Great to see some amazing startups being launched out of the Asia region giving Silicon Valley a run for its money.
The Echelon Asia startup marketplace is this June 10-11, 2014 with over 100 exhibitors, over 500 regional investors, and over 2,000 delegates expected at this years Echelon 2014
Besides, being a pitch platform for startups to showcase their wares and interact with the enterprises, Echelon is also a hot-bed for investors to scout for potential funding ventures.
Carousell, Hotel Quickly, TradeHero, Noonswoon and Waygo Visual Translator, are all Echelon 2013 alumni.
Post Echelon, while Carousell has raised S$1million (US$800,000) seed funding led by Rakuten, and follow-on investments from Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups, and a few other angel investors; Hotel Quickly has raised HK$9 million (US$1.1 million) from angel investors from three continents. TradeHero has raised US$10 million in Series A from KPCB China Fund and IPV Capital; Noonswoon managed to raise US$400,000 in its seed round with Golden Gate Ventures as its lead investor. Last, but not the least, Waygo Visual Translator raised S$900,000 (US719,000) in its seed round from 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, and AngelVest.
Here is the list of the 50 startups confirmed for Startup Marketplace 2014:
1. Integrity Analysis – This New Zealand-based company has developed SwingProfile, a video analysis technology to help golfers to improve their game, which was highlighted at the Japan Satellite. Users can receive real-time and an automatic analysis of their golf swings right on their mobile phones.
2. Yaraku Inc – Founded by Suguru Sakanishi, this Japanese startup wants to translate websites into multiple languages quickly with its platform WorldJumper.com, which was seen in action during our Satellite in Japan.
3. YOYO Holdings Pte Ltd - Incorporated in Singapore but based in the Philippines, this startup consists of two Japanese Co-Founders. Its main product Candy, showcased during the Philippines Satellite, looks to reward users with Internet data packets whenever they check out advertisements on their phones.
4. QSearch – At the Taiwan Satellite, QSearch managed to wow the judges and get crowned as Winner with its eponymous product that aims to become the Google Adwords for Facebook. How, you ask? Well, its big data analytic service determines the user’s latent desire for a particular product or service, and helps brands to reach out to the correct target audience.
5. Starling Labs Limited – This Hong Kong-based company is developing Shopline, a shop creation platform that allows merchants in Asia to sell and market their products without any prior experience in programming a website. In fact, it’s so easy that its users can set up a shop on their smartphones.
6. Mohio Limited – Based in New Zealand, this startup wants to change how people visualise data with Mohiomap, a web application that helps teams to analyse how they have been interacting with each other via Evernote and Dropbox, mind-map style. Last seen at the Japan Satellite, it might just be the lifehack you are looking for.
7. Brand Pit – This Japan-based startup pitched at Japan Satellite with Brand Pit Analytics, a tool for brand managers to check out just how their products and services are doing on the World Wide Web. Instead of relying on the over-used hashtag and keywords, Brand Pit focuses on user-generated photos on social networks.
8. Four Eyes – That’s two eyes too many, but this Philippines-based startup’s eyewear store will allow consumers to try on spectacles at home. There is also a social cause to it; for each pair purchased, another pair will be donated to its partner World Vision.
9. Capy Inc – Having pitched at home country Japan, this startup has come up with Capy CAPTCHA, a solution to help website owners defend against unauthorised logins and identify theft with a verification process. It prides itself on a user-friendly and easy-to-use experience.
10. Medix – When was the last time you saw a dentist? Do you remember the dentist writing down notes on a sheet of paper? Well, Philippines’ Medix wants to help dentists go on the cloud and be more efficient in running their clinics with its ‘Medix Dental Software’.
11. Taamkru – This Thai startup is not only the winner of the Thailand Satellite, but probably a winner to many competitive parents looking to help their preschool children get a head start with an educational app. According to the CEO of Taamkru, Wicharn Manawanitjarern, the team will be releasing a new version of the app really soon!
12. Craftyful – Hong Kong-based startup Craftyful won the hearts of the judges at Singapore Satellite, and went home winner! Touting itself as “The World’s Largest Discount Craft Store”, the platform sells everything from zippers to buttons to charms.
13. Ambi Labs Limited – Based in Hong Kong, this startup developed Ambi Climate, a learning climate control system that helps users such as new parents, caregivers of the elderly, and the eco-conscious to control their air-conditioners and create a consistent thermal environment while reducing unnecessary energy consumption. They won both People’s Choice award and was crowned the Winner at Hong Kong Satellite.
14. Travelog Pte Ltd – This Singaporean startup is the company behind Travelog, a web and mobile platform to help travellers find relevant travel information through their crowd-sourced recommendation engine.
