Malaysia-based startup Rush’s premise is simple. Whenever you’re in need of smartphone energy to ensure connectivity, go to the nearest store to rent a power bank. Scan code on any Rush kiosk, grab the power bank, and once you’re done using it, drop it back to the nearest kiosk you can find.
Rush believes that our day-to-day life is not something that can be done without a properly working smartphone. “As the world evolved, smartphones have become part of an important device in our daily life. All our work, communication, social, transportation, wallet, food, and more are solved by using a smartphone. It’s made life more efficient and convenient,” says Dylan Wong, co-founder of Rush.
Malaysia has 26 million internet users, and the country is currently the top four country in the world who spent an average of 4.02 hours a day on smartphones in 2019. This kind of lifestyle provides plenty of opportunities for startups such as Rush.
Why powerbank
“Running out of battery on our phones happens at least two times for us in a day. Like anyone else we have also tried different methods, including buying extra phone charging cables, powerbanks, and even carrying phone chargers wherever we go. Then we notice the problem didn’t really go away, because you would need to either remember to bring these extra items on top of what you need everyday. And as an additional tool, there could be times when you don’t remember to charge them! We also noticed that these problems happened to most people around us,” explains Wong.
To validate this issue further, Rush’s team conducted a survey in Klang Valley, about their phone usage and charging habits. The results showed that 56 per cent of the people surveyed are experiencing the same mentioned issues on an everyday basis.
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“Some funny but common scenarios include, asking around for cables, or trying to look for a power plug socket to charge their phone. It all happened as a part of the daily lives of people with smartphones,” Wong comments.
In the dawn of 5G
In the sense of welcoming the highly anticipated 5G, Rush aims to be ahead of innovation.
“New phone technology is almost everywhere today, and with 5G coming soon, and the battery consumption of a 5G phone is 2.5 times more compared to 4G phones. Phone innovations continuously evolve, but battery technology remains stagnant for the next few years with battery capacity expansion not significantly ‘catching up’ to cater to the actual needs and increasing usage of these new phone features,” says Wong.
So according to Rush, the immediate solution is to have a power bank ready to rent anywhere at any time.
Challenges in familiarisation
As power bank sharing is a relatively new product and business in the Malaysian market, there are challenges to face in promoting the use of the service.
“The biggest challenge would be helping our users to understand and change their phone or mobile devices charging habit that has been with them for a long time,” Wong points out.
Furthermore, based on the results of the survey the company has conducted in the Klang Valley area, 83 per cent of the respondents have also expressed that they are receptive to power bank rental or sharing service, something that boosted the confidence of Rush that there are untapped markets for ready-to-rent power bank.
“Our approach is direct to users, promoting our products through events, and on-ground roadshows. Besides that, we also work closely and extensively with all our partners, who are from different industries: F&B, entertainment, hotels, and services,” says Wong.
Wong mentions that they have partnered with established names such as Tealive and Holiday Inn Express.
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“We strive to create an ecosystem by understanding both our partners and our users’ needs and wants, hence our approach mainly aims to help our partners’ business drive awareness, footfall and consequently sales, while at the same time having Rush users enjoying the convenience of our power bank sharing service and the various features that benefit their everyday lifestyle,” Wong adds.
Behind Rush
Currently, Rush is operating in a team of 15 people. It was established by co-founders Dylan Wong, who is also the CEO, and Ng Yong Ching as the COO, who is also Wong’s long time friends.
Both Wong and Ng were part of the pioneer team of Grab and e-scooter oBike and shared a few years working together in several startups before co-founding Rush.
What to expect after pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly has thrown a curveball for most businesses and startups in particular, and Wong says that the company’s not immune to it.
Like other startups trying to survive, Rush also did some adjustments to the situation by trying to cater to their customers and partners better.
“We’ve worked with partners or kiosks to help them to promote their business by providing and selling exclusive e-voucher to our users which we subsidise as well. Our focus is to help merchants to gain some cash flow and conserve more cash. It also can attract users to visit the retails,” Wong elaborates.
As for the post-pandemic era, Wong adds that sanitisation is their main priority to provide comfort and convenience. “We will sanitise all the power bank and our partner/merchant will help us to sanitise after users use it.”
Focussing on user experience
User experience is at the core of Rush’s product developments, as Wong emphasised.
“We constantly review our app functions and features and rolls out new features that enhances the Rush user experience. Just this month, we have launched a new reward and advertising features in our app, which Rush users can now enjoy to get their hands on exclusive deals and rewards from our partners. These rewards wrap around our users’ everyday activity and lifestyle, and most are redeemable as long as you have a Rush account.”
To ensure service availability, as well as enhance user convenience, in the coming months, Rush will be launching its loyalty programme that aims to benefit both partners as well as users.
Power bank sharing and rental service still being considered as a novelty. Not only in Malaysia, but also in other Southeast Asian countries.
“Compared to other regions like China that are more matured with this service, Chinese people are now very familiar with the power bank rental service as the solution to everyday device charging and/or battery issues. They find it convenient as it has become a necessary service to be provided by most businesses,” Wong draws an example.
With the country’s effort in building and improving our public infrastructure and transportation, mobile devices and internet usage will only increase significantly for the next few years.
“The potential is definitely there, if we look at the trend and how prepared the country is,” Wong concludes.
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Image Credit: Rush
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