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. 

“Viki’s mission is to bring down language barriers around great content, and there’s no better way to do it than through music, which is universally loved,” said Razmig Hovaghimian, CEO and co-founder of Viki.

The press release states that Viki sees more than 12 million visitors each month. They come onto the site to watch their favorite TV shows and movies, subtitled into 150 languages by its community.

Said Won-Su Shin, CEO of LOEN Entertainment: “Through the alliance with Viki, we’ve established a foothold for spreading K-Pop throughout the world. We anticipate that many users can now share their favorite music more conveniently and that global competitiveness of Korean music will be strengthened.”

In 2011, Viki announced US$20M in Series B funding from strategic investors include BBC Worldwide and SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Telecom; as well as from existing investors Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Charles River Ventures and Neoteny Labs, among others.

In 2010, they raised US$4.3M in Series A funding  from the same firms, in addition to private investors from the media industry, including Rajesh Sawhney, President of Reliance Entertainment of India, and Alex Zubillaga, former global head of digital at Warner Music.

“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)?

As per Wikipedia, the sources of funds are Public pension funds, Corporate pension funds, Insurance companies, High Networth Individuals (HNI) / family offices, endowments, foundations, fund-of-funds and sovereign wealth funds. In addition, there are many cash-rich corporates that have their strategic investment arms hunting for opportunities.

Compare that with the sources of funds in Asia:

1. Do you think any government in Asia would allow pension funds to become Limited Partners in Venture Capital funds?

Certainly not. At the most, governments would allow use of pension funds to be invested in real estate and approved listed equities. CPF Board of Singapore allows a portion of provident funds into property, gold, selected equities and top 25 percentile managed funds. All the usual suspects of low risk investing. Nothing wrong with that. I also view that as prudent considering the fact that venture capital industry as a whole is a loss-making industry.

Of course, we hear everyday about the success stories of Facebook, Google, Twitter, and so on. But we choose to ignore the stories of failures. I read a report recently that says how the average VC fund in US fails to return investor capital after fees.

2. Do we have foundations and endowments who can risk a portion of their money?

No. Most endowments and foundations outside America would choose to place their money into fixed deposits with highest-rated banks or managed funds.

In Singapore, the three local universities (SMU, NUS and NTU) together have about S$2.7B (US$2.11B) in endowment funds plus another S$1.7B (US$1.33) in accumulated surpluses and operating funds, some of which is actively managed. Portfolio allocation to venture capital is probably close to zero.

Compare that with Yale and other educational institutions in the United States. Yale allocates 33 percent of its portfolio to private equity (venture capital and leveraged buyouts). Average actual allocation of an American educational institution to private equity is around 10.5 percent.

Since 1976, Yale participated in a number of startups that helped define the technology industry, including Compaq computer, Oracle, Genentech, Dell Computer, Amgen, Amazon.com, Yahoo, CISCO, Red Hat, Juniper, Google, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Zynga.

Its investment policy document says : Alternative assets, by their very nature, tend to be less efficiently priced than traditional marketable securities, providing an opportunity to exploit market inefficiencies through active management.

3. Do HNIs have any incentives to back risky tech startups?

Not at all. High net worth individuals are so busy doubling and tripling their money every year in emerging economies and traditional sectors that no one has any bandwidth left for technology.

I recently met some HNIs who were busy buying hotels and warehouses in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. What kind of internal rate of return can GPs offer to beat emerging market returns?

What I mean to say is that the traditional sectors are growing at such a fast rate that HNIs have no incentive to look for other alternative investments. Society is highly entrepreneurial but unfortunately there’s no incentive yet to try out tech entrepreneurship.

So what are we left with? How can tech entrepreneurship flourish in Asia?

In my view, corporates can play a big role here. In Southeast Asia, SingTel has shown leadership by launching their fund Innov8 and sponsoring an incubator called JFDI. They have also acquired a slew of tech startups, most recently Singapore’s HungryGoWhere for US$9.4M.

If the top 10 to 20 corporates in each country can launch similar funds and sponsor incubators, it would certainly create a demand. And maybe that demand for investment opportunities would act as a catalyst for some wannabe entrepreneurs as well as angel investors.

