Month: October 2016
Uzabase Is Going IPO With US$177M Market Capital
Tokyo’s Uzabase, the startup behind the corporate profile database Speeda and business news update curating app NewsPick has recently announced its IPO application has been approved by the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
Founded in 2008, Uzabase is currently working on two applications. The startup’s first app, Speeda was invented by its founding members who are bank investments experts. The app is designed to collect news update and business analysis from think tanks and provides them to finance businesses.
On the other hand, Newspick is an intuitive business news reading and sharing application. It serves the purpose of news curation and was offered back in September, 2013. The company has set NewsPick apart from other competitors through only curating news topics by notable economic news outlet.
Hence, from 21st October onward, the startup will be listed on the TSE Mother Market on Friday. Additionally, the company plans to offer 543, 000 shares for public subscription and selling 114,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 193,000 shares. With this, the company expects an initial market cap of 17.78 Billion yen (approximately US$177 Million).
Prior to this IPO announcement, the company has previously secured US$4.5 million from several Japanese companies and VC firms in a series C round held on the August of 2014.
For more information, please visit http://www.uzabase.com/en/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Singaporean Startup Create Application To Get People Involve In Social Volunteering
Various startups are setting out to solve real world problems, some are creating new solutions while others are revamping an industry.
One startup, is on a mission to do good to the world through social volunteering and this startup is known as Involver.
With the cause to help make a difference in various communities, Involver is founded by Kevin Chua and Chad Smalley back in October, 2015. The startup is working on an app that will connect eager volunteers to various organizations and their available projects. To date, Involver is partnered with more than 30 partners of NGOs, NPOs, charities and more.
Currently, Involver users who are looking for volunteer work can be situated either in Singapore, South Asia or Middle East with organizations such as HCA Hospice, Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore, Step Up Dubai, Inara, SMU BP Mentoring, MCYC Community Services Society, Habitat for Humanity and YMCA Singapore.
The main idea behind the startup is based on the idea that there is a barrier for those looking to do volunteer work who does not know how and where to start. In other words, social philanthropy lacks a platform. The same goes for even a corporations which may find it an uphill task to bring together a distributed workforce for contributions in terms of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
But there is more to this than merely functioning as a platform for social volunteers and that is Involver adopts a gamified app interface using bright colors and beautiful graphics. Furthermore, users who go for volunteer causes can also achieve goals in this app which will unlock levels and badges.
Additionally, users can choose a cause they prefer, with categories available including Youth, Education, Environment, Poverty and Hunger, etc. Moreover, there is a feature where users can describe their attributions and specialties in order to get a more suitable position in the organization.
Ultimately, due to the mobile nature of their services, volunteering is made into a simple process by groups or individuals done simply through an app. Organisations using the app to recruit volunteers are only charged a nominal fee for helping with volunteer management. Involver estimate that through their service, they could potentially save charities and non-profits up to 5% of their annual sponsored funds.
About Involver
Involver is a gamified application that allows public and corporate volunteers to discover social causes and in turn contribute to create great social impacts. Involver serves as a platform for those who are looking to give back to the community. The application has also appeared as one of the top 5 finalist in The Venture, a global competition launched by Chivas that supports social entrepreuneurs.
For more information, please visit http://www.getinvolver.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Huawei Invest US$1 Million Into New AI Research Partnership With UC Berkeley
Artificial intelligence has been heralded as the trend in the tech industry presently. In the latest news on that front, China’s Huawei and University of California, Berkeley are forging a research partnership focusing on basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. The Chinese technology company will be providing US$1 million into funding the research.
Additionally, the partnership will be between Huawei Noah’s Ark Laboratory and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), with the research unit being billed as “a strategic partnership into basic research” will be concentrated on the development of machine learning, AI and data mining.
As such, Huawei and UC Berkeley researches will work on the next wave of Artificial Intelligence technology, specifically catering to specific AI related domains such as deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and reinforcement learning.
But ultimately, the aim of the partnership is not only to advance Artificial Intelligence research but instead to find uses for the technology among the daily life of the society, that is into real-world application rather than have it confined as mere theoretical models in the laboratory.
“The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large,” said Huawei.
In practicality, the advancements made at the Berkeley lab would be similar to Google with its AI assistant or Microsoft and its Cortana virtual assistance, that is adding an AI powered feature into the smartphone or tablet software.
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Singapore’s Carousell Expands Into The Philippines With 40 Million Potential Users
Adding another location to its geographical influence is the online mobile marketplace known as Carousell. The Singapore-based startup is moving to the Philippines, one of the prime mobile commerce markets in Southeast Asia which has over 40 million smartphone users.
Founded in 2012 by Lucas Ngoo, Quek Siu Rui and Marcus Tan, Carousell caters to the needs of the population that has a need to get rid of the things they no longer need or have use for as products. In this case, Carousell facilitate as a platform for people to resell their products with just a simple three-step method, that is to just snap, describe and list it among their catalog of goods. Additionally, users can also chat with other users to discuss about the product.
Although today marks the official launch of Carousell in the Philippines, the application has actually been released earlier in May. It has achieved 110% monthly growth in listings and 240% monthly growth in transaction since the initial launch of the app. This goes to say that the application serve a need to the Philippines with it being the fastest market to reach half a million listings milestone in under six months.
To date, the list of countries which can download the Carousell application includes Singapore, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Taiwan, United States, United Kingdom and the newly joined, Philippines.
About Carousell
Carousell is a Singapore-based consumer-to-consumer marketplace app for iOS and Android. The application provides a simple way for users to sell their surplus of clothes, gadgets and accessories by simply taking a picture and providing a description.
For more information, please visit https://sg.carousell.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Soundtrap, A Collaborative Music And Audio Creative App Raises US$ 6 Million In Series A
Competing with Apple’s GarageBand, Soundtrap is a recording studio app that allows users to record music or audio with their friends online. Recently, the startup announced that it has raised US$6 million in its Series A led by Industrifonden, a Nordic VC firm based in Stockholm. The funding was also participated by its array of existing and new investors which includes Peter Sterky, the former CFO and COO of Spotify.
Founded in 2012 by Gabriel Sjöberg, Björn Melinder, Fredrik Posse, and Per Emanuelsson, Soundtrap is based in Sweden like its industry peers Spotify, Soundcloud and Tidal. Though its vision differs as it aims to democratize music and creative audio production, making it accessible to users with all levels of musical interest and abilities.
Since its official launch is in June 2015, Soundtrap has to date garnered more than half a million users from 200 different countries worldwide. Additionally, with the education version of the Soundtrap app launched in January in California, the Soundtrap application is also popular with more than 3000 schooling establishments and the number continues to grow.
Soundtrap CEO and co-founder Per Emanuelsson said, “What differentiates Soundtrap is that it’s designed to allow users all over the world to collaborate on a song, movie soundtrack or other audio creation, no matter what computer or mobile device they’re using. All the audio elements are created and shared in the Web-based app.”
In other words, the application is browser-based and is available on iOS, Android, Chromebook, Mac and Windows and it’s this cross-device compatibility function that sets it apart from its competitor, Garageband, which is restricted to only Apple devices.
Along with the Series A funding, this brings the total amount raised by the startup to US$8.5 million. According to Soundtrap, this funding will be used in international expansion, as well as to expand its reach in both consumer and education markets.
About Soundtrap
Soundtrap is a cloud-based music and audio recording platform that help people make their music online. Users can record their song by linking their instrument to the computer or just record a song directly with the microphone.
For more information, please visit https://www.soundtrap.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media