Forget about Craiglist or Gumtree.

Started in 2012, Carousell is a mobile-only solution that aims to provide a community-driven alternative to Craigslist and Gumtree. In just 30 seconds, Carousell allows users to create free listings to sell their unused and under-used clutter.

With limited alternatives in Southeast Asia, Carousell claims to be one of the market leaders in this space.

In an exclusive interview with the Singapore Business Review magazine website, Carousell founders said ''we are about helping people discover amazing deals and items nearby, without needing to resort to cumbersome interfaces or difficult-to-navigate platforms. We want to provide users with the best possible mobile experience, and we go to great lengths to ensure that Carousell is a beautiful, well-built application.''

Originally incubated by NUS Enterprise, Carousell was able to raise investment from Golden Gate Ventures and Rakuten.

According to the founders, Carousell is a mobile-only startup which is expanding aggressively throughout Southeast Asia.

'We have a very active community of buyers and sellers. The last point is especially important for a platform like ours: we're only as good as our network,'' they added.

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COMPANY PROFILE:

Name of the company: Carousell
Founders: Quek Siu Riu, Lucas Ngoo, Marcus Tan
Website: thecarousell.com
Major Investors: Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups, Rakuten
Total funding at hand: 1,000,000 SGD
Source of funding: Private
Start of operation: May 2012 

Swipe, click, and feast.

With a vision to change the way customers dine out, Singapore-based startup TabSquare provides consumer engagement solutions to improve restaurant profitability and customer dining experience.

The idea is simple. With a customized digital menu on every table, customers can view dishes, place orders and pay their bills, without waiting for the waiter, and that is integrated into the restaurant's kitchen and billing systems.

In an exclusive interview with the Singapore Business Review magazine, founder Anshul Gupta revealed that TabSquare was started in May 2012 by three founding members who saw a possibility to change the restaurant industry forever using the tablet / touch technology that was revolutionising the consumer market.

Raising funds was easier with the backing of INSEAD entrepreneur/alumni network which helped connect to the right incubators and fund managers.

‘We presented to a number of incubators and while many were interested in investing, we went ahead with Get2Volume as we saw a great fit between their portfolio of companies & alignment of the vision for the company,’ he said.

Fast forward to 2014, TabSquare has resonated very well with the Industry leaders and over 100 restaurants and hotels in Singapore and other Southeast asian markets. Some of the big names which have launched our signed up for its products include Crowne Plaza, Cedele,and Nihon Mura Express among others.

TabSquare has grown its revenues by over 25 times in the past one year and is driving the rapid digitalization of the shopping & dining environment in the region.

Asked what makes TabSquare unique, Gupta said his startup’s architecture allows for easy integrations with multiple back-end system providers, as well as front-end services providers like reservations and reviews. This paves way for a unique industry platform that TabSquare partners can leverage to provide “never-possible-before” services to restaurants and its guests.

TabSquare is at the fore-front of innovation, partnering with innovative companies, utilising the latest technologies to further simplify the dining experience and making it more efficient.

‘Case in point, the mobile payment collection dongles, introduced for the first time in Singapore, and the latest mobile bluetooth printers both of which are already a part of TabSquare solution suite and allows the restaurant staff to generate bill, collect payments and issue credit card receipt right at the table,’added Gupta.  

Over 400 accounts created in its first 2 months.

Launched in November last year, Singapore-based startup Kluje Pte aims to renovate home improvement industry in the region through its multi-sided platform.

Think Facebook for home improvement and you’ll get an idea what Kluje is all about. Deemed as a billion dollar industry, home improvement services are fast-growing in Singapore and Kluje plans to take a slice of that.

In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, founder Jamey Merkel said “our platform will enable homeowners to hire contractors with larger degree of certainty, with the power of online ratings and a built history with the platform. This will enable us to create 'Better Quality Contractors', which will benefit the entire industry as a whole.”