In addition, if University endowment funds can also allocate five to 10 percent of their portfolios toward venture capital, it would be a great boost for the entire tech startup ecosystem.

Photo: jamarmstrong

About the author

Piyush Chaplot works with Innosight Ventures as VP-Finance & Investments. His current role is to source, evaluate, structure, monitor, and manage early stage investments in Singapore. He serves on the Board of www.chope.com.sg and also acts as part time CFO for some of the other investee companies. Additionally, he manages the finance and compliance functions within the Innosight Ventures group. He has more than 10 years of experience in financial and risk management roles in India, Indonesia, Australia, UAE and Singapore. Piyush is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, CPA Australia and CPA Singapore. He holds a Masters of Commerce degree from M.D.S. University in Ajmer, India. He is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

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.

Singapore

HungryGoWhere
A food portal with reviews and ratings contributed by users.
- Acquired for S$12M (US$9.4M) by SingTel
- Announced on 22nd May, 2012
- Founded in 2007
More info: SGE

Peekspy
The company’s site, Fanvenues, allows users to peek into concert and sports venues in 3D so as to make better purchase decisions about tickets.
- Acquired by eBay-owned Stubhub, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 8th March, 2012
- Founded in May 2008
More info: SGE, Wesley Oxenham’s blog

AdMax Network
Digital media network
- Acquired by Komli Media from Mumbai, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 29th February 2012
- Founded in 2006
More info: StartupCentral.in

OrSiSo
Social media dashboard
- Intellectual property rights acquired by SingTel, Terms undisclosed
- Announced on 21st September, 2011
- Founded in 2008
More info: SGE

BigDeal.sg
A daily deals site
- Acquired by NTUC Link, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 1st September, 2011
- Founded in May 2010
More info: SGE

Aktiv Digital
Ad network platform
- Acquired by Komli Media (Mumbai), terms undisclosed
- Announced on 4th June, 2011
- Founded in 2007
More info: SGE

JobsCentral Group
Jobs search portal
- Acquiredby US jobs site Career Builder,terms undisclosed
- Announced on 3rd May 2011
- Founded in 2000
More info: SGE

Brandtology
Online brand monitoring and business intelligence
- Acquired by Australia’s Media Monitors, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 17th February, 2011
- Founded in 2008
More info: SGE, Brandtology

Beeconomic
Daily deals site
- Acquired by Groupon, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 1st December, 2010
- Founded in May 2010
More info: SGE

TransferTo
Mobile payment transfer company
- 90% shares acquired for US$38M by payment and security specialist Ingenico, up from 35% stake
- Announced on 4th August, 2010
More info: GoMoNews, SGE, VentureBeat

TenCube
Mobile security startup
- Acquisition by McAfee estimated at S$6.8M (US$5M) or S$15M (US$11M)
- Announced on 29th July, 2010
- Founded in June 2005
More info: Digital Life

ShowNearby
Top mobile directory app in Singapore
- Majority stake of 53.13 percent at US$3.5M by Global Yellow Pages
- Announced on 9th July, 2010
- Started in November 2007
More info: The Edge Singapore

HardwareZone
IT Media company
- Acquired by Singapore Press Holdings for S$7.1M (US$4.5M)
- Announced on 29th September, 2006
- Founded in 1998
More info: SPH, Wikipedia

Indonesia

Gamesaku
iOS games review site
- Acquired by Indonesian company Apps Foundry, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 9th May, 2012
More info: TechinAsia

MakeMac
Biggest community website for Mac and iOS fans in Indonesia
- Acquired by Indonesian company Apps Foundry, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 16th February 2012
More info: TechinAsia

Detik.com
Online news portal
- Acquired by Para Group for US$60M
- Announced on 4th August, 2011
- Launched in 1997
More info: SGE, DailySocial.net

Rumah123.com
Claims to be Indonesia’s largest property portal
- Acquired by IPGA, which owns iProperty, for US$ 1.6M in cash and seven million shares
- Announced on 28th May, 2011
More info: iProperty, DailySocial.net

Rumahdanproperti.com
Indonesia’s third largest property portal
- Acquired by IPGA, which owns iProperty, for US$300k in cash and another US$200k subject to conditions
- Announced on 28th May, 2011
More info: iProperty, DailySocial.net

