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JUMPSTART August/September 2015 1
Issue 07
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FROM THE EDITOR One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is the flexibility to work from literally anywhere --- on the beach, in the garden, across the world.
SUMMER SPECIAL
In this issue, we are pleased to present you with a global edition covering startup trends around the world. Visit Berlin, London, Stockholm, Cape Town and other cities to learn about their startup scenes, latest innovations and developments. Nearly everywhere, startup ecosystems are flourishing and even if you don’t speak the local language, you’ll share many similarities with fellow entrepreneurs wherever you may go.
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Cities are fast becoming “Smart Cities,” and with them new innovations improve the lives and infrastructure across communities. Pictured on the cover are Singapore’s solar-powered supertrees, which is but one example of incredible strides in innovation. The supertrees generate energy, collect water, cool down the area below the trees, and are covered by more than 160,000 types of plants. Check out other smart ideas from cities on page 4.
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What’s happening around town?
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Stunning Cowork Spaces
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Smart Cities
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Startup Trends
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Do you speak visual? C A RTOON C A P T ION CO N T E ST
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30 Contest #5, July 2015. Illustrated by Gary Chan, Onion Creative . co-founder
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Around Town
We are seeking volunteer reporters, editors, designers, content curators, and event-managers. Help Grow Hong Kong’s Only Startup Magazine info@jumpstartmag.com
HKSTP and Microsoft invest 1M USD to accelerate the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) industry in HK.
DBS and Nest open a new coworking space to support their new FinTech accelerator. (dbs-accelerator.com)
Coffee Meets Bagel, a popular US-dating website expands to Hong Kong. (coffeemeetsbagel.com)
Infiniti sets up an accelerator program to support Smart City and IoT Startups. (infiniti-accelerator.com)
The Hive launches MakerHive, a new coworking space for designers and makers in Kennedy Town. (makerhive.com.hk)
Aumeo, the world’s first tailored audio device, raises over $180k in first 16 days on Idiegogo. (aumeoaudio.com) Gogovan, a p2p platform for vans, raises $10M USD. (gogovan.com.hk)
Boxful, valet storage company, raises $6.6M. (boxful.com)
Klook, a travel website, received 1.5M USD in funding. (klook.com)
Image recognition software Brand Pit wins an award of innovation in Japan. (brand-pit.com)
A new organic/GMO-free dessert store opens in Sheung Wan, promoting do-it-yourself dessert culture in the city. (munchies.hk)
Hong Kong’s Spacious lands $3M to expand its property portal across Asia. Brinc launches Hong (spacious.hk) Kong’s first Internet of Things (IoT) accelerator, based in Lazy Cookie, a PMQ. (brinc.io) viral news site raises $240K USD. (hk.lazyHong Kong’s first cookie.com) large Makerspace focused on Social PlanDo made it onto the & Environmental list of the top 3 most impact launched downloaded social apps in Kowloon. in Hong Kong. (plando.so) (makerbay.org) Coworking With Baby Day launches in Hong Kong with 3 coworking spaces participating: CoCoon, Tuspark, and The Loft. (jumpstartmag.com)
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In cities all over the world, public officials and entrepreneurs are putting new, intelligent-urbanization initiatives in place to improve lives, infrastructure, and the community. Here are some recent developments to get inspired >>
Free Sunscreen Dispensers in Boston parks help fight melanoma This summer, the city of Boston launched a pilot program to help fight skin cancer by installing free sunscreen dispensers in five city parks. Boston is the first major city in the US Northeast to initiate this program, which is also in effect in Miami Beach, Florida. Sunblock is stored in weather-resistant dispensers and holds all-natural SPF-30 sunscreen, which is safe for people aged 6 months and up.
In Brazil, missing persons posters automatically print in nearby homes. In Brazil, 200,000 people go missing each year and posters are still one of the most effective ways of locating them. Now, Mães da Sé NGO — the nonprofit dedicated to helping families find missing people — has partnered with HP for the Print for Help campaign. Using HP’s ePrint technology, which facilitates mobile and email printing, the campaign will help spread the word about missing individuals by automatically producing posters on printers in homes nearby.
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In Mexico City, commuters can exchange squats for a free subway ride. Mexico has one of the worst obesity rates in the world — 32.8 percent of the population was in the dangerously overweight category in 2013. In an attempt to improve the health and fitness of its citizens, the Mexican government has intervened, installing motion sensitive machines in the city’s subway stations, which will give a free ticket — usually five pesos — to any commuter who completes ten squats.
In Italy, hard-up families can pay their water bill with good deeds. The Water Bank scheme is currently underway in the Cremona province, which has suffered hugely during Italy’s ongoing economic crisis. Customers of Padania Acque Gestione who have defaulted on water payments can now settle their debt by performing community services such as tending public gardens or helping the elderly. The company sought out the alternative scheme as a means of helping struggling families without resorting to charity or aid.
What’s a Smart City? “A smart city uses digital technologies or information and communication technologies to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption, and to engage more effectively and actively with its citizens.” (Source: Wikipedia.org)
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In South Africa, a button sends an official late note to commuters’ bosses when their train is delayed.
In Peru, a beach cleanup scheme helps disadvantaged people become entrepreneurs.
Created by US entrepreneur David Katz, the project aims to give impoverished Commuters often find themselves late citizens in developing nations the opporto work, through no fault of their own, tunity to grow their skills while also giving due to delays on public transport. In something to the community they live in. South Africa, workers can receive letters For its trial scheme, Plastic Bank is setting confirming disrupted services so that they up in Peru, where unemployed people are not reproached for tardiness that is can join in cleanup operations to collect truly out of their hands. Previously, they the plastic waste that is abundant in the would have had to stand in long queues worst-polluted areas of the country. Volto receive the written proof, but now unteers are then rewarded for their time travel app GoTravel has launched a new with credits that can be exchanged at the feature called Email My Boss, which enbank for training in recycling and waste ables users to request an email ‘late-note’ management, access to 3D printers that via their mobile phone. can turn the collected plastic into useful objects, and micro-loans that will help them set up their own business. The aim of the scheme is to encourage disempowered people to see the value in both the resources that often get thrown away, as well as themselves.
In Geneva, community boxes let city residents share anything. The idea, which was conceived by public art organization Tako in collaboration with the City of Geneva, is a fairly simple one — boxes big enough to hold objects such as books, DVDs, games and household items are installed in public locations. The boxes can be identified by their often artistic decorations bearing the name of the project. Any member of the public can then leave unwanted goods in the boxes for anyone else to take.
In Argentina, “methane backpacks” capture cow farts, turn them into green fuel
In China, QR code badges could help lost seniors find their way home. Diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s mean that older people can often find themselves confused and unable to find their way back. Handed out by Dingxiang Community in Anhui Province, China, these badges feature a QR code as well as text that reads “Please scan it and help me back home.” Each code holds information such as their ID card number, family contact numbers and the district they live in. Since the majority of people in China now own a smartphone, passersby who see an elderly person looking lost will be able to scan the code and find out where they’re trying to go.
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In Tokyo, the government creates translated restaurant menus for tourists. Menu Tokyo enables restaurateurs to upload their menu, translate it into twelve different languages and immediately print physical copies for use in their restaurant, using a selection of design options. Simultaneously, the service provides a searchable online guide for tourists, helping them to find places to eat in Tokyo that have multilingual menus. Customers can search by food type or area. The site also offers additional services, such as anime guides and descriptions of Japanese food types for the customer, and printable conversation sheets and hospitality guidelines for servers.
Argentina’s scientists have developed cow backpacks that trap the methane they produce in order to turn it into green energy. Each sac gets filled with the 1,200 liters of various gases emitted each day, which is then taken to a lab to separate the 250 to 300 liters of methane contained inside. The gas can then be compressed and stored in containers, ready for use to power a fridge or even a car. Although there could be potential concern for the wellbeing of the animals, each cow was anesthetized for the insertion of the cannula and the backpacks weigh no more than 500g each.