15. BeMyGuest – Singapore-based company behind the eponymous aggregator of tours and activities in the region wants to help standardise local travel content and distribute their inventory further. The idea was birthed from an “off the beaten track” trip in Kenya.
16. Credarp – This Taiwanese startup believes that “improvements go with statistics”, which it wishes to utilise to help sports team track, organise and analyse data for games with its new tool elbum. Traditionally, coaches use a handy dandy notebook, which does not help in understanding the data and being able to make data-driven changes.
17. JKTGo.com – Meet the Indonesian startup that won the People’s Choice award at Indonesia Satellite! This online directory wants to help tourists and citizens remain updated about latest happenings. With partnerships with restaurants in place, users can take advantage of JKT.Go.com to receive benefits.
18. JOB Forward – Based in the city-state, this recruiting platform took part in Singapore Satellite to showcase how it can help employers, job seekers and their friends find the right person for the job. It uses social graphs, and personal recommendations. In addition, it had won the People’s Choice award in Singapore.
19. easyuni Sdn Bhd – This Malaysian startup is the company behind easyuni.com, a higher education student portal that helps colleges across the globe recruit students and improve its brand exposure. Universities listed on the platform include University of Wroclaw, Poland; Asian International College, Singapore; and Shanghai Maritime University, China.
20. Smart Communities Pte Ltd – Based in Singapore, the company created RocketUncle which provides immediate or pre-scheduled delivery of parcels from e-commerce companies and retailers to local transportation firms and independent contractors. This means that shoppers will no longer have to wait on the courier company, hoping that their schedules will be accommodated.
21. Playbasis – Incorporated in Singapore, Playbasis is a gamification platform that helps large organisations increase user engagement, retention and loyalty through the use of data-driven game mechanics and behavioural triggers.
22. Echo 360 Co., Ltd – Based in Thailand, this startup is the team behind ad-sponsored free call service Freebie, which managed to partner up with Thai telecom company AIS. The service targets mobile users with a slightly heavier data or mobile consumption on a budget.
23. Matchdrobe – This Hong Kong-based company fuses real-time fashion with analytics by using addictively-designed style apps. It’s Arena app gives users endless style inspiration with “Choose your Look” style battles, giving this startup deeper understanding of users’ wants for fashion.
24. Glints Intern – With a proprietary personality profiling system, this Singaporean startup developed an internship portal for companies to find interns, and vice versa, based on personalities and skills.
25. Viscovery – Incorporated in Singapore, this startup has developed UR-Code, an image recognition service to help people search for information using their camera phones. Since scanning an object using camera phone is faster than typing, visual search then becomes a valuable tool in promoting mobile commerce.
26. iCHEF – This Taiwan-based startup aims to revolutionise restaurant point-of-sales (POS) systems, by making it easier and more convenient to enter and manage orders. Does your favourite restaurant keep getting your orders mixed up? Tell them to check out the iPad-based iChef!
27. Publishizer – Branded as a Kickstarter for books, Publishizer is a crowdfunding platform for authors to solicit pre-orders from the community and gauge demand for their books. It was founded by Guy Vincent in 2010, and is the winner of Singapore Echelon Satellite 2014. Who knew there were so many potential writers in Echelon!
28. Spavista – Overwhelmed by the sheer number of spas and not sure which to choose, as so many of them are expensive? Founded in December 2012 by Ken Suriafur, Indonesia-based Spavista aims to make searching for spas, fitness centres and salons easy and convenient.
29. Zipmatch – Zipmatch aims to revolutionise and automate the process by which people find their dream home. Having received funding from 500Startups and IdeaSpace, they are currently looking to scale their business and team, expanding beyond their home base of the Philippines.
30. Ritmo Learning Lab – Another Philippines-based startup, Ritmo Learning Lab is the developer behind Joomajam, a music-driven multimedia preschool learning tool. Written with age appropriate life skills and concepts, Joomajam is sure to get your kids toe-tapping while learning about themselves & the world at large!
31. Novitat co. ltd – Novitat is the developer of SkyPACS, a low cost and customizable mobile solution for radiologists and medical doctors to view medical images 3D. Now, doctors can look at that suspicious lump in your body and better determine if it is benign, or whether it will shorten your life by being made up of cancerous cells.
32. 99.co - Led by serial entrepreneur Darius Cheung, this room rental platform doesn’t plan to generate revenue for the next six months. Given that they have recently received funding of about US$560,000 from investors including Fenox VC, and Golden Gate Ventures, they certainly can afford to look for a viable, sustainable monetisation plan.
33. Mechanical Amoeba Ltd – Mechanical Amoeba is the company behind Ipselex, an intelligent patent SaaS system that utilises big data and AI techniques to minimise the costs of patent applications. No longer will the little SMEs be at the mercy of large corporations when it comes to product patent protection.