He added, “we have had over S$500,000 worth of jobs posted on kuje.com and over 400 accounts created and that is only the first two months first 2 months. We can only see this accelerating as we ramp up our acquisition “

Asked what makes his startup unique, Merkel said “we fuse online lead generation, a closed review system with Social Media style connectivity. We allow contractors to easily find leads, homeowners to view and review rated contractors, in a social media type atmosphere. We are fully mobile responsive and empower you to manage your account on the go.”

After gaining ground in Singapore, Kluje eyes to tap other countries as well. That’s not bad for a home improvement startup that was once inspired by a horrible renovation experience.

Merkel concludes, “I had a bad renovation experience and then I met John Fearon, the founder of Gilcrux Holdings, and we started a conversation. The rest is history.”

______________________________________

COMPANY PROFILE:

Name of the company: Kluje Pte Ltd
Founder: Jamey Merkel
Website: htpps://www.kluje.com
Major Investors: Crystal Horse Investments, Gilcrux Holdings
Total funding at hand: $250,000 SGD
Source of funding: private angel investor,
Start of operation: November 2013 

Yes, Valentine's Day came early.

Dating apps have been growing like mushrooms these days but Paktor, a social networking platform and mobile app, aims to be more than just another dating app. In the last four months, Paktor have matched over 1.5 million singles making itself one of the fastest growing social networking sites for singles in Asia.

Within 15 seconds, participants can create an account on Paktor. They may login through Facebook and Paktor can create a profile them.

In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, Joseph Phua, one of Paktor founders, shared that his startup started in Chicago in April of last year. 

"I had then recently became single and decided to try different dating apps/sites. I had quite a bit of success in the US and realized there were no other similar platforms in Asia. I then decided to create a platform to help myself and singles like me in Asia. I got my funds from an angel investor who was convinced of my vision," he said.

From then on, Paktor positioned itself as a Pan-Asian dating app with more participants under its network. Phua said that Paktor banks on the 'network effect' to attract more single participants. He also claims that Paktor features ease of sign up and high number of matches per person. By utilising the 'network effect, "participants can spread the word for us, by word of mouth".

As for its future plans, Phua said "we have established leadership position in the markets we are in. We will continue to listen to our users and ensure we provide them with the services they need, to maintain our dominance in the region."

Like a genie in your pocket, Paktor claims that it can churn out dates wherever and whenever you want. It is availabe on iOS and Android and soon-to-be launched on Blackberry and Windows devices.

-----------------------------------------------

COMPANY PROFILE:

Name of Company: Paktor Pte. Ltd.
Founder/Founders: Joseph PHUA, Charlene KOH, Christopher D'CRUZ
Website: www.gopaktor.com
Major Investor: Right now, 1 angel (prefers to stay anonymous)
Total funding at hand: 7 figure 
Target fund: in process of Series A round right now, 8 figure
Source of funding: A consortium of angels, a few VCs (international and local)
Start of operation: June 2013
 

Its revenue is pegged to hit $3.5m.

Unfazed by big telco companies, Singapore-headquartered startup Nevigate is challenging global telco carrier companies to rethink how they build sustainable business partnerships in order to meet customers’ growing demand for flexible, resilient and high quality connectivity services.

Nevigate is a Virtual Network Operator (VNO) which consists of skilled employees who perform what physical cables or networks usually do.

Nevigate’s team makes purchases from other carriers around the world, then uses its virtual network overlay architecture to build and deliver global connectivity services to other global carrier customers. Nevigate operates Network Operation Centres that uses remote monitoring system to deliver 24x7 customer support, making sure fast, timely troubleshooting is done and resolution achieved once connectivity faults are detected.

Nevigate has leveraged proven IP innovation and pervasive consumer IP adoption to help build its business model. It claims that going virtual can be the winning formula in meeting customers’ requirements and needs.
Since its inception in 2011, the company has grown its revenue exponentially, from a base of $680,000 in 2011 to $2.5mil and it is expected to close its book at $3.5mil by the end of 2013.

