Here’s our newest round-up of the featured startups on our site this week. If you have startup tips or story suggestions, feel free to email us or tell us about your startup on this form. Any juicy tech news tips go here. Enjoy this week’s list!
1. 5Rocks | South Korea
Founded in 2010, 5Rocks is a Korean mobile game analytics startup which lets game developers track game-playing behavior by specific segment in real-time. Users can also get actionable marketing insight through cohort analysis. The startup has recently been acquired by US-based Tapjoy.
2. ShopandBox | Australia
Melbourne-based ShopandBox wants to enable shoppers to be able to buy items that are either unavailable in their country, or are far more expensive even if they are available. They can do this with the help of personal shoppers called Boxers, who are locals in the countries that they are looking to buy items from. Most importantly, users always deal with a real person who acts as their personal shopper from start to finish, putting the power into the hands of the consumer.
3. Skymet | India
Started in 2003 as a provider of weather infographics for newspapers, Skymet has since deployed sensors across the country to collect temperature, wind, and rain data and launched a consumer weather forecast website as well as an Android app to access it from mobile devices. Besides farmers and agriculture businesses, crop insurance companies too have been using Skymet data to assess risk profiles and settle disputes. Now Skymet has raised US$4.5 million in a second round of funding to take its services outside India into other countries of Asia and Africa which depend heavily on accurate and timely weather data.
4. Guvera | Australia
Guvera is a music streaming service which operates from Australia and US that is offering free music streaming supported by adverts. After their launch in Indonesia, the service is now available in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.
5. Capital Float | India
Started in 2013, Bangalore based digital finance startup, Capital Float has raised US$ 1 million in funding from SAIF Partners. The company offers SMEs financial loans on the web, engaging with small businesses, ecommerce merchants, manufacturers, and early-stage business-to-business service providers across India.
6. PitchXO | Hong Kong
PitchXO is a web app with a visual website builder and content management system that also hosts slide decks and tracks how people view them. Decks will be hosted on PitchXO’s servers, allowing the service to track which slides people view, and for how long. PitchXO integrates with over 300 apps, including CRM tools like Salesforce, feedback systems like UserVoice, or even the versatile Google Sheets.
7. Haha Pinche | China
Launched in January 2014, Chinese carpooling app Haha Pinche has received series A investment led by Sequoia Capital, followed by Innovation Works. The service validates drivers, lets users schedule rides and make payments to the car owner. It’s backed by a local national insurance company, adding some clout to the startup’s relatively unknown brand name.
8. Nanu | Singapore
Mobile VoIP app Nanu allows quality calls to be made even on 2G networks. The calls made via the app are absolutely free, too – even for app-to-non app calls. To make this happen, Nanu inserts an advertisement that plays over the ringtone while you are waiting for a call to be picked up.
9. Pengpeng | China
Pengpeng is a social mobile gaming app from China for Android and iOS. . The location-based app lets you meet strangers through social games, which include quizzes, personality tests, horoscopes, and some simple competitive games. After completing a game, users can chat and befriend each other in a chat app-style interface. The app also supports a Facebook-style feed and group chats.
10. VeloCloud | India
India’s VeloCloud provides a Network-as-a-Service solution, which can also be thought of as a hybrid WAN. What it does is to use both terrestrial lines as well as internet links – choosing the best paths and uptimes through real-time monitoring. This ensures that the network is reliable, even though it piggybacks on the internet. The VeloCloud system is intelligent enough to figure out how to use multiple routes, links, and other resources for best results.
11. Raket.ph | Philippines
Raket.ph is a platform that aims to showcase the work of freelancers so that they can get hired by Filipinos in need of on-demand work. In a little over three months, the platform has acquired over 5,000 users and are growing at a rate of 50 new users per day.
12. Secoo | China
Luxury ecommerce site Secoo – which claims to have three million registered shoppers – specializes in couture clothing and accessories for men and women from brands such as Dior, Burberry, Miu Miu, and Hermes. The startup recently revealed that it has secured series D funding led by previous investors CMC Capital Partners, reports ChainStoreAge. IDG Capital Partners, Ventech China, Crehol Capital (Mulliez Family Fund), and Vangoo Capital also contributed. It’s the largest ever funding round for a luxury estore in the country.
13. HippoDevices | China
Shenzhen-based Hippo Devices is developing a new, easier to use controller board called Hippo-ADK. The device plugs into a user’s Android phone, allowing it to utilize the phone’s proximity sensor, gyroscope, Bluetooth, camera, and other features. The company is now fundraising on Kickstarter, where it has already surpassed its US$10,000 goal with three weeks remaining.
14. Arcterus | Japan
Japan’s Arcterus has two core products, Caiz and Clear, which seeks to offer a service which balances offline and online as opposed to following the trend of digitizing the cram school industry. Caiz is designed to educate students and teachers about the learning process and is more focused on offline, but Clear is where Arcterus brings learning online. With Clear, users scan and upload their notebooks after completing a course of study. That notebook then becomes another user’s reference book. Users rate the notebooks based on usefulness and can even ask questions or send thank you messages to the original student.
Startup lists
15 – 20. Crowdfunding in Japan: Flashy glasses, a stealth tablet, and a ruler for guessing when your pet will die
21 – 24. Here are the four Asian companies that will join 500 Startups’ 10th batch
25 -30. 6 innovative gadgets that are proudly designed in Singapore
31 – 34. Endemic corruption in Indonesia galvanizes edtech startups
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We’re gearing up to bring you yet another round of our signature conference series with Startup Asia Tokyo 2014, happening 3 – 4 September 2014.
If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, developer or just someone looking to meet and learn from the speakers and companies, get your tickets now.
From now till August 22 2014, enjoy 10% off conference passes with discount code ‘earlybird’.
Read here for tips on where to eat, sleep, and stay while you are in town for Startup Asia Tokyo.
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34 startups in Asia that caught our eye
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