I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg wakes up every morning, checks the news, and dies a little inside.

At the end of June, his company crossed 2 billion users. Since its IPO in 2012, Facebook stock has risen by nearly 5x and the company continues to see incredible growth in the world’s emerging market.

Facebook is the most powerful social media company in the world.

Except it’s not.

That company is Twitter. And, as I will argue, in one moment last night, I realised that this company with slow growth, boring product updates and no profits is the most powerful company in tech.

Come on man…

It is a ridiculous claim, but hear me out, because it starts with a change in opinion.

For about a year now, I have told anyone who would listen that I think Amazon is the most important company in tech, and that it wasn’t even close.

The only other company I would even consider was Google, just because of its sheer volume of information. But Amazon is going after the infrastructure of capitalist economies which I believe will fundamentally alter how we live in the next couple of decades.

I pointed to skyrocketing stock prices, dominant market share (both in e-commerce and cloud computing), and a sense that the company is just scraping the surface of its potential.

In terms of pure financials and money-making potential, I still think Amazon is the clear leader, but my argument was confused with power. It is an easy mistake to make, as that distinction is often blurred, but it is still a mistake.

By Wall Street metrics, Twitter is a dying company (just look at its stock price, dummy). It will never compete with Facebook, and Snapchat has zoomed past in terms of potential. Wall Street tells me that Twitter will go down as a historical footnote of the second startup revolution. Hell, even I wrote that Twitter was dying.

But I forgot that the vast majority of people are not investors, and the masses don’t particularly care about their opinions.

Also Read: Can overfunding kill a startup?

Last night, my inner-teenager rose from the ashes and reminded me that, not only is the finance sector’s view of impact warped, it is incorrect.

So, let’s set the stage.

Donald Trump Jr.

The problem Twitter has is a push-pull between its loyal users and attracting new customers. I would argue that the problem is the most extreme of the major social media platforms.

Twitter is hard, it requires effort and most new users get either frustrated, bored, or both. (Snapchat is also hard, but far less boring with only a few friends).

I recently told my friend with reinvigorated Twitter-interest that she needed to sit down and add 2,000 accounts to follow. Until that happens, Twitter’s usefulness will be opaque at best.

But this required-investment is also Twitter’s strength, and it is particularly why journalists love the platform.

What Twitter has that no other social media can replicate is a sense that it is alive. It sleeps, it gets angry, it is often sarcastic, funny and aggressive. It really never gets happy, but so be it.

A lot of journalists can keep their account open all day, and promptly ignore it. What they are waiting for is the moments when Twitter explodes (and no social media platform has figured out how to replicate a Twitter-explosion). It is a ‘lead’, and now the reporter can do the follow-up research.

For people who are really good at Twitter, they can “feel” the network.

For example, last night I was watching Netflix and had my account open. Usually, if Twitter is open and I don’t pay attention for an hour, it will notify me that I missed 50-60 updates, all on various topics. When I turned off my show, I checked Twitter and saw 600 updates.

What just happened!? There was a David Brooks column that angered some people, but this seemed out of proportion.

Within a minute I had figured it out.

Donald Trump Jr. had just released an email chain admitting he had met with a Russian lawyer to discuss dirt on Hilary Clinton during last year’s US election.

An important point. Trump Jr. did not tell a journalist, who then blasted out the story. He just just dropped the files in his feed and watched the explosion.

Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017

Which led to this hilarious tweet from an independent journalist.

I…worked on this story for a year…and…he just…he tweeted it out.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017

But it was one semi-sarcastic tweet from the New York Time’s tech reporter, Mike Isaac, that led to my epiphany.

twitter dot com: we may have product and revenue struggles, but we also played an instrumental role in taking down an administration

— ?_? (@MikeIsaac) July 11, 2017

Does Mike Isaac think the Trump administration is over? I doubt it. But he is making a point: this unprofitable company with slow growth has done more to alter modern history than Amazon, Facebook or Google.

If that sounds hyperbolic, here are some examples.

Prove it

So far, I have explained why Twitter is valuable to reporters, which does not support my thesis that it is the most powerful company in tech. So, let’s make that argument.

It boils down to a few things — the 140 character limit, the minimal algorithm and the dumb luck that one of the most powerful people in the world is practically addicted.

Let’s get the obvious example out of the way. Donald Trump would not be President of the United States without Twitter. A lot of factors led to his election, but Twitter is very much one of them.

Ironically, it also might be the vehicle of his demise.

Twitter is Trump’s direct connection to his base, and his go-to tool for pissing off the left. He has a Facebook account, and guess what? Nobody cares.

