Viki, a Singapore-based global video site, has announced this week that it has signed deals with Warner Music Group (WMG), LOEN Entertainment and SEED Music Group, as well as other labels and agencies, to stream thousands of music videos from hundreds of artists on the website.
The music videos are being streamed on Viki.com to users in the United States, Canada, Europe, as well as most countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The content will roll out in other markets later this year.
Featured artists include global superstars and emerging talent from diverse genres and multiple languages. They include K-Pop and rap artists IU, Drunken Tiger and Brown Eyed Girls. Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, News Stop, Technology, WebTags: Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures, Greylock Partners, indonesia, Malaysia, Neoteny Labs, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Viki
This article was republished with permission from the author’s blog.
“What are you doing here in (insert country), you should be in Silicon Valley.”
Do these words sound familiar to you?
In Asia, it’s very common for Founders with great ideas to either run their companies in boot strap mode or relocate to Silicon Valley. Even great talent is expected to take huge pay cuts when they join a startup.
We don’t need a scientist to figure out the primary cause of this issue. This is primarily because of the scarcity of risk capital in Asia. Entrepreneurs with good ideas have to slog for cash. One key factor that gives wings to the dreams of most Silicon Valley startups is the free flow of capital that lets them dream big…really big.
Silicon Valley is blessed with excess capital. And, that is probably why failure is embraced.
But how do they get that kind of money? What is the source? Who are these Limited Partners (LP)? Read more
Filed under Funding, Special Commentary, Venture Capital & Private EquityTags: indonesia, Innosight Ventures, Malaysia, Philippines, piyush chaplot, Singapore, SingTel, Southeast Asia, thailand
With the recent US9.4M acquisition of food portal HungryGoWhere by SingTel, now’s a good time for us to take a look back at past acquisitions of technology startups in Southeast Asia. Here’s a cheatsheet of exits in the past few years, covering Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. Let us know if we missed out on any company, or if you have any feedback on how to improve the list.
Read more
Filed under Featured, Innovation & Technology, TechnologyTags: admax network, Airborne Access Corp, Aktiv Digital, Beeconomic, BigDeal.sg, brantology, carlist.my, chikka, dealkeren, detik.com, Digiwave Solutions, Disdus, ensogo, Entertainment Gateway Group, flowerexpress, gamesaku, Groupsmore, HardWareZone, hungrygowhere, indonesia, JobsCentral, Koprol, M&A, makemac, Malaysia, Octazen Solutions, OrSiSo, Peekspy, Philippines, romahdanproperti, rumah, Rumah123, ShowNearby, Singapore, Southeast Asia, sulit, sulit.com.ph, TenCube, thailand, zest interactive
SingTel announced in a press release today that it is acquiring GTW Holdings, the owners of HungryGoWhere, Singapore’s most visited foodie site, for S$12M (US$9.4M).
The site, which was started in 2007, has a presence in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Australia. Under the terms, GTW will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel. It will merge operations with inSing.com, another SingTel subsidiary with an audience of two million customers.
With the purchase, SingTel claims it has the largest food and lifestyle audience in the island state.
GTW’s Singapore-based founders will play a crucial role in growing SingTel’s services in Singapore and beyond. Read more
Filed under Featured, Innovation & Technology, Mobile, News Stop, TechnologyTags: Australia, Cambodia, dennis goh, gtw, GTW Holdings, Hong Kong, hungrygowhere, inSing, M&A, Malaysia, SingTel, Start-Up@Singapore, vietnam
After six months in Asia, sixteen flights to eight countries, and interviews with over 100 entrepreneurs, investors, and organizers, Kira Newman of Tech Cocktail has worked with Malaysia infographic startup Piktochart to come up with this graphical summary of her impressions of the Asian startup scene. She’ll be writing more about Asia in the future. Check it out: Read more
Filed under Innovation & Technology, TechnologyTags: Asia, China, Hong Kong, indonesia, infographic, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, thailand, vietnam
Singapore is the most mobile payment-ready nation in the world, according the the Mobile Payments Readiness Index by MasterCard. Philippines came in second in Southeast Asia, followed by Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The Index gauges the readiness of 34 countries across the globe in three different categories: Peer-to-peer, mobile commerce, and point-of-sale. An overall score was given for each country, with a score of 60 indicating an inflection point where a country is ready for the mass adoption of mobile payment. Read more
Filed under Mobile, News Stop, Special CommentaryTags: indonesia, Malaysia, Mastercard, mcommerce, Mobile Payments, nfc, Philippines, pos, Singapore, Southeast Asia, thailand, vietnam
Update on 6th May 2012: Home24.sg goes live quietly, begins sneak attack on Singapore’s furniture retailers
Home24.sg, the Singapore version of Rocket Internet’s global furniture store, has gone live. The Samwer Brothers have made known their intentions to expand into Singapore and Malaysia for some time, launching their Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages.
They have an ongoing contest called Colour My Sofa where participants can win a S$500 cash prize.
Rocket Internet’s entry into the furniture business in Southeast Asia is certainly one to watch out for. Home24.sg is up against some very strong furniture retailers with established brand names, with IKEA and Courts being some of them.
It’s unclear how Singaporeans will take to ordering furniture online, but I suspect most of them are more comfortable heading down to showrooms and feeling the pieces for themselves.
That could change very soon.
IKEA is perhaps the most well-known furniture company in the world. They’re recognized for cutting-edge innovation too, even coming up with their own smart TV.
But if they’re not careful, they may find their market share eroded by Home24, Rocket Internet’s online furniture store that debuted in Germany and France and is set to launch in Singapore and Malaysia. Read more
Last year, we wrote about Blueseed, an incubator-on-a-ship that is anchored near Silicon Valley.
We think we’ve found something cooler. Check out Unreasonable at Sea, an accelerator program geared towards tech entrepreneurs who want to take their products to different shores.
They are doing it quite literally too: Ten teams from around the globe will participate in a 100-day program aboard a ship that will port at 14 different countries (subject to changes): Read more
Music lovers who want to get their daily fix now have another way to get it — via AtticTV, an online music channel that aims to be an MTV for the Internet generation.
Founded by Malaysians Johnson Goh and Grey Ang, who had previously worked together on another startup that didn’t take off, AtticTV is their second venture together. It allows users to lean back and discover new music videos from YouTube.
The website essentially streams users a constant diet of music videos — it’s like watching MTV the old-school way. You consume clip after clip, making a mental note of those you like (or don’t). Read more
Perfectsen has launched its online financial management app M2U Planner with Maybank, Malaysia’s largest bank. The app, which allows users to track their spending and plan their budget, is fully integrated with the bank’s online banking services.
M2U Planner is now available to all Maybank customers in Malaysia. The company is in the midst of negotiating with banks in other parts of Asia. Read more