Disdus
Daily deals site
- Acquired by Groupon, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 6th April, 2011
- Launched in August 2010
More info: DailySocial.net

Rumah.com
Claims to be Indonesia’s top property website
- Acquired by PropertyGuru, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 7th February, 2011
- Founded in 2007
More info: PropertyGuru

Koprol
Location-based social service
- Acquired by Yahoo!, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 25th May, 2010
- Started in 2008
More info: eweek, e27

Philippines

FlowersExpress
Online flower delivery site
- Acquired by IslandRose.net, terms undisclosed
- Announced 30th October 2011
- Started in 2005
More info: YugaTech

Chikka
Wireless application service provider, known for its instant messenger
- Acquired bySmart Communications  for PHP750M (US$16M)
- Announced 10th November, 2009
Source: YugaTech

Sulit.com.ph
Leading classified ads site in Philippines
- 51 percent stake acquired by MIH at estimated US$1M
- Announced 3rd July, 2009
- Founded in 2006
More info: YugaTech

Entertainment Gateway Group
One of the leading mobile content providers in the Philippines, offering value-added services for mobile including music downloads, news & information, games, chat, and web to mobile messaging.
-Acquired by Globe Telecom for PHP351M (US$7.83M)
- Announced on 5th August, 2008
- Started in 2001
More info: YugaTech

Digiwave Solutions
Online gambling software developer
- Acquired by Philippines-listed entertainment group Premiere Entertainment Productions for P50 million (about US$1.24M)
- Announced on 29th Feb 2008
More info: CasinoMeister

Airborne Access Corp
Wireless fidelity firm
- 51% share acquired by ePLDT in 2005 for undisclosed amount
- Announced in 2005
More info: GMANetwork

Malaysia

Carlist.my
Car portal
- 50% stake acquired by Catcha Media estimated at around RM5M (US$1.5M)  in Dec 2011, complete acquisition on 23rd Feb, 2012
- Started in 2007
More info: Catcha Media, Entrepreneurs.my

Groupsmore
Daily deals site
- Acquired by Groupon, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 26th Jan, 2011
- Started in 2010
More info: Entrepreneurs.my articles here and here

Octazen Solutions
Contact importing from one service to another
- Talent acquisition by Facebook, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 19th Feb, 2010
More info: GigaOm, TechCrunch 

Thailand

Zest Interactive
Thailand’s leading games distributor and payment gateway company
- Acquired by Malaysia’s MOL Global, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 25th July, 2011
- Started in 2006
More info: SGE, Techielobang

Dealkeren and parent company Ensogo
Ensogo is a daily deals company headquartered in Thailand and operating in Philippines and in Indonesia as Dealkeren
- Acquired by Living Social, terms undisclosed
- Announced on 27th June, 2011
- Started in 2009
More info: DailySocial.net, Wikipedia

Original image: nanquimvirtual

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.

GTW will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel. Its operations will be merged with inSing.com, also a subsidiary of SingTel, giving the combined portal an audience of 2 million customers, which SingTel claims makes it the largest food and lifestyle audience in Singapore.

GTW’s Singapore-based founders will continue to play an important role in expanding SingTel’s services in Singapore and internationally, according to the press release.

(Read our 2009 interview with Wong Hoong An, HungryGoWhere co-founder)

“A cornerstone of SingTel’s growth strategy is to build digital solutions that help consumers in their daily lives – as they live, work and play. Possessing the local knowledge and content is critical as it allows us to compete effectively in these areas,” said Allen Lew, CEO of SingTel’s Digital L!fe group.

“SingTel will continue to form partnerships for important and unique content, including in retail, entertainment and other lifestyle needs. The talented HungryGoWhere team has built a much-loved brand which has become the go-to site for restaurant reviews and information, delivering a great experience around one of Singapore’s favourite pastimes.” he said.

Dennis Goh, founder and managing director of HungryGoWhere, said: “This deal allows our award-winning content to be seen by even more people in the region and will accelerate the investment and distribution of our new online restaurant reservation system.”

SingTel plans to grow HungryGoWhere’s existing restaurant reservation system, TableDB, and help it scale across Asia. In Singapore, TableDB is competing with Chope and Reserveit.sg, which are the front-runners in the space.