Today, Nevigate offers customers coverage in more than 150 countries via multiple providers. It has regional offices in Cyprus, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and UAE. It continues to seek opportunities with its plans of expansion in 2014 and beyond.

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COMPANY PROFILE:

Name of the company: Nevigate Communication Pte Ltd.
Founder/Founders: Private investor
Website: https://nevigate.net/
Total funding at hand: S$300,000
Source of funding: Private investor who believed in the VNO business model
Start of operation: 2011

For startups wanting to be featured, send your company profile to [email protected] 

It plans to expand to 5 more countries.

Poised to tackle the major challenges of the outdoor advertising industry, startup EatAds plans to bring transparency and efficiency to advertisers.

In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, EatAds founder shared that the industry still falls short in maximizing the availability of resources in meeting its targets.

“We are bringing ROI metrics to an industry which doesn't employ the power of tech to operate at the level of sophistication it should be. Smart platforms and data analytics are what EatAds brings to the table to help disrupt the oldest form of advertising,” says its founders.

With funds pocketed from Angels in Singapore in India, EatAds plans to expand its operations to more countries.
“We've been approached by five different country partners to bring EatAds to their countries,” they added.

______________________________

COMPANY PROFILE

Name of the company: EatAds.com
Founder/Founders: Dhruv Sahgal, Nigel Hembrow, Kamalesh Basu
Website: www.eatads.com
Major Investors: Crystal Horse Investments
Source of funding: Angel
Start of operation: March 2011 

It offers two unique features.

As the first online community dedicated to local designers and retailers in Singapore, Travelshopa aims to change the way shoppers discover local shops and brands in their home-city and travel destinations. Founded by Renee Lodens, the business has two distinct points of difference to other "shopping directories" available in the market.

Firstly, Travelshopa is deeply focused on the local shopping scene. Therefore savvy, global shoppers are provided with rich, unique content and on-site features that allow them to get to know established and emerging local designers and retailers across fashion, gifts and homewares.

Secondly, its search-based site is a marketing platform where local designers and retailers can promote themselves as well as receive marketing support.

“We are filling a gap in readily available in-depth information about shopping that other sources don’t offer, and introducing shoppers to a segment they were not that aware of before,” said Lodens.

Asked about Travelshopa’s future plans, Lodens shared “with a 6-person Singapore-based team, we are in the process of expanding into other cities throughout Asia Pacific. A key priority for is to continuously work on the on-site features to offer a rich user experience,” she added.
_____________________________

COMPANY PROFILE:

Name of the company: Travelshopa (Pte Ltd)
Founder/Founders: Renée Lodens
Website: www.travelshopa.com
Major Investors: Private Equity
Total funding at hand: +$250,000
Target fund: $1.5m
Start of operation: Officially launched the site in October 2013
 

It has over 100 corporate customers to date.

Urged to meet the growing demand in quality coffee in Asia’s corporate scene, Eco Connex aims to make gourmet coffee more accessible.

As the exclusive distributor for coffee machine brands HLF and Orchestrale, Eco Connex targets to provide premium beverage solutions in Asia by offering a different ‘kick’.

Today, the startup is leasing high-tech and eco-friendly hot beverage equipment and conduct trainings to educate its customers on the basic maintenance. It is also selling a range of the equipment’s consumable and instant soluble powder such as latte powder and chocolate powder.

Established in early 2011 with over 100 corporate customers, Eco ConneX supports environmental sustainability through its “green” coffee products.

The coffee beans from Caffè Agust are roasted meticulously in solar-powered plants while HLF Italian Design coffee machines are designed to be more energy efficient than other manual coffee machines.

_________________________________

COMPANY INFORMATION

Name of the company: Eco ConneX Pte Ltd
Founder/Founders: Anthony Ku, Joel Kiang, Patrick Tay and Peter Chng
Website: www.ecoconnex.com
Major Investors: NA
Total funding at hand: NA
Target fund: NA
Source of funding: Personal funds from partners
Start of operation: Early 2011
 

Plans to make Singapore as world's analytics hub.