Trump could Facebook the way he uses Twitter, but he doesn’t; that right there gives Twitter a significant edge.

Now, let’s broaden out a bit but stay in the same general arena.

In 2011, the Russian online activist name Alexei Navalny went after a parliamentary election and in doing so motivated a protest-movement that nearly took down Russia’s President Vladamir Putin. His core form of organisation? Yup, Twitter.

In the process, Russian officials blamed then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton of supporting the opposition, which lead to bad blood that came full circle five years later.

US intelligence agencies all agree the Russians meddled in the US election with the purpose of ensuring that anybody besides Clinton became President. Many people point to the Navalny protests as the moment the antagonistic relationship began.

Finally, if he can navigate Russia’s power-system, Alexei Navalny may very well run for President in Russia next year.

Also Read: News Capsule: The 5 stories that rocked the Asian tech community today

Moving south to Iran, in 2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected President with 63 per cent of the vote despite reports of irregularities. It sparked a massive protest movement called the Green Movement that was highly dependent on Twitter for communication.

Despite its eventual failure, the following elections in 2013 and 2017 resulted in a strong mandate for the moderate leader Hassan Rouhani.

If anyone uses the term ‘Twitter Revolution’, they are speaking of the Green Movement.

The most important Twitter-enabled movement was, of course, the Arab Spring. Over six years after the people overthrew the Tunisian government, its hard to think of an event that has more dramatically impacted our world.

Much of the impact has been negative, but it’s the Arab Spring is the most significant event of the last 6 years.

If we look in our own back yard, Twitter was absolutely essential to the success of Occupy Hong Kong in 2014. Part of the reason the protest movement was able to survive for 72 days was because it would pick and choose its locations (and times) to ‘wake up’ and when to ‘sleep’.

To give an example, if rumours circulated that police activity would ramp up, the message would be blasted to the community and within hours the two main locations (which were often fairly empty) would suddenly be filled with tens of thousands of people.

Twitter was the critical means for this communication. WeChat was not as powerful as it is today, but even if it were, privacy/censorship concerns essentially rendered Chinese social media pointless.

Facebook’s algorithm makes this kind of communication nearly impossible. Followers would discover the police are coming to clear the camp eight hours after the protest was over.

Twitter is real-time, and therein lies its power. With the stroke of a thumb, Donald Trump can send thousands of newsrooms into a frenzy, a man in Russia can nearly take down an authoritarian regime and local students can create the most important before/after historical moment in an Asian financial hub.

Will Twitter ever compete with Facebook on the MBA business metrics? No, that seems extremely unlikely.

But that’s not the point.

Other tech companies impact people, Twitter impacts power.

—
Copyright: kawing921 / 123RF Stock Photo

The post Twitter is the most powerful company in tech appeared first on e27.

Pintek, Indonesia-based fintech platform that provides credit to consumers and education institutions, announces that it has raised pre-Series A funding led by Global Founders Capital (GFC). The fund was received by SoCap, Pintek’s parent company.

Finch Capital and Amand Ventures also participated in the round. Previously, Finch Capital and Amand Ventures had invested in Pintek’s seed funding together with Japan-based venture capital firm, Strive.

The company said that it plans to use the funding to “drive technological and financial innovation needed to support Indonesia’s education sector to achieve international standards for the country’s economic development”.

SoCap & Pintek Co-founder and CEO, Ioann Fainsilber, noted that Pintek will use the proceeds from the round to expand its technology platform and scale its commercial team.

Also Read: Meet the 10 Indonesian fintech startups you may have never rooted for before

SoCap, Pintek’s parent company that receives the investment, aims to grow ventures facilitating cooperation, exchange, and innovation for social impact in the region. GFC is a seed and growth investor that has backed entrepreneurs worldwide such as those behind Facebook, LinkedIn, Slack, Traveloka, Canva, and HelloFresh.

Tito Costa, Partner at GFC said; ”We look forward to working with Pintek’s team in their mission to provide better access to education to millions of Indonesians. The team has identified a unique, holistic approach to education financing, working in partnership with educational institutions. We are excited to support the company’s new phase of growth.”

“In line with President Jokowi’s vision to reform & improve the country’s quality of education, we find it equally important for education to be financially inclusive and accessible for all Indonesians,” said Hans De Back, Managing Partner at Finch Capital.

Established in 2018, Pintek aims to democratise access to education in Indonesia through affordable and flexible credit to consumers and institutions across the education sector. By servicing the entire education market (including K-12, Vocational, Higher Education, and nonformal), Pintek believes it can essentially service students throughout their education journey.

SoCap & Pintek COO and Co-Founder, Tommy Yuwono, stated that Pintek is keen to collaborate with the Indonesian government and wider stakeholders in helping schools and vocational institutions improve their education infrastructure and management.