The telecommunications company has been making a number of acquisitions in the digital media and advertising space of late. In March this year, it purchased US digital ads company Amobee for US$321M. In May, it bought AdJitsu, a 3D mobile advertising company.

Expect the Singapore giant to make more acquisitions in the coming months, especially in emerging markets. It has hinted that it will acquire non-phone businesses in China and India, in a move away from slow-growth markets in Singapore and Australia.

Related articles:

Cheatsheet of technology startup acquisitions in Southeast Asia
Restaurant reservation sites take off in Singapore

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.

To derive that score, six different factors were weighed on a 0-100 scale:

Consumer Readiness – MasterCard surveyed 1,000 consumers in each of the 34 countries to gauge their familiarity with mobile payment, willingness to use mobile payment and current usage of the three payment types.

Environment – Economic, technological and demographic elements, such as Internet access and per-capita income.

Financial Services – Depth of the financial services sector, including accessibility and affordability, and penetration of digital (plastic card-based) payments.

Infrastructure – Mobile phone penetration, network coverage and breadth of NFC terminals.

Mobile Commerce Clusters – Partnerships among financial services, telecommunications companies, governments and technology providers.

Regulation – Structure and efficiency of each market’s legal and governmental bodies.

The average score for all countries is 33.2, far from the inflection point. This indicates that it’s still early days yet for the mobile payment space.

Singapore has emerged on top primarily because of its infrastructure and regulatory environment. All of its population is covered by a mobile phone network, while its laws on information and communication technology are well-developed. Malaysia is within the top ten in both categories.

Generally, countries in the Asia-Pacific have done well in terms of consumer readiness. Filipinos, for instance, are third most open to mobile payments in the world.

Indonesians, on the other hand, are an exception. Their overall score flagged due to the lack of consumer readiness and mobile commerce clusters.

The country’s population are not familiar with mobile payments, and score low on willingness and frequency of use. The upside is that their willingness to use mobile payments score higher than familiarity, meaning with enough marketing and consumer education, Indonesians could be adopting the technology in large numbers.

For a fuller understanding of the MasterCard study, check out the Index’s website. Global and individual country reports can be downloaded too.

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.

While the websites in those two countries are not up yet, they have already begun establishing their social media presence. The Home24 Malaysia Facebook Page and Pinterest profile are already posting updates about home furnishing ideas, while the Home24 Singapore Twitter and Pinterest profiles are also up and running.

Their Pinterest Boards are worth highlighting: They’ve already posted over 400 furnishing items like plates, beds, and cushions.

Right now, Rocket Internet is in the midst of hiring staff for their Southeast Asia operations, judging from this job posting for a logistics manager, as well as others.

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):

• EMBARK: San Diego, CA, USA
• Hilo, Hawaii
• Yokohama, Japan
• Kobe, Japan
• Shanghai, China
• Hong Kong
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• Singapore
• Penang, Malaysia
• Cochin, India
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Tema (Accra), Ghana
• Casablanca, Morocco
• DEBARK: Barcelona, Spain

Mull over your MVP while frolicking in the pool.

If you think this is some kind of extended cruise trip, you’re wrong. Teams will be expected to perfect, tweak, and adjust their business model and product. Daily workshops will be held by mentors on the ship.

When porting at the different countries, events will be held to put these entrepreneurs in front of their land-based peers, as well as investors, politicians, and philanthropists. An opportunity will also be presented for them to test their products in various markets.

Which is a lot of hard work.

To be eligible for this accelerator, your company must be for-profit, technology-based, and consist of at least two people. You must also have a prototype, and prove that it is highly-scalable and has the potential to gain user traction. Being revenue-generating is a plus (full criteria here).

This accelerator, a collaboration between Semester at Sea and Unreasonable Institute, will start in January 2013. Applications close on 15th May 2012.

Some of the mentors that will join the program include: Ben Casnocha, co-author of The Start-Up of You, as well as George Kembel, who leads the Institute for Design at Stanford.

I guess spending 100 days out at sea is an experience very few have gone through, so expect some tough competition for a place.

