SingTel’s HungryGoWhere partners with Perx and Reserveit.sg, could lay foundation for ‘super food network’

Imagine reading a restaurant review on HungryGoWhere, then booking a table on Reserveit.sg. Once the reservation is done, you get a notification on Perx saying that you’ve received a chop, which allows you to redeem a dessert.

It’s a foodie’s dream come true, and we might not need to wait too long for it to happen.

The foundation is already set. We’ve learnt today that SingTel-owned HungryGoWhere, Singapore’s leading food portal, has partnered with mobile loyalty startup Perx (which has over 700 locations and 400,000 chops so far) and restaurant reservation service Reserveit.sg to integrate their services into the site. Read more

Singapore on the cusp of becoming an NFC-enabled nation; thousands of merchants involved

Previously, we’ve written that 2012 could be a big year for Near-field Communication Technology. Today, Singapore has taken a big step towards making it happen.

Gemalto, a global digital security company that is leading an NFC consortium in Singapore, has announced that it is finally ready to launch a slew of NFC-enabled mobile payment services.

The consortium, which consists of Citibank, DBS, EZ-Link, and all three mobile operators in Singapore — M1, SingTel, and StarHub,  is supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

If you’re hazy on what NFC is, it is essentially a technology that, among other uses, turns smartphones into mobile wallets. It essentially eliminates the need to bring out physical wallets and credit cards. Read more

Perx launches sponsored chops, sketches grand plans during Echelon 2012

After a trial run that lasted for months, Perx officially launched its sponsored chops feature at Echelon 2012. It is a new marketing concept in which merchants pay to give users free digital stamps which they can then redeem for rewards.

Perx is a mobile app that acts as a digital wallet for a bevy of loyalty cards — the startup already has over 450 locations under its belt.

(Read: Perx dumped daily deals business to focus on loyalty card app, has no regrets)

Backed by the wealthy Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, the company, fronted by CEO and co-founder Andrew Roth,  painted a picture of where the company is heading towards.  Read more

10 finalists for Echelon 2012 pitch competition announced

The 10 finalists for Echelon 2012, a major technology startup conference in Singapore, has been announced. They will be pitching on stage at the event to vie for the title of Most Promising Startup.

The startups come from the following countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. At this moment, they are fine-tuning their actual day pitches with the e27 team, who are the organizers of the event.

Here’s a list of the finalists (descriptions by e27): Read more

Echelon 2012 essentials — your guide to Asia’s key tech startup event

Organized by tech blog e27 for the third year running, Echelon 2012 is a key startup launchpad in Asia with over 1,100 delegates in attendance and 50 startups exhibiting in the Marketplace. The two-day, double-track event, which will be held on 11th and 12th June, plays host to a list of distinguished speakers who will discuss the latest trends in Asia’s startup scene.

The conference will also feature a startup pitch competition, where 10 companies will take the stage to win the audience and the judges over — and hopefully secure their next round of investments. These finalists were selected from a series of Satellite events held around Asia earlier in the year.

In this page, you will find everything we have about the conference and the startups that are being showcased. Check back here often as we’ll constantly update it with more content. Read more

Perx dumped daily deals business to focus on loyalty card app, has no regrets

Before Perx co-founders Andrew Roth and Jon Sugihara started work on their loyalty card mobile app, which is now the market leader in Singapore, they ran successful daily deals site PLAYhawaii.com. It was on track to generate US$2M in revenue a year.

Based in Hawaii, they expanded their business to Asia, founding Maiplay last year with Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin as an investor and advisor. They launched in Jakarta and Singapore, entering a heated field dominated by Groupon.

However, they dumped their daily deals business within months. They sold PLAYhawaii.com and launched their loyalty card mobile app in October 2011. They’re now based in Singapore.

What sparked the change was their belief that daily deals is a lousy way to acquire loyal customers for merchants. The hunch paid off: At the time of the interview, Perx had close to 40,000 registered users, and about 400 merchants in Singapore, with 10 to 20 new locations each week.

Their partner merchants are not lightweights either. Big brands like Popeyes, Famous Amos, and Dunkin Donuts have come on board. With pole position in the country secured (around!, Pointpal, and Squiryl are competitors), they are now working with a partner to scale their business to other parts of Asia.

“When we call merchants, we really had to tell them not to hang up as we’re not a daily deals company.”

Read more