0.25M users in more than 130 countries. The product was originally designed for military and police use, WaveSecure has continuously been developed over the past 4 years with 7 releases and has 2 international patents. First launched in 2007 for consumers on Symbian and Windows Mobile Smartphones, the WaveSecure’s latest release for Android platform is now available on the Android Market.

SGE has covered TenCube and are happy on their achievements over this turbulent year of 2009. We wish them all the best and hope that they will make more headway in the coming year.

Related posts:

1. WaveSecure Now Available For Android Users
2. WaveSecure Launches Globally Today
3. WaveSecure Wins Google Android Developer Challenge 2

It has been three years since TenCube won the Start-Up@Singapore business plan competition. Over the past three years, TenCube has launched their product WaveSecure and won accolades including their recent award in the “Emerging Stage Category” for Mobile Monday Peer Awards. While Darius Cheung (CEO of TenCube) has been contributing to SGE as a writer, we have not been able to get him down for an interview. Since Darius and I met in the Nokia Developer Summit 2009, we decided to sit down for an interview and talked about the recent developments of >TenCube and its product, WaveSecure and how TenCube is navigating through the financial crisis and also some thoughts on their engagement with a major corporation like Nokia.

BL: It has been two years since we interviewed TenCube. Congratulations on your recent award for Mobile Monday Singapore. So, over the past two years, what has happened to TenCube and any interesting stories to tell?
Darius: Thanks Bernard. Plenty have happened over last 2 years, obviously, that’s probably one of the key attraction of a startup life – it’s immensely entertaining. Interesting stories have ranged from the really horrifying incidents of customer not paying up and not making payroll, to key projects delayed due to a key teammate contracting Hand-Foot-Mouth (haha, ya i know *scratch head*), to really good days where you hear the ‘Wows’ from customers and users, to the serendipity of accidental successes.

One of the most interesting thing to me is how fast things can change and how important a deep believe in what you are doing is. We’ve pretty much been doing the same thing from the day we started, and for a long time we have hit stonewalls and were rejected by many who have turned around to be our champions today. And it all happened very quickly, and without us doing much to change anything really – it’s just time has proven us right. We are very lucky to have a team who stuck through it all despite the many times when circumstances or authority have assaulted our belief and brought us on our knees in our moments of doubt.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Tracking the Location on a User’s device

BL: Let’s come to users, how have the users responded to the WaveSecure product?
Darius: Haha, for a fair answer on that, you will have to ask our users.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Tracking the SIM on a User’s device

All in all reception has been good, our user base has tripled in the last quarter. Admittedly WaveSecure is a very individualistic product – there is no built in viral mechnism/network effect etc that the web2.0 world loves. (ya.. we are rather old school) But we are glad that we have came to a point where our users are actively recommending it to their friends and family, driving a large volume of direct signups and queries. That’s probably the most satisfying part of all.

The biggest complain/challenge we face still remains largely the same – most people still are not familiar with how to download/install an mobile app. We are working quite aggressively to solve that problem, both technically simplifying the process, or just simply work with manufacturers directly to integrate the product as part of the phone so users don’t have to go through the trouble.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Screenshot of User’s data backup.

BL: How’s the market out there for TenCube?
Darius: Market has been excellent, the age of mobile app has finally came, we believe. Thanks in part to the iPhone, there’s a lot of buzz around mobile apps nowadays, we are quite excited about times ahead. No one has heard of a mobile app back in the days we started developing on the Nokia 6600. We think our early entrance and substantial technology lead will pay off in the next 2-3 years in a major way.

BL: How are you handling the challenges in the current difficult financial climate?
Darius: We are fortuntately quite recession proof at this point right now, some pockets of the mobile and wireless sector is lucky to have a growth curve that counters the recession. Fund raising has been the only area that has a slight impact where we have faced a few delays, but we are all set now and all in all we haven’t been much affected. If anything, we have benefited greatly from being able to tap on a far wider talent pool now.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Locking a User’s device

BL: You are here at the Nokia Developer Summit 2009. So what are you up to here in Monte Carlo, Monaco for the event?
Darius: Oh plenty. We attend almost every major mobile event – from 3GSM Barcelona in March to CMMA here in SG next month. But Nokia Dev Summit will probably be the most important event for us throughout the whole year. We have several collaboration points with Nokia, from partner engagements with operators to getting our act together for the upcoming Ovi store. Dev Summit is the single event that brings together all of these discussions and how those can move forward.

(ok ok fine, i’ll admit it… sun, sea and casinos, what else would i be up to in Monte Carlo)

Photo: (From Left) Darius and BL in Monte Carlo, Monaco for the Nokia Developer Summit 2009

BL: As a start-up, how do you engage in partnership/collaboration with Nokia? Any interesting tips for other start-ups companies to know and look out for?
Darius: Top priority is fit into their strategy and ride the wave.

Here’s 3 areas developers should pay attention to:

1. Anything that goes on Ovi Store – make a best selling app, pretty simple, eh?
2. Social location – Tero’s keynote put it quite plainly; also refer to Michael Halbherr’s keynote on maps on the funky stuff that is happening (and the very obvious things you should avoid, the world doesnt need another geo-tagging photo sharing app or location based friendfinder)
3. QT/WRT – tech platform wise – next big thing coming up on Nokia’s roadmap. It’s incredibly easy for new developers too, excellent choice for startups, check out what other developers have built in 48 hours.

Don’t forget that Nokia still ships 100M phones a quarter (coincidentally – that’s more than the shipment of all PCs combined).

BL: Is TenCube developing any new products for the market?
Darius: Of course, that’s as much as i can tell you though. I’ll keep you posted when i can give you a sneak peek! =)

BL: We will look forward to hear about your new products. Good luck in your ventures ahead.

Related posts:

1. In Conversation with Dannie Francis, CEO of CellCity @ Nokia Developer Summit 2009
2. tenCube To Be Acquired By McAfee
3. India’s Leading Telecom App Services Provider One97 Makes Strategic Investment In tenCube

Today, tenCube Pte. Ltd. launches revolutionary mobile phone security service “WaveSecure“, first-of-its-kind service prevents phone data loss and protects privacy.

Singapore, July 5, 2007 – tenCube Pte. Ltd. today launched WaveSecure, a revolutionary mobile security service designed to protect both mobile phone handsets and the data inside them, in the case of loss or theft.

WaveSecure enables the users to:

• Lock: The user can remotely lock his or her phone upon losing it, making it useless to anyone who finds the phone. The phone will remain locked even if the SIM card is changed or the phone is restarted.
• Track : If the SIM card in the lost phone is changed, the new phone number will be reported back to the phone’s rightful user. Any phone calls or messages will also be reported back, assisting the user in tracking down the phone.
• Back up and Restore: With the user’s permission, WaveSecure can automatically backup the phone’s data to its secure, protected servers. New messages, contacts or photos will be backed up as they are created. In the case of phone or data loss, the data may be safely and easily restored.
• WipeOut: In case of phone loss, the user can choose to remotely wipe out all private data contained in the device. All messages, photographs, contacts and even the entire memory card may be deleted, thus ensuring complete privacy.

WaveSecure is currently available for a three-month trial by invitation only from its website at www.wavesecure.com. Interested consumers may request for an invitation code from tenCube. The service is completely free during the trial period. Pricing will be kept reasonable at the end of the trial to ensure that this service remains affordable to consumers.

Since its inception two years ago, tenCube has focused on providing mobile security to local corporations and the Singapore government. tenCube’s customers currently include leaders in IT security such as the Singapore Police Force and the Center for Strategic IT. tenCube has filed several key international patents for its technology to protect its intellectual property.

“WaveSecure is awesome. I lost my thousand-dollar phone a month ago, and got it back the next day because of WaveSecure. I locked it and warned the person that I have his particulars and offered him 30 bucks, it absolutely makes sense for him to return it than to hold on to a useless phone while risking getting caught. Moreover, it helps me automatically keep all my contacts and messages online, which I can refer to anytime even without access to my phone,” said Ian Koo, Managing Director of Precision Printing, WaveSecure trial user.

“Today, the mobile phone is obviously not only a phone; it’s also your phonebook, camera, calendar, email and so on. Tomorrow, it’s also going to be your keys, your wallet, your mini PC, your portable hard drive and more. And we lose phones all the time. This is a very real, very big problem, and we are here to solve it,” said Darius Cheung, CEO, tenCube Pte Ltd.

“I believe that the founders of tenCube have developed an innovative and inexpensive product, and solution to a real problem in our daily lives in this technological age. The content value and inconvenience arising from the loss of a mobile phone far outweigh the cost of their product and I am glad that someone has come out with such a needed solution. I am proud to be associated with such a talented and entreprenerial team in the pursuit of their dream,” said Kelvin Chan, SVP Partners Group, Chairman of SVCA, Investor of tenCube.

“Cube WaveSecure is an excellent product, I think everyone needs this as we keep more and more important data on the phone. We are working hand in hand with tenCube to enable users to automatically and securely backup their data over the free Wireless@SG networks,” said Ken Chua, CEO of iCell, one of the three Wireless@SG providers.

Editor’s Note:: In this special exclusive, SGE is pleased to inform you that limited invitation codes will be available through a special partnership with tenCube. More details will be announced in the next few days. The team in SG Entrepreneurs congratulates tenCube for their success in launching WaveSecure.

About tenCube Pte. Ltd.

tenCube was founded by four NUS Alumni in 2005 to combat the new security problems brought about by the advance of mobile phones.

Since winning Start-Up@Singapore, a national business plan competition, tenCube has received numerous international awards, including being named one of the 100 Hottest Technology Start-ups in Asia by Red Herring, one of six finalists of the prestigious GES Award by Asian Wall Street Journal and a “Top 10 Wireless Innovation” award by Frost & Sullivan.

tenCube’s customers currently includes leaders in IT security such as the Singapore Police Force and Center for Strategic IT. tenCube is based in Singapore and proudly carries out all its core development work locally.

Bio: Darius Cheung
Darius is founder and CEO of tenCube. He believes in the power of technology to improve the quality of life and believes that the only way people can benefit from technology is by making it really easy to adopt. Before founding tenCube, he has
worked in various high tech companies in Singapore and Silicon Valley. Darius graduated from NUS as Electrical Engineer, he was named a Top Achiever Under 25 by The Straits Times and had been an invited speaker to events & conferences including Global Entrepolis, Nexus 2007 and Start-Up@Singapore. He spends his free time reading, cooking and he has a lovely cat called Maya, name after the Hindu goddess of illusion.

For more information, please contact:
tenCube Pte Ltd
Ming H. Chong, Director for Business Development
email ming@tencube.com
Tel +65 81611905

The Right Spin
Doris Yang, PR Consultant
doris@therightspin.com.sg
+65 6325 5927, +65 9367 5337 (mobile)

Eugene Wong, PR Consultant
eugene@therightspin.com.sg
+65 6325 5929, +65 9766 9757 (mobile)

Related posts:

1. A Roundup for TenCube in 2009 – WaveSecure & Android for Life
2. Press Release: Bak2U releases Mobile Security Software that protects Blackberry Device & Companies
3. tenCube To Be Acquired By McAfee

Ten Singaporean companies are selected for the Red Herring Asia 2006. One of the companies selected is tenCube (winner of the 7th Start-Up@Singapore competition) set up by one of our resident contributors, Darius Cheung. We also list the other 9 Singaporean finalists for this prestigous competition.

Of course, when we heard the news from Darius, Justin has already beaten us to the news. Referencing from his article, and we add the names and types:

• abKey (Computing)
• ASKnLearn (Internet and services)
• BuzzCity (Internet and services)
• innoxius Technologies (Communications)
• i-Sprint Innovations (Security)
• I-Vista Solutions (Communications)
• Singular-ID (Nanotech)
• tenCube (Handsets)
• Trusted Delivery (Security)
• Veredus Laboratories (Biosciences)

The event will be held in Hong Kong from 28-30 August. We will wish all the Singaporean companies good luck to get into the Red Herring 100.

Related posts:

1. News Flash: 4 Singaporean Companies win Red Herring Asia Awards 2007
2. India’s Leading Telecom App Services Provider One97 Makes Strategic Investment In tenCube
3. tenCube To Be Acquired By McAfee

In this article, Darius, a young entrepreneur will trace the interesting history of gold chasing from the past to the present. From history, he extracts some interesting lessons about being a trend follower or a trend setter.

Time: 1850s, Place: California, Occasion: Gold Rush No.1

Sam Brannan, California’s first millionaire, raced through the streets yelling, “Gold, gold in the American River!” – he wasn’t planning on digging for it, he was planning on selling shovels. His wild run through San Francisco came just after he had purchased every pick axe, pan and shovel in the region. A pan that sold for 20 cents a few days earlier was now available from Brannan for $15.

At around the same time, a Jewish merchant saw that the massive number of native and immigrant gold diggers had one common problem: their cotton pants were tearing like Kleenex against the rough terrain that they had to navigate. He experimented with a new material called denim, and thought that it had the toughness to withstand the activity and yet was economical and comfortable enough. He started selling these new pants to gold diggers, they were called “jeans”. His name was Levi Strauss, he was the founder of the only born-by-gold-rush company that is still standing today. ( Fun facts: Mark Twain tried mining for gold but failed, fortunately his pen was mightier then his pick. Lotta Crabtree “ child actress who made millions singing for gold diggers. )

Fast Forward 100+ years

Time: 1980s, Place: California, Occasion: Gold Rush No.2 ( a.k.a. silicon rush )

The battle of PC is red hot. The horde of Apple, Atari, Commodore, IBM, Compaq, etc. had been busy thrashing it out for years to see who makes a better computer. Meanwhile, a small outfit in Seattle called Microsoft was (arguably) focused on making something that all of these people need – an operating system (particularly one that is built for the new Intel 8086 platform). Then came IBM’s trillion dollar mistake – adopting this OS called DOS and allowing competitors to do the same. The rest is history. It is not fair to blame IBM, people cared about the PC they buy: the features, the compatible games, the processor, the price, the brand, the whole package – who would have thought that OS alone matters most? Afterall, no one cared what software was running in our VCRs and Microwaves. It was not easy to see that a couple of years down the road, who made the PC didn’t matter as along as it ran DOS.