Here’s the kicker: The cost of attending the program, estimated at US$120K per team, will be sponsored. On top of that, you’ll get a US$500 stipend for the whole trip.

But if you’re prone to sea-sickness, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

Images: Unreasonable at Sea

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).

Except that for AtticTV, viewers can surf by music genre, skip over videos they don’t like, add noteworthy tracks to an online library, or share them with friends.

They can also create ‘mixtapes’ — essentially a series of music videos organized around a certain theme. For instance, if I feel heartbroken after a breakup, I can create a list of songs that fit my mood, and share it with my friends.

AtticTV, in essence, hopes to do music discovery better than YouTube.

In some ways, it has achieved that. The interface is beautiful, and I find it generally a joy to use. Unlike YouTube, which refreshes every time you load a new video, the transition in AtticTV is seamless and elegant.

Also, when you switch to the next track, the current song fades out before the next one plays,  – a subtle but nice touch. YouTube can take some notes on how AtticTV does this.

But I do wonder whether a nice interface and a focus on music discovery is enough for this startup to take off. Johnson considers YouTube and VEVO to be direct competitors, and these heavyweights have a lot going for them.

AtticTV, for instance, doesn’t have a long tail of music content.

If I watch the music video of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ on YouTube, I will not only receive recommendations to other Michael Jackson videos, but also footage of his concerts, parodies, and even covers by other artists.

For Michael Jackson fans, this bonanza of content drastically increases YouTube’s stickiness.

In addition, I find YouTube’s ability to discover new music for me rather decent. I’m a sort of YouTube addict, thanks to the website’s recommendation engine, and the result is that I often watch more stuff than I intended to. I’m sure that’s the case for many users too.

While it’s true that AtticTV is less cluttered and more suitable for viewing and discovering new music, it remains to be seen whether there is enough demand for it to gain significant traction.

Currently, they have 150 to 200 daily active users on average, with each user watching about 14 videos and staying 40 minutes.

The startup is also indirectly fighting for attention with online music services like Spotify, Turntable, and so on, which provide MP3 streaming.

Johnson admits that they still need to “figure out the exact use-cases that people want to view music videos, versus only listen to music, and carve out a focused product competency (in terms of design and features) to cater for those use-cases.”

“This will carve out a market for us, thus on a majority basis, not compete against these music-only services.”

This means that the startup is still groping around in the online music space. It may be one or two pivots before AtticTV finds a niche for itself.

The good news is, Asia is tremendously under-served by online music startups, thanks to the need to negotiate licensing deals country by country. As such, music lovers in this region don’t have a lot of options when it comes to consuming music digitally, other than downloading them illegaly.

The bad news is, time is extremely short for AtticTV to grow its user base. Spotify is already making a move into Asia, and it’s only a matter of time before other startups fight for a piece of the valuable real estate.

AtticTV may be receiving help though. They are seeking seed funding of up to US$100K, and are in discussions with an investors on the terms.

In the near future, they plan to iterate their product and marketing strategy to grow their user base, bring AtticTV to more platforms, like mobile phones, tablets, and smart TVs, and partner with music services like Spotify as well as mobile carriers.

Their revenue model right now consists of a “support the artist” feature to drive users to purchase MP3s, DVDs, and other memorabilia like T-shirts and mugs. These are provided through the Amazon Affiliate Program, and they earn a cut of each purchase.

They also plan to provide access to concert information and allow users to purchase concert tickets off their site.

Lastly, they hope to work with telcos to sell caller ringBack tones through their platform.

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.

SGE last wrote about the angel-funded company a couple of weeks ago. Like Mint, a popular money management tool from the United States, it is integrated with the banks, meaning your transactions will be automatically logged into the income or expense column of your budget.

But unlike Mint, it is reaching out to banks as distribution partners rather than marketing to consumers directly. Being a white label solution, Perfectsen is entirely invisible to banking customers.

It also promises to be more ‘intelligent’ than Mint, in the sense that the app automatically tags expenses with the right categories.

I believe there’s going to be a huge demand for something like this in Asia, since I’ve not really heard of a money management tool in the region that offers integration with the banks.

Mint has shown no indication of expanding to Asia either, which gives Perfectsen the first-mover advantage.

Screenshot of M2U Planner: