One of the best metaphors for the stages of building a startup comes from Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital.

He breaks the stages down into the (1) jungle, (2) dirt road, and (3) highway.  While at the end of the journey, you are on the highway, and you can start moving as fast as you can, the middle of the trip is bumpy and windy.

But it is the very beginning stage, the jungle when you have no determinable path, just an idea and a product looking for market fit.

While many of us can relate to navigating jungle trails and spending time in the thick brush, speaking with several entrepreneurs about this metaphor, some will jokingly add their modifications.

One recently said, “Sure, it’s a jungle, but it’s also the middle of the night, and you can hear the growling of hungry animals.”  That modification certainly adds layers of the fear and uncertainty that entrepreneurs face in those initial stages.

“Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day

If you want it, you’re going to bleed but it’s the price to pay”

Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N’ Roses

Surviving the jungle certainly takes perseverance and the unique characteristic of an entrepreneur that is sheer hustle and resilience. But surviving is not necessarily thriving, and the key is to get out of the jungle as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day

You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play

If you got hunger for what you see, you’ll take it eventually”

Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N’ Roses

Also Read: Report: COVID-19 might result in US$28B missing startup investment this year

Navigating out of the jungle

So, let’s extend this analogy a bit further and discuss how you navigate yourself out of the jungle. First, let’s set the scene that you are surrounded by thick brush with no idea which direction to go or how far you need to go to get out.

Before setting off, you need to make the directional decision of where to go. This is essentially the educated decision an entrepreneur makes when identifying a problem statement and developing a solution.

Establishing sound logic is essential here because these are your first steps. What is your hypothesis?  “I am going in this direction because…and I know I am on the right path if….”

Experience matters in understanding problems. This doesn’t necessarily mean age, but rather experience with the situation. This can come from the founders or the team, but supplementing this with a support network, advisers, or even a credible angel investor can provide much-needed insights in pointing you in the right direction.

It’s essential to start assembling a network around you that you can lean on for support and insight.

Finding an advisor is not always so straightforward and may not be 100 per cent necessary. The point is to round out your understanding of the problem statement and the use case for your solution.

If you have the background already, maybe you can push forward.  If not, an advisor could be a colleague or your old Uni professor that consults on that same topic.

Now you need to start making a pathway in the direction that you have chosen. If you were indeed in the jungle, there is no more useful tool than a nice machete, and with that, it is unavoidable to include “hack” into the extension of our analogy here.

You have limited resources, and you’re trying to find the shortcut out of here, little by little hacking your way through the jungle.

So, you’ve now chosen a direction, and you’ve started making your path. The problem is, how do you know that you are right?  Do you keep going along, hoping that you will finally get out of the jungle?  While there are plenty of startups that do that, this is not what you should be doing.

Also Read: Finance your startup: 10 types of investors you should know

When you are moving in a direction and making a path, testing your path is the same as testing your product-market fit. Rarely is anyone able to get it 100 per cent correct straight from the beginning?

The more likely it is that you will have to shift directions to “pivot”. Sometimes, this can lead you in a completely different direction entirely.

Some scrappiness is critical here as most startups are operating with limited capacity and resources. You may even be looking at raising funding or have already received Seed funding.

It is important to look for more than just capital and seek an investor who can add value to this journey and accelerate your path.

A bad investor at this early stage can be like encountering heavy rain in the jungle.  You can slug along, but it may obscure the easier path, just like a bad investor can push you in the wrong direction or emphasize short-termism.

A good investor can be like finding a GPS signal or, better yet, an evac helicopter.  As much as an investor will diligence you, you should diligence your investor.

You are not out of the woods yet

If you manage through and find product-market fit, you’ll find yourself leading toward the dirt road.  You won’t be entirely out of the woods, but at least you’re not hacking your way through the brush. This is a topic for a quite different conversation.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit:

The post Navigating the startup jungle with perseverance and character appeared first on e27.

The growing use of plastic waste (over 7-10 million tonnes in India alone) adversely impacts the environment. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles comprise a big chunk, and they mostly end up in landfills or oceans.

Despite the global awareness about its environmental impact, its use continues to rise in many parts of the world.