select content re-printed with permission from Springwise.com
SMART CITIES
Bali’s first coworking space is built with sustainable and recyled materials for an inspiring natural environment. The rice field and volcano view from their garden cafe isn’t bad, either. (hubud.org)
Stunning, Unusual and Inspiring Coworking Spaces Around the Globe
Neuehouse in New York takes coworking up a notch with a stunning fivestory, 50,000 square foot space that accomodates a gallery, fine-dining and a private club atmosphere. (neuehouse.com)
Photo courtesy of @Raphael Olivier
Photo courtesy of @ Carol da Riva
In 2016, Paris will launch the world’s largest digital business incubator capable of hosting 1,000 startups in a space that was formerly a train station. (1000startups.fr)
Credit: Mark Zemnick
Coworking spaces that combine childcare are gaining traction around the world. Third Door opened its doors in London years ago and has won numerous awards for their innovative work. (third-door.com)
Hidden in a remote island of Panama, Cocovivo’s eco-intelligent design features solar power, rain-water harvesting and other sustainable features. It may not be the place to get things “done” but it’s definitely a place to get inspired. (cocovivo.com)
Ranked as a top five coworking space in the US, The Office Pile caters to the Hispanic/Latino community of Arizona. (theofficepile.com)
Fun, creativity, and inspiration await in every corner of Blueprints 20,000 square foot space, complete with upcycled airplane tires made into chairs, recycled tables suspended by chains, lego walls, “v.i.pee“ room, lots of cool art and other interesting things to discover. (blueprinthk.com)
TreeXOffice is London’s newest and most unique coworking space enabling those that work there to connect with and give back to nature. (groundwork.org.uk)
The historic trading floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange was vacant until CoCo moved into the space, bringing it back to life. (cocomsp.com)
Get fit while coworking at this Massachusetts-based cowork space equipped with Wi-Fi, standing desks, built-in pull-up bars, and oh yeah a 22-footclimbing wall. The energized environment is sure to fuel innovative ideas. (brooklynboulders.com)
Tropical coworking awaits in Koh Lanta, Thailand. Work, live, and walk to a beach just two minutes away. They have two optic fibre connections, so the internet virtually never goes down. (kohub.org)
Hammocks, guitars, community bicycles, and a 1/2 acre backyard is what you can find at Vuka coworking space in Austin, Texas. (vukaaustin.com)
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London’s Startup Scene
A Glance at Innovations in UK
London has a booming startup scene, making it an ideal place to set up a new venture, especially if you’re planning to expand to other countries. But moving to the largest corporate city of Europe is not an easy feat for everybody, and startups trying to integrate can find themselves on the brink of dissolution if the aren’t careful. London is expensive, exclusivistic and it’s easy enough to feel like an outsider even if you’re living there for a relatively long period of time, let alone if you’re a newcomer. Coworking spaces
London, England
Luckily, the coworking phenomenon can help entrepreneur’s transition to a more inclusive environment, helping them understand the tips and tricks of being a Londoner. First of all, by eliminating the need to rent a traditional office space at alarmingly high prices, coworking spaces there can save some much-needed cash. Keep in mind that living costs will be significant – a stay typically costs $3,000 per month or more depending what you need, which may not leave room for much else in your budget.
In Manchester, a 13-year old girl invented lollipops to fight hiccups. (hiccupops.com)
“The UK has raced ahead as the undisputed home of unicorns in Europe, with London producing the vast majority of Britain’s billion dollar tech companies. Growth is accelerating because we have created an environment capable of sustaining high levels of investment across a range of tech sectors.” Manish Madhvani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GP Bullhound
Bio-Bean turns used coffee beans from London coffee shops into green energy. (bio-bean.com)
UK’s Unicorns According to recent reports, UK is home to 17 out of 40 of Europe’s unicorns (billiondollar tech companies). Some of them include online retailers Asos, money lenders Wonga, property advisors Right Move, fashion store Woohoo, a web payment company Skrill, ecommerce provider Powa, online food delivery Just Eat, international fashion site FarFetch, music identification site Shazam, and loan business Funding Circle.
Renting a coworking space in London will cost you under 200 GBP (around 2300 HKD) per month for unlimited usage, which is pretty decent considering other costs in the city. There are a lot of small spacerent opportunities – and by “a lot” we mean more than 1,200 places according to recent tally by GumTree. That encompasses a large and growing variety of places where people can engage in entrepreneurial endeavors and mingle with like-minded individuals. Big opportunities At the moment, thanks to the competition spurred by London’s positioning as a global financial hub, the Fintech scene is heating up day by day, riding a wave that saw investment in financial startups rise 215% since 2013, up to $148 billion USD. This has made US investors extremely interested in investing in UK-based startups without forcing those startups to relocate to the States.
Book an ‘on-demand’ garden for an hour or more to read, relax or cowork. (plotmanchester.com)
A startup transforms disused telephone boxes into free solar powered charging stations for phones. (solarboxlondon.org)
Elton Kuah is an entrepreneur, consultant for market intelligence, social media, columnist and international speaker. He can be reached at: www.marketingafterhours.com
Maily is world’s first e-mail account for three year olds and older. (maily.com)
Take a less congested route to work using Urban Engines app. (urbanengines.com)
Elton will be speaking at the Global Youth Forum in Hong Kong on Augusr 3-4, 2015 (globalforum.hkfyg.org.hk)
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TransferWise Online p2p money transfer platform. (transferwise.com) StreetHub is a mobile marketplace for independent boutiques. (streethub.com)
And big uncertainties London is certainly a resource-filled place for startups, but there is definite competition from other cities, such as Berlin or Amsterdam, for the sought-after title of ‘European Silicon Valley.’ It remains to be seen who will win out, and there are some wildcards (like the potential for a British exit from the EU) that may end up tilting towards the Continent. Either way, it’s an exciting space to watch.
London-Based Startups
A London company creates labels for the active world to measure calories burned. (www.stepjockey.com)
Sensor-equipped flooring alert family when a patient falls. (tarkett-floorinmotion.com) A project aims at getting strangers talking to each other to help create a better world. (talktomelondon.org) Over 2 billion people in the world suffer from soil-transmitted parasites and diseases, and children are particularly susceptible to these diseases since they quickly grow out of shoes. The Shoe That Grows adjust up to five sizes helping children in poor regions protect their feet. (theshoethatgrows.org) Riding the growing popularity of brands using “real models”, a London-based modeling agency offers rosters of real people. (AntiAgency.co.uk)
DiscountIf is an online discount and betting platform. (discountif.com) Birchbox is a monthly curated box of luxe beauty samples that started a monthly-gift box craze. (birchbox.com) Theeditapp is a Tinder-like app for discovering fashion. (theeditapp.com)
UK Launches IoT Network In June of this year, UK’s government-supported network “The Weightless-N network “ rolled out to create a connected city and enable smart-city projects.
The Morpher is a collapsible bike helmet that can fold into your laptop bag. No more excuses for not wearing a helmet! (morpherhelmet.com)
Cape Town, South Africa 10
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Cape Town G
arage, Cowor
Welcome to Cape Town!
Coworking spaces
With Table Mountain as her centerpiece, Cape Town is a blueprint for what any city strives to be. According to The Guardian, Cape Town is the #1 tourist destination in the world. She fosters an incredible setting, friendly people, fantastic food, a bustling hipster culture and all accessible at a remarkably cost-effective rate. Welcome to Cape Town.
Like much of the world, the coworking revolution exists in Cape Town and many early stage businesses reside within these. The range of these coworking spaces go from high-end to middle-end, to space where the underprivileged can skill-up to help them find employment.
Since emancipation from Apartheid in 1994, South Africa has seen much global participation with mines up north, the automobile industry in the east and farm-exports throughout the country. Cape Town represents the lion’s share of tourism/hospitality and the newly burgeoning technology “startup” industry, which is drawing many foreigners to set up shop there.
The Startup landscape Most of the startups in Cape Town are tech businesses. Globally, this is where opportunity seems to live. Most of these teams come out of digital/tech agencies. These agencies may have acquired enough hours in a specific vertical, identified a gap and pursued this to spin out a separate business. Or individuals may moonlight, create an offer/site/app and organically build this out as they accrue more resources while the offer gains traction. In Cape Town (at the time of press) there is a limited pool of mentors, angel investors, funders and accelerators. Therefore, finding a team, putting together a prototype, getting some users and building this into a sellable business in 5 years is very hard. As a result there are lots of pitchers and less doers. Therefore, the startups that do get traction and make opportunity work for them are strong businesses. They have really struggled to get to where they are at, in that there is low liquidity in the capital markets and potential consumers are not buying. It really is rather Darwinian.
The higher-end spaces: e.g. Inner City Ideas Cartel (www.ideascartel.com) offer a great location, with polished interior design and private offices. These have full-scale coffee shops/bars on-tap for social meetings and evening drinks. Many of the inhabitants are small online analytics businesses that have some solid market-traction and seasoned creative strategy freelancers, etc. These are for businesses that can afford the rentals or need to impress clients. Then the middle-end: e.g. Cape Town Garage (capetowngarage.com) find themselves in the slightly cheaper side of the city. However, they continue to provide good service. These coworking spaces often draw a younger team who has ambitious goals. Often they are community-based b2c businesses that are pre-revenue or on the early stage of the growth curve. There are quite a few freelance copywriters and film editors, etc. who frequent these spots too. The inhabitants are ordinarily businesses that are pre-stability and are using the cowork space as a steppingstone to their own office space, en route to mega-success (as the story usually goes). Some of these coworking spaces also offer accelerator programs, where mentors and angel investors get involved. There are also spaces that provide opportunities for the underprivileged, marginalised community to learn skills that would help them find employment: e.g. rLabs (rlabs.org). One in particular was founded by a community member who started his professional life as an educator and got tired of seeing good people on the streets. He brought onboard convicted felons and empowered them to no longer rely on crime. This has grown into a globally regarded business that is blossoming.
k Space
Some South Africa-centric startup curve-balls
enues in this market. They are extremely keen to participate in whatever the market presents them because they are so underserved.
Some of the identified difficulties for startups in Cape Town include:
• Start-ups are not playing pan-Africa, but they should.