With an estimated worth of US$1.76b big data technology and services market (APAC ex-Japan) by 2016, the future of data analytics is definitely bright. One of the startups aiming to take a slice of this huge market is Sparkline, a digital analytics consultancy based in Singapore and operating across Asia Pacific.

Founded by three Google alumni in 2012, Sparkline develops smarter customer service approaches for businesses and gives them better understanding of the value of their digital assets and media channels. Sparkline's customers are across Asia which include big-wigs such as Google, SingPost, IKEA, Malaysia Airlines, INSEAD, Amari, Digi, Dtac (Thailand) and Bangkok Air.

With a background from Google, founders Aleetza Senn, Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar and Timo Josten boast that their team has over 18 years of combined experience in digital across Asia in Product, Performance and Strategy.

In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, they shared that their company is the first in Asia with such services.

“Being the first to market in Asia we look forward to helping businesses here understand how data analytics can help them achieve greater ROI. We have met customers who invest their budgets into various platforms without knowing the effectiveness of the platforms. Sparkline seeks to help businesses be more cost efficient at the same time attain higher ROI,” they said.

Asked about their future plans, Sparkline founders said they are shutting out the noise of buzzwords like ‘Big Data’ and instead simplifying data for businesses to show clients the business opportunities that they can obtain from data they already have.

“We want to expand the company and contribute to Singapore’s vision to being an analytics hub. We look forward to sharing our knowledge about analytics to create greater awareness around the opportunities behind data. Also to develop products that aid in simplifying data, empowering companies to be data driven and to be able to upskill their teams to use data in actionable ways,” they said.

__________________________________________

COMPANY INFORMATION

Name of the company: Sparkline
Founders: Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar, Timo Josten, Aleetza Senn
Website: www.sparkline.com
Major Investors: Founders - Vinoaj Vijeyakumaar, Timo Josten, Aleetza Senn
Total funding at hand: undisclosed internal resources
Target fund: external funding search begins in 2H 2014
Source of funding: founders’ investment
Start of operation: mid-2012

Clock in using facial recognition.

Forget about biometrics. Rising startup PayrollHero unveiled a much efficient way to keep track of your employees' attendance minus the sweat. 

In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, founders Michael Stephenson and Stephen Jagger revealed that PayrollHero uses the employees face as their primary biometric to avoid buddy punching and ghost employees.

These clock-in pics are further given a mood rating to establish an array of business intelligence to the companies corollaries between productivity and mood.

"We use the employees face as the metric for clocking in and out, as well as provide a completely cloud based platform that is second to none," they said.

But it doesn't stop there. Payroll Hero could just be the HR's best companion as it provides a complete platform that covers payroll and scheduling.

"We take company culture to the next level and are working to build a world class payroll, time, attendance, scheduling and analytics platform," they added.

With numerous awards under its belt, ("IT Startup Of The Year" for 2012 in the Philippines and "The Cloud based Payroll Platform of Choice" by BC Business Magazine), Payroll Hero isn't resting on its laurels just yet. The team has plans to expand in South East Asia as well as boost the capabilities of the platform.

___________________________________________

Name of the company: PayrollHero.com Pte. Ltd.

Founder/Founders: Michael Stephenson and Stephen Jagger

Website: www.PayrollHero.com

Major Investors: 500Startups, LX Ventures, 8capita, Benjamin Joffe, Dan Martell CEO of Clarity, Ryan Holmes CEO of Hootsuite, more here - https://angel.co/payrollhero

Total funding at hand: $1,500,000 CDN (plus closing another round right now)

Source of funding: Founders, Angel Investors, VCs

Start of operation: 1.5 years ago 

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected]

Plus, it has a special counter for merchants.

Joining the plethora of e-commerce sites catering to the F&B market, Sprungy is an all-food deal site which aims to retain the innate strengths of group-buying and remove the inherent weaknesses of other deal sites at the same time.

While group deal sites seemed to be the trend these days, Sprungy sets itself apart by offering a different twist to lure the merchants and customers' apetite. First, it has created a special self-service page for merchants to create deals by themselves.