A Hyderabad-based entrepreneur-duo saw a huge opportunity here and e turning plastic waste into a multi-million dollar business.d

Neeman’s was started by Taran Chhabra and Amar Preet Singh in 2018. The startup designs shoes and other footwear products from plastic bottles. The footwears are natural, lightweight and flexible, besides breathable and odour-resistant.

“Neeman’s was created out of craving not just to break the mould but to obliterate it: to say goodbye to the average for good and demand a change in the way we wear shoes,” the founders say. “We believe you should feel good about what you wear. And at Neeman’s, we’re passionate about making sure your shoes make you feel good, look good and do good for your planet.”

The company’s ReLive Knits model is made of 100 per cent recycled PET bottles. Available in two styles (sneakers and slip-on), they utilise eight PET bottles per pair. The products are designed for all seasons, and all-day wear and are cool in summer and warm in winter.

How does Neeman’s convert plastic bottles to shoes?

Also read: Southeast Asia is in plastic waste crisis, and these 16 sustainable startups strive to turn things around

The company collects the PET bottles, recycles and wash them and then shreds them into small flakes. The next step is to melt, cool, and press the chips and form them into long strands of yarn. It further refines and spins them through a 3D knitting machine to finally create the upper of the shoe. The inner sole is made from bamboo.

“Plastic bottles being dumped in oceans have been a constant concern for the country. So, being in the business of sustainable footwear, we wanted to do something about it. Thus, we took a revolutionary step by collecting plastic bottles from landfills and oceans and recycled them to design this new range- the ReLive Knits. These sneakers are designed to reduce carbon footprints while offering supreme comfort and care,” the firm says on its website.

The firm also makes footwear products from wool, cotton and recycles tyres. Its wool Jogggers is made of ultra-fine Australian Merino wool, which is unbeatable as it is 8x stronger than cotton and about 10x more potent than silk.

On the other hand, the Eco Flip and Eco Slide models are made with natural rubber, recycled compounds and natural oils. Besides, it uses natural cotton and recycled fabrics to make its Cotton Classics model.

Also Read: Biodegradable plastic startup RWDC Industries raises US$22M in fresh funding

Last August, Neeman bagged US$2.7 million in a Series A financing round to launch its products in international markets (the US, West Asia and some regions of Europe. The international foray will begin by the end of this year. To start with, it will launch as a D2C or online-only brand before exploring offline options.

Previously, Neeman’s secured US$1 million in pre-Series A round from Anicut Angel Fund.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

The post Shoes from waste plastic bottles! Neeman’s is going places with its sustainable footwear products appeared first on e27.

In continuing my previous three essays on Web3.0, I am covering the basics behind buzzwords in crypto.

Throughout my career, I’ve built several marketplace startups. Upon graduating with my Masters, a friend of mine and I started a lifestyle startup. We created a platform connecting photographers with people who need on-demand photography services.

In 2017, I joined another startup. We were connecting hotels with people who wanted to have an affordable yet standardised experience when travelling. As the Head of Marketing, I was responsible for attracting guests to more than 3,500 rooms across 400 hotels.

A year later, I joined Greenhouse as a GM. While we started as a coworking space, we saw an opportunity to simplify finding reliable service providers in the Asia Pacific (APAC). In turn, we launched a B2B marketplace for professional services.

Today, we manage APAC’s largest curated network of service providers offering market entry services. We work with more than 200 service providers in 31 countries. So far, we’ve helped hundreds of startups to expand to Asia. We are leveraging outsourced business development and corporate services through our network.

The journey of building three marketplaces has been invaluable. First, I had a chance to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly of running a marketplace business.

Then, about one year ago, I wrote an essay, sharing my thoughts on what it takes to kickstart one.

Marketplaces are complex. Building one feels like you are running two to three businesses simultaneously. After all, you manage sellers (supply), buyers (demand), and everything in between. Yet, if successful, such models can be compelling because of the inherited network effects.