• Illiquidity of capital for fund-raising: earlystage businesses have trouble unlocking funding as it is incredibly tough. Sources of capital are also exceedingly sparse. • Inwardly focused: very few start-ups actually look to do business globally with any real commitment. It is very much a by South Africancentric way of thinking – even with the minute market size. I am uncertain as to why this is the case – it could be a result of being far away from other markets. As a knock-on effect, unlocking global funds is also difficult. • Legalities around IP can be problematic come exit. IP created in South African has a very hard time leaving South Africa as the government does not want to forego the tax incomes. Such protectionist methods means global exits are much harder to realise. (There are work-rounds, but they can be costly and bombarded with red-tape.) • A small market with the wrong focus: the unemployment rate in South Africa is rather high at 26.4% (Fin24, 2015). Furthermore, the percentage of the population on very low income is also very large. Much of the potential market does not have much disposable income and is not yet very tech-savvy. Yet start-ups are mostly focusing on appealing to the few who have highend smart devices and who purchase online. This market is very different to that of California – therefore using this as a guiding light is not a great option. However, it happens continuously. • The business culture is incredibly conservative and as a result, selling disruptive options is difficult. Selling deals into corporates or playing in corporate venturing (innovation for corporations) is very hard. • The broader base of the pyramid (the lowincome market) is teeming with opportunity. However, it is seemingly far harder to unlock rev-
wering spaces rLabs.org, empo
eurs
pren Ideas Cartel, workspace for urban entre
• Not easy for foreigners: The South African government makes it increasingly difficult for foreigners to enter and live in South Africa.
Opportunities South Africa is a strong mining country. It
would make sense to have these large companies supported by start-ups exploring specific verticals within their businesses. This should get the entire start-up ecosystem involved in revolutionising these businesses – it should involve investors, mentors, accelerators and universities. As we are seeing more corporate venturing globally, there is certainly a push for corporate investigation and utilising startup teams to explore what is possible in finance/mining/insurance/retail. The South African Government needs to relax the hold it has on IP to make foreign exits easier. This might encourage more foreigners looking to invest in Africa to come through South Africa. Africa is the next continent to grow (after Asia), therefore, making terms favourable for these investors makes commercial sense.
Photo Credit: Mick Milligan
for community
Global startup teams building their businesses out of Cape Town are on the increase. The knowledge, capacity and cost is incredibly favourable. Cape Town also offers a great lifestyle and the ability to sell globally with ease, especially for English/German markets, as there are lots of native English and German speakers there. Cape Town is worth visiting for a period of time. It’s especially worthwhile doing business there and enjoying the lifestyle. The city has seen an upsurge in expats seeking opportunities in Africa, setting business up and benefitting from the cost of living and the brain-power that resides there. It’s a great, bustling city that in the near future will become even more start-up friendly. Author: Alon Lichenstein works with new product business initiatives. He enables businesses to package, test and commercialise from vision. He does this at HAN- GAR49 (HANGAR49.com) – on mostly technology opportunities. Alon loves solving human needs with product offers by: driving early-stage product-market fit; and go-tomarket delivery (i.e. let’s build it, test it, and make cash).
Startups of Cape Town • Bozza is a plug and play application for African musicians, poets, photographers and film makers to promote and sell their digital products. (bozza.mobi) • Diarize is an appointment management SaaS. (diarize.me) • eKaya is a home rental search and review portal. (ekaya.com) • LifeQ a backend engine that integrates with wearables to track real time and predictive data of individual bio-stats. (lifeq.com) • Peach Payments an online payment processor focusing on the African markets. (peachpayments.com) • SleekGeek focuses on developing communities for office workers. (sleekgeek.co.za)
A Glance at South African Innovations Solar backpacks provide light for evening study in areas of the world that don’t have access to electricity. Made from 100% recycled plastic bags. (repurposeschoolbags.com)
Ad-Supported Free Transportation: Mellowcabs enable South African citizens to travel short distances by free in its advertising-supported, eco-friendly cycle cabs. (mellowcabs.com)
Jet Fuel from Tobacco. Boeing and South African Airways are developing sustainable jet fuel from energy-rich nicotine-free tobacco crop called Solaris. (projectsolaris.co.za)
FREE Pop-up Store. The Street Store is the world’s 1st free popup clothing store for the homeless. Started in Cape Town, it’s made its way to cities around the world. (thestreetstore.org)
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Berlin, Germany 12
Startup Scene in Paris
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Creative Startup Scene in Berlin The city of Berlin has long been a sanctum of creativity for some of the world’s most interesting minds. The German capital offers the perfect combination of contemporary cultural events and a rich history, all for a fair price. In recent years, Berlin’s dynamic energy has attracted a sea of foreigners, many of them looking to get a foot in the door of one of the city’s numerous successful startups. Amongst Berlin’s many abandoned buildings, charming cafes and nightclubs are coworking spaces, which are quickly becoming inhabited with international entrepreneurs looking to get a taste of Berlin’s booming startup community. With over 100 established coworking spaces, ranging from small and intimate, to enormous warehouses, Berlin has quickly earned the title “startup capital of Europe”. From Silicon Valley to Silicon Allee Unless you’ve already landed a job at the famed Soundcloud, or ResearchGate, the biggest social network where scientists can connect and share academic papers, it can be tricky to navigate the sea of startups making waves throughout Berlin. With some big names under its belt, the seemingly endless opportunities can be dizzying, especially for newcomers. One of the best ways to get your foot in the door of Silicon Allee is to start off by doing a bit of research. Sites like Startup jobs Berlin, or reading through one of the numerous publications dedicated to startup culture in Berlin, can be a helpful point in the right direction. Yet, like most freelancers and entrepreneurs already know, it is important to find a community base in order to start developing a strong network. Luckily, Berlin is brimming with hubs, incubators and coworking spaces, all catering to the growing community of innovators and creators. Finding the Right Community Berlin’s creative types are now forming a citywide network that is breeding innovation and inspiration. One of the best ways to tap into this community is to explore the city’s vibrant coworking scene. At the heart of the buzzing Photo Credt: Jan Vormann
Lego Repair: Artist uses Legos to ‘Repair’ WarDamaged Buildings. (janvormann.com)
By Amanda Gray
Kreuzberg district is the Betahaus coworking space, an ideal location for those who are looking to dive right in to the startup pool. This year Betahaus is introducing a Summer Residency, which provides a foundation for members of the startup community to receive guidance as they embark on their startup journey. The Factory is also one of the most desirable platforms for startups, both big and small. By creating an open source workspace that aims to “enable entrepreneurs and innovators,” The Factory has become home to major startups like Soundcloud and young companies like CareerFoundry. Community manager Annie Landless explains that Berlin has been ideal for CareerFoundry. “Everyone is open to meeting, collaborating, and helping each other out, which has resulted in a startup community like no other.” Like Landless, many members of the startup community see Berlin’s relatively low cost of living and strong creative networks as the ideal foundation to build a new company. Collaborating with a Creative Twist Down in Berlin’s vibrant Neukölln district, The Agora Collective has created a hub for the city’s artists in residence. The project space opened in 2001, and is driven by a philosophy based on “diversity, self-organization and social ties”. Agora primarily focuses on offering a collaborative environment to those who are working in the creative industries and projects involving social entrepreneurship. In the collective spirit, The Wye Berlin has also seen great progress in creating a home for Berlin’s budding creative talent. Through their Impact Initiative, programs like the Berlin Film Society were able to have access to subsidized office space. The Wye offered the BFS additional room for screenings and workshops and also consultation, which helped them to build a sustainable model from which they can succeed. Whether you’re a developer, a writer, or an artist, Berlin’s creativity has a way of encouraging new talent and inspiring entrepreneurs every step of the way.
Smart Glasses: Created with the elderly and disabled in mind, the ADAMAAS smart glasses can detect the activity being carried out by the wearer and project the appropriate assistance using text or visuals cues in the wearer’s field of vision reacting appropriately if something goes wrong.
German Unicorns According to recent reports, Germany is home to four, billion-dollar tech startups including internet platform Rocket Internet, food delivery Delivery Hero, ecommerce store Zalando and furniture company Home24.
Startups in Berlin GetSemper is an app that incorporates bite-size info into your life and enables learning. (getsemper.com) Klara lets doctors treat their patients via mobile. (klara.com) Patience enables educators to create and sell online courses. (Patience.io) Kiwi aims to replace the traditional key system in Berlin’s homes. (kiwi.ki) Eyeem a creative community & marketplace for editing and discovering photography. (eyeem.com) Blinkist lets you read more books in less time by distilling them into to 15-minute insights. (blinkist.com) Friendsurance online peer-to-peer insurance company. (friendsurance.com)
Art & Innovation from Berlin Toys of the Future: Funded on Kickstarter, Avakai blends old-fashioned toy craftsmanship with mobile technology. Used in pairs, they can send messages, feelings and sense each others’ presence — no batteries, no setup, no apps needed. (vaikai.com)
Free Books: A neighborhood in Berlin set-up a free public bookcase “Book Forest” using fallen trees to help promote literacy and sharing.