Also Read: Fintech startup SuperAtom raises US$24M funding led by Gobi Partners, eyeing expansion to the Philippines

“We are excited to learn that Nadiem Makarim’s Education and Culture Ministry is placing a big focus on technology and making human capital development one of its key priorities for the next 5 years. We believe Pintek can directly contribute to Indonesia’s efforts in improving its education standards and overcome its current skills gap,” Yuwono said.

Pintek claimed that it has partnered with payment infrastructure, education technology, education suppliers, government, and foundations, and has already disbursed loans to customers in 22 provinces in Indonesia. More than half of Pintek’s borrowers were first-time borrowers, showing that consumers are willing to borrow from financial institutions to pursue better education.

Next, the company plans to launch its Syariah product next quarter.
–

The post Education-targeted fintech platform Pintek secures pre-Series A funding led by GFC, diving further to education-based finance sector appeared first on e27.

Esther Nguyen, CEO & Founder of POPS Worldwide

Digital entertainment company POPS Worldwide (POPS) announces that it has received a US$30 million funding from Mirae Asset – Naver Asia Growth Fund Investment Pte.Ltd, and Eastbridge Partners Pte.Ltd. With the funding, the investors will have a significant minority stake in POPS.

Along with the funding, the company also announces the launch of the POPS App, which the company said will deliver free high-quality premium content and original series, shows, and videos from music, entertainment, and kids.

Esther Nguyen, CEO, and Founder of POPS, said that the investment will be used to scale its direct to consumer strategy through POPS OTT application across the region as well as enter into new markets.

POPS has spent more than a decade of setting up in the digital market in Vietnam and expanding across the region. With the launch of its apps, POPS noted that it made a big move beyond digital entertainment by bringing an entertainment experience.

“More high quality original series will be produced, connecting hot actors and actresses. More shows are upcoming and more premium stories from global studios will appear on our POPS App to bring new experiences every day to our fans. Our stories bring opportunities for fans to experience and connect. We put the fans at the center of our process.” Nguyen added.

Also Read: I still feel we are the underdog: POPS Worldwide CEO

POPS claimed to have a daily-updated library of diverse storytellers, top producers, and artists that create curated and personalised content.

Ji-Kwang Chung, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Capital, said: “We believe in the sustainable competitiveness of POPS after their success over the last 10 years in digital entertainment in Vietnam and Thailand. We share their belief that POPS’ opportunities in the region are enormous.”

Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund is 50:50 joint initiatives between Mirae Asset Financial Group, independent financial groups in Asia that provides comprehensive services to clients worldwide – including asset management, wealth management, investment banking, and life insurance.

EastBridge Partners is an independent private equity firm with offices in Seoul, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh. The company focusses on mid-market growth capital and buyout investment opportunities in Asia.
–

The post Digital entertainment startup POPS Worldwide snags US$30M in funding, launching its free premium content apps appeared first on e27.

In the world of technology, where we have easy access to everything on the mobile phones, like paying bills, transferring money, checking statements, etc. then we are a part of one of the billion-dollar industry called FinTech.

Every product and every company requires marketing and throwing all the eggs in the basket of content and then letting it market the services for you is one of the best options. Content marketing can pave a successful way for your product if portrayed effectively and creatively.

Moreover, organised creative writing also helps to attract customers and this requires safe surfing on the internet to learn more about ongoing trends and its uses, while some sites serve that needs and provide content services on easy access.

 What is FinTech?

It stands for Financial Technology. The word seems simple, but it is changing the world’s economy. It includes products, technologies, business models that are building the financial service industry.

It’s the techniques to change the world by means of transferring and borrowing money. This embraces new technologies for lenders, insurers and asset managers. It is the most significant transformation in banking history.

FinTech is an emerging business that provides financial facilities to the world using modern technology. The investments in this business have increased in the past years.

As people are learning the new techniques, it’s not only making the lives comfortable and practical but is expanding the use of it globally. Around the globe, many countries are using the FinTech, and the adoption rate has reached 67 per cent in China.

Great contest is a rocket fuel

The purpose of the content is to build trust and attract users because good content could bring revenue to a company and increase its user base.

An insightful content, when promoted well, can be profitable. Good content will, therefore, be able to prove long-term brand awareness.

Fun fact: content creation and its marketing have proved to be the most powerful technique that accomplishes the goal of brand promotion and helps in better knowledge of future innovations in the world of technology.

 Content marketing for a FinTech company

For content to stand amidst competition, it should be approached in a unique way. 

