These companies will compete for country glory before heading to Echelon to try to be the

Just got your pitch deck ready? Drop it here and register for TOP100! https://goo.gl/forms/kEm7nG0If6nr6AbH3

TOP100 APAC 2019 is right around the corner! The best pitching competition hopes to travel to 17 countries and find Asia’s best startups.

We will be visiting countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia to make sure no startup is missed.

The programme is organised by e27 with the mission of empowering startups with insights, connections, talent, and funding opportunities. This year, the programme has shifted to a private pitching competition to better facilitate quality pitching.

But hurry!!! Applications will close on 28 February 2019. To give you a teaser of the competition, these 15 awesome startups who will be taking their first step to TOP100 APAC 2019 and get a chance to pitch at Echelon Asia Summit 2019:

Meet the 15 startups!

Muzaara Pty Ltd – Australia

Muzaara’s intelligent marketing platform has been developed by industry experts who saw a need to offer small to medium advertisers an advanced but simple platform to create and manage their online advertising on Google Shopping and Facebook.

Alice Labs Pte Ltd. – Bangladesh

ALICE provides multiple platforms (automated or manual) to gather user data and transform those to actionable insights. In ALICE, customer experience can be enhanced through auto responses (i.e. chatbots) or manual agents. Also the organisation receives insights on customer behaviour and patterns.

Yunfengsu – China

Yunfengsu provides an accelerated big data pipeline and augment intelligence for business intelligence through something they call ZHIS.AI . They aim to create a cohesive environment for all isolated and silo’d data into a unified avenue for data utilization across all platforms

Pricekart – India

Pricekart is a leading product search, price comparison and discovery engine that helps users find the latest and most trendy products. It uses tools, reviews and rich content to better understand which product suits their needs while ‘choosing the best, but paying the least.’

Pollen Tech Pte Ltd – Malaysia

Pollen leverages sellers existing communities to make it easier for people to earn a side income.

The Community Commerce Network aim is to “Spread Commerce – Sell Anywhere, Earn More”

DDIY – Myanmar

DDIY is a trusted online home concierge platform that combines technology with top-rated home managers to provide and manage a suite of in-home services and deliver retail products and experiences right to your door.

Also Read: Why TOP100 made the decision to host a private pitching competition

From grocery shopping to housekeeping to house party planning, DDIY completes your to-do lists so that you can spend more time living life.

TripZeeker, Inc. – Philippines

TripZeeker is an online bazaar of travel experiences that connects travelers with multiple tour operators across the globe.

ELXR – Singapore

ELXR is a all-in-one scientifically driven fitness mobile App that analyses your genetics analysis and fitness assessment to customise your best training programme. ELXR is also a community for meeting like-minded people who enjoy the same workouts.

QLC (NewCampus) – Singapore

QLC is a global co-learning school delivering bite-sized learnings and strong takeaways in inspiring 21st-century classrooms. NewCampus is a different type of school, for curious people who never want to stop growing. Attend daily small-group classes hosted by global instructors about big topics in the world today.

Whether you’re looking to gain specific new skills, or window-shopping different topics to get inspired, they’ll help you get where you want to be. They’ll be running an event on 23rd February do check it out!

Seekster -Thailand

Seekster serves as a platform for home services whose main foucs is on household helpers and technicians. Seekster curates the service provider and sets the standard for the fragmented service market.

They are currently entrusted with over 100,000 jobs done and have distributed jobs to over 7,000 service providers

Getdone Pte. Ltd – Vietnam

Getdone is a platform for Hiring trusted Blockchain talents and freelancers across the world for your project while assuring 100% successful hiring by their Data and AI driven reviewing system.  

Erxes Inc – Mongolia

Erxes is an open-source growth marketing platform. They provide a marketing, sales, and customer service platform designed to help your business attract more engaged customers.

Semut – Malaysia

Semut is a recruitment company that offers the industry low-fees, chargeable to the hiring company, only upon successful hire. What’s even better, people involved in the process, be it referrer, nominator and domain experts will be incentivised with commission.With the help of domain experts and artificial intelligence in the matching process, we have our best bet in achieving our vision – right talents to the right opportunities.

Zigway – Myanmar

We are building a sustainable, scalable social enterprise that will lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2030 through building a mobile technology platform to help low-income families access NanoLoans, quick, cheap and flexible loans to cover their daily needs.

Noodle Factory – Singapore

At Noodle Factory, they believe that learning is essential throughout our lives, but there isn’t always time or money for classes or workshops, and sometimes, we just want something more engaging.

Online learning has evolved rapidly over the years, and while it can be effective, it often is a time-consuming process for content owners to digitalise their content. As tech junkies, they are always striving to leverage technology to make things better.

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So what are you waiting for? These guys didn’t!

Calling all startups to sign up: https://e27.co/echelon/asia/top100

Not a startup but keen to meet the e27 team while we tour Asia Pacific? We’re running a series of Echelon Roadshows (Founders Confession content session, networking opportunities and F&B provided), RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.sg/o/e27-61600204

The post 15 more awesome startups that will be apart of TOP100 APAC 2019 appeared first on e27.