A city with over 2 and a half million people, the French capital is famous for its lively energy, excellent food, and relaxed nature. Upon first impression, it’s easy to imagine moving into a charming Parisian apartment, spending the day in one of the city’s many gardens, drinking wine and enjoying the city’s incredibly beautiful architecture. Of course it’s possible, but not without some money in the bank. Unlike some of the other European startup hubs, like Slovenia and Belgrade, the Paris startup community has been well established, which makes living there relatively expensive. Entrepreneurs looking to start a company are encouraged to get to know the local community, as it has not only shaped the startup scene on a local level, but has been a major influence on likeminded communities around the world. Paris’s Influential Startup Scene The city of light has some big names under its belt in regards to successful startups. Dailymotion is perhaps one of the bestknown sites to offer video content on the web, which provides “an international catalog of tens of millions of HD videos across all digital devices”. With over 120 million unique visits per month, Dailymotion has expanded outside it’s hometown and has established several creative partnerships, like Fulham Football club, making it the world’s second largest video streaming site next to YouTube. In 2008, Daniel Marhely, also entered the international spotlight when he founded the French answer to Spotify. After making agreements with major labels and artists, Deezer is now one of the biggest legal streaming sites, with around 20 million registered users.
Cool Ideas from France
Have fun with your veggies! A French digital-manufacturing company called Le Fab released free downloadable 3D-printable parts that transform fruits and veggies into four-wheelers, helicopters and submarines. These open source objects are appropriately called “Open Toys,” and help make fruits and veggies fun for kids. (lefabshop.fr)
A mix of professionalism and an open-minded attitude towards new ideas, newcomers in Paris can get their foot in the door by exploring one of the many hubs and accelerators aimed at developing innovative concepts. The city’s first official startup accelerator, NUMA, was born out of the city’s first coworking space, La Cantine. Today NUMA focuses on “community events, startup acceleration, and innovation programs for corporates”, which they mentor companies in their nascent stages and even those that may be ready for market. Former writer for Deskmag and an expert on coworking in France, Remy Cagnol, believes that “since the creation of the label “French Tech” coined in 2014, the startup scene gets way more visibility. Since then the French startup delegation has been present at important trade shows around the world, like the global innovation conference (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.” Because of the enormous amount of attention in recent years, entrepreneurs in Paris are now looking to expand. In 2016 the city’s largest startup incubator 1000 Startups plans to open and will be largely focused on the tech community. Finding a Community in Paris For those who may not necessarily be techoriented, and are simply looking to find a new community in Paris, you’re in luck. Cagnol describes how the coworking movement has grown dramatically in the last 5 years and goes on to explain that “there are now 250 spaces in France, and the coworking scene is very developed throughout France, even in smaller cities and rural areas,” he continues. Today the Paris startup landscape is comprised of hubs, accelerators and coworking spaces, focusing on everything from startups to social entrepreneurship. Spaces like Microsoft Ventures Accelerators provides a 3-month program “aimed at helping startups build their products and strengthen their businesses.” The program offers technical, design and business coaching from companies like Eventbrite, Deezer and Criteo, all free of charge.
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Paris, France
Paris: the city of light, the city of love, and now the city of collaboration. Whatever you want to call it, the French capital is one of the best contemporary examples of the current development of the sharing economy. Boasting a strong startup scene that has attracted some of the most successful companies on the market today, Paris is showing no signs of slowing down.
JUMPSTART
By Amanda Gray
“There are now 250 spaces in France, and the coworking scene is very developed throughout France, even in smaller cities and rural areas” Start Up in Paris! A new program called the French Tech Ticket just opened for non-french entrepreneurs to encourage them to set-up in Paris. The program comes with a grant, free office space, and mentors. Every six months, 50 people will be awarded this French Tech Ticket and the first batch will start in January 2016. (frenchtechticket.paris)
In 2016, Paris will launch the world’s largest digital business incubator capable of hosting 1,000 startups in a space that was formerly a train station. (1000startups.fr)
Photo-taking Mirror: Riding the popularity of selfies, a French company created a photo-taking mirror that can enhance a shopping experience or be used at events. Users can retrieve their photos via an app and share it with friends and family for immediate feedback. (pixglass.com) Touchscreen on your Skin. Cicret Bracelet is a groundbreaking wearable that makes your skin function as a touchscreen projecting interface of any smartphone onto your arm. (cicret.com)
Epilepsy-sensing wearable. There are over 50 million people with have epilepsy worldwide. Recording seizures is vital to assessing the condition, but that is costly and time-consuming. Bioserenity invented smart clothing equipped with biometric sensors that records physiological characteristics in order to analyze and alert doctors and family to the patient’s condition. (bioserenity.com)
Perth, Australia
Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden has approximately 900,000 citizens and it’s also the mostvisited city in Sweden with around 1 million tourists each year. There is always something happening on the streets of Stockholm, whether there is a food fair, a marathon or a royal wedding. Anything can happen if you’re up for it. The culture in Stockholm can be described as reserved but very good for networking and business. There is always an opportunity to network and do business, and people are always on the hunt for new opportunities and experiences. Startup Scene Stockholm has created the second most unicorns, only beaten by Silicon Valley. Companies like Ikea, Spotify, Candy Crush, uTorrent, Kazaa and Minecraft all hail from Sweden, and these success stories inspire and spur new entrepreneurs. This also means Swedish innovations have a good reputation and also means investors, media and talent already have their eyes open for Sweden. Being a small country, and therefore a rather small market, startups think globally from the very beginning. This means they need to have a global mindset from day one and prepare very early to take their product to other markets. The opportunity for entrepreneurs in Stockholm to use coworking spaces has increased over the past years. There is now a coworking space for every type of entrepreneur existing in Sweden. For those that focus on creating a sustainable future and make positive impact on society, there’s Impact Hub, the only coworking space in Stockholm with this specific niche. Jasper Kjellerå started Impact Hub Stockholm in 2005 as part of the global Impact Hub network (impacthub.net), which now has coworking spaces in 49 countries around the world.
h, Perth
For those interested in starting hardware businesses in areas like iOT, 3Dprinting, wearable technology and medtech, there’s Things (thingstockholm.com), the first hardware hub in Stockholm, which opened up in March this year. Key Issues Competition for Talent: Swedish startups both in early and late stages have difficulty competing for the best talent, which is needed to become a market leader. Many founders also simply want to be able to share a part of the success with their employees if/when it comes to that, but legal hurdles and very high taxes on stock options stop this today. Recruiting outside of EU: Another challenge is recruiting staff from outside of EU. This process needs to be quicker and easier than it is now. We also need to create and market a simpler process for startup visas. Shortage of Residential Housing: Another hot topic is the shortage of housing, as “the Stockholm region has accumulated a shortage of 100,000 homes since 1990, as new construction has failed to keep up with the population growth.” (source: WSJ.com) This problem is choking Swedish startups and results in young startups leaving the country. There’s a need for creative housing solutions, and quickly. The shortage of housing mostly affects residential buildings. As far as start-ups and young entrepreneurs go, it’s pretty easy to find a co-working space and, as start-ups scale up, it is actually quite easy to find office rentals. By Ekaterina Larsson, Digital Communications of Impact Hub Stockholm | Ekaterina.larsson@ gmail.com
Cottesloe Beac
“Stockholm’s startup space is flourishing...and it is largely due to huge governmental support (75% of incubators and accelerators are state-funded). Until now, Sweden has had $7 billion USD worth of exits and everyone is waiting and looking with anticipation for new companies with potential to be the next unicorns.” Tetiana Siianko, Global Facilitator at @UP Global
Cool Ideas from Sweden What’s the temperature like in __ country? Stockholm airport installed a Climate Portal so that you can feel the weather live from all over the planet. Now that’s an upgrade from checking the weather app. Want to run your own coworking space? Hoffice is a platform enabling entrepreneurs to set up a coworking space at their home with the aim of creating temporary working sessions in each other’s homes. (hoffice.nu)
What is the “Law of Jante” and how does it affect entrepreneurial culture?
Impact Hub, Stockholm
Taken from a book by the Danish author Aksel Sandemose, Law of Jante is translated as “the law of not too much, not too little and you are no better than anyone else.” This concept is a cultural driver behind humility, equality and restraint that’s deeply embedded in Scandinavian culture. You can see in play in the way the offices are organized to avoid hierarchy and how success is downplayed among entrepreneurs. Another example, is those that “made it” still choose to walk places or drive old cars instead of flaunting wealth.
“Perth’s startup scene is going through an exciting period of growth with many new initiatives kicking off in the past year including 4 new accelerator programs (up from none in the previous year).”
The Growth of Perth’s Startup Scene Nestled on the sunny coast of Western Australia, Perth has been ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the world since 2004. While Western Australia’s history sees it as one of the most ancient lands on the planet, Perth is the fastest growing capital city in Australia. With an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine per year and 19 beaches, Perth is within 30 minutes of an ocean sunset and is situated on the Swan River. Perth itself is a living, breathing postcard, with views from Kings Park and the Botanic Gardens – one of the biggest inner-city parks in the world.
The Startup Scene Startups are starting to make their mark in Perth – it is a thriving scene set amongst a picturesque, natural landscape. Leading the charge is Perth’s first and largest coworking space, the appropriately named Spacecubed. Set across two floors in the Central Business District (CBD), its 600-person community members include entrepreneurs, coders, startups, innovation teams and founders. Other coworking spaces include the tech version of Spacecubed – Sync Labs in Leederville, Atomic Sky on Money Street in Northbridge, The Creative Arts House in West Leederville and a growing number of niche spaces in Fremantle and the CBD. Recently, a free, full serviced co-working space launched by St George Bank that is available to anyone, not just the bank’s customers. Blended learning and startup events are full throttle in Perth. The concept of rapid prototyping through a weekend of pitching, hacking, hustling and validating are key focuses for events like StartUp Weekend Perth. Tertiary providers like Curtin University’s Ignition program support innovation through entrepreneurship programs.
