Describing itself as “Xiaohongshu with a twist”, The Shonet closed a seed funding round by Maloekoe Ventures in March this year

Earlier this year, Indonesian social media platform The Shonet closed an undisclosed seed funding round by Maloekoe Ventures.

But in an interview with e27 at the company’s office in South Jakarta, The Shonet CEO & Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Kurniawan reveals that it is currently raising for a new funding round.

“Since our growth had surpassed our projection, we are now raising to keep up with our growth,” she says.

Launched in May 2017, The Shonet is a social networking platform that is aimed for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle (FBL) experts –from vloggers, bloggers, to practitioners such as makeup artists and fashion stylists.

For a start, users can curate and share FBL products that they are recommending (“mix-and-match”), based on the inventory that is available on the platform –just like in Pinterest.

Also Read: Startup of the Month, February: Fashion e-commerce platform Zilingo

But once they have stepped up to the next level –becoming “insiders”– they will unlock the ability to produce their own content, in the form of articles. These insiders are also allowed to share their portfolio, enabling them to gain a wider audience for their works.

“We are basically a product search platform. Instead of going to five different e-commerce sites to look for a product, users can search for the trending product on The Shonet,” Kurniawan says.

“Fashion and beauty are defined by people. We give power for them to connect, create, and share their inspirations. That’s the future we are looking at,” she stresses.

Kurniawan says that The Shonet currently has over 7.5 million visitors with four to five million monthly active users.

The platform has recently introduced a new category for men’s FBL products, and according to Kurniawan, it has helped widen their audience and attributed to the company’s growth.

“We launched a men’s segment because we see a gap in the market. Since its launch, our visitors increased by two million in a month,” she says.

Also Read: Fashion and music take centre stage at Jakarta’s TOP100 announcement

Having been bootstrapped for two years, The Shonet monetises through advertisement on the platform.

In the future, the platform aims to add an e-commerce element by enabling insiders to sell services –such as makeup artists or fashion stylists– on the platform.

“We grow based on [the spirit of] community and we have a content-based approach … so users are acquired through word-of-mouth,” Kurniawan explains.

“Take the example of makeup artists and stylists, back in the days, magazines were considered as a home for them. But time has changed and with The Shonet, they can display all our their portfolio there, give tips for users … It is like Facebook or LinkedIn but for FBL,” she continues.

For these insiders, the startup also routinely hosts offline training programme on various topics such as SEO and content writing.

“We are just like Xiaohongshu but with a twist. The twist is in the social network and community element,” Kurniawan points out.

Also Read: Indonesian fashion e-commerce site Sale Stock changes its name to Sorabel

Growing fast

 

Kurniawan is an example of startup founders who started out their career in other field but tech.

She pursued her career as a fashion buyer in the US before returning to Indonesia to work in retail, also as a buyer.

Her introduction to the Indonesian startup ecosystem happened when she was working at IDN Media –an online media company that has recently made its foray to e-sports with the acquisition of GGWP.ID.

During her time at IDN Media, Kurniawan helped build FBL news platform POPBELA from scratch.

“That’s when I saw the opportunity to build something with digital media. In the old days, people used to look up to the media to discover lifestyle trends. But today we are looking up to individuals,” she says.

“If we want to build trust among Millennial and Gen-Z, we need to create a social network,” she adds.

Also Read: Thai fashion e-tailer Pomelo officially launches in Malaysia

Run by a team of 35, The Shonet is currently expanding its tech team, with the goal to grow the company into a 50-person team.

When asked about their targets for the fundraising, Kurniawan was not able to disclose the figures. But she says that the company’s plan is to dominate the Indonesian market for FBL platforms –and eventually, Southeast Asia.

“What keeps me awake at night? [The thought] that we are not growing fast enough,” she stresses.

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Image Credit: The Shonet

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Some products or services get more demand when you charge a fee

For the last year, we’ve been running a program called CTOTalk from our Chennai office. It’s been a big success for us, and a great way to connect with some of the best technology minds from product companies in India. We’ve heard from the CTOs of Flipkart, Naukri, Swiggy, Snapdeal, Big Basket, and more.

When we started the program, we wanted to keep it as a free event to allow as many people as possible to come. We promoted the event on many different channels and usually had an average of 175 free registrations.

Given the types of speakers we were getting, we knew the content would be exceptional, but we also knew that not all the people who registered would come. The best we did was get 45% of those who registered to attend, and once it was as low as 31%.