This removes any possible unwanted pressure from the merchants to ease their cashflow accordingly. Sprungy has also detoured from the prevailing practice of only letting merchants claim their share after the deal redemption period ends.

Unlike the typical food deal site, Sprungy doesn't demand a large chunk of merchants' already discounted earnings and its diners pay merchants immediately after they've eaten.

They also collect only $1 for any deal no matter how much the deal is worth. On top of that, Sprungy provides an easy refund service – just click a button and diners instantly get their refund.

Injecting a more interactive ingredient into its menu, Sprungy allows diners to scroll through the profiles of fellow diners letting them send deals with each other along with a short message. If one party accepts, it’s a great way to reconnect in real life. If he or she doesn't, then it's just $1 spent.

Asked about their future plans, principal partner Joe Augustin said that they are eyeing to be present in Singapore, USA, China, UK, Japan, India, and Brazil
 by end-2014. He further commented "Spungry could just be the next web giant, with the difference of a robust revenue source independent of selling ads, and it's made right here in Singapore; right down to our red-and-white branding."

______________________________________

COMPANY PROFILE

Name of Company: Spungry, LLP

Principal Partners: Hiroyuki Kiga, Joe Augustin and Ricardo Sentosa

Website: www.spungry.com

Major Investors: N.A.

Total Funding at Hand: N.A.

Source of Funding: Personal funds from partners

Start of Operation: 04 Jul 2013

Choose from collecion of private homes and villas.

Pandabed.com is a Singapore-based site dedicated to offering travelers unique and handpicked accommodations at affordable rates with an emphasis on quality and safety.

The site features a growing collection of vacation, rental homes, villas, bed & breakfast accommodations and private rental properties within Asia.

Today, PandaBed is a regional company with a presence in popular destinations like Bali, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Koh Samui, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Founders James Chua and Lester Kang notes "We are disrupting the Asian travel accommodation trend by shifting travelers from staying in hotels or guesthouse to high quality and trustworthy homes, apartments and villas which is 50% cheaper than the convention accommodations and provides a more authentic and colorful travel experience."
_________________________

COMPANY PROFILE:

 Name of the company: PandaBed.com

Founder/Founders: James Chua and Lester Kang

Website: PandaBed.com

Major Investors: Self-funded

Total funding at hand: $200,000

Source of funding: Personal Savings

For startups wanting to be featured, kindly send your message to [email protected]
 

Book an appointment to fit items you have found online.

The risk in online shopping is purchasing items, particularly clothes and shoes, that may not fit you well. The startup Snappyfit hopes to address such an issue.

According to its founder, Ong Sin Ning, Snappyfit started when she realized the problems she encounters when she’s shopping for clothes.

“I started my company ironically because I hate shopping. However I like clothes. With my Size 14 shoulder and Size 8 waist, shopping is not an easy feat for me. For someone like me, online shopping would be the most convenient and easiest way to search for clothes - however for the exact same reason, I would need to try them on first to make sure that the material, quality and colour are as per my expectations” explains Sin Ning.

With this, she started looking more into issues that concern online shopping. She has found out that a lot of other online shoppers have concerns over purchasing items without having the chance to fit them or check them out in person. A lot of online shoppers recognize the great risk of possibly purchasing something that ends up not what they thought it would be which also leads to them limiting their purchases to “safe buys”.

What started out as a personal insight to online shopping eventually turned into a potential idea for a startup which was submitted for application in Spring Singapore’s “YES! Start up” fund. Sin Ning’s idea eventually received the grant to begin SnappyFit.

SnappyFit conveniently offers online shoppers the chance to fit the items they are interested in purchasing and try them on on their own convenient time. They play on the concept of a traditional and physical fitting room service despite shopping online.

Also compared to a concierge-type of service, shoppers can go to SnappyFit’s website to choose items among their partner brands. After selecting these items, users can book their appointment and come to SnappyFit’s dressing room in Singapore Shopping Centre (next to Park Mall; Dhoby Ghaut MRT Exit B) or in SnappyFit's private and personalized showroom beside Redhill MRT.

