Posted on

GoGet, a platform for verified part-timers in Malaysia, wins UNCDF’s Finlab B40 Challenge

All GoGetters are verified and trained before being a part-time dispatcher, personal shopper or promoter for an event

GoGet, a community platform for part-time help that connects people to verified part-timers called GoGetters, has won the UNCDF B40 Challenge at MyFinTechWeek 2019, which was held in Kuala Lumpur.

The UNCDF B40 Challenge, organised by Financial Innovation Lab Malaysia and funded by the Metlife Foundation, was aimed at finding solutions that could drive usage of financial services by lower and middle-income groups in Malaysia (or the B40 population) beyond access to bank accounts.

Financial Innovation Lab in Malaysia is in collaboration with UN Capital development Fund (UNCDF), Bank Negara Malaysia and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

GoGet plans to pilot auto-savings and on-demand insurance for gig workers with UNCDF.

The local startup saw the opportunity in the market to serve their workers beyond providing job opportunities but also by helping them utilise their earnings to improve financial well-being.

Also Read: GOJEK, Astra launch all-in vehicle maintenance service GOFLEET

The firm claims to have impacted more than 10,000 GoGetters to earn with a smartphone. GoGet is in major cities outside Klang Valley, namely Penang and Johor Bahru. All GoGetters are verified and trained before they can start claiming jobs such as being a part-time dispatcher, personal shoppers or even as their part-time promoter for an event.

About 75 per cent of Malaysians find it hard to get RM1,000 cash for emergencies​. As part of a pilot project, GoGet partnered with Pod, a goal-based savings app, to allow GoGetters to save their earnings that they received from GoGet with a click of a button. With the solution, GoGetters were able to save any amount anytime, track their progress, receive cash bonuses and cash out instantly if they need. By utilising the GoGet platform, gig workers were able to surpass the savings statistics of the average Malaysian. Full time GoGetters were capable of saving RM1,000 in just 2 months!

“​Today, many people who belong to the B40 segment earn on a job by job basis. However, traditional banking and financial products recognise only those with fixed monthly payslips. There is a large portion of Malaysians that don’t have monthly payslips and these people need to be included in our financial economy,” ​said Francesca Chia, Co-founder of GoGet.

“Malaysia is rapidly proving to be a fertile testbed for fintech solutions and products. MDEC is primed and working with key players to refine Malaysia’s unique proposition as a dynamic ideal hub from which Fintech companies will be able to launch and serve different markets. It is wonderful to see the innovative spirit behind these solutions, added  Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC.

 

The post GoGet, a platform for verified part-timers in Malaysia, wins UNCDF’s Finlab B40 Challenge appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Today’s top tech news, July 19: MDI Ventures launches Singapore office

In addition to MDI Ventures, we also have updates from OYO, WeWork, and SoftBank

mdi_ventures_singapore

MDI Ventures launches an office in Singapore – DailySocial

Indonesian venture capital firm MDI Ventures, which is backed by state-owned telco Telkom Group, has begun operation of its Singapore office, DailySocial reported.

The Singapore office was founded in April and has secured operational permit from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

It will be led by Shannon Lee, former Lead of C31 Ventures, a corporate venture arm of Singapore-based property giant Capitaland.

MDI Ventures has invested in startups from 10 countries.

Ahead of IPO, WeWork CEO reportedly cashes out over US$700M – The Wall Street Journal

WeWork CEO and Co-Founder Adam Neumann has cashed out more than US$700 million from the company ahead of its IPO, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The report named the size and timing of the payouts as “unusual” as founders “typically” wait until after an IPO to liquidate their holdings.

It is made through a mix of stock sales and loans secured by his equity in the company.

The report also stated that the CEO has already set up a family office to invest the proceeds, and has begun hiring financial professionals to run it.