34. Kadinche – Founded in 2008, Kandinche is the developer of Panoplaza, which is a product that helps customers view and shop for goods virtually, using a panoramic view of storefronts. Now boyfriends the world over need not worry about lengthy walks around malls; instead they should keep an eye on electricity and internet charges!
35. The French Cellar – Have a taste for fine French wine? Check out The French Cellar’s wine subscription service, where they will send you two bottles of French wines imported straight from vineyards, carefully selected by their in-house sommelier Nicolas Rebut, previously Chief Sommelier at two three-star Michelin restaurants.
36. Shepherd Kit – Even as kids are getting all tech-savvy and glued to their (parents’) smartphones and tablets, one company still believes in good old hands-on learning. By subscribing to Shepherd Kit, parents give their children a chance to make their own toys, letting them have fun while learning, and finally get their sticky hands off Dad’s shiny new Samsung Galaxy s5.
37. Kluje – Launched just this year, Singapore-based Kluje provides you with a reliable and easy way to find contractors for your home improvement projects. With their rating and testimonial system, no longer will you have to endure bad service and shoddy work from Phua Chu Kang wannabes!
38. TalentEx Co ltd – Did you get your last job through your network of friends and business associates? TalentEx’s JobTalents, a Thailand-based online meeting place for job seekers and employers, aims to use social media and referrals to make the best matches for skills and talents.
39. iCallMe – Absent-minded? Having a hard time remembering events and things? With iCallMe, you can arrange to receive reminder calls. If you still forget stuff, though, iCallMe has another feature: it can also create fake calls to extricate yourself from sticky situations. So next time, if your wife confronts you about forgetting her birthday…
40. Zodio - Zodio is a is a social location-based platform that helps people discover places around them using ratings and recommendations from their friends. Currently, they are active in Thailand and the Philippines, and boast over 150,000 users as of August 2013. With Zodio, you’ll never need to worry about where to eat and what to do again!
41. Mappin – Created by app developer startup Stealth Mode, Mappin aims to be a social map application to help people create, share and find information on any topic on a map surface with their mobile phone. Their app is still in development, so feel free to download a beta version, give your feedback, and help them make a better product.
42. Softbaked – Softbaked is the company behind Page365, a Thailand-based e-commerce startup that offers hand-crafted solutions for Facebook stores. Offering automatic responses, integrated billing, and analytics, Page365 lets small e-commerce sites have an online presence comparable to big brands on Facebook.
43. Commerce Labs – Commerce Labs is the developer behind AproGift, a social gifting plugin for e-commerce sites. With AproGift, you can invite your friends and colleagues to chip in for gifts and gift suggestions, simultaneously reducing costs and liability for when the recipient doesn’t like the gift.
44. ShopperBoard – Shopperboard is a pinboard where users can collect their favourite fashion items from any online store, where others can follow for style inspiration. Unlike Pinterest. ShopperBoard lets users purchase those products directly by linking to the stores directly. Now you can create a wishlist for yourself!
45. LeeRit - Incorporated in Singapore, LeeRit aims to make learning English easier. Using its Smart MCQ system, LeeRit lets students acquire essential vocabulary by intelligent scheduling and review. As globalisation continues its unstoppable march, LeeRit is poised to take advantage of the ever-growing market of English learners around the world.
46. Pricify – Have you always wanted to buy something, but kept putting it off because you’re waiting for a sale? And that you just missed out on the sales period for some reason or another? Never fear, as Pricify is here to help! With an alert system to inform you of deals, you don’t have to miss out on another sale again!
47. Hoverr – Hoverr is an in-image ad serving solution for brands and e-commerce advertisers. With Hoverr, advertisers can embed ads inside highly-shared photos, such as those of celebrities, improving reach and reducing the obstrusiveness of ads.
48. Tootpay Sdn Bhd -Tootpay is a mobile financial solution that aims to remove barriers to mobile banking and payment. To do this, Tootpay offers mobile-enabled banking and wallet systems, allowing financial institutions and e-commerce firms reach out to mobile users and offer value added payment services.
49. Butlur – Echelon 2014 seems to have a surfeit of gifting startups. Racking your brains over what to give your girlfriend? With Hong Kong-based Butlur, you can shop a curated selection of thoughtful gifts, ensuring that your date will always be pleased! It also provides a refund system, for when your taste really leaves much to be desired.
50. Anywhere togo co. tld – Anywhere togo is the developer of ilertu, an app that lets users keep track of their loved ones, and sends alerts whenever they encounter any problems. Based in Thailand, ilertu is particularly useful for caretakers, who need to be sure of where their charges are at at any point of time.
Best of luck to all involved.
Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net