FinTech companies should garner a fresher look to their content. Creativity is always the best answer, creating unique concepts and flaunting them like no one else for the marketing campaign.

Also Read: 3 promising fintech verticals in Southeast Asia

To paint a more precise picture lets look at some of the techniques and strategies for good content to market. Content marketing is not an easy task as it requires creative ideas, here we have discussed some strategies to better position your content.

1. Know your audience

Learning and evaluating the demands of the customers and clients is one of the crucial steps to focus before writing content for a FinTech company.

In general, we have no time to read boring content, make it catchy and creative.

2. Focus on the goal

Do not go out of the track. Keep your strategy clear and straight. Evaluate the points that need to be focused and set goals not to lose the main purpose.

3. Organise

Before churning out for ideas to create the best quality content look for an organized set up for your content. The key factors and keywords that need to be part of it. Create a best-opted life cycle for content to be written.

4. Choose the best team

Choose a competent team to work with you. The more productive the environment, the better are the outputs. For fantastic content, constructing an amazing team is a crucial step.

5. Think outside the box

The best content has a revolutionary look that from the mind of an ordinary human turned extraordinary. The most creative idea wins the hearts of people and is easy to catch eyes. Originality always helps in creating the best impacts.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with ideas. A new strategy that has not been used earlier can be a daring way to win people and influence your brand globally. An influential idea or some brand awareness in a new trick never turns out to be a bad idea.

The ideas that are already prevailing in the rest of the world may not be a good trick to catch hearts and win the market. Everyone demands new methods and ways. Likewise, an annoying email is not a good idea, but a catchy advertisement on YouTube or any search engine may serve as a good trick. 

6. Don’t be frugal with quality

Quality over everything. Keep everything later and priority on the first number. Your content should not be satisfactory but outstanding.

It’s easy to write so many blog posts and publish them, but if they are not aligned to the brand’s story, you will lose.

7. Build trust

Trust is the key to every relation. Likewise when we need to make homes in the hearts of people, building a trustworthy relationship is necessary.

Do not add false techniques and catch customers in glittery traps. They might get you people at the initiative, but for a long-lasting mark, it’s more than essential to create a secure connection.

8. Go social

Social media is one of the best technologies ever designed to explore and share new ideas.

We need to learn about the audience and the targeted website that we can use by getting engaged with the world such as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest or Facebook.

Also Read: A sneak-peek at the state of Malaysias fintech ecosystem

Each has its own clients and is of advantage to share the ideas of the newest technologies. The hacks of Social media engagement can serve as a way of changing the concept for a brand.

9. Engage with the world

Make sure to engage with the customer either through social media or emails. According to a research 7 out of 10 customers prefer to know about a company through articles, rather than ads.

Send relevant analyses and advantages through emails and education about the ongoing trends and future technology is way too important. 

Conclusion

FinTech is the upcoming rising technology in the world of mobiles and comfortable “on one-click” access. It is an advancement in the world of banking.

But before starting a Fintech company it’s vital to look for its promotion, and the best answer is to create outstanding content that matches the services the company provides.

Moreover, the key factors that need to be looked for in a remarkable material to make a mark are by far the most important thing.

–

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit:

The post 9 things to keep in while while creating a good content marketing approach for your fintech company appeared first on e27.

Singapore clinches the second position for the highest percentage growth of open source contributors and overall contributors worldwide, according to the latest The State of the Octoverse Report by software development platform GitHub.

The country recorded a 111 per cent year-on-year percentage increase in contributors to all repository types. Coming on top of the list in this category is Hong Kong at 175 per cent, followed by Indonesia with a 90 per cent growth.

Generally, developers in Asia are making their mark in this report with the soaring number of their participation on the platform this year.

In the category of open source contributors, Hong Kong tops the list with a 101 per cent increase in comparison to the previous year, while Japan observes a steady year-on-year growth with a 60 per cent rise.

Indonesia also experienced a 42 per cent growth of open source projects in the platform, the only Southeast Asian country in the category.

Also Read: What are the next steps for startups graduating from an accelerator program?

“Asia’s contributor community has surpassed ones in Europe and North America in annual growth. This indicates a substantial shift in Asia Pacific, from being a consumer to increasingly becoming a contributor to open source,” Sam Hunt, Vice President APAC at GitHub, responded to e27‘s query about the factors that contributed to this phenomenon.

“Southeast Asia is a big part of this shift. The report shows 111 per cent growth in contribution in Singapore. The country is home to a strong startup scene and, once again, this is a testament to the realisation that consumption is not the only value proposition of GitHub. GitHub is more than just a place where you download code. It’s where technology, collaboration and the world’s largest developer community converge and, together, drive innovation,” he continued.