Also Read: Indonesian digital payment startup Kredivo secures financing from Telkomsel’s VC arm, MDI Ventures

SoftBank’s Seoul unit raises US$270M for early-stage investments – Reuters

SoftBank Group Corp announced that its Seoul-based venture capital unit –that focusses on early stage investments– has raised a KRW317 billion (US$270 million) fund, Reuters wrote.

Expected to be closed within the next six months, the fund included South Korea’s National Pension Service as an investor.

OYO Founder to invest US$2B to triple stake – Bloomberg

Oyo Hotels and Homes Founder Ritesh Agarwal is set to invest US$2 billion to triple his stake in the startup, according to a Bloomberg report.

The company stated that Agarwal will buy shares from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India, which will remain backers of the startup.

Another source who asked not to be identified said that the deal will value Oyo at about US$10 billion and raise Agarwal’s slice of the company from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.

Image Credit: Bna Ignacio on Unsplash

The post Today’s top tech news, July 19: MDI Ventures launches Singapore office appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Taking a glimpse into agritech startups in Thailand

In the latest edition of our agritech startups series, we take a look into what startups are doing in the kingdom

agritech_startup_Thailand

After Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, we are looking at agritech startups in Thailand.

Like in many other Southeast Asian countries, the agriculture sector plays a crucial role in the country’s economy. A Bangkok Post report stated that the value of rice traded in 2017 was THB174.5 billion (US$5.6 billion), which is around 12.89 per cent of all farming product.

The report stressed that with this figure, farmers in Thailand should have been wealthy as a consequence, but many issues arise instead, including the farmers being entangled by debts.

To save these farmers, many startups in the country are looking at ways to improve their farming practices and –eventually– the farmers’ livelihood.

The following is a list of agritech startups in Thailand as taken from the e27 startup database.

Also Read: Indonesian agritech startup TaniGroup raises US$10M in Series A funding round

ChikChic

CHIKCHIC aims to improve the livelihood of chicken farmers in developing countries by using IoT and ERP platform.

In addition to smart farming features such as malfunction alert and conditional setting, CHIKCHIC also provides financial management features such as profit forecast and productivity tracking.

CW2GREEN Co.Ltd.

CW2GREEN builds a smart farming platform called BANDIBURRI, which monitors temperature, humidity, CO2, and other sensor data in a greenhouse through remote mobile devices.

The startup also provides smart radio and sprayer drone for agricultural operations.

FolkRice

Founded in 2015, FolkRice is an open brand that connects small-scale farmers to potential customers, enabling them to sell their products at the best price. The products that are available on the platform ranges from rice to fresh vegetables.

Also Read: Meet the 10 agritech, foodtech startups pitching for Future Food Asia’s US$100K grand prize

Happy Farmers

Happy Farmers aim to solve the problem of lack of market access for local farmers by launching an online marketplace to help farmers reach out to customers. The platform focusses only on organic and natural products and produces; it is part of its effort to promote sustainable agriculture in Thailand while answering a growing market demand.

Founded in December 2015, Happy Farmers has worked with more than 250 farmers and producers nationwide. As of May 2016, 50 of them are supplying more than 400 SKUs via Happy Farmers.

It also has a scheme that allows local farmers to hold shares in the company.

Talad

The Talad App enables farmers and farmworkers to connect to each other, eliminating the need for a middleman in the search process for contractors.

The startup also created an e-commerce platform for the agriculture sector, where they connect businesses to end-users to purchase goods and services for their fields and farms.

Trade Connex Limited

Trade Connex Limited builds an online SPOT market system for farmers to sell their crops online in real-time. It offers live auction, negotiation, and auto-matching trading modes for users, with special focus on products such as rice and rubber sheets.

The startup is working with the Thai National Bank for settlement services.

Also Read: Bruneian agritech startup secures pre-Series A funding from Cerana Capital

Verifik8

Verifik8 is a compliance service which monitors and verifies the environmental and social performance of smallholder farmers and aquaculture operators in Southeast Asia. It aims to engage stakeholders in agriculture and seafood supply chain to increase transparency and accountability.