Their Redhill MRT location is a treat they give to their valued customers. It's a private showroom which they only open for their regulars.

All SnappyFit clients will be welcomed ready with a personalized rack of all items which they have chosen to fit. They can pay for the items they wish to purchase on site or also opt to have the brand new pieces delivered to them for no extra charge.

A pioneer concept, SnappyFit aims to deliver convenience not just to its customers but also reach out to other businesses. Sin Ning explains, “We also envision to promote and support local SMEs and independent designers that wish to have their own unique curation, or pursue their own creative inspirations by providing them an affordable fitting room alternative to renting a physical retail space of their own.”

They claim they want to put prime on quality purchases, giving their consumers the opportunity to purchase quality items at reasonable prices which falls in between the usual “cheap and affordable” and “high-end luxury” items sold online. They also want to cater to those whose body may not be of “standard” type when it comes to RTW clothing.

‘"Non-standard" body types could be a size S or M person who have slightly bigger hips, smaller/bigger bust, broader/narrower shoulders and who may find fit of clothes a challenge at times’, Sin Ning points out. “As such, we strive to provide multiple sizing as much as possible and also provide alteration outsourcing services, including mailing the finished altered item to them” she adds.

SnappyFit’s outlook is to expand its services, by providing more products which don’t necessarily need to be fitted but customers would opt to “feel” or inspect prior to purchase. Sin Ning says that there is a growing potential for the “try before you buy” concept in Singapore which their company aims to uphold.

She adds, “We also wish to support our customers to have a balanced lifestyle - where time is made for family, friends, health, career and last but not least - an appreciation for one's own personal development and image.”

____________________________________________________
Name of the company: SnappyFit Pte. Ltd.
Founder/Founders: Ong Sin Ning
Website: www.snappyfit.sg
Major Investors: Ong Sin Ning, Spring Singapore
Total funding at hand: Confidential
Target fund: Confidential
Source of funding: Private funding, plus Spring Singapore YES! Start up grant
Start of operation: 15th October 2012

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected]

The usual 90-day process can be done in 5 days, fastest.

 ApexPeak offers invoice-discounting services which allows small and medium-scale businesses to liquidate their invoices earlier than the expected encashment through third party invoice sales.

It allows these businesses to faster acquire working capital through ApexPeak’s digital services and faster processing which would usually take a lot longer in a traditional bank set-up.

CEO and co-founder of ApexPeak Gakim Solomons explains, “Invoice-discounting is nothing new but ApexPeak has managed to reinvent this financial instrument to be ready for the digital age. Banks usually take a very long time to do due diligence and rejecting many SMEs' requests. When they do approve the loan, they charge a high interest rate and by then it might be too late for the SME already.”

According to Solomons, their company digitally processes a thorough due diligence process where upfront, 80% of the amount of the invoices are advanced. The remaining percentage is distributed after the invoice is processed where only 2% discount fee is levied.

They also have insurance companies covering the counter party risk of the invoices which they claim makes their process “essentially risk-free”.

The business started when Gakim Solomons partnered with his college friend, a “serial technopreneur”, John Fearon to come up with a financial technology business.

Teaming up with 88mph, a Google-backed accelerator in South Africa, ApexPeak now caters to the SMEs loans market of Africa and South East Asia through their website.

According to them, the good mix of risk-free and hassle-free facets of their service will make banks offering traditional services take notice of their presence.

Solomons adds, “Robust vetting and process combined with automating standardised tasks and good risk management have contributed in making ApexPeak stand out from the crowd. With the right combination of technology, talent, experience and opportunity ApexPeak will disrupt the banking industry.”

The startup is already gearing towards expansion, raising up about $2.3M SGD and setting its sights on two major acquisitions in the finance technology space in the near future. They are also targeting to go public, claiming that they hope to release an IPO in 24 months.