The rise of Asia

The State of the Octoverse Report defines contributions as any substantive action that generates content on GitHub, such as creating an issue, opening a pull request, or commenting on an issue or pull request.

The report stated that over the past year, 10 million new developers joined the GitHub community, contributing to more than 44 million repositories across every continent.

Also Read: ICE71 announces top ten cybersecurity startups from second batch

GitHub said that 88 per cent of these contributors are from outside the US. On average, each open source project on GitHub welcomed contributors from 41 different countries and regions this year.

“Every year since 2014, we’ve seen more open source contributions from outside the United States,” it said.

—

Image Credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The post GitHub: Singapore ranks 2nd for the highest growth of open source contributors globally appeared first on e27.

Sage and Standard Chartered partner to help SMEs make smarter financial decisions- Press release

Cloud business management solutions provider Sage announced a new partnership with Standard Chartered to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with access to the right tools, knowledge, and funding, to simplify SME banking and support them in making more timely and insight-driven financial decisions at critical stages of their business lifecycle.

Sage CashView is now available to both current and new users of Sage 300 starting with Singapore and Malaysia. The launch of Sage CashView that combines new cash flow reporting tools with a prequalification to apply for business installment loans (BIL) to help SMEs anticipate and address future funding needs is the first tool of their partnership.

The Sage CashView digital dashboard will offer SMEs a user-friendly pictorial view of the business’ key ratios and results at a glance, and a 1-day to 365-days financial forecasting capabilities, to anticipate possible financial roadblocks. Combined with Standard Chartered’s embedded decision framework, a message will appear on the dashboard which will inform users that they are prequalified to apply for the Bank’s business installment loan (BIL).

Standard Chartered will be able to access only the minimum information required for initiating the loan application process, with consent from the user, this feature offers SMEs easier access to working capital without compromising on data security and privacy.

KKR evaluates IPO of Chinese digital marketing firm Cue- [Bloomberg]

KKR & Co. is considering an initial public offering of Chinese digital marketing company Cue Holdings Ltd. that could raise as much as $400 million, people with knowledge of the matter said in a Bloomberg report.

The company is working with financial advisers on the potential share sale, which could take place as soon as the first half of next year, according to the people. It has been considering Hong Kong and the U.S. as potential listing venues, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Cue seeks to help Chinese companies with their digital marketing strategy to boost their business growth. Its clients include consumer brands, financial institutions, online gaming companies, and internet service providers.

In August, Cue completed a series A financing round led by Anchor Equity Partners to fund research and development, add-on acquisitions and improvements in Cue’s products and services. KKR, which was Cue’s founding investor, and Princeville Global also participated.

No final decisions have been made, and details of the IPO could change, the people said. A representative for KKR declined to comment.

Game publisher Sky Mavis raises $1.5m funding led by Animoca Brands- [DealStreet Asia]

Singapore- and Vietnam-based blockchain startup Sky Mavis bagged nearly $1.5 million in a funding round led by ASX-listed games and app developer Animoca Brands, according to a DealStreet Asia announcement.

The round was joined by the Korean crypto fund Hashed, Swiss Pangea Blockchain Fund, US-based blockchain solution provider ConsenSys and early-stage VC firm 500 Startups. The lead investor said it subscribed to $420,000 worth of ordinary shares in Sky Mavis in cash and its own shares. It has also signed advisory and collaboration agreements with the owner of blockchain-based game Axie Infinity.

The advisory agreement will see Sky Mavis provide consultation services in the areas of scarcity models, as well as the design, development, and distribution of non-fungible tokens. Sky Mavis will use proceeds from the funding round to complete its offerings within the Axie Infinity universe and launch an app in the first half of 2020.

Also read: Blockchain startup Terra gets funding from HashKey Capital, to expand alliance in Asia

It will also be building technology required to create blockchain-based applications for users in the real world.

Reliance Industries Ltd has increased its stake in US-based SkyTran Inc., a venture-funded technology company that is developing pod car transport systems.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance said in a stock market disclosure it has increased its stake in SkyTran to 17.3%. It did not disclose the financial details.

Reliance Industries in India hikes stake in US-based futuristic pod car developer SkyTran- [VCCircle]

RIL, through wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, picked up a 12.7% stake in SkyTran in October last year. At the time, it had said it had the option of investing an additional US$25 million in the US company.

Founded in 2011, SkyTran says it aims to solve the problem of traffic congestion globally by creating a transport option that is high-speed, scalable and low-cost. The company, which has partnered with National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US and Israel Aerospace Industries in Israel, has developed the magnetic levitation technology for implementing personal transportation systems.