We really wanted these events to be a big success, which meant increasing the quality of the turnout. So, as an experiment, we introduced a little bit of friction to the process. Instead of registering for free, we charged Rs. 200 at the time of registering. We knew this would bring down the signups, but we thought it would lead to a better conversion of the people who actually came and wanted to engage. It was a calculated risk.

But we were floored when we saw the results.

Instead of the registrations dropping, we saw a slight increase from our average number of registrations! It was shocking to us that we would get even more people while asking them to pay.

But the real surprise came the night of the first paid event. To our delight, 69% of people who registered came to the event, making it the best attended one we’ve done yet, both in terms of number of people attending, and in the attendee to registration percentage.

We expected lower registrations, a higher conversion, and roughly the same number of people to come.

We got more registrations, a dramatic increase in conversions, and more people to come.

Also read: 7 tips for even the most timid entrepreneurs to succeed at networking events

When we looked back at the data, we wondered if many of these people were the same ones who came to earlier events, but found that only 30-40% of the people who came had ever attended a CTOTalk event before.

As we look back on why this happened, two major ideas emerged.

1. By charging a fee, we found people who were interested in serious events. When an event is marketed as free, some people perceive it as just a gimmick to fill a room and not something where actual great content will be discussed. What we thought was an element of friction turned out to be a signal to validate quality. So, there were many people who registered and came precisely because it was paid.
2. The price indicated a deal. Getting to hear the likes of the CTOs of Snapdeal and Swiggy is a great opportunity. In fact, we could easily price the event at Rs. 2,000 or more and most people would find that to be reasonable. Pricing it at Rs. 200 was obviously undervaluing it, which everyone recognized. Therefore, Rs. 200 seemed like a great deal–something people were more anxious to grab. This was a surprise understanding for us.
3. Pre-paid registration gave people an additional reason to come. The night of an event like this, many things happen for those planning to attend. Work will go late, or another event will come up. If you registered for free, you are more likely to skip the event because it didn’t cost you anything in the first place. But since people already paid Rs. 200, they felt some buy-in and it was an additional reason not to miss.

As we plan for more upcoming events, we’ll keep tinkering with this system to find the best way to promote and get people to attend these amazing talks on technology.

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This article was first published on e27 on November 30, 2018.

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

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Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

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Near says its platform has a large data-set of people’s behaviour that is aimed at brands, enterprises, and publishers

Singapore-based AI-powered platform Near has landed a US$100 million in its latest round of Series D funding from private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital (GPC).

This brings the company’s total investment raised to date to US$134 million. Its earlier investors included Sequoia Capital and JP Morgan.

Anil Mathews, Founder & CEO, Near, said: “With the new funds, we will be launching a suite of new data products, powered by our core platform. These funds will help us strengthen our position in existing markets and expand our presence in key strategic markets.”

Near claims its platform has the largest data-set of people’s behaviour in the real-world that is aimed at brands, enterprises, and publishers. Databases of location, transaction, and other unique real-world signals can help with data enrichment and marketing, in a privacy-led environment.

Near’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product, Allspark, enables end-to-end marketing automation for clients and partners across over 20 countries.

Ketan Patel, CEO, GPC, commented, “Near provides insights into human behaviour by analysing where people are, and combining that with a multitude of data points to predict and influence behaviour. Given it does this across the globe in a privacy-protected manner, it is well-positioned to create an exciting new space that delivers value to both people, and those that wish to build relationships with them.”

Also Read: [Exclusive] Raising a new funding round, The Shonet aims to push for greater growth

Near is present across Asia-Pacific, the US, and Europe with client portfolios such as News Corp, MetLife, Mastercard, and WeWork.
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The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) will help create more job opportunities for professionals who specialise in the field of data protection

The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) of Singapore has announced the launch of its new Data Protection Officer  Competency Framework and Training Roadmap, which is designed to help Data Protection Officers’ (DPO) perform their jobs more effectively.

DPO’s are key to the country’s data protection framework as they support the responsible use of data and help to drive data innovation.

The commission also appointed Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) as Singapore’s Accountability Agent (AA) for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) and Privacy Recognition for Processors (PRP) Systems certifications.

What this combination of acronyms translates to essentially is that IMDA will help facilitate cross-border data flow between countries under APEC.

PDPC, supported by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), and NTUC LearningHub, will be launching a 12-month pilot programme to train and upskill DPOs.

Also Read: How an energytech firm is improving energy efficiency in Singapore

These data protection-related courses will be available from the fourth quarter of 2019, and expected to benefit at least 500 DPOs in the first year.