The local government is behind the eco-friendly initiative for the capital city of Central Java province

Semarang, the capital city of the Central Java region, just hosted the launch of GOWES, a bike sharing platform and app supported by the government.

Owned by PT Surya Teknologi Perkasa (STP), the subsidiary of digital company PT M Cash Integrasi Tbk (IDX: MCAS), the company created a GOWES fleet, which is an e-bike and e-scooter fleet that provides transportation alternatives aimed at the locals and tourists that come to the city.

Also Read: 15 more awesome startups that will be apart of TOP100 APAC 2019

A total of 30 bikes unit, 20 e-scooters unit, and 10 e-bikes unit from GOWES were available to try in a government-facilitated CFD event. Involved in the event was Jajaran Musyawarah Pimpinan Daerah (Muspida), the region’s discussion leader for Semarang and the local telecommunication provider XL Axiata.

XL Axiata provides the SIM card and internet connection to support the Tracking Device feature in the GOWES app.

“We want to provide a transportation alternative that’s air and noise pollution free for everyone to use, especially the residents of Semarang,” said Iwan Suryaputra, the President Director of PT Surya Teknologi Perkasa (STP).

Suryaputra also added that the launch seeks to promote a healthier lifestyle among the locals.

GOWES will first be made accessible in the tourist spots all over the city such as the the legendary Lawang Sewu, the gift shops center, Goa Kreyo, Buddhist worship temple Kelenteng Gedung Batu Sam Poo Kong, and many more. The goal is to eventually have hundreds of the fleets in the city.

The bike sharing platform is the development of STP’s main product of Tracking Device & Digital Indonesia Map, utilising Internet of Things (IOT) technology applied to each bike to let users leaving the bike anywhere in the operational area of GOWES. The GOWES team will then collect the bike after use.

Also Read: How does my startup make it into Echelon’s TOP100 this year?

So far, GOWES has operated in Bali, covering Kuta, Legian, Sanur, Nusa Dua, and Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in Bali. GOWES also can be found in Jakarta, specifically in Monumen Nasional (Monas) area, Gelora Bung Karno (GBK), residential areas like Bintaro Jaya and Nava Park BSD City, as well as at Telkom University, Bandung.

By downloading the app in Google Play Store and App Store and credit topping up into the app in digital kiosks, users can use GOWES’s services that also provide internet data and other digital products.
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Image Credit: GOWES

The post IOT-based bike-sharing service GOWES launched in Semarang, Indonesia appeared first on e27.

The rise of micro-influencers are among Indonesia’s top prospects

2018 was a rocky year for Tagtoo, the digital advertising company I work. But, by the end of the 12-months, we were ahead of where we were at the end of 2017.

The road was filled with hardships and hurdles and we had a close call with failure. But, we persevered through the tough times  and eventually found success.

A major reason our hard work paid off is we got a grasp on how we could make a breakthrough in Indonesia.

Since our entrance into this market, we have been paying close attention to the digital marketing development in Indonesia.

As an ad-tech company, we are fortunate to receive first-hand information of future growth trajectory through clients we collaborate and approach. Coupled with insights gained from interviewing marketing professionals, we cherrypicked four key marketing trends to watch out for in 2019.

We hope this can help more companies prepare themselves better for the upcoming challenges.

The strong growth in digital advertising

The demand for digital advertising — banner ads, video ads, and native ads — will become stronger as more Indonesians have access to internet service via their desktops and mobile devices.

Despite 2017’s internet penetration standing at only 54.68 per cent, The Association for Internet Service Provider in Indonesia has revealed that the total number of internet users (around 144 million) signifies a lucrative digital advertising opportunity.

The outlay for mobile ads will account for nearly 50 per cent of total digital ads expenditure in 2019, reaching US$312 million. Since buying a decent smartphone is increasingly conventional, mobile ads are becoming the first touchpoint for advertisers to enter an Indonesian user’s personal space.

The emergence of more personalized ads on mobile devices is anticipated. More Internet user data will be collected from smartphone use.

The next problem for Indonesian e-commerce is how to harness user data to drive more conversions.

In addition, ad-targeting is going to shift from traditional demographic targeting to advanced behavioural targeting. This transformation will show a significant increase in the effectiveness of digital ads and drive more transactions.

More transparent reports are needed

Indonesia’s digital advertising is at a nascent stage.

Many companies are just beginning their online presence and have a limited understanding of digital advertising. This situation creates a grey area or a loophole that can be exploited.

Transparency and reliability in digital advertising remains a serious issue in Indonesia.

Also Read: Internet penetration in Indonesia reaches 143M people: APJII Report

Fake reports and incorrect data are frequently disclosed after advertisers outsource digital advertising to some traditional agencies.

It’s hard to judge the campaign performance.