The speed in which the startup has developed its company is also the same speed that it aims to serve its clients. The non-conventional financing methods offered by the company they say, not only gives them a good business set-up but also helps other good businesses to also prosper.

As Solomons put it, “A low interest rate environment in Asia has resulted in many investors looking for good risk adjusted returns. ApexPeak has been able to raise money from investors by offering investors the opportunity to obtain above average yields with no downside really. We will essentially aim to change the whole banking industry.”

________________________________________________________
Name of the company:
ApexPeak
Founder/Founders:
Nicholas Gan / Gakim Solomons / John Fearon
Website:
www.apexpeak.com
Major Investors:
Angels
Total funding at hand:
2.3M SGD
Target fund:
25M SGD
Source of funding:
Angels
Start of operation:
Feb 2012 

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected] 

The founders refer to themselves as "Captains" and "Pirates".

Pirate3D, recently launching its flagship 3D printer The Buccaneer™, aims to make 3D printing viable for the everyday consumer, producing an affordable and easy-to-use product that fits perfectly at home. Their printers sell for USD 347. 

Two of its founders, Brendan Goh and Tang You Jun were Material Science students who realized they were spending too much on prototyping services when they pulled in Roger Chang to help assemble a kit themselves. Roger’s professor in his university, Professor Neo Kok Beng was also brought in and he suggested to them that they should make their own machine and everything sprung from there.

What started out as a service that provided prototyping using a consumer 3D printer, Pirate3D now designs, manufactures and markets their own consumer 3D printers which is very different from what is available in the market.

According to its “Chief Executive Pirate”, Cap'n Roger, “The consumer 3D printer we are producing is affordable, easy-to-use, and looks like it belongs in the home. This is different from current consumer 3D printers which are more novelty gadgets for enthusiasts.”

While 3D printers are not yet a household staple, Pirate3D’s The Buccaneer™ claims to be intuitively built, and comes fully assembled and calibrated. Pirate3D also offers Smart Objects™ which makes 3D graphic design easy even for beginners.

Pirate3D additionally has the Pirate Distribution Network, it serves as a “repository for 3D objects” which they hope will be the “world’s first bit-network for 3D models” according to their site.

The startup has received US$482,000 in funding through Red Dot Ventures and has already raised US$1,438,000 through its Kickstarter campaign.

Set out to officially have the printers available by 2014, many are already creating buzz over the product, with its sleek design and user-friendly set up, it presents something that its creators say are a far cry from the usual kits or packaging that made 3D printers only appealing to a niche market.

When asked about what they bring new into the table, Chang says “(there is) ease of use and a superior user experience. 3D printers currently do not focus on being great consumer products.”

Pirate 3D has raised their initial target funding at such a short amount of time and is now targeting bigger goals to maximize their potential. Currently, Pirate3D is looking on to expand their sales reach and continue their R&D for future product lines.

When asked about their outlook, Roger concludes, “the future is 3D printing. There will come a time where we can’t imagine not having one.”

(Photos of founders from pirate3d.com)
_______________________________________________
Name of the company: Pirate3D

Founder/Founders: Roger Chang, Brendan Goh, Tsang You Jun, Neo Kok Beng

Website: https://pirate3d.com/

Major Investors: Red Dot Ventures

Total funding at hand: US$482,000 (Red Dot Ventures) + US$1,438,000 (Kickstarter)

Target fund: US$10,000,000

Start of operation: August 2012

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected] 

Their storage services start at 45 cents a day.

With the high-costs of properties in Singapore today, Vault Dragon provides storage solutions for those who want to declutter their commercial and residential spaces. 

An integrated urban storage company, their founders claim that their scalable, hassle-free, budget-friendly and secure services make their startup promising.

According to co-founder Vishesh Mittal, “we simplify the storage process by bringing storage spaces to users, by the box, taking lifting and transportation out of users' hands; our personalised dashboard makes stored item management a breeze.”

He added that they charge 45 cents a day for a standard box which they send to clients and pick up for storing. Noting that at most times, people who rent storage spaces don’t necessarily fill up all the spaces they pay for, the one-size box allows for scalability. You only pay for the space you need.