The proposed SkyTran network would consist of computer-controlled passenger pods running on its patented Passive Magnetic Levitation technology. It will leverage information technology, telecom, lnternet of Things and advanced materials technologies for the purpose.

RIL said its investment in SkyTran is now housed under another unit, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd.

Image credit: Pixabay

The post Today’s top tech news: Business solutions provider Sage partners with Standard Chartered to enable SME loans appeared first on e27.

The post 3 science-backed ways to make your dreaded commute remarkably productive appeared first on e27.

The rise of the subscription economy in Southeast Asia

The subscription economy has seen a BOOM over the past 5 years, particularly in the United States, where there is an abundance of new offerings targeting the recurring payment space. Now, there is pretty much a subscription for everything from monthly gift boxes for your cats to weekly fresh food delivery.

The attraction of subscription is the mere fact that recurring payments allow the ability to maintain a customer relationship, which also allows cross-selling that could eventually increase your customer lifetime value (CLV). More and more startups coming has inadvertently attracted traditional business giants such as P&G, Adobe and Disney to enter the subscription space.

According to the Subscription Economy Index (SEI) by Zuora, it is mentioned that subscription businesses increased their revenues 5 times faster than the S&P 500 companies’ revenues (18.2 per cent versus 3.6 per cent). Besides that, Credit Suisse estimated that the market size of the subscription economy to reach US$530 billion in 2020. Such high growth would only attract the attention of investors, which adds fuel to the already growing industry.

What does this tell us about Southeast Asia?

Well, a similar transition of business models in startups would eventually attract traditional businesses to come in as well. Drawing back in time, the subscription model has been around the region for ages. Look at the old TV channel subscription, gym memberships or even your internet connection. These are all one form of subscription either way.

What started the shift in charging methods? Well, initially local startups have attempted to emulate similar models or even businesses in the West and try to replicate it in Southeast Asia. Look at iFlix, a video streaming service similar to Netflix or even media websites taking the paywall subscription approach similar to The Wall Street Journal.

Also Read: In-app messaging, How to convert trial users to paying subscribers

All in all, there was a form of replication either purposely or indirectly due to the increase in Internet penetration growth in the region. Majority of these early subscription models have worked by maintaining an increasing recurring revenue, as long the churn rate is not above the growth rate in users.

Like all money chasers, other businesses have looked at this model and see opportunity in this golden industry. Then, innovation begins, and previously traditional industries attempt a subscription approach. For example, there is the influx of car subscriptions, as seen in GoCar and Flux in Malaysia.

The more fixed commitments that an average individual has, the lower the stickiness he or she has for non-key payments. Thus, an exponential increase in subscription businesses occurs to be able to attract their customer base back. For example, Grab launched a subscription plan for bubble tea in Singapore and a GrabFood-no delivery fees plan as well.

What is the key to this industry?

Data is everything.

As the saying goes: “Data is the oil of the 21st century”, we now know that understanding your customer’s data is the key to unlocking high growth rate. The constant reevaluation of your customers’ preferences would push the business to relook at its pricing strategy, improve product offerings and improve the overall user experience for the product.

At the same time, the same data is instrumental in refining any marketing strategy that the company has. At present, all the social media ads have become so robust that you can drive down to the interest and locations, among others. Through this data, can subscription-based business only measure and improve their metrics.

The key subscription metrics that all businesses have to measure is mainly these four: Monthly recurring revenue (MRR), churn rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV). Through measuring these numbers effectively, a company can make readjustments and improve its overall operations to grow the company, as customer preferences are constantly shifting.

Challenges facing the industry

Subscription-based business models do not have all just positive attributes. Controlling the churn rate is difficult because more people have increased the number of subscriptions in one’s monthly expense, which results in higher demands for user experience and product offerings. Thus, the process of matching the demand of customers is not necessarily a simple solution considering the financial and time constraints.

Also Read: Vewd CEO: APAC users more likely to use ad-supported streaming services compared to North American users

The increase in churn would lead to a decrease in the customer lifetime value (CLV), which simultaneously increases the acquisition cost. Besides that, there are numerous challenges approaching the industry such as high payment failure rates and financial data protection. Not all subscription-based model would work in the region, as customer preferences are constantly changing, and an increasingly crowded space would lead to a price war if the product offering is not attractive enough.

Opportunities for the future

Overall, the region would continue to see an increase in the subscription economy, as the attractive components still outweigh the possible downsides to it.

However, I believe there would be opportunities that would allow startups to capture a large market in the space that supports this industry.

Your everyday digital marketing company would need to implement data crawling to better understand users and managing the subscription plan would require enhanced user experience in payments and the onboarding process.