Some of the major companies that are working with the startup include PEPSICO and Nestle.

e27 calls upon Southeast Asian startups to update their profiles on our startup database.

Image Credit: Lisheng Chang on Unsplash

The post Taking a glimpse into agritech startups in Thailand appeared first on e27.

Posted on

AI-powered insurtech startup CXA Group to set up tech hub in Ho Chi Minh City

The tech hub will focus on enhancing its AI, Machine Learning capabilities, and accelerating its product development and micro service capabilities

CXA Group, a Singapore-based AI platform for health, wealth, and wellness choices, announced today it will set up the CXA Tech Hub in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The initiative is a part of CXA’s expansion of its technical capabilities to support its products and health ecosystem.

The company said that the tech hub will focus on enhancing its AI, Machine Learning capabilities, and accelerating its product development and micro service capabilities. The firm claims its services are serving more than 400,000 employees, Fortune 500 companies, and partners across 20 markets.

Also Read: GOJEK, Astra launch all-in vehicle maintenance service GOFLEET

Rosaline Chow Koo, Founder, and CEO of CXA Group said: “Setting up a tech hub in Vietnam provides us access to a large talent pool so we can focus on building the technology.”

CXA offers a self-service platform that allows employers to give their employees access to a wide range of health, wealth, and wellness offerings, personalised based on the individual’s health and life-stage data. This allows employees to draw down on duplicate insurance policies provided by their employers or spouse’s employers and use funds that are then released into the platform’s e-wallet to increase the balance in their e-wallets, and to purchase these offerings with cashless transactions.

As part of its health ecosystem, CXA has integrated directly with clinics, giving clients and partners a savings of up to 25 per cent on outpatient costs.

To lead the tech expansion, CXA brings Thorsten Maus as Head of Information Technology. Maus has track records in building tech teams and platforms for e-commerce, payment, and financial companies and will oversee CXA’s Tech and Development teams both in Singapore and China, as well as the various CXA tech hubs across the region.

In the past, CXA Group was known to raise funding from Eduardo Saverin of Facebook in 2017 and EDBI in 2017, and the recent one in March 2019.

The post AI-powered insurtech startup CXA Group to set up tech hub in Ho Chi Minh City appeared first on e27.

Posted on

[In Photos] Singapore to welcome 300 LionsBot auto cleaning robots

The robots reportedly can sing and rap while cleaning the often unreachable corners

LionsBot International, a Singapore-based company, has announced the launch of the local production of 300 autonomous cleaning robots at Gardens by the Bay.

Cleaning robots that can sing and rap while cleaning the city-state is soon to be deployed as part of a special agreement between LionsBot and six cleaning partners. The cleaning robots will be in operation by March 2020, the company said in a statement.

With this project, LionsBot claimed that it will be the world’s first company to offer cleaning robots on a subscription model. Companies looking to utilise cleaning robots will not need to invest in ownership and maintenance.

So far, the company has developed 13 different models of cleaning robots that are able to scrub, mop, vacuum, sweep, shine, and transport cleaning equipment for both indoors and outdoors usage.

One of its robot series is the LeoBots Family, with a width size of 63cm and the ability to navigate through doorways and tight corridor spaces. With a full turning radius of 1.2 metres, the LeoBot can make 180 degree turns which enable it to produce a cleaning path for more consistent cleaning results.

LionsBot is led by the husband-and-wife duo of Dylan Ng and Michelle Seow.

Also Read: Grab launches green e-scooter GrabWheels in Indonesia’s top university

“When it comes to robotics, cleaning is a complicated undertaking which involves finding the right balance between pressure, mechanical, and chemical action on different surfaces. This led us to dream about building our own cleaning robot workforce,” said Dylan Ng, Co-founder, LionsBot.

The team was then joined by Mohan Rajesh Elara, Assistant Professor with the Engineering Product Development Pillar at Singapore University of Technology & Design. Professor Mohan’s research in robotics contributes to the development of autonomous cleaning robots.