Also Read: GuildFi raises US$6M to develop Web3 infra to connect games, NFTs, communities

On the one hand, leveraging tech to connect supply and demand has helped us solve some of today’s most significant problems. For example, think of Uber’s impact on transportation or Airbnb on accommodation. But on the other hand, marketplaces are often criticised because of:

• High rake rates: think of Apple charging 30 per cent for their AppStore and the uproar from companies such as Epic and Spotify. The larger the marketplace, the more it tends to charge for each transaction.
• No upside: If you are lucky enough to build a lot of liquidity and transactions, most probably you have raised a lot of capital. It isn’t easy to kickstart such a complex model without sufficient capital. Meaning, now it’s time to pay your investors back. That’s rightfully so because they took a risk on you. So in the event of an exit, investors, founders, and employees are sharing the upside. But what about the buyers and sellers of your marketplace? The people who you wanted to help in the first place?
• Centralised control: Yes, Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts have access to new revenue streams thanks to those startups. But they are at the mercy of the platform. The marketplace can delist them, increase its commission rate or dictate who gets more clients and who does not.

The outcome of high rake rates, no upside, and centralised control creates dramatically misaligned incentives.

Perhaps the most famous example of marketplaces gone wrong is food delivery networks (e.g. DoorDash, Grab, GoFood). If you speak to restaurant owners, you will quickly realise how they are not pleased with such platforms.

However, when a marketplace reaches critical mass, it starts having considerable power to the extent that the platform can push the supply side into negative margins on its menu items. Not to mention abusing power.

Think of how in 2019, DoorDash collected millions of dollars of tips and booked them as revenue. Pretty much stealing the money from its users.

Throughout the past decade, it has been challenging to build a model that satisfies all parties involved. While the world is a better place because of companies such as Airbnb, UpWork, and Uber, marketplaces receive a fair amount of criticism.

To be honest, I have been as much a part of the problem here as anybody who built a marketplace business. So I started thinking, is there a better way to run one?

Also Read: Can decentralisation make for a more robust internet?

At about the same time, I started reading on Web3.0. That helped me realise how there are ways to fix many of the problems mentioned above. So let’s illustrate how the decentralised web can solve many issues with Web2.0 native marketplaces.

Traditional versus Web3.0-enabled marketplaces

In a traditional marketplace, the dynamic is pretty straightforward. You have supply (sellers), demand (buyers), and the marketplace itself being in the middle. The platform charges commission to handle transactions and police the network.

In Web3.0-enabled marketplaces, things start getting a bit complicated. We still have supply (sellers), all parties own demand (buyers) but the marketplace itself. Meaning, the users who make a living off the marketplace can “take control” of the platform through tokens.

Tokens are used to make payments, vote on essential features, and manage overall governance. In traditional marketplace models, the users of the platform and the platform itself often become enemies over time. Whereas in Web3.0 enabled marketplaces, that’s not possible. It’s all a result of well-aligned incentives.

To be fair, Web2.0 marketplaces such as Uber and Airbnb cannot give ownership to millions of drivers/hosts around the world even if they want. It’s an incredibly complicated and regulated process.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

But, on the other hand, you can quickly spread control with blockchain-based tokens, no matter the location of each user. Platforms such as Ethereum enable that. Without human intervention, you can create tokens and program smart contracts that police the network the way you see fit.

Braintrust

If you are not familiar with Braintrust, here you go an excerpt from their website:

“Braintrust is the first decentralised talent network that connects highly skilled technical freelancers with the world’s most reputable brands such as Nestle, Porsche, Atlassian, Goldman Sachs and Nike. Braintrust’s unique business model allows talent to retain 100 per cent of their earnings and enables organisations to spin up flexible, skilled teams on-demand at a fraction of the cost of traditional staffing firms. This new business model that limits fee extraction and enables community ownership is uniquely enabled by a blockchain token.”

On the outside, it looks like any other marketplace for freelancers. But the mechanism that powers the platform is entirely different.

First of all, Braintrust is non-profit. Meaning, all revenues collected through the platform are distributed to the people who support the platform— either using their token BTRIST or in cash.

The thesis of Braintrust is to replace intermediaries that are extracting disproportionate value. For example, in the case of UpWork or Fiverr, the platform collects 25-40 per cent of every transaction.