–

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit:  freestocks.org

The post The rise of the subscription economy in Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

Bloo Co-founder Emanuele Faja

In 2016, Emanuele Faja (known as Manny among friends and in the tech industry) started a UI/UX and development agency, called Mäd, in his home country Cambodia. As the business grew, the number of software tools used in the company also grew. They were not just expensive but also complex to use.

“I had to spend a lot of time teaching both our team and clients on how to use and familiarise with various tools/platforms. I wanted to develop a simple tool, which would not just be easy to use but also powerful enough to run complex projects. This led me to create Bloo.io,” he tells e27.

Bloo.io, a product of Bloo Inc., a startup based out of Phnom Penh, is a project management tool. The product was developed and launched in April 2018 by Manny, who was later joined by Dong Truong, former CTO at Nam Kim Steel, a large steel company in Vietnam.

Beat the Bloo

An online platform, Bloo enables businesses (large and small) to manage all their team communications, files, ‘to-do’s, and processes. Business can sign up for an account on Bloo, create projects corresponding to each main functional divisions (sales, marketing, finance, web, brand, etc.), start building their processes, and track ‘to-do’ lists. All data and files uploaded are taggable, searchable, and can be accessed by web, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android applications.

“Your teams can find all the information needed to do their jobs on Bloo, instead of using multiple disconnected tools,” he explains.

One of the critical features of Bloo is its user-friendliness, claims Manny. The product was tested for almost two years with employees that have little-to-no computer literacy, and they were able to pick up and use Bloo quickly, he says.

“Our apps follow Google Material design to ensure that anyone who has used any Google app (for example, Gmail) feels right at home. Our iOS app follows Apple’s Human Interface guidelines closely to ensure a familiar experience,” he continues.

A cost-effective and multi-lingual platform

Unlike its bigger competitors such as Trello, Asana, Basecamp, which charge clients on a pay-per-use basis, Bloo charges a flat fee of US$50 per month per organisation, irrespective of the number of users. Manny claims a 100-person organisation is likely to spend between US$25,000 and US$80,000 on similar software, but Bloo costs them just US$500 per year.

The Bloo platform also supports unlimited file hosting with files up to 2GB in size, whereas companies like Trello limit usage to 20MB on their free version, and only 250MB on premium accounts. According to Manny, this is a deterrent for companies, like architecture and design studios, that regularly deal with large file sizes. Bloo also claims to have built-in file management across all projects.

“Finally, the way we handle notifications is different from other tools. We give users complete control over notifications they want to receive. It is often a big issue on other platforms, where you either get spammed with lots of emails/push notifications or you receive no notifications about what’s important for you,” he asserts.

Manny believes that hundreds of millions of people in Asia, who are becoming knowledge workers, will need tools that are simpler to use and less intimidating than what Silicon Valley provides. Bloo aims to be one with its multi-lingual platform. It, however, doesn’t want to restrict itself to Asia.

Also Read: Cambodia to embrace tech future with the upcoming BarCamp ASEAN 2019

“Asia is a fast-growing market and is under-served. We have added many languages from this geography to our platform. Apart from English, the platform is available in Khmer and Vietnamese. We plan to eventually roll out in other languages such as Thai and Chinese and even Spanish,” he shares.

Dong Truong

Besides, the company plans to take advantage of the changing tech landscape to differentiate itself from its competitors. “We have been able to use the latest technologies such as VueJS and GraphQL, which enable us to quickly ship features to customers. Besides, because of our smaller size, we can stay much closer to our customers.”

He also claims that many customers of Dropbox, Trello, Basecamp, Asana, and Briefcase have already switched to Bloo. “Our lower cost base may also make a lot of companies consider switching to us, especially if there is a recession in the future and budgets tighten up.”

Bloo, which underwent the Stripe Atlas startup programme in the US, has already integrated a payment feature to its platform, and has paying customers since day one, he says. “NGOs, banks, design agencies, schools, retail locations, and even a large multinational construction are already using Bloo,”

While it is a highly-competitive industry, Manny doesn’t see this as a ‘winner-takes-all’ market. It is always going to be very fragmented, he says. “There are over 30 million SMEs in the US alone, and several hundred million worldwide. Even a small share of this market is enough to build an extremely healthy business that provides great service to customers,” he concludes.

The post This project management tool from Cambodia wants to give Trello, Asana a run for their money appeared first on e27.

There is more than one type of investor to fundraise from, in fact, there are eight types of investors. So, how are they different? Which may be a good match and when?