LionsBot technology includes the following features:

  • High-speed and contextual mapping to capture a premise’s cleaning requirements
  • Uses up to 70 per cent less water as compared to existing cleaning solutions
  • Well-integrated precision sensors to avoid objects and detect human
  • Safety bumpers that cause the robots to come to a stop if it ever comes into contact with an object
  • Cleaning robots can work together as a team. Multiple cleaning robots are able to coordinate and clean a given area simultaneously, without the need for human programming.

For example, if VacPod and ScrubPod are deployed, they are able to take turns cleaning a space without the need for a human cleaner to push buttons to activate them.

Cleaning robots may take different cleaning routes each day as they are constantly learning and calculating the most efficient way to clean a given space.

By scanning a QR code on the robot, the public is able to interact with the robots by asking questions such as “what is your name?” or “what type of cleaning do you perform?”.

Moreover, LionsBot aims to contribute to the upskilling of the cleaning industry. The company has established LionsBot Training Academy which equips cleaners with a six-hour training programme on the use of the robots.

LionsBot has also developed a mobile application that rewards cleaners based on how well they operate and maintain the robots.

Also Read: US-based VoIP company 8×8 buys Singapore’s cloud startup Wavecell for US$125M

The company is manufacturing its robots in Singapore with a team of over 30 engineers. The team targets to produce four robots each day.

As of now, cleaning companies and building owners can rent any of LionsBot cleaning robots at monthly fees ranging from US$1,350 to US$2,150.

The post [In Photos] Singapore to welcome 300 LionsBot auto cleaning robots appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Thai corporate innovation firm RISE expands AI accelerator program to Singapore

RISE will help Singaporean startups to plug into Thailand’s ecosystem and work with local partners to contribute solutions to the market needs

RISE, Southeast Asia-based corporate innovation firm, has announced that it has expanded into Singapore with support from government agency Enterprise Singapore.

RISE is supported under the government agency’s Startup SG Accelerator programme providing mentorship and resources to support the growth of startups based in Singapore.

As a Startup SG Accelerator partner, RISE will help Singaporean startups to plug into Thailand’s ecosystem and work with local partners to contribute solutions to the market needs and globally utilising the latter’s own network of more than 200 corporate and governmental agencies worldwide.

The two-way relationship, will allow over 1,000 growth-stage startups in RISE Network to launch their business in Southeast Asia outside their home country with Singapore as the first country.

Through Startup SG Accelerator, the first official collaboration of RISE and Enterprise Singapore is “RISE.AI”, Southeast Asia’s first corporate AI Accelerator program that will bring in 30 AI startups from all over the world to the region. Startups will work intensively with the top corporates in Southeast Asia for nine weeks.

Also Read: This 4-month-old Y Combinator startup wants to be the Stripe for the Philippines

RISE.AI will focus on delivering tangible business results to the corporates rather than incubating early-stage startups. For the Singapore leg, lasting three months from July to September, 10 startups will fly to the city-state to work on the pilot program.

Jonathan Lim, Enterprise Singapore’s Director for Global Innovation Network, said: “Many startups fail not because they lack great ideas but because they lack product-market fit. Product development should be driven by a market need and customer validation from potential users. Enterprise Singapore is happy to partner with RISE in its inaugural AI program to enable startups to work closely with regional corporates.”

Following the RISE. AI Accelerator Program, RISE hopes to explore future initiatives with Enterprise Singapore in other sectors like healthcare and energy.

The post Thai corporate innovation firm RISE expands AI accelerator program to Singapore appeared first on e27.

Posted on

These agritech startups might be the next big thing in the Philippines

Agritech startups in the country offer services that range from IoT to crowdfunding platforms

agritech_the_philippines

As it is widely known, the agriculture sector plays a crucial role in the Philippine economy. According to data by FAO, the sector involves about 40 per cent of Filipino workers, as it contributes to an average of 20 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

However, the report also pointed out that in the last two decades, the sector has been pacing several challenges that include a decrease in productivity and high production costs.