On the other hand, Braintrust takes zero from talent. Instead, the organisation collects a 10 per cent flat fee from clients, rewarding whoever brought the client onto the platform.

In fact, there is no Braintrust company, just a bunch of smart contracts on Ethereum.

Also Read: ‘NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators’: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

The more you study their model, the more interesting it gets. In a recent interview with Acquired.fm, Adam Jackson, the CEO of Braintrust, mentioned six different core teams behind Braintrust.

Each team represents an independent entity. Those entities collectively employ about 30 people. Adam Jackson is, in fact, the CEO of one of those six entities called Freelance Labs. The other five entities operate independently.

“… Our community does all the coding and that kind of stuff. So it’s really like we started it off decentralised, so we wouldn’t have to like contort ourselves later,” said Adam Jackson, CEO of Freelance Labs.

The objective of Braintrust is to ensure that all people who care about the rules of the network can earn control fairly. To achieve that, they distribute tokens, and each token represents one vote.

The only way to get the brain trust token– BTRIST is to help build brand trust by supporting the network. That can be done in various forms. To name a few, bringing clients, developers, improving the software, etc.

Braintrust sold about 20 per cent of all existing tokens to early backers and investors in the early days.

“We have 10s of 1,000s of community contributors that contributed in some small way or some larger way. But outside of the small amount we sold (to early backers), the only way to get the token is to help build the network. And so, that could mean dozens of things. It could mean like writing copy for us or building UI or committing code or writing a smart contract or auditing those smart contracts, all the things…”, said Adam Jackson, CEO of Freelance Labs

Having said that, starting such network businesses is hard. That’s why in the early days, Braintrust raised about US$30 million and hired a few people to help with reaching sufficient traction.

But once the network gains a critical mass of users, it gets self-sustained. To illustrate how it works, consider the following example.

Also Read: Bitcoin and Ethereum simplified for a five-year-old

Let’s assume that you can bring a new client to Braintrust. Not too long after you onboard them, that customer hires one of the developers listed on the platform. Since Braintrust is built on Ethereum (thus, it works with smart contracts), you will be automatically paid 10 per cent of whatever the client pays for hiring that developer. No middle man fees. No platform charges. You get 10 per cent.

Maybe someday the community will collectively decide that five per cent is more appropriate and build a new smart contract to handle that, who knows. But the point remains. Braintrust is decentralised. The community has control of significant decisions.

That was considered impossible up until recently. In Web2.0 applications, we rely on a group of executives or product managers to make critical decisions. As Chris Dixon argues, “Instead of don’t be evil (Google’s motto), it (Web3.0) can’t be evil. It cannot change the rules.”

And Braintrust is not the only marketplace experimenting with community ownership.

Audius

Audius is such an interesting case because of two reasons. One, it’s built predominantly on Solana (an Ethereum like blockchain). Two, because it has massive adoption with nearly 6M users.

In a nutshell, Audius is a digital streaming service that connects fans directly with artists and exclusive new music. The keyword here is direct because Audius is fully decentralised. A network of operators runs the platform. Meaning artists and fans have come together to manage Audius as a community.

The company was started in early 2018. By now, it has 6 million monthly users and over 100,000 artists. While that number may not sound large compared to platforms such as Spotify (+400 million users), it’s one of the most used Web3.0 platforms out there.

Music is such a fascinating industry. Pretty much everyone listens to music, yet, the music industry is worth only ~US$25 billion globally. Compare that to the video gaming industry, which has an estimated size of ~US$65 billion in the US alone.

Logically, that cannot be right. A lot more people listen to music than play video games. But the way the music industry has been controlled by intermediaries (i.e. music labels) makes it challenging to innovate.

The music label model is not entirely bad, though. It is suited to a world where there are one hundred artists that matter. Music labels exist to discover and support the next big hit. In turn, it does work well for a certain calibre of artists.

Also Read: The future of startup financing in the WFH age

Unfortunately, most artists are not fortunate enough to end up working with music labels. Audius gives an alternative to that path. The network enables artists to own rights to their music and share it with the world on their terms.

Perhaps by now, you are wondering how does decentralisation help this?