Most advertisers don’t know if their ads are properly displayed or if the post-campaign reports are authentic. Many are mislead by the incorrect data and falsely believe their advertising campaign performs well.

“That’s why we highly encourage our clients to set up Google Analytics,” Mick Lu, head of Indonesia, Tagtoo, shared.

As more advertisers become tech-savvy, the use of a third-party tracking tool, such as Google Analytics, will help more professional ad-tech companies rise to the top.

“Learning how to interpret their own data in a correct way is critical for the business operation. That way, it helps clarify the performance attribution between agencies and clients, avoiding unnecessary trust issues,” Lu continued.

A report that fully reflects the real performance is what the Indonesian market desperately needs.

This 2019, we are positive that digital advertising will become more transparent.

Agencies offer more strategic values

There is a huge gap in terms of digital marketing in Indonesia.

Top internet businesses have built relatively competitive digital advertising teams and are well-equipped with the latest digital marketing skills.

On the other hand, SMEs and budding startups are trying to catch up.

Indonesia will see this gap becoming bigger in the coming years as more capital is instilled to cooperates and unicorn startups. Most digital placements are tightly grasped and leave no room for small players.

To surpass these difficulties, digital agencies play an important role.

They could provide strategic value through strategy, campaign execution, and scale; helping smaller companies compete with bigger names.

By collaborating with professional agencies to leverage their expertise, smaller companies can stay focused on their core business and product optimization with limited resources at hand.

This way, it could create more chances for smaller companies to survive and transition into the next stage where more resources and capitals are available to assemble a competent team.

Also Read: Happened in Indonesia: Bukalapak launches R&D centre, bike-sharing service in Bandung

“Most Indonesian entrepreneurs haven’t realized the importance of data collection while many international companies have been utilizing data for product optimization for so long,” shared Kent Kong, marketing director of Wellcomm, Indonesia’s largest electronic gadgets retailer.

“With more new methodologies and marketing tools brought by agencies, I strongly believe it would help radically change the way Indonesian entrepreneur does business,” Kong continued in the exclusive interview with Tagtoo.

Micro-Influencer marketing becomes popular

Influencer marketing is the next holy grail for Indonesia companies to push sales to another level.

By utilising the influence celebrities have on their huge fanbases, companies gain an additional secret weapon to stimulate the stagnant growth of revenue.

However, not every company, especially for SMEs, can afford to pay a celebrity millions of dollars for a simple one-time campaign. This amount of money is enough for a startup or small company to run operations for several months.

Actually, turning to micro-influencers (those with 50,000 followers and below) in a specific field could be a more realistic and cost-effective method.

Also Read: 4 startups making an impact by including corporate social responsibility in their business model

While these micro-influencers may not possess as many followers as popular celebrities, their fanbases are far more focused and more likely to make conversions.

Unlike megastars, these micro-influencers seem much more relatable to the average person.

The grassroots spirit they represent shows greater authenticity and reliability, which people can easily resonate with.

Think of it this way, a friend’s recommendation is always more impactful than what TV stars boast of.

The importance of tapping into Influencer marketing is well recognized.

With more micro-influencers mushrooming up in major platforms, such as Instagram and Vigo, it’s widely believed that micro-influencers will become mainstream in 2019.

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e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post What we learned from almost failing before an Indonesia break through appeared first on e27.

Go ahead, ask someone to join you at Echelon. We got your second (and third) ticket covered.

We’re not giving you flowers or chocolates or cards or plushies. But because we do love you, we want to make a good impression this Valentine’s week (yep, we’re going for a Valentine’s week and not just a day).

So, two things:

Get one free Starter ticket for every purchase of 1 Starter ticket

We have a lot of things in store for you this Echelon and we know it would be a lot more fun if you bring someone with you. Starter tickets give you access to all three conference stages (Founder, Future, Capital), the TOP100 pitching stage, exhibition areas and partnered zones (TOP100, Marketplace, country pavilions and Talent Zone), the official Echelon App, and the Echelon Official Afterparty.

Our Valentine’s promo can be found here.

Find out more about Echelon 2019

Get two free Starter tickets for every purchase of 1 Premier ticket

They say three’s a crowd but we say the more the merrier. Besides, your Premier ticket will give you all Starter ticket access plus other special features like one-on-one meetings, business matching, access to workshops and roundtable discussions, and many more so you’ll be busy in case you lose track of the two people you’re giving your free Starter tickets to.

Purchase your Premier ticket and we’ll send you a code to get your 2 free Starter tickets. Get tickets here

This promo runs beginning right now until 17th of February (or until supplies last).

 

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Echelon Asia Summit 2019 is bringing together 15,000 of the best and brightest of APAC’s tech ecosystem. Happening on May 23-24 at the Singapore Expo, Echelon features 3 conference stages, over 300 exhibitors, TOP100 startup pitching, special workshops and roundtable discussions, and many more.

Register today!

Get updates and share your Echelon story on social media using #Echelon2019

The post Our idea of a good Valentine: Free Echelon Asia Summit 2019 tickets appeared first on e27.