Gilbert Tan, CEO of NTUC’s e2i said, “Data is an increasingly vital resource needed for timely business decisions. e2i, together with NTUC, will help to operationalise the new Framework by reaching out to working professionals, whose job function includes data protection, and equipping them with relevant skill sets to manage, protect and govern data.”

Also Read: Singapore’s AI-based data startup Near raises US$100M from Greater Pacific Capital

Singapore is the third economy after the US and Japan to operationalise the system, and certifications are now open for applications by all companies.

To encourage more organisations to apply for CPBR and PRP certifications, IMDA will waive the APEC CBPR and PRP Systems application fees for SMEs until 30 June 2020. Enterprise Singapore will also support Singapore-based organisations in adopting the certifications by defraying assessment and consultancy costs.

The APEC CBPR and PRP certifications will complement the IMDA’s Data Protection Trustmark certification. Organisations interested in applying for both certifications can do so via an integrated application process.

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Also, wealthtech from Thailand expands to Singapore, and honestbee’s VP of Marketing Christina Lim left the company

Women’s health app Nyra launches Bahasa Malaysia version [Press Release]

Vivant, the digital health technology startup, announces the launch of ‘Nyra’ in Bahasa Malaysia to help women of all ages track their feminine health, fertility, and fitness. Vivant claimed that Nyra is designed as a one-stop solution for women of all ages juggling multiple health and wellness goals to accurately track their period, fertility, ovulation, as well as physical activity, symptoms, and diet.

From information entered into the app, Nyra provides personalised health and fertility insights, giving women full control over the entire feminine health journey – from preconception to pregnancy and post-pregnancy. It also has an in-app chat feature that allows women to connect directly with a doctor for private one-to-one conversations on health matters including fertility, contraception, sexual health, and everything in between.

Adrit Raha, Chief Executive Officer, Vivant said, “Women’s health can be a sensitive subject in Malaysia and Nyra aims to empower women to break through existing barriers and take full control of every aspect of their feminine health and wellbeing, informed by accurate and personalised health insights.”

Nyra is the first product launched by Vivant under its Nyra women’s health brand, which expects to see an expanded range of products in the region across the women’s health spectrum including pregnancy, post-pregnancy care and re-entering the workplace.

Thai wealthtech Jitta forays into Singapore and India [Nikkei Asian Review]

Thai wealth technology startup Jitta has announced its plan to expand its services to Singapore and India following the US$6.5 million raised from Beacon Venture Capital, the venture capital arm of Kasikornbank in the first half of 2019.

Jitta was founded in 2014 offering a free asset analysis platform that analyses public information, such as earnings, and ranks stocks on their valuation from stock markets in the U.S., Thailand, Japan, and other parts of Asia.

Also Read: Singapore’s data protection framework gets a boost with new appointment, initiative

Jitta is launching a fund that uses its analysis service to help investors manage their investments. Customers will be charged a 0.5 per cent management fee, and Jitta will take 10% of their yearly profits.

Oyo sets foothold in co-working space acquiring Innov8 [Techcrunch]

India’s budget hotel startup Oyo announced that it has acquired co-working space Innov8 for US$30 million, as reported by Techcrunch. The co-living spaces segment is its new business to target, the report said.

The Gurgaon-headquartered firm on Tuesday announced Oyo Workspaces, which is already operational across 10 cities in India with more than 20 centers. It currently has the capacity to serve more than 15,000 people, with more than 6,000 employees from firms such as Swiggy, Paytm, Pepsi, Nykaa, OLX, and Lenskart have already signed up for the service.

Innov8 is one of the three in-house brands that are part of Oyo Workspaces. The other two brands — Workflo and Powerstation — are aimed at people who are looking for the economical offering. A user could access one of these co-working spaces for as low as Rs 6,999 (US$102) a month.

honestbee’s VP of Marketing left the company [Vulcan Post]

After a whirlwind of negative press surrounding its “temporary pause” in operations and partnerships due to an alleged cash crash issue and multiple layoffs, it is now reported that Christina Lim, the company’s Vice President of Marketing has exited the company.

Lim’s move followed suit the resignations of co-founder Isaac Tay and Joel Sng, and managing director Chris Urban.

Also Read: Digitised cross-border trade platform dltledgers raises Pre-Series A funding

Lim was previously responsible for the marketing team to drive brand awareness and loyalty across all its business verticals and has been with the firm for a year.

Lim has revealed to the press that she will be focused on consulting work for companies.

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