Key Issues Australia, in particular western Australia, is very reliant on natural resources. Coupled with the government’s support for diminishing-returns industries – automotive and mining – there is a significant push for funds to be redirected to high-growth tech companies, and this is a major focus for startup spaces. It’s a challenge to get funding in Perth, as “almost all the startups in the community are ‘bootstrapping’ – surviving on minimal income while they attempt to build customer revenue. If you’re expecting to meet an investor who will invest in your idea after a 10-minute pitch then you’re about to be disappointed. Plan for an average of two years of hard graft with no cash before seeing some returns” wrote Marcus Holmes, founder at Startup News (startupnews.com.au). Leona Devaz is a freelance journalist, communications strategist, author, radio producer and coworking community host & program coordinator. She can be reached at spacecubed.com.
Peter van Bruchem Co-Founder and Editor at Techboard
Startups in Australia Canva: Easy to use online graphic design platform with Guy Kawasaki as Chief Evangelist. (canva.com) Textie: Crowdsource replies to tricky text messages. (textie.co) Boodle: An app that notifies you when products you want are stocked at a store close by. (booodl.com) RipeNearMe an app that finds local, and homegrown food for selling and swapping. (ripenear.me) Jellybeanstreet enables parents to create large scale replicas of their baby’s finger paintings to help support children’s charities. (jellybeanstreet.com)
Wearable Technology made in Australia Self-Navigating Jacket. Wearable experiments has redefined the experience of getting from A to B. Their location-enabled jacket leads the wearer through the streets of cities using subtle vibrations signaling turns. (wearableexperiments.com)
Life Saving Wristbands: Safe Mate wristbands quickly connect emergency response teams to your vital personal and medical information. (safemate-australia.com.au)
World’s First Un-losable Sunglasses: Tzukuri is starting a fight against 26 kilotonnes of plastic waste from lost sunglasses each year. Powered by solar energy, these glasses will alert your phone if left behind. (tzukuri.com) Future-Forward Nail Art: Metaverse Nails are the world’s first product that interacts with an app that triggers a range of futuristic, interactive holograms, which can be shared in real time on social networks. (www.metaversenails.com)
Toronto, Canada
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JUMPSTART
Toronto is a lot of things – the capital of the Canadian province of Ontario, Canada’s largest city and the fourth-largest in North America (behind New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City). It’s a city of immigrants and diverse neighborhoods, a booming metropolitan area that has undergone rapid change over the last 20 or so years, and a skyline that is marked by cranes and non-stop construction. From its location on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto has been shedding its reputation as a traditionally conservative finance-banking hub, thanks to an influx of technology companies, startups and entrepreneurs - and fueled by a shift in the city’s professional working population from the suburban fringes into its downtown core over the past decade. In fact, until Toronto’s recent boom, the city was known as a non-New York hub for theater and as the communications center of Canada, with the CN Tower as one of the city’s iconic downtown landmarks. It’s the only Canadian city with a Major League Baseball team (go Toronto Blue Jays!), and the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the original six founding teams in the National Hockey League. But today, Toronto’s creative class is fueling growth in many sectors namely entrepreneurship, fashion, design, communications, technology, theater, arts and more – turning Toronto into a vibrant, busy and worldly metropolitan area.
A global city, a global workforce As the downtown business base expands, and as younger workers and families move in, Toronto can now boast of a vibrant nightlife, flourishing restaurant and bar scene, accessible public transit system, bustling convention center and hotel industry, and all of the cultural diversity that is supported by a truly international population. According to recent census figures, at least 50% of metropolitan Toronto’s 6 million citizens are born outside of Canada, and 140 different languages are spoken. Because of the population shift into the city’s core, coworking opportunities and shared office spaces are becoming more popular, fueled not only by an interest in work environ-
ments that are tailored for the mobileready 21st Century but also because large companies moving into downtown Toronto, including Google and eBay, are monopolizing many of the available, smaller commercial spaces.
New business models require new working environments The result is that solo entrepreneurs and small businesses are shifting away from multi-year office leases in large buildings into more affordable coworking and shared office environments – open-area coworking facilities, and hybrid shared environments that provide coworking spaces, private offices and event/meeting rooms. Solo business professionals, remote workers in Toronto, and companies looking to relocate to Toronto can take advantage of modern shared office amenities that allow them to set up, plug in and start working immediately. The challenges facing Toronto’s start-up community are similar to those in other cities with technology hubs: access to funding and needed skillsets, a comparatively high cost of living, a tight housing market, and the challenges involved in bringing new products to the global market. The presence of 60- and 70-story high-rise apartment buildings and condos in downtown Toronto is evidence of the housing demand. But Toronto’s continued growth also means that housing stock in older neighborhoods is being renovated for an influx of new residents and families, and neighborhoods close to the downtown core are being revitalized – creating unique and inspiring places to live that are also accessible to the downtown core via public transit. Toronto has shed its reputation as a “sleeper” city, and today it harbors all of the assets that make it a great city – multicultural, vibrant, growing and youthful. Those same assets are the building blocks of a new, modern working environment tailored for large and small businesses alike – and poised for even more growth and change in the years ahead. By Alex Sharpe and Kane Willmott, founders of iQ Office Suites Inc., the leading provider of shared office space in downtown Toronto.
Canadian Narwhals Canada is home to 4 Narwhals (that’s the Canadian version of “Unicorns,” the billion dollar tech-companies). They include surveillance company Avigilon, social-media relationship platform Hootsuite, e-commerce platform Shopify, messaging app for teams Slack.
Coworking in Toronto The coworking community of Toronto has exploded, and there really isn’t a more apt word for it. In 2010 there were only three coworking spaces, and though others have since opened and closed, the city now sustains 25 spaces and there is still room for more in pocket areas. By comparison, there may have been 10 coworking spaces in the whole country in 2010, whereas in 2015 there are approximately 120. Toronto’s growth is thanks to a number of factors, including the state of the economy, rapid changes in technology and social media, and a shift in the way people work. This is fairly common in many cities around the world, but with Toronto being the largest city in the country, many of the coworking spaces in the city were ahead of the curve, mostly due to the collaborative nature of CoworkingToronto. It’s a collective of coworking spaces that work together to raise the profile of coworking across the city and plan and launch projects such as the Coworking Passport Program and the successfully advocating to the Mayor of Toronto to proclaim the first ever CoworkingToronto Day. Rachel Young, Canadian serial entrepreneur and the Founder of Camaraderie Coworking Inc.
A Glance at Canadian Innovations Don’t buy another appliance! The Kitchen Library is a non-profit that lends 100+ types of kitchen appliances. (thekitchenlibrary.ca) A Toronto-based tailor created a bullet-proof suit. (garrisonbespoke.com) What’s your brain up to during meditation? Muse is a brain-sensing headband that monitors brainwaves and provides real-time feedback. (choosemuse.com) Want a perfect vision without the surgery? A new bionic lens could give you perfect vision for the rest of your life. (ocumetics.com)
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JUMPSTART
Kathmandu, Nepal
Taipei, a Playground for Start-ups
A Startup Scene Emerges in Kathmandu A small city surrounded by hills on all sides, Kathmandu, Nepal, has always been popular for its rich cultural heritage and history. This ancient land, hidden away from the rest of the world through the centuries, is now opening up like never before and emerging as a rising business hub for startup entrepreneurs. Hundreds of IT companies, business incubators and other innovative ideas have mushroomed in Kathmandu Valley and beyond, giving a new and vibrant lifeline to an economy once heavily dependent solely on tourism and agriculture. Since 2013, Nepal has seen significant growth in number of startup companies. Popular startups like Abari, Young Innovations, Thread Paints, and Code Wing, have cemented their place in the Nepali market already. Since the major earthquake that occurred on April 25 2015, the entire nation has been shaken. On the optimistic side, many entrepreneurs believe that this natural phenomenon will open up the market. Many young graduates now try to cash in on potentially profitable ideas, and are determined to start something on their own. The game-changing advantage for the country is that there is less of a brain drain than the city suffered in the recent past. The challenge today, however, is if the ideas are good enough to sustain in the market in the long run. Web portals, app developers,
al Prayer Flags in Nep
restaurateurs are a dime-a-dozen; every other person is replicating ideas. The latest and the hottest idea in the industry is co-working spaces. The initial investment needed in setting up your own office and creative space used to be a giant hurdle for anybody looking to set out on their own; often the impact was debilitating. But not anymore. With the fast-paced growth of co-working spaces around the Kathmandu Valley, it has become a whole lot easier to set up something on your own and get your venture off the ground. Currently, there are five companies in the Kathmandu valley that are involved with providing space and giving extra beneficial facilities to their clients. The facilities include free WiFi, free tea and coffee, 24/7 security and lockers. The Platform Inc, Biruwa Ventures, Pasa Yard, Bac Coworking and Regus International are few organisations that facilitate spaces for businesses and add different twists to their packages. The primary focus of the majority is to build a community within their organisation and help one another.