Below is a list with the different types of investors that you could approach for your startup. Once you know who to pitch, it is all about the pitch deck to close your round of funding. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck analysis web site created by nfinitiv advisors. When it comes to pitch decks analysis, we pride ourselves in our understanding of what VCs expect and demand because all our team are made up of advisers, angel investors and VCs.

Friends and family

The first type of investor entrepreneurs should be approaching at the very beginning are friends and family and close personal contacts.

At this stage, there is very little hard evidence and proof to base a real investment or funding on. They are essentially investing in the idea, and far more importantly – you. These are the people that already know you, like and trust you and believe in you the most.

This type of investor may not provide a lot of money. It could be in the range of US$1,000 to US$200,000. Though if you cannot raise money from this group, other investors are probably going to ask themselves why.

Also Read: Chatbot developer startup Pand.ai takes home US$1M seed funding, eyeing scaleups

Banks and government agencies

These are not true investors like the others on this list, but they can be sources of capital. Traditional banks are generally not an easy source of capital for early-stage startups and small businesses. However, as you gain traction, they may offer business credit cards, lines of credit, and business advance loans.

There may also be government programmes providing grants for certain types of projects. That does not mean that bringing in this type of capital will be any easier, and loans require repayment, often when you really need as much liquidity and slack as possible. They will not require giving up equity in your company, but they can impact your profitability, which may show up when you try to raise money from other investors later.

One thing to note about government programmes is that in many instances the come with certain restrictions and limitations which may be burdensome for startups. Founders should review very carefully what those expectations are.

Angel investors

Professional angel investors are normally approached when it comes to the seed round and beyond. They are willing to fund smaller operations than VCs, may be more flexible in terms, and can offer a lot of value in wisdom and connections.

Angel investors can be approached directly online, at live pitch events, and through introductions from other startup founders.

Angel groups

Angel groups have been increasing. They have become more popular and more organised. These are groups of angel investors who band together to make investments in startups. This enables them to invest with more confidence, with larger check sizes, and with lower exposure to risk.

Also Read: Funding news is not public relations: Building your startup’s story world

Accelerators and incubators

These vehicles can ultimately be a gateway to a variety of the types of investors on this list. If accepted into one of these programmes you may receive anywhere from US$10,000 to US$120,000 in seed money to cultivate your idea and gain traction, while benefiting from additional knowledge and resources. If everything is going well, you will be pitching larger investors and be introduced to funding sources during their demo days that can help take you to the next level. Just be ready to hustle, these programmes want to speed you on the way to the next stage quickly.

Family offices

Family offices are increasingly being drawn to the advantages of investing in startups. However, as some of the most successful entrepreneurs have pointed out, as investors, family offices can have quite different interests and game plans. Each can be very different.

Working with them can be very different depending on who is managing the decisions and process. Taxes, long term multigenerational investing, prestige and income may be more important for these investors than others on this list who are pushing to an earlier exit.

Venture Capital firms

VCs are the holy grail of investors for fundraising entrepreneurs. They come with the biggest checks, the most power to fuel success and gaining market share, and most juice when it comes to achieving more credibility and visibility.

More venture capital firms are looking at and are participating in earlier funding rounds. Though it is much more likely these investors will show up and be secured in Series A, B and C fundraising rounds than earlier.

Do note that not all of these firms are created equal. The best match can be influenced by location, the timeline of their funds, their interest and expertise in a certain field, their power to help you get to the next stage and of course, how they treat their founders.

Also Read: Tickled media’s theAsianparent closes a seven-figure Series C funding to expand its baby products business

Corporate investors

Investing in startups carries a variety of benefits for big corporations. Including supporting their own growth numbers, diversifying assets, and identifying talent and technology which can help them fend off industry changes and fuel revenues and profits. Some have funds to invest in outside startups. More are launching their own accelerator and incubator programmes and ecosystems for cultivating these opportunities.

These investors can be great allies in taking your business to the next level. Though they can be quite different to work with, and any integration or collaboration on sales channels, systems and customer bases needs to be approached carefully and with a lot of patience.

Founding entrepreneurs and corporate investors often have completely different styles and perspectives. It is going to be vital to learn to understand each other and have some boundaries set up when going in, if this is going to be an enjoyable relationship.

Summary

As you can see from this list, there are a wide variety of very different types of investors for funding startups. Some are very specialised in the stages and funding rounds they will invest at. Though these lines are increasingly blurring. Think of this as a ladder, not an A or B menu list.

As your startup grows different sources of capital will be more advantageous and valuable to fuelling that next level of growth. Understanding these differences will be invaluable for an efficient fundraising campaign and targeting the right investors at each raise.

—

A previous version of this article first appeared on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: NESA by Makers on Unsplash

The post What different types of investors are there for funding your startup? appeared first on e27.