Secret {W} Business is a Non-Profit Organization organized by Camille Schu, Grace Clapham, Meera Navaratnam and Susan Tucker.

This will be a 24 hours (over night Hackathon) with in which participant will pitch their ideas, form team and build a working prototype or application in 24 hours. The event will start on Saturday (16th June) 9:00 AM and end on Sunday (17th June) 10:30 AM with final demonstrations. iOS Dev Scout will invite potential investors and mentors for the event and final demonstrations. Participants may speak to them during the event and post event to get advice on refining their ideas.

There’s no registration fee for this event. However, participants need to signup for the event. The event is limited to 50 iOS Developer on first-come, first-served basis. This event is sponsored by iDA, Plug-In@BLK71 and few few innovative iOS start-ups like Quantum Inventions, Cloudy Rec, ELC Technologies.

When: 9 a.m. on 16th June to 10:30 a.m. on 17th June
Where: Plug-In@Blk71, Blk 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #02-18, Singapore – 139951

Registration Fee: Free (Signup Required, Not open for walk-ins). Register here.

Food and Drinks will be provided to participants.

Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) and Shujog are holding this forum in conjunction with the Asian Development Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation, and the support of the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Tourism Board with the purpose of:

- Celebrating Asia’s leadership role in Impact Investing
- Strengthening the bonds in the network of like-minded individuals and institutions in the field
- Exploring the importance of stakeholders such as accounting firms, law firms, governments and financial institutions in impact investing and philanthropy
- Imparting a deeper understanding of impact investment, impact measurement and market readiness of Social Enterprises around Asia.

Attendance at the Impact Forum will be an opportunity to be exposed to:

- Regional trends that are driving momentum for Impact Investment
- Exclusive showcases of Asian Social Enterprises to global Impact Investors
- Structured opportunities to connect global Impact Investors and Ecosystem Partners with promising Social Enterprises throughout the region
- Global media coverage of innovation, community, and leaders that are shaping how capital markets are creating social good

When: Monday-Tuesday 25-26th June 2012
Where:
Plenary and Breakout Sessions will be held at:Shaw Foundation Theatre, 2/F Shaw Foundation Alumni House, 11 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119244
Lunch, Tea breaks, and some breakout sessions will be held at: Kent Ridge Guild House, 9 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119244

Register here.

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).

Who should attend?

Business Angels, Private Equity Investors, Venture Capitalists, High Net Worth Individual Investors, Start-Ups, Aspiring Entrepreneurs and Growing SMEs, Business Incubators, Business Consultants, Legal Professionals, Business Technologists, CEOs and Senior Management.

Fees/Day:

TiE Charter Members: Complimentary*
TiE Members: S$5.90^
TiE Student Members:S$15.90
TiE Partners: S$15.90
TiE Non Members & Guests: S$15.90

* – TiE Charter Members are getting complimentary access as they paid S$ 2000.00 for membership.
^ – TiE Members are getting discount on fees as they paid S$ 200.00 for membership.

When: Every Tuesday, starting from 29th May 2012
Time:12:15pm till 1:45pm
Where: Pita Pan, Marina Bay Sands, #01-87, 2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018972

Register here.

The length of time was picked because it gives people “complete focus, and educators to psychologists agree that the ability to focus one’s attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one’s goals.”

Singaporeans, however, overestimate the optimal time needed to be spent on this task.

Over 81 percent of Singaporean professionals believe the ideal amount of daily time spent on progressing their careers should be over 30 minutes, according to a research by IPSOS Mori and Catalyst, which surveyed 3,200 working professionals globally, including 400 in Singapore.

Interestingly, the study also discovered that a gender divide exists where 42% of the population think that men are better than women at networking, versus only 9% believing women were better.

Here’s a suggestion of activities suggested by LinkedIn that constitute career management. It applies to entrepreneurs too:

1. Build your network – building and maintaining relationships are a major component of a successful career.
2. Maintain relationships by recommending and congratulating others in their careers.
3. Request recommendations from your network as credibility is critical.
4. Document achievements and wins on your LinkedIn profile to stay current and relevant.
5. Update your status every day and make sure your profile and photo is current.
6. Expand on your thought leadership; lead a discussion on social networks; publish an article; start a blog; speak publicly or recommend books.
7. Use the power of video and create a video bio of yourself.
8. Source staff – one of a manager’s hardest jobs. If you build your brand community, you’ll create fans who want to work for you.
9. Research — Make an effort to get to know more about your clients or partners and competitors.

For more findings on Singaporeans’ work attitudes, check out this infographic:

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

ad:tech Singapore 2012 is a regional event for the interactive marketing community at its 5th edition. ad:tech Singapore brings together brand advertisers, traditional & interactive agencies, portals, on-line publishers and technology providers. With the continued growth in technology and use of digital media, ad:tech offers an unrivalled opportunity to discover new practices and technologies, and to learn how many of the great names have utilized the net, built brand recognition and immersed themselves in digital technologies. Companies are realizing the meaning of ROI on ad spend like never before.

Check out the speaker list and the schedule.