Just like in Singapore and Indonesia, startups in the Philippines are also looking for ways to innovate in the sector. The services that they offer range from building a crowdfunding platform to help farmers fund their harvest, to creating an IoT platform that can directly help to improve yield.

The following is a list of agritech startups in the Philippines as taken from the e27 startup database.

While our data does not record the funding rounds that these startups have completed, it can give us a big picture of what is going on the field. Pun intended.

Also Read: Indonesian agritech startup TaniGroup raises US$10M in Series A funding round

CloudFarm Innovations

 

CloudFarm Innovations, Inc is an agritech startup that builds sustainable farm solutions using IoT and big data analytics. It aims to help farmers maximise crop yields and improve food security in the region.

Their first product is a Heat Stress Analyzer, an IOT farming technology that protects agricultural crops against Crop Heat Stress. The platform also provides data analysis for improved harvest.

Cropital

 

Cropital is a crowdfunding platform that aims to help farmers raise funds to support their harvest.

Founder and CTO Rachel De Villa was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016 for the Finance & Venture Capital category.

 

DELTHA

 

Founded in 2018, DELTHA (Decentralized Ecosystem for Long-term Transformation via Human Action) is a social impact startup supporting sustainable agriculture innovations using blockchain technology, particularly Ethereum.

Each member in the DELTHA communities will be given digital identities and be trained about entrepreneurship by the startup and our key partners.

The company has a special focus on the country’s rural areas.

Also Read: Meet the 10 agritech, foodtech startups pitching for Future Food Asia’s US$100K grand prize

e-Magsasaka

 

e-Magsasaka is an agri-trading company that aims to shorten the fresh fruits and vegetable supply chain by forecasting the harvest of farmers on a weekly basis and marketing their product prior to picking.

The company is currently working with farmer groups to test out the prototype of its offline platform.

FarmOn

 

Just like Cropital, FarmOn.ph is a crowdfunding platform for users to help farmers with their financial needs, while gaining rewards for their contributions at the same time.

The platform was developed by Manila-based web publishing company Sproads.

FarmOn.ph owns 96 hectares of farmland property that is managed by its partners and local farmers in Isabela and Quirino Province.

 

Tagani.ph

 

Tagani.ph is an agribusiness e-commerce platform that aims to connect businesses to farmers directly through direct bulk transactions and contract farming. The name Tagani itself means “harvest time” in Tagalog.

Founded in August 2018, the startup had also qualified for TOP100 at Echelon Asia Summit 2019 in Singapore.

e27 calls upon Southeast Asian startups to update their profile on our startup database.

Image Credit: Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

The post These agritech startups might be the next big thing in the Philippines appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Health and wellness startup The FIT Company acquires three local startups

The FIT plans on solidifying its position as the wellness ecosystem leader with the acquisition

The FIT Company, Indonesia-based startup that focusses on an active and healthy lifestyle, announced that it has acquired three local startups to further develop the wellness ecosystem in the country. The three startups are Slim Gourmet, Wellnez Indonesia, and FITCO.

“This expansion is our way to continue our vision to have a wellness ecosystem in Indonesia, to create a healthier public,” said Jeff Budiman, CEO dan Co-founder The FIT Company.

Slim Gourmet is a healthy catering service by five different chefs with different specialties, advised by professional dietitian and based on factors such as allergies, medical history, and dietary needs of each customer. It was acquired in April 2019.

The second acquisition done is Wellnez Indonesia, a company that has 50 database coaches across the country. The FIT Company hopes to spark further collaboration with Wellnez Indonesia to create a more positive ecosystem for coaches and members alike.

The third company acquired is FITCO, an app that gives incentives to streetwalkers. The service is designed to record numbers of steps and achievements of each user to reward them as appreciation and motivation to walk more.