Kathmandu from Nag arjuna Forest
Startups of Nepal Yellow Nepal, a restaurant discovery and deal app. (yellownepal.co) FoodMandu, Nepal’s only food delivery company. (foodmandu.com) Sasto Deal, a Groupon-type deal website with 145k likes. (sastodeal.com) Vidinterest is video curation and discovery platform. (vidinterest.tv) AppsJhola, First and Only Apps Marketplace in Nepal. (appsjhola.com) 11Beep, it’s like Twitter, but anonymous. (11beep.com)
Alisha Sijapati is a freelance journalist. She has previously worked for The Himalayan Times and ECS Media. Books, newspapers and coffee are a part of her life.
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There are fewer international enterprises based in Taipei compared to Hong Kong and Singapore, making the cost of labour and cost of living in Taipei relatively low. These factors combine to make the city one of the easiest places to experiment with innovative ideas and attract new local talent. The domestic market also embraces innovations at breakneck speed, due to its digital-friendly environment. With Wi-Fi access everywhere, and mobile tech a topic of fashion, Taiwanese consumers eagerly accept new innovations to the market. The Taiwanese government’s strong efforts to promote the cultural and creative industry of the country have begun to change Taipei into one of the most unique playgrounds for start-ups and entrepreneurs in Asia.
Coworking & Maker Spaces
A wide range of government and private venture capital funds are available for international and domestic projects, and the language and geographical advantage of Taipei have also attracted the notice of interested investors from Mainland China. Independent workers, makers, hackers, artists, and creatives are slowly coming together in Taipei to draw a clearer picture of where the country is headed. Instead of going headto-head with the big daddies in the mainland, publishing unthinkable numbers and scales of economy on a daily basis, people in Taipei are starting to step back and think about the quality of life and its relationship to work, a rarity among Asians who are mostly known to the rest of the world for suicidal hard work and efficiency. That being said, Taiwan’s unique startup scene has also made it a perfect stage for entrepreneurs looking to try new ideas, as investors in China (such as Alibaba) are paying more and more attention to what’s happening on the island. In turn, the capital of Taipei has begun to fully establish itself as one of the biggest hubs in Asia for entrepreneurs, because as a city, it is itself a start-up: adventurous, passionate, and open to new ideas. Arthur Chou is the CEO of Custard Cream, one of the first coworking spaces and hubs for entrepreneurs and independent workers in Taipei.
After the very first co-working space, International Entrepreneurship Hub, was started in 2012, there has been a big boom in co-working spaces in the city. With their convenient urban atmosphere, efficient digital resources, and economical prices, co-working spaces have become hubs for independent workers and entrepreneurs alike.
Startups of Taipei
The Maker movement in Taipei has been gaining popularity over the last two years at an overwhelming pace; there are over 20 Maker labs and Maker spaces across the city.
Maicoin lets users buy bitcoin at convenience stores. (maicoin.com)
The third annual Taiwan Maker Faire was held on the last weekend of May, and attracted not only fellow Makers and students, but also executives and investors alike as innovative technology products were presented at Huashan Creative Park.
Cultural and Creative Industry The freedom that democracy offers goes beyond its political meaning, allowing individuals to demonstrate their creative endeavors. Taipei has much to offer independent artists and designers alike. International festivals, expos, and conventions are held every other week in the city, at creative parks designated for those very purposes. Taipei has also been selected the World Design Capital in 2016.
Roam and Wander make app-enabled toys for kids. (roamandwander.com) Pinkoi is an e-commerce platform for original design goods. (pinkoi.com)
Taiwan sets up in Silicon Valley In June of this year, Taiwan opened an Silicon Valley outpost called the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to help establish a link with and foster enterpreneurship with one of the world’s most famous technology hubs. (tiectw.com)
A Glance at Taiwanese Inventions Electric Smart Scooter: A company called Gogoro debuted world’s first electric smart scooter that runs on swappable batteries and connects to a smartphone. The invention can help cut down pollution in cities brought on by 15 million scooter riders in Taiwan.
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Taipei, Taiwan
Photo Credit: Elaine Li
Taiwan ranked 20th in GDP per capita last year – pretty impressive for an island of only 23 million people. Yet compared to the other international Asian cities that are more wellknown in Western culture, as a city for business, Taipei has always been more relaxed. Sure, like any other developed cities, Taipei has its fair share of monstrous shopping centers, international chains, and metropolitan corporate skyscrapers, and the amount of business done here is enormous. The biggest difference is the atmosphere, which, comparatively, feels a lot less stressful.
JUMPSTART
Smart Diaper: A Taiwanese team is working on commercializing an ioT sensor that tracks a baby’s diaper condition, temperture and sleeping position. Do-It-Yourself Oil Making: The Daily Expeller is a minuature version of oilmaking machines. Just add nuts and seeds, and make the perfect amount for home use.
Dental-Health Sensor: A team of scientists developed a tooth sensor to check on oral activities that affect health like grinding and smoking.
Perfectly Spherical Ice: Polar Ice Tray is the firstever patented device that makes spherical crystalclear ice in an ordinary home refrigerator. (polaricetray.com)
Jakarta, Indonesia
“Trailing Spouses” Launch Businesses in Singapore
Jakarta has been known as one of the world’s biggest urban agglomerations, ranking fourth after Guangzhou, Tokyo, and Shanghai. It is home to more than 27 million people and the capital of Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s largest economy. As one of the G20 members, Indonesia has seen rapid economic growth in recent years. The BBC ranked Indonesia as the best place for entrepreneurs to start business in their 2011 survey, beating the United States and Australia. Since Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia, almost all that is happening in the startup scene happens here. It can be said that the entrepreneurship eco-system is quite established. All the major events like Startup Asia, GEW, and Startup Weekend are hosted here in Jakarta. There are also several global entrepreneurship programs in Jakarta, such as Global Entrepeneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI), Endeavour Indonesia, and Founders Institute Jakarta.
Coworking Scene According to an article by Tech In Asia, last year there were 8 coworking space in Jakarta. In recent months, the number of coworking spaces has exploded. Several of the new coworking spaces have opened around the Sudirman Business District in the heart of Jakarta. This is where meetings often take place and where large companies’ offices are based. Space such as WorkOUT, TierSpace, Comma, and Conclave are all within a two miles radius of the Business District. Most of the coworking in Jakarta mainly focus
on startup companies. Venture backed startups often will occupy spaces that are provided by their investors. There are a few coworking that is backed by venture capital like the recently opened East Venture Hive. Backed by Japanese based venture capital East Venture. But the demand for coworking space is a little bit different here in Jakarta. Most bootstrap startups won’t come to coworking spaces because of the fee they have to spend monthly. Bootstrap startups often use their own house for their office and operations because it is cheaper. Not a lot of freelancers in Jakarta work in coffeeshops because the wifi connection is very slow, preferring to work at home instead. So, coworking space here must find an alternative demands beside startup companies. It is quite a different story in Bali, which is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. There are a lot of thriving coworking space in Bali compare to Jakarta. The demand for coworking space in Bali are huge especially from foreigners who seek a place to work.
Women Entrepreneurs Women entrepreneurs as startup founders are still few and far between even in Jakarta. But one increeasing trend is middle-class stayat-home mothers selling goods online These women often use instagram to sell products as it is very easy and can be run from a smartphone. Some of them don’t even have a website. They employ the so-called Shoutout for Shoutout (SFS) methodsto increase market
exposure. They are part of several LINE groups for women that own an Instagram account with a minimum of 1000 followers. Each of them will promote everyone else in their LINE group.
Opportunities and Challenges According to McKinsey, the Indonesian economy will become the 7th largest economy by 2030, overtaking Germany and the United Kingdom. This means that Jakarta will be the center of growth. More and more investors are coming to Jakarta to expand their businesses. This also means opportunities for young Indonesians to start businesses. However, entrepreneurship in Indonesia is still weak. Difficult access to capital for small business and poor education has resulted in one of the lowest rates of new business formation in Asia. Besides education, there is a cultural issue; the term ‘success’ in Indonesia means that you hold a steady job in a huge company. There will be a lot of resistance for people who want to venture out and start their own business. Author: Arif Setiawan is an Indonesian serial entrepreneur and an online marketing expert. His latest venture, WorkOUT Coworking Space, is a coworking space inside a sports complex. Currenty, they have one location across the street from the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Before starting WorkOUT, he was the head of the entrepreneurship program for the Mien R. Uno Foundation, in charge of developing an entrepreneurship program and mentoring college students who have started a business.
Ideas from Indonesia CoCoon Pitch Night X TWF
CoCoon Pitch Night X TWF Women Entrepreneurs Edition
Date: Thursday, 24 September, 2015
Partner organization:
Time: 6:30pm-9pm
Application due: Monday, Aug 3rd, 2015
Send your 5 slides business plan to pitch@hkcocoon.org
A shoe to fend off attackers: A 14-year old in Indonesian boy invented an electric shoe that can help women fend of attackers. A Male Contraceptive Pill. A team at an Indonesian university invented a 99% effective male contraceptive pill made from a shrub found on one of the islands. Parental Control App, Kakatu, lets parents control and restrict their children’s activities on smartphones or tablets. (kakatu.web.id)
small children, habitually put themselves and the needs of their business far behind the needs of other family members. Because working from home adds to this conundrum, Woolf Works provides a space where women can focus one hundred percent on their business.
