Uber to expand to Taiwan, China, South Korea, India and New Zealand

 

Just months after launching in Singapore, Uber, an online private car hire service, is kickstarting a major push into Asia. Already, the company has placed job postings seeking general managers, with logistics and community management roles available in certain countries.

At least 7 cities will soon see Uber’s black luxury cars on its roads, and these are: Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangalore, and Auckland.

The general manager will be responsible for developing and growing Uber’s business, requiring him or her to take charge of customer support, local marketing, supply chain management, yield management, social media, and public relations.

While Uber has not officially disclosed its timeline for regional expansion, Taiwanese tech blog Inside noted that the company has already created an Uber Taipei Twitter account. The writer further indicated that Uber has already partnered with at least one local car leasing company, and that it is set to launch in the city in a few weeks. Read more

New Zealand cloud video startup eBUS acquired by media logistics firm IMD

eBUS, a New Zealand startup with a presence in Singapore, India, and Australia, has been acquired for undisclosed terms by IMD, a London-based media logistics operator.

Founded in 2005 by Carmine Masiello, eBUS deals in cloud-based video transfer services for the advertising industry. Read more

Rocket Internet

Company

Rocket Internet is a Berlin headquartered company that is well-known for cloning successful online startups (usually from the US), replicating them elsewhere, and turning them into million-dollar businesses. It was founded in 2007 by the Samwer brothers — Alexander, Marc, and Oliver, who have together created and sold a number of successful Internet businesses before starting Rocket Internet. Most of their businesses are e-commerce related.

The company tends to hire MBA-trained executives and management consultants to become ‘founder’ and ‘managing director’ of its businesses. However, unlike startup founders, they do not hold as much equity or have as much decision-making power to shape the direction of their companies. They are primarily executors who could be fired for underperforming.

Rocket Internet has polarized observers in the startup and technology community for its practices. Critics pour scorn on the company for blatant copying, mischaracterizing its ventures as startups, an over-aggressive and results-oriented corporate culture, and rapid turnover rates. At the same time, it is widely admired for its rapid execution ability. Read more

TradeGecko, a cloud sales and inventory management tool, hopes to empower DIY creators

Fashion labels, like tech startups, have a valley of death. Once sales picks up, designers will have the unpleasant task of managing an ever burgeoning inventory and customer database. It saps their creativity, takes time away from what they do best, and could ultimately destroy the business.

To help designer-entrepreneurs like these, a trio of Kiwis has today launched TradeGecko, a cloud-based customer, sales and inventory management tool that aims to fill the gap between spreadsheets and enterprise tools like SAP, Netsuite, and SalesForce. Read more

Cooliris is number 1 app in 63 countries for lifestyle category

Two weeks ago, we featured Cooliris, an iPad app that aims to improve the way users view and share photos on the tablet. Now, the team has shared a major milestone with us: Cooliris is now number 1 for iPad apps in 63 countries for the lifestyle category. Read more

Facebook Offers rolls out in Asia, gives daily deal sites a run for their money

Facebook has launched a feature that allows users to get special deals from merchants within the social network.

The deals will appear on their news feeds, and after claiming a deal, an email will be sent to the user. The deal can then be redeemed by flashing the email at a store.

Facebook Offers is currently in beta and is being rolled out to selected businesses in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, and Turkey, according to The Verge. Read more