Also Read: Thai corporate innovation firm RISE expands AI accelerator program to Singapore

The acquisition of FITCO will see the platforms integrated with one another, making FITCO’s features available in The FIT.

There are several wellness arms that The FIT carries, from sports, nutritious food, to daily products.

In the third quarter this year, The FIT Company said that it plans to launch an integrated wellness service under one application. Through the application, users can choose coaches as well as choosing healthy menu according to their needs.

Image Credit: The FIT Company

The post Health and wellness startup The FIT Company acquires three local startups appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Today’s top tech news, July 18: Honestbee to suspend services in Malaysia; Ebay picks over 5% stake in Paytm Mall

The suspension will have no effect on full time employees at Honestbee Malaysia

Honestbee to suspend food and grocery delivery services in Malaysia from July 22 [The Star]

Honestbee has announced that it will be temporarily suspending both its food and grocery delivery services in Malaysia from July 22 onward, stating that no delivery slots will be available from then until further notice.

“After a strategic review of our company’s businesses, our headquarters in Singapore has made a firm decision to temporarily suspend our operations in Malaysia. This is to ensure we can meet our financial commitments to our merchants, partners and suppliers as we carefully review the future of our operations,” Honestbee Malaysia said in a press statement to The Star.

The suspension will have no effect on full time employees at Honestbee Malaysia, while riders and shopper Bees “currently working with us will have the option to pursue other career paths when the opportunity arises, but most certainly be welcomed to rejoin the course of our business when we restore operations”, the company stated.

Indonesia’s Astra launches JV with Go-Jek to revive languishing car sales [DealStreetAsia]

Astra International, Indonesia’s largest automobile distributor, on Thursday launched a joint venture with Go-Jek to provide cars to the ride-hailing firm.

The move, which comes on the heels of an overall US$250 million investment in Go-Jek, is aimed at boosting Astra’s already-strong market dominance, despite a dismal full-year outlook for countrywide car sales.

“The outlook for the country’s overall car sales is between 1.05 million and 1.1 million units for 2019,” Astra President and Director Prijono Sugiarto told reporters, a dive from 1.5 million units sold in 2018.

EBay picks up over 5% stake in Paytm Mall [The Economic Times]

Ebay has picked up a 5.5 per cent stake in Paytm Mall, as the San Jose-based online marketplace makes another attempt to get a slice of the Indian e-commerce market.

Ebay said its global inventory will be available to over 130 million active users on Paytm Mall and Paytm’s app ecosystem as part of the deal.

The companies did not disclose the investment amount, but sources close to the transaction said the financing round is about US$150 million.

Japan to lead development of SWIFT network for cryptocurrency: source [Reuters]

Japan’s government is leading a global push to set up an international network for cryptocurrency payments, similar to the SWIFT network used by banks, in an effort to fight money laundering, a person familiar with the plan said on Thursday.

Tokyo aims to have the network in place in the next few years, the person said, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public.

A team related to the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will monitor its development and Japan will cooperate with other countries, the source said.

Hong-Kong based adtech startup OneOneDay launches in India [press release]

OneOneDay, a Hong Kong-based adtech startup, has recently launched the Oodies app in India. This app allows users to earn cash rewards and donate part of it to social causes by watching advertisements of their choice.

The app is available in India for Android users nation-wide.

On Oodies, users choose the ads they want to watch, and get rewarded in cash for their time and attention.

Every time an ad is watched, a portion of the advertising revenue goes to fund a social cause. For its launch in India, Oodies has chosen to tackle the issue of women’s safety by providing safe last-mile rides to women in Delhi.

The post Today’s top tech news, July 18: Honestbee to suspend services in Malaysia; Ebay picks over 5% stake in Paytm Mall appeared first on e27.

Posted on

Free is not always the best option, and here’s an experiment in setting value

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.

—-

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.

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

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

The post Free is not always the best option, and here’s an experiment in setting value appeared first on e27.