The role of the depressingly named “trailing spouse” can be a blessing and a curse. For many, it’s a chance for reinvention: to study, start a family, take up freelance work or volunteer in the region. For others, it’s a catapult into a world of lost identity, homesickness and complete isolation. For a fortunate third group, though, it’s a time to stretch some entrepreneurial wings and take advantage of Singapore’s relatively transparent business laws, steady economy, and high disposable income levels.
Working from a coworking space allows a real mental switch-off between work and home, resulting in more productive work hours. It also helps against the dreadful isolation and “sameness” of working alone at the kitchen table every day.
Women-led startups are thriving across the world, as the growth of digital technology fuels new business models and flexible work environments. Mothers especially can benefit from being able to reenter the business world on their own terms, outside the box of 9-to-5 corporate life. Across Asia (and the rest of the world), coworking spaces are booming, as the new work era demands flexible workplaces and fluid community interactions. Singapore hosts workspaces for social entrepreneurs, small business teams, artists, designers, and tech startups. Singapore even has Woolf Works – a coworking space especially for women. Woolf Works aims to help women put themselves and their businesses first. It’s no secret that women, especially mothers of
Notable Startups Grabtaxi, mobile taxing booking app. (grabtaxi.com) Haven, the marketplace for ocean freight. (haveninc.com) Carousell, mobil P2P marketplace in South East Asia. (carousell.co) Pie, a free platform for chatting and sending files to coworkers. (pie.co) inMobi, mobile ad platform reaching 1 billion unique mobile devices. (inmobi.com) Muvee, automatic movie editing software. (muvee.com) Redmart, SE Asia’s Customer-Centric Online Grocer. (redmart.com)
Source: spring.gov.sg
Singapore
Jakarta’s Startup Scene on the Rise
Like Hong Kong, Singapore is a major hub for expat workers and the city consequentially finds itself a hub for their accompanying spouses. Often these spouses have left high-powered jobs and rewarding careers themselves to allow their partner to take up a dream post aboard.
“9% of Singapore’s workforce is employed within the start-up sector and 20% of Singapore respondents in the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report have indicated their intentions to start a business within the next 3 years.”
Members are a mix of freelance editors and writers, remote corporate workers, and small business owners. A range of women from a diverse set of industries represent many interesting businesses that share the space, including: Woomentum (woomentum.com), a global crowdsourcing platform; Attaby (attaby. com), a fashion design label; and Tekkie Help (www.tekkiehelp.com), a family-run tech-specialists business. The role of ‘trailing spouse’ can be lonely and unfulfilling. Coworking spaces for women can provide community and support to expatriate women as well as networks and business opportunities. Author: Michaela Anchan opened Woolf Works, a coworking space for women, in Singapore in 2014, to provide a “Room of One’s Own” for women trying to run a home business or do freelance work from their home office.
A Glance at Singapore’s Innovations Micro-volunteering for vision impaired: An app crowdsources information for the visually impaired through micro-volunteering and allows anyone, anywhere to connect and help visually handicapped in seconds. (mysmarteye.starhub.com)
World’s Most Packed Enterpreneurial Ecosystem? Earlier this year, Singapore unveiled JTC LaunchPad@one-north, an expansion to a pre-existing startup facility “Block71” that Economist magazine called “the world’s most tightly packed entrepreneurial ecosystem” in 2014. It houses hundreds of startups, accelerators, and VCs in the biomedical sciences, infocomm, media, electronics and engineering industries. There’s a San Francisco counterpart (Block71 San Francisco) for those startups striving to establish themselves in the US and Singapore tech ecosystems. Life-Saving Jewelry: This wearable fake calls wearers’ mobile phone and alerting family and friends with GPS location if the wearer finds themself in an uncomfortable situation. (the-guardianangel. com)
Heat Recycling: Students in Singapore invented a “domestic heat recovery system” that cuts utility bills by recycling wasted heat generated by the air-con compressor to heat water for the home. Brain-Rewiring: Neurostyle is developing a new way to teach the brain to ‘rewire’ itself – through virtual reality games – that can help stroke patients recover the movement in their affected limbs. (neuro-style.com)
Flatbread Maker: World’s first roti-making robot can produce up to 20 rotis (Indian flatbread) in one go, one roti per minute, with options for oil, thickness and roast levels. (rotimatic.com)
Anxiety-Reducing Vest: T.Jacket is a wearable technology vest that provides customizable deep touch pressure hugs that help calm and comfort people who are anxious or stressed, improving their coping ability and attentiveness. (mytjacket.com)
Sponsored Content
22
JUMPSTART
SETTING UP
Getting Followers on Weibo Being the Chinese hybrid of Facebook and Twitter, Weibo is becoming not only a popular social community, but also a powerful digital communication and marketing channel, especially for enterprises planning to enter the China market. With an estimated 600 million registered users and 198 million active users in China, it provides enterprises with great opportunities to increase their exposure in China and bring in potential customers. But first thing first, you need followers. Getting people to follow an unfamiliar account is never easy, not to mention their long-term attention on you. By following these seven tips, you will get the basic steps to attract more followers, and learn how to engage and keep them as well.
1. Set up Your Account The first step to start is opening an account for your brand. Anyone can register an account on Weibo; just follow the online instructions to fill in relevant information, which can be done in English. Weibo provides account verification service, which costs around $4,000 for Hong Kong companies. You’ll need official documents such as your business registration certificate in order to register. With a “V” icon besides the account name, your verified account would look more credible and professional to the audience.
2. Create Valuable Content Content is always the key to boosting your popularity. Your contribution to the audience determines who you are, gives reasons why people should follow you and convinces them why you are so important to them. So, create your own value. Compose original posts and articles sharing useful information. Inspire people with new concepts. Astound them with interesting statistics. Also, make sure that your posts go straight to the point and are fun to read, because audience nowadays face tons of information every day and do not have the time or patience to read something long and boring! One thing to note: although all settings are in English, if you want to reach a Chinese audience, it’s better to make your content in simplified Chinese.
3. Invite the First Batch of Followers Within an Existing Network
fan base is also a good approach to turning a portion of their followers into yours.
After generating a certain amount of content, it’s time to acquire followers. You can always “buy” some followers (from Taobao, for instance) but please note they are all dead IDs and will not bring you any business value. The more practical way is to announce the account establishment on other existing platforms, share your link with your friends and colleagues, and ask them to invite more people to follow through in the same way. Add your Weibo link in your email signature and print it on your business card. Remember the first batch of followers always comes from your existing network, and they will keep helping you expand influence.
6. Launch Online Campaigns
4. Keep Good Interactions with your Audience
7. Online Advertising and Promotion
Weibo is not only an online platform to showcase your brand, but also the channel to communicate with your audience in a more casual way. Don’t be too serious or official. Instead, you should try to give your account a distinct personality, so that people are more willing to interact with you. Very often an official Weibo account also serves as a customer service platform. People may ask questions, comment or complain through this platform. So, always have a dedicated person or team to monitor the account, treat your customers well, listen to their voices and react timely and properly.
5. Connect with Hot Discussions and Popular Accounts As a social media account, all you need to be is social. Keeping an eye on hot topics, joining online discussion and contributing your opinions will make you more visible. You can also initiate a discussion of the topics related to your business by using hashtags, so that people will easily find your account and comments when they search these topics. Besides, frequent interaction or cross-promotion with related accounts that have already built up a large
Campaigns are always the best way to make noise, and the same goes for online campaigns. Currently, the easiest and the most popular online campaigns on Weibo are lucky draws that provide people with an incentive to participate. But, you must monitor the whole process carefully and send out the prizes to winners as promised. Weibo has strict rules on handling “irresponsible accounts” who don’t deliver on their promises. Besides lucky draws, come up with more creative and attractive online campaigns which match well with the purpose of your business.
If you have an adequate budget, advertising on Weibo is an ideal choice for attracting a large amount of followers in a short time. The banner advertisements are usually quite expensive, ranging from 60,000 RMB to 240,000 RMB per day depending on placement on the page. Besides, Weibo provides other promotional services such as CPM (bidding from 5 RMB per one thousand impressions) and CPE (bidding from 0.5 RMB per each experience engaged). Through these services, your account or certain posts will be displayed and promoted on your target audience’s front page, and will boost their interest in following your page. Mia Zhao, a native Shanghainese, Mia relocated to Hong Kong in 2010. Having worked for the Changzhou Television Station and China Daily Asia Pacific, she is now a Marketing Executive at Alarice International, managing mainland China projects from China marketentry to online social media and PR.
A Growth Trend in “Flexible Workspace” The working landscape is changing globally, with the adoption of flexible workspace practices increasing steadily in recent years, according to a recent report by Regus. Rising office rent and the advance technologies that empower companies and employees to work on the move contribute to this trend. Moreover, a Regus survey indicates that 47% of businesspeople in Hong Kong think flexible working is key to foster “innovation” and “entrepreneurship.” With government and organizations’ continued investment in startup and entrepreneurship programs, Regus believes that the momentum of flexible workplaces will continue to grow.
Why Business Centres
Why Regus?
The benefit of working from a business center is immense, including lower initial costs, flexibility, all-inclusive service and cost savings. Additionally, there are many intangible benefits to adopting a business center model, including the networking opportunities and the irresistible allure of brandishing a prestigious address, since most of the Hong Kong serviced offices are positioned in prime locations within Hong Kong. Last but not least, business centres should be able to provide a platform for commuters to stay productive on the move and between meetings.
As the world’s largest provider of flexible workspaces, Regus operates in 3000 premier business locations globally and provides various kinds of products including fully-equipped offices, virtual offices and meeting rooms. For mobile workers, the exclusive BusinessWorld scheme provide access to Regus Business Lounges offering a comfortable, well-equipped workspace environment.
While the home office is a major component of flexible workspace practice in Western countries, the situation is different in Hong Kong. From the Regus survey, local respondents did not find working at home – even with a professional setting – was the best option. Over 60% of the respondents preferred working in a serviced office.
Overall, the flexibility and mobility offered by the average (Hong Kong) serviced office price renders the option of using serviced offices increasingly attractive, especially as it has enabled many businesses to cut overhead and to realize significant cost savings.
“We’ve seen the increase in demand and uptake of flexible workplace in Hong Kong, and continue to grow to meet that demand. Regus has just opened two new business centers in the first half of 2015, taking the total to 20 locations. Geographically, we expanded our footprint from the traditional commercial districts of Central, Wan Chai, and Causeway Bay to new commercial districts such as Kung Tong and Chai Wan. At the same time, we are looking at different price ranges to ensure we have solutions to meet any budget,” said Michael Ormiston, Country Manager, Regus Hong Kong.
You can reach Mia via mia@alarice.com.hk
Sales Hotline: +852 2166 8000 | enquiry.hk@regus.com
24
JUMPSTART recently launched, country-specific (U.K. and France) markets.
Pinterest tips for market research
Market Researchers:
DO YOU SPEAK VISUAL? THE MORE VISUAL, THE MORE SHAREABLE
Words are so last millennium. We’re increasingly ditching text and letting pictures do the talking. In our new showdon’t-tell world, we’re communicating with brands, companies — and each other — using images, not words. Our overstuffed brains, which process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, crave this new visual vocabulary. Consider these stats: • • • • • • • •
Half of the photos ever taken were taken in the last two years. 70 percent of actions taken on social media involve visuals. Facebook has 10,000 times more photos than the Library of Congress. YouTube streams 133,000 hours of video every day. Facebook users post 300 million images a day. Instagram logs 8,500 Likes a second. Nearly 85 percent of consumers name color as the primary reason they purchase a particular product. Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat and the $19 billion dollar WhatsApp continue to break records and forge new forms of creative expression.
Then there’s the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year: selfie. With usage up 17,000 percent since its origin, this winning word is a symbol of the cultural and behavioral shift we’re experiencing. (Consider the record-zapping Ellen and friends selfie at the Oscars.) The Visual Revolution has upended centuriesold habits in a snap. Where we once expressed emotion via language, we’re now relying on emoji, stickers or instaanything. Even the prevailing social marketing mantra has been roto-rootered: it’s not what your customers say about you, it’s what they show.
The Visual Revolution, Image Economy or Visual Web, whatever moniker you prefer, is kicking the market research industry in its wordy butt. This powerfully disruptive mashup of mobile + social is as seismic to our industry as the explosion of big data. A speaker at the recent PSFK Future of Retail 2014 conference declared: “Mobile is eating the world.” The more we rely on that small screen, the more important visuals become. The more visual, the more shareable.
is willingly uploading personal brand stories via an eclectic array of social technologies. In a now classic experiment, Moleskine asked users to answer the question: What’s In Your Bag? Thousands replied, providing the brand with an avalanche of vivid detail. Can a text-based methodology yield as much.
Images have become one of our favorite modes of organizing and comprehending the profound amount of information we encounter daily. Pioneering companies such as Tableau have made it their business to use visuals to make data understandable to ordinary people. The popularity of infographics increased by 800 percent between 2010 and 2012. The Daily Mail is getting in on this action soon, with a new app that strips the text and leaves just the pictures.
Think beyond cupcakes, cats and brides. The 70-million-strong Pinterest is swiftly becoming an impressive rival to Facebook, Instagram and other social sites, with a new series of pins and (finally) an API. It’s time to think of the popular platform in a new way: as a compelling marketing research tool. All things aspirational show up on Pinterest boards. They’re a product-based, dream-centered wish list, and for qualitative researchers, a digital update of the projective techniques we’ve trusted for years. As the tools of the Visual Revolution become mainstream, the benefits to research markedly increase. Respondents are fast growing more comfortable, creative and authentic about expressing themselves via snap, pin and post.
What does this mean for market researchers? Researchers today have unprecedented opportunities to dig deeper, learn more and essentially deliver on-demand insights. In the hands of skilled researchers, the 350 million images uploaded every single day can reveal the complexities and quirks of human nature — the why behind data science’s what. The leap to the more organic Visual Web puts more power-to-the-people tools in the consumer toolkit. The massive optin via picture platforms translates into massive opportunity for us. In the “olden days,” we were forced to recruit and pay respondents for their opinions. Now our target audience
The new market research tool: Pinterest
Pinterest is also intrinsically iterative. Over the past months, we’ve been using the platform to create product- or subject-driven boards during in-person interviews and triads. Within 48 hours, we assess the re-pins, likes and comments and evolve the concepts in response to the insights we’ve uncovered. Using this accelerated, rapid prototyping model, we’ve harvested significant feedback from both online and offline consumers in the U.S. and in Pinterest’s
The visual audit. What’s getting pinned from the brand’s site? What’s ignored? Are your visuals optimized for Pinterest or are they invisible? Where do your pins land? On what kind of boards? One of our clients, who specializes in the pet industry, discovered that the brand was being re-pinned on boards related to women/ relationships. Turns out that managing feisty dogs is perceived as similar to managing husbands. This nugget opened up a whole new direction for the company. Recruiting. Forget the hackneyed fiveuses-for-a-brick question. Use Pinterest as a highly effective screener. looking at a prospect’s board for recipes is akin to opening the fridge during an in-home session. Also, you can uncover polarizing attitudes or professional respondents. The best boards to check for polarizing attitudes: Quotes, Inspirations, Funny and, if you’re recruiting for Walmart, People of Walmart. Customer perception and insight. Marketing researchers can use this visual Magic 8 ball to better predict trends, sales and product preferences. J.Crew pre-launched its fall catalog on the platform with the goal of matching pin popularity with production. Pinterest allows your customers to show you new ideas and lead you down a different path. Did Four Monks vinegar ever imagine teaming up with Dawn? Keywords do count. Keep a close watch on descriptions. What verbs are pinners using to describe your products and images? A recent academic study revealed that what distinguishes Pinterest from other social sites are four simple yet powerful verbs: use, look, want and need.
Curalate for market research: image analytics Why has a picture of rainbow fruit kabobs been re-pinned 76,012 times? When an iPhone image snapped by your sister-in-law at a baby shower is as likely to be a winning pin as an ad agency’s pricey photoshoot, it’s vital to understand why. This is where visual analytics powerhouse Curalate comes in. An analytics platform for Pinterest and Instagram, these marketing-without-words gurus know the answer to this burning question and countless more, thanks to Curalate’s data, image recogntion algorithms and powerful marketing tools. “Unlocking the power of the Visual Web” is its genius, which includes offering an easy and comprehensive dashboard, complete with competitive analysis. We’ve found Curalate to be the kind of partner that consistently innovates and pushes the boundaries.
Other promising tools and technologies Google Helpouts. Google’s new, realtime video service connects people with experts in various fields, with the aim of providing “Real Help From Real People In Real Time.” With Helpouts, you can get help anytime from people with expertise across a range of topics - teachers, counselors, doctors, home-repair specialists, personal trainers, hobby enthusiasts and more. Some sessions are free; others are paid through Google Wallet. As a research tool, the new service could provide subject matter experts/influencers in addition to access to brand opportunities. Sephora and Weight Watchers are already offering Helpouts.
site for fashionistas provides users with a platform where they can post pictures of must-have outfits and accessories they find on social media. Hunters then track down the coveted product. The goal? Women helping other women look better. Founder Tim Weingarten says, the Visual Web isn’t shoppable and The Hunt is working to fix that. In the meantime, researchers, especially those involved with retail and the women’s market, will find this an intriguing tool to tap into the pulse of those passionate about fashion. These are all examples of how the Visual Revolution can keep market research professionals in tune with consumers and improve the research function overall. It just might the perfect blend of art and science. How are you joining the visual conversation? Author: Sarah W. Browne is an award-winning consumer insights strategist, writer, and expert advisor on trends, innovation and emerging cultural change. A serial entrepreneur, she loves to be in-the-trenches, taking seed stage products from concept to commercialization.
sarahbrowne.com
The Hunt. A blend of gamification, images and style, the community-driven
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Contest #5, July 2015. Illustrated by Gary Chan, Onion Creative . co-founder
“YOUR CAPTION HERE” We provide the image. You provide a funny caption! Email blueprint@swireproperties.com with the subject line ‘Jumpstart caption contest’.
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