DecoAlbum, with 500k users, has aspirations beyond being a photo decoration app

DecoAlbum, a photo decoration app developed by Japanese startup Primeagain, has had a good run lately. Since launching in June 2012 on the iPhone and six months later on Android, the app has amassed one million users, and half of them are active monthly.

Its userbase is about 90 percent Asian, and it’s easy to see why. The app enables users to decorate their photos with cute stickers containing an assortment of emotions and ideas. More stickers can be downloaded on its in-app store, which are all free for now. Read more

East Ventures invests in Singapore online grocer RedMart

East Ventures, a Singapore and Indonesia based early stage investment firm, has revealed that it has invested in RedMart, an online grocer serving the Singapore market.

The investment firm’s founder and managing partner Willson Cuaca is unable to disclose the exact investment sum at this point, although he did state this is still a seed round. Read more

No East Ventures Alpha accelerator in Jakarta this year as ‘funding ecosystem not ready’

After running for two consecutive years, the East Ventures Alpha accelerator program won’t be returning to Jakarta this year, said Willson Cuaca, co-founder managing partner of East Ventures, an early stage fund based in Singapore, Jakarta, and Tokyo.

Meanwhile, its Japan Accelerator has held its screening process last year and has been mentoring startups. Unlike the Indonesian version, it does not have a formal 100-day boot camp, which means it functions more like a traditional seed stage fund and incubator.

Willson does not rule out the possibility that Alpha will return to Indonesia, although it would have to depend on the ecosystem’s readines. For now, East Ventures will focus on its early stage funding activities. Read more

TechinAsia gets 2nd round of funding to continue covering tech and startups in the region

TechinAsia, a website that covers technology and startups in Asia, has received a second round of funding, led by Russia-based Simile Venture Partners. East Ventures, which invested in the first seed round in March 2011, also participated. The terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Founded in July 2009 as Penn Olson, the site has undergone quite a bit of changes since then. It rebranded to become TechinAsia last year, and its team now consists of 11 members from Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and the US. Read more

East Ventures tally: In 26 investments, 2 got acquired, 10 received follow-on funding, 6 died

It’s been three years since East Ventures, an early stage fund based in Jakarta, Singapore, and Tokyo, launched. To mark the milestone, the firm released an infographic detailing its performance so far. It has invested in 8 or 9 startups annually in each of the three years.  A small number of these startups are based in Singapore, with the rest coming from Indonesia. Majority of its investments are in the e-commerce space, followed by online publishing.

Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner at East Ventures, tells me that the firm has invested between USD 50K and USD 500K in each startup. Its accelerator program, East Ventures Alpha, has invested about USD 10K per startup.

He is unable to disclose the firm’s returns for the exits of its portfolio companies. Read more

Indonesian travel search site Traveloka gets funded by East Ventures; served 400k flight searches

Indonesian travel search engine Traveloka announced today that it has received an investment from East Ventures, an early stage VC firm based in Singapore and Indonesia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The site has gotten off to an encouraging start since launching a month ago. So far, it has served over 400,000 flight searches for users from over 200 cities.

Traveloka helps users discover and compare flight deals after they key in details for departure, destination, and travel dates. Once they’ve decided on a flight, they will be redirected either to the airline’s page or Tiket.com, another Indonesian travel startup, to make a booking.

Read more

Indonesia Digest: Kompas invests in Urbanesia.com, Metro TV Android app, and more

(1) PT Kompas CyberMedia, the company behind Kompas.com, announced an investment in city directory startup Urbanesia.com.

(2) Metro TV officially announced (via Twitter) that they have released a mobile application for Android platform and it is available for free on Android Market. Read more

Indonesia Digest: Jakarta gets BBM Apps Hackathon, Adways office, and more

Here are some interesting startup news from Indonesia, not only in its capital, Jakarta, but also other tech startup hubs such as Yogyakarta, Medan, Surabaya, and many more. These listed news are taken from our partner, DailySocial, a leading blog on Indonesia’s tech startup scene. Read more

HardwareZone founders become investors-in-residence at FounderHQ

Many of you would be familiar with HardwareZone, a popular tech media company that was bought by Singapore Press Holdings for S$7.1 million (US$5.8 million) in 2006. Read more

East Ventures is investor-in-residence at FounderHQ

The folks at FounderHQ have just announced that East Ventures, a Singapore and Indonesia based venture capital firm, is their first investor-in-residence. Read more