Storage is also charged on a daily-basis; users can add or remove boxes as they choose to and costs are based only on the storage used and its duration.

Stored items are indexed and can easily be accessed and managed by its owners online and through their mobile app. Their vault boxes are waterproof and hermetically secured, stored in a warehouse protected by 24/7 security cameras and guards.

Vault Dragon found its beginnings when one of its founders Tseng Ching-Tse left his job at Pricewaterhousecoopers to start his own business. He noticed his growing dilemma with having “too much stuff, too little space” and decided to make an opportunity out of it. He was joined by his friend and co-founder Vishesh Mittal to conceptualize what Vault Dragon has become.

Its scalable and automated services has been helping the business expand its market distinguishing themselves from competitors who rely on manual operations as explained by Mittal.

Vault Dragon has showed promise, being chosen as one of the Top Ten Best Startups by Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI.Asia) who also serves as the business’ major investor.
According to Mittal, “in the near future, we are looking to get investors who are not only willing to provide capital for our expansion but also their expertise and connections in the industry for us to improve.”

The company is also setting its sights on expansion, targeting key cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Chicago in the future.

________________________________________________________________
1. Name of the company: Vault Dragon Pte. Ltd.
2. What we do: Vault Dragon is the “Dropbox” for physical items. We help people to get more living space, delcuttering their lives by allowing them to deposit, index, search and retrieve their belongings through our intuitive web and mobile applications at just 45 cents a day.
3. Founder/Founders: Vishesh Mittal, Tseng Ching-Tse
4. Website: vaultdragon.com (Blog: https://blog.vaultdragon.com/)
5. Major Investors: JFDI.Asia
6. Total funding at hand: 115K
7. Target fund: 850K
8. Source of funding: JFDI.Asia, Founders
9. Start of operation: 01 August 2013

 For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected]

The software is compatible with virtually all websites.

Zopim has been making waves since it began its Beta version in 2008 and officially launched in 2010. From a small idea its founders have come up with during their stint in Silicon Valley, they now claim that they rank 2nd in terms of market share for live chat software.

What this startup boasts of is its ease of access and compatibility across online platforms.

Business owners can easily use the software to chat real-time with their site visitors. Zopim also claims that business customers prefer the feature over feedback forms normally found on websites because of the higher possibility of quick response.

According to Abhiroop Basu, content strategist from Zopim.com, “We have built Zopim to be compatible with virtually all websites, without any software downloads, or firewall restrictions, and it is fully optimized for mobile devices.”

They have recently also reached out to mobile needs of its clients with the release of their Android app. Their mobile optimized widget allows for Zopim users to continue reaching out to customers on the go.

Zopim has received early grants and have small round of investments from SPRING Singapore and NUS Technology Holdings, the latter also retaining a small equity stake.

It seems that Zopim’s services are receiving a warm welcome from the tech startup community, with over 130,000 businesses already using live chat according to their count. They have received good feedback from business owners, mostly indicating that Zopim has helped them improve their communication lines and sales with customers.

The company offers a free trial for their clients containing all features of an advanced Zopim plan. Although fees are charged after the trial period, the company provides a free option for its users albeit some limitations.

With a promising headstart, Zopim hopes to improve on their software and services, setting their sights on broadening their suite of products and becoming the lead provider of customer engagement software in the near future.

______________________________________________________________________________
Name of the company: Zopim Technologies Pte. Ltd.
Founder/Founders: Royston Tay, Yang Bin Kwok, Wenxiang Wu, Qing-Ru Lim
Website: Zopim.com
Major Investors: Early grants and small round of investment by NUS Technology Holdings (NTH) and SPRING Singapore. NTH retains a small equity stake.
Total funding at hand: Cannot be disclosed
Target fund: Cannot be disclosed
Source of funding:Cannot be disclosed
Start of operation: Beta launch: 2008; official launch: 2010

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to [email protected]