20 years later, the rush continues. Dot Coms were the new American Capitalist Idols. Anyone who interned at McKinsey or is remotely related to Stanford could raise a couple of million to sell dog food online. Unprecedented amount of money were poured into Internet and related infrastructure. One company capitalized on this better then anyone else – not the fortunate gold finders like Yahoo, Amazon or eBay; it’s Cisco. John Chambers acquired an astounding 66 companies within 5 years; with Å“an acquisition strategy that would have made a Roman emperor blush according to Forbes, he turned Cisco from a router maker to the networking powerhouse who had the best products from Voice to Broadband. Cisco’s revenue grew from $1.2 billion to $18.9 billion from 1995 to 2000, literally monopolizing high-end networking equipment for ISPs, data centers, enterprises and cash rich startups. In simpler words, he, like Brannan, went around buying all the tools for the dot com gold diggers.

What’s the moral of the story?

The stories are much simplified to illustrate the message: watch out for the hypes, there are opportunity and traps there. There’s always hype in different shapes and sizes around us, we hear about all the time – the hot technology, the next big thing, the revolution. Some of the current hypes in IT ( as of press time: Q2 06 ) – mobile, web 2.0, social networking, IP Telephony, Fixed Mobile Convergence.

My personal take on this – unless you have a very good reason, don’t follow the hype. No Gold Digging company survived until today, 99% of dotcoms failed. Going after the next big thing has some serious problems – there will be a million gold diggers going after the same pot of gold which may not exist and you can be sure Microsoft is eyeing it. It’s like fighting with 3000 gladiators in a dark room while the nine-headed Hydra wait and watch to see who to devour.

Rather, you could build a business focusing on solving a common need among gold diggers, be it shovels or network equipments. If you can do this well, best case, you become the de facto standard; worst case – you will still be relatively successful, for whether the gold diggers find gold or not, they will still need to buy shovels and pants in the process. The hard part is finding something that is important enough, commonly needed enough and that you can do well enough to focus on. But hey, at least you know who to talk to understand the need better, at least there’s method to building the business.

Don’t be distracted by the glamour of gold, think about the pants that gold diggers need.

About the author:

Darius is the current CEO of tenCube, and we are proud to have him on board in our SGEntrepreneurs team.

Editor’s Note: The picture “Gold Miners” is from the Bancroft Library, California. It depicts the early gold miners who first set foot in San Francisco.

Related posts:

1. tenCube To Be Acquired By McAfee
2. In Conversation with Darius Cheung, CEO of TenCube @ Nokia Developer Summit 2009
3. WaveSecure Launches Globally Today

Yesterday, the results of the 7th Start-Up@Singapore finals were finally out. Here is a short commentary and thoughts after the event that happened yesterday (3 June 2006) at Raffles City Convention Centre, Swissotel Level 4, Atrium Ballroom.

tenCube, led by their CEO, Darius Cheung (also in our SGEntrepreneurs team), has won the general category and also the Lenovo Technological Invention Award with his business idea.

A quick summary of their idea: tenCube’s WaveSecure is the world’s most comprehensive solution to help you secure your mobile device and data. With WaveSecure, you can remotely lock your phone and track it down even if the SIM card is replaced. It enables you to recover your lost phone, prevent expensive unauthorized calls and protect private data. Your valuable data, such as contacts, will be securely backed up on a web server such that you can access it from anywhere anytime, even if your phone was destroyed in a fire. WaveSecure will be available commercially from Q4 06.

For youth category, Hydrogene from Hwa Chong Institution took the champions, followed by DySmart and zigAlive. RNA Therapeutics won the TEC Innovation for Public Sector Award. The first runners and second runners-up for the general category are ND Arrays and Voltedge respectively.

Of course, at the end of the day, a win in the business plan competition does not signify the success of the business. I agree with the judging advisor, Douglas Abrams’ comment that there are no losers in this competition, only winners and learners.

Authors’ Note: The SGEntrepreneurs team congratulates Darius on winning the competition and wish him luck in future endeavours with his startup, tenCube.

Technorati Tags: Entrepreneurship, Singapore Entrepreneurs, Singaporean Entrepreneurship Events, Investors’ Events, Start-Up@Singapore, NUS, NUS Enterprise, NUS, NES, NUS Business School Alumni Association, Business Plan Competitions

Related posts:

1. tenCube To Be Acquired By McAfee
2. India’s Leading Telecom App Services Provider One97 Makes Strategic Investment In tenCube
3. A Roundup for TenCube in 2009 – WaveSecure & Android for Life