“What decentralisation does here is, it removes any company or set of individuals from being in a position to make decisions like that. So they are not able to undermine both the integrity of the platform and the ability of users to get the same value from it as they have been previously,” said Roneil Rumberg, Audius CEO.

Let’s illustrate the benefits of Audius’s decentralised model:

• Security: The people who run the network buy and stake Audius tokens. In the event any of them misbehaves, that person can get penalised against the stake they hold. That provides a level of economic security around how the network runs.
• Distribution: The token grants certain types of distribution features. As an artist, depending on how many $AUDIO tokens you stake, your distribution power within the network may grow.
• Governance: On October 23, 2020, Audius network officially launched. From that moment onward, the company was incapable of changing the code that powers the platform. Decisions such as how the music is uploaded, searched, and curated, were handed over to the community. To make such decisions, you need to make a governance proposal and convince the community why there is a change. Then, you can initiate a vote, and only if you have a sufficient number of users supporting you, the new feature will be implemented.

Let’s use a few practical examples to showcase how Audius has designed incentive programmes to drive good behaviour.

One, as an artist, if your song crosses a certain threshold of listening/engagement on it, you get paid. Two, as a listener, if you curate a playlist that ends up being popular, you will get paid in $AUDIO too.

Over time, community ownership has spurred many exciting projects. In turn, third parties have built several cool apps. For example, if you make an account on Audius today, you won’t be using the core app but one of those third-party projects.

Another community-led project is a music racing game where you steer your car around, and through obstacles in sync with the music you listen to.

The Spotify or Apple Music experience is far superior to Audius’s one. Yet, as the platform grows, I am sure that will change. We will see more unique features driven by a loyal audience. Skin in the game naturally increases loyalty and incentivises word of mouth.

It’s fascinating to observe the evolution of marketplace models. Utility tokens enable governance directly by the community. That was not possible up until recently.

Traditional marketplaces required a centralised body to police and grow the network. Web3.0 is changing all that as it enables internet-native economies.

Also Read: Bitcoin and Ethereum simplified for a five-year-old

While everything sounds great, there are some issues I will need to highlight. One, although Audius is growing nicely, its UX and traction are nothing like Spotify’s. It will take a while before Web3.0 can create as intuitive a user experience as we are used to.

Two, despite all growth in the space, there is still a shortage of talent. Three, there is a risk of over financialising relationships. And fourth, high transaction (gas) fees. Web3.0 enabled marketplaces will need to deeply understand the interplay between supply and deman to address all thatd. Building internet-native economies are not easy.

But if successful such platforms will distribute wealth like never before in human history. Instead of relying on a centralised group to decide what’s good and evil, the community decides. Don’t be evil; become can’t be evil.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: beer5020

The post The different ways the Web3.0 is enabling marketplaces appeared first on e27.

Flash Express, a Thailand-headquartered e-commerce logistics service provider, today announced the launch of its full services in the Philippine market. 

The Philippine unit aims to assist local micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) in growing their businesses and improving the logistics service industry.

According to a press statement, the company will provide clients with advanced logistical equipment, technology, and workforce. It will also enhance its serviceable regions of coverage through 138 hubs and centres across the country.

The Thai unicorn began its operation in the Philippines in August with Express service. It is now gearing toward making Flash Home available and operational to complement its current offerings to Filipinos.

Atty. Ruth B. Castelo, Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Group at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said at a press conference that Flash Express would contribute to the local logistics industry, boost the economy, and increase the employment rate.

“As Filipinos, we didn’t rely on the negative impact of the pandemic; in fact, we recorded a relevant increase in the online business category for the past year,” said Castelo.

Also read: How the logistics partner can make or break the online shopping experience

Founded in 2017 by CEO Komsan Saelee, Flash Express began in the Thailand market as a free door-to-door pickup and delivery service with low COD charges, around the clock customer service, and 365-day operations without holidays. The startup then evolved to become a one-stop full-service e-commerce logistics company.

Its business lines include Flash Logistics (large items delivery service), Flash Fulfillment (warehousing and fulfilment solutions), Flash Express (the express delivery service that utilises technology and Big Data to optimise efficiency and service), Flash Home (parcel delivery agent service), and Flash Money (financial service).

In June, the firm added US$150 million to its kitty and became Thailand’s first unicorn, aiming to expand into Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Earlier in 2020, it raised US$200 million in a Series D funding round led by PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Company.

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the e-commerce sector witnessed a boom across Southeast Asia. This led to the emergence of a reliable network of e-commerce logistics solutions.

According to Ken Research, the pandemic has stimulated the Philippines’ e-commerce market, which has seen a surge in online consumer activity. The sector’s top players, such as Lazada and Shopee, even recorded an increase of more than 2 to 3 million visits per month on applications and websites. 

Along with the government’s effort in providing tax incentives and infrastructure improvements, Ken Research estimated that the Philippines logistics market would cross US$19.8 billion by 2024 with a CAGR of 29.0 per cent over the forecast period 2020-2025.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Flash Express

The post Thai logistics unicorn Flash Express launches full services in the Philippines appeared first on e27.

Credit car challenger slice raises US$220M to become unicorn

The crux: slice has raised US$220 million in a Series B round that values the company at over US$1 billion.

Investors: Tiger Global (lead), Insight Partners (lead), Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, Gunosy, Blume Ventures, and 8i.

Plans: slice intends to use the funding to expand and strengthen its presence in the payments space, hire great talent, and expand its product offerings.

More about slice: It provides slice super card, a prepaid visa card with a credit line that allows customers to get credit card-like benefits. Users can sign up with slice in seconds, quickly get a virtual card (and get a physical card delivered to their home), and get 2 per cent cashback on each transaction. slice has also made it easier and more convenient for users to pay their bills by letting them slice the bill into three months instalments at zero cost. slice claims it ships over 200,000 cards each month.

Pixlr rebrands, adds new AI features

The crux: Photo editing, animation and design company Pixlr (owned by Inmagine) has launched Pixlr 2022 with new features to amplify the users’ image editing and designing experience.

With new branding, designs, features and a clean futuristic logo, Pixlr has evolved from just an editing tool to a practical design tool that fits every user, be it novices and professionals.

More about the features: The brand new version of AI-powered features come fully equipped with an interactive animation function, nifty brushes with more tablet-friendly functionality, and a rigorous healing tool. These features allow premium users to edit up to 50 images at once and wide-range formats selection.

Pixlr 2022 enables graphic animations in its cloud-based photo animation and design tools, Pixlr X and Pixlr E. Pixlr X helps all users to animate their projects and designs in a few clicks with its ready-to-use selections, while Pixlr E allows more adventurous and challenging animation experiences for all users. Pixlr 2022 also lets users remove unwanted textures and distracting backgrounds from any images.

Indodax delists Vidy, VidyX coins

The crux: Indonesian cryptocurrency exchange Indodax said it would delist cryptocurrency assets Vidy and VidyX on November 30. This follows requests from the country’s Financial Services Authority (OJK).

What is Vidy: Vidy is a Singapore-based adtech firm. Vidy’s clients include prominent media entities across Singapore and Indonesia such as Vogue Singapore, CNN Indonesia, CNBC Indonesia, and Mothership. The firm is backed by MNC Group, Qtum, and Fenbushi Capital.

Indodax has advised its users to move their Vidy and VidyX holdings to their own wallets as the exchange will stop all trading in the coins by November 30.

Australian startup GapMaps expands to India

The crux: GapMaps, an Australian cloud-based mapping software specialist, has announced its expansion into 21 countries including India. In India, the company has appointed Subhashish Dey as Client Services Director.

Tim Shaw, GapMap’s director (market planning), said: “Many of our customers, especially the global brands, have encouraged us to enter new markets so they can use GapMaps overseas. This contributes to decisions on where we expanded the business.”

About GapMaps: Founded in 2013, GapMaps empowers decision-makers in multiple industry sectors to refine their network strategies with location intelligence and demographics. Its products can be adapted for any market or industry. Over 500 brands in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Middle East and Africa use the products to make location intelligence data easily obtainable for more accurate business decision-making.

The post In brief: India’s slice turns unicorn, Pixlr rebrands with new features, GapMaps expands to India appeared first on e27.