StartupCentral

Singapore-based renewable power solutions startup Third Wave Power launched the mPowerPad, a multi-function portable solar-powered device last November. The device can work as a charger, flashlight or even an insect repellent on six hours of charge under direct sunlight. The company aims to go global, clock S$20 million in revenues in three years and turn in profits from next year. Co-founder VS Hariharan, a Singapore-based Indian entrepreneur and former Hewlett-Packard (H-P) executive, spoke to StartupCentral about the company’s growth plans and challenges. Edited excerpts:

When and how did you come up with the idea for Third Wave Power?

I decided to hang up my boots at H-P last January. The goal was to embark on a new journey where I could make a social contribution and do something useful in business. In March, I met a commercial incubator called Small World Group. Its managing director Frank Levinson was interested in funding cleantech businesses. We put our ideas together. I was also able to reach out to a former colleague from H-P, Lim Chuin Kiat, who had a research and development background, and he came on board as a co-founder. The company was formed with S$600,000 in seed funding from Small World Group and National Research Foundation.

How long did it take you to develop the mPowerPad?

It took us about six months from the formation of the company and hiring engineers to showcasing the product at a clean energy expo in Singapore. We did acquire some technology and work that was already in process at the incubator.

What will be your primary revenue channels?

Our initial set of customers would be outdoor hobbyists and professionals who travel to off-grid destinations. We plan to use outdoor, cleantech and general retail channels to reach out to such customers.

How significant is the Indian market in your plans? What other markets are you targeting?

India will clearly be a very large market for a variety of reasons. Large parts of the country don’t have access to any power or reliable power. The power infrastructure is not growing in line with the needs of the growing population and the country’s development. Most states in India received good sunlight for a large chunk of the year. We can target professionals and hobbyists travelling to remote places as well as homes that don’t have access to reliable power. We’re also targeting the global market in mature economies.

What are your growth targets for the next three years? Do you plan to raise additional funds soon?

We plan to scale up the business to at least S$20 million in the next three years and have a global footprint. The plan is to become profitable in the second year. As we speak, we are in discussion for another round of funding. We are about 75 per cent of the way with commitments from angel investors. We are also in discussions with a few venture capitalists.

 What have been your three big challenges so far and how did you overcome them?

In the beginning, we faced the typical problems of any startup – how to manage cash-flow with small amounts of money, making the trade-off between managing cash and time-to-market, etc. As a small company, getting attention from suppliers and channel partners is not easy. There is also the aspect of rolling up your sleeves and getting basic things done. This can be more challenging for people who have left a role where they had large teams working with them. However, the quick decision-making and instant gratification for the world provide motivation away from the challenges. Singapore is also a very good platform for entrepreneurs to develop business quickly. Our incubator, for instance, is very hands-on.

Can you share a few tips for other entrepreneurs on marketing a product?

Most entrepreneurs are very focused on the idea, whether it is a product or a service, and developing the idea well. In my mind, much more importance needs to be given to building the channels for selling the product or service. The following steps are crucial:

1. Test the idea with many customers while it is being developed.
2. Have a clear idea of which customer segment you are pursuing, the unique value proposition and whether all product features and marketing tools support that segment.
3. Have a clear plan on the go-to-market strategy for the product.
4. Engage channels that bring value in terms of business development and work for the long-term.
5. Launch, learn and quickly iterate to newer versions.

Most of this is common sense but has to be practiced with diligence and discipline.

Image Courtesy: Third Wave Power

Six months since its beta launch in Jaipur, Singapore-based social learning startup Teamie is ready to dive into the Asian market. Target markets in the next 12 months include Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia. It aims to have 20 customers by the end of this year and S$30 million (approximately $24 million) in revenues by 2016.

Founded by Singapore-based Indian entrepreneurs Shivanu Shