Month: October 2016
Next Unicorn Ventures, a New Early-Stage Capital and Incubator, Appoints Daniel Tan as CEO For Growth and Deal Flow
Malaysian startup and incubator ecosystem now has a new player on the block. Next Unicorn Ventures (NUV), a Malaysia-based early-stage capital and incubator firm will invest in seed rounds of exceptional startups in the Asia Pacific region which are founded with great passion and vision that set out to disrupt the world. The board has appointed Daniel Tan as the Chief Executive Officer.
“Our goal is to make lead investment in early-to-middle stages startups, specifically focusing on their pre-Series A seed rounds. Daniel Tan is the perfect leader to drive this forward as he has very good business acumen, experienced both as an investor and growing of startups, as well as leadership in marketing and business development,” said a shareholder of Next Unicorn Ventures.
Daniel Tan, who is also serving as the CEO of MarketersMEDIA leads the company to serve more than 50,000 customers globally. Notably MarketersMEDIA has also grown to become a leading News and Press Release newswire connecting business with media outlets including CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, AssociatedPress, Reuters and more, in a mission to gather audiences for businesses. MarketersMEDIA is named the official newswire to assist PR and content marketing for Next Unicorn Ventures’ portfolio companies.
“All businesses exist because of customers,” is the motto Daniel Tan strides on. His user-first approach has gathered him more than 100 published testimonials from companies, individuals and customers. And undoubtedly, this would be a required trait to grow startups the firm seeds.
To-date, NUV has invested in 2 startups, a hotel startup running under the DoubleTree by Hilton and CitizenM brands and a gaming company positioned to run the first ever VR theme park in Malaysia, who has just won South East Asia Champion in Create@Alibaba Cloud Startup Contest recently.
“We look forward to build a portfolio of 20 to 25 companies in the next few years and at the same time to assist related players and circles to build Malaysia’s roadshow platform and incubators,” Daniel Tan added, “as we believe startups have the unique ability to move humanity forward in an unprecedented manner.”
For more information, please visit http://72.52.148.95/~nextunic/
About Next Unicorn:
Next Unicorn is an early-stage capital and incubator seeking to invest in pre-Series A seed rounds. The company pursues, advises and invests in startups cutting across different industries. Ultimately, their goal is to identify unique companies that can deliver extraordinary practical values and make a change in the world.
Contact Info:
Name: Vivian Foo
Organization: Unicorn Media
Jack Ma Team Ups With Steven Spielberg To Bring Hollywood To China
In an announcement held earlier on 9th of October in Beijing, Steven Spielberg, the Oscar-winning film director famous for his production in Jaws, E.T. and Jurassic is teaming up with Jack Ma, China’s richest man and the Chairman of Alibaba Group.
The two have struck a deal together to cooperate on production, marketing and distribution both globally and in China, the world’s second largest movie market.
“Among Chinese consumers, there is an increasing demand for premium global content,” Ma said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. “The collaboration can serve as a cultural bridge and have a positive impact on the next generation of Chinese consumers”
With this partnership, Alibaba Pictures will have the option to finance in Amblin Partners’ films. The Chinese company will also be involved in marketing, distribution and merchandising of Spielberg’s movies in China. This will also place Amblin films on the Chinese company’s video streaming site, such as Youku or Tudou.
In another statement, Jack Ma praised Spielberg’s storytelling abilities and how his style resonated with Chinese audience, saying that “I don’t think there are many differences between East and West – the only difference is that the West is better at telling stories”. He also adds that Alibaba hopes to learn more from Spielberg and Amblin.
Under the terms of the deal, Alibaba Pictures will be joining India’s Reliance and Canda’s eOne, having also take a minority equity stake in Ambiln and to place a representative to join Amblin’s board.
Alibaba Pictures has a history of investments in both Chinese and international movie productions, examples include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Star Trek Beyond and Mission Impossible:Rouge Nation.
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
The Apothecary, A Malaysian Company Offering A Solid Scent For The Modern Man
From working in the e-commerce site, Groupon to being a business manager for Kakiseni where he made his own cheese from scratch. Adrian Cheong is now making his own scent, crafting a solid cologne for the modern man known as the Apothecary.
With the launch of the Apothecary last November. Adrian Cheong aims to fill the gap in the market for locally-made men’s solid cologne for those that appreciate artisan goods and personal grooming. Moreover, the ingredients used in the making were all natural and from local sources.
Having the experience of spilling a full bottle of cologne in his bag, Adrian decided to reinvent a cologne that was portable and can become a natural alternative to the traditional spray cologne, In the end, he came up with a solid cologne is conveniently designed to be small enough to fit in pockets without being an excessive weigh.
There is a wide range of products from Apothecary where each scent has its own story and project different personalities. With the most notable ones being Cornerstone, a scent meant for a leader; Hotshot, a fresh cooling scent which displays confidence; as well as Maverick, the signature rebel scent that a badass would wear.
The Apothecary’s solid colognes are currently available at The Yard Backdoor Dry Goods Supply, Amplitude Barbershop, The Offday, Pestle and Mortar Clothing, and Major Drop at the retail price of RM59.90. The solid colognes are also available online.
But ultimately, Adrian’s goal is not just to be in Malaysia but to be a global brand “E-commerce is the way to go, and I plan to sell in them Taiwan and Singapore too,” said Cheong.
About Apothecary
Apothecary is a cologne crafted to create a new lifestyle specifically for the modern men. Each cologne is made with different mixture of assorted blends of premium and natural ingredients including herbs, spices, beans and plant extracts where each scent represents a distinct personality.
For more information, please visit https://www.theapothecarymalaysia.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Online Stationary Portal Zoffio Is Sold To Shenzen-Based Firm
Zuri Group Global, a known luxury hospitality brand linked with the Karmani family, has forayed into the e-commerce industries in 2012 with the launch of an office supplies portal known as Zoffio.
Zoffio is a vertical business e-commerce platform that offers stationary, paper products, digital products, travel accessories, office utilities, corporate produces and customized products to SMEs and corporates.
Founded on December 1, Zoffio in its 4 year span since has been growing steadily to become India’s leading e-store for office supplies, claiming to have sold more than 3.3 million products in 2015 alone.
But reportedly by Techcircle, Zoffio has ceased its opperations in April this year.
Apparently, the office supplies e-commercial startup has exited the businesses being bought by a Chinese firm in Shenzen. The name of the company and the amount of acquisition was not disclosed.
According to sources, the company had decided to end its operations in February 2016 and was completely shut down by April. The 200 existing Zoffio employees were given a three months of notice period and the management assisted some in finding new jobs. A few of the employees from the admin and technology teams have been retained and absorbed into the Zuri Group.
This decision made by the parent company was due to their inability to raise sufficient external capital to accelerate the growth of the startup as well as their disinterest in pumping more capital which ultimately led to the move to sell the entity.
Having purchased Zoffio, the Shenzhen-based firm is planning to enter India in 2017 with a similar business model.
About Zoffio
Zoffio.com is an e-commerce company based in Bangalore, India which focuses on stationery and office supplies. The firm is a part of Zuri Group Global and is built on the sole aim of organizing the office supplies industry in India, which is otherwise highly unorganized. To date, Zoffio caters to more than 5000 corporates and SMEs for their office needs.
For more information, please visit http://www.zoffio.com/
Snap Inc. May Go IPO At End Of March, 2017
Spectacle came out not too long ago, but recently Snap, previously known as Snapchat, has landed on the headlines again with the rumored news that it is working on IPO.
The revelation was made by a Wall Street Journal report on October 6, saying that Snap is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering that could value the firm at US$25 billion or higher.
Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegeal and Bobby Murphy, Snapchat’s valuation has grown in the last few years since the company has added advertising and sponsored contents to its messaging services.
The results from this digital advertising strategy was shown in a leaked document by Techcrunch saying that the company could make US$250 million to US$350 million revenue in 2016 while the estimated revenue noted for 2017 would be a whooping amount of US$1 billion.
This explains he IPO valued at US$25 billion which is significantly higher than Snap’s most recent valuation of US$17.81 billion, based on the financing round in May which has raised US$1.81 billion.
Accordingly, the growing social platform which boasts an ownership of 150 million daily active users plans for its IPO to take place as early as late March in 2017.
In response to this, the firm said in an emailed statement on Thursday, saying that “We aren’t commenting on rumors or speculation about any financing plans.”
About Snap
Snap, formerly known as Snapchat Inc, is a camera company that develops Snapchat and Spectacles. Snapchat is a photo messaging app that allows users to take photos, record videos, add text, drawings and filters and send them to recipients which will disappear after viewing. Spectacle, on the other hand, is a video-sharing sunglasses that frees the Snapchat app from smartphone cameras.
For more information, please visit https://www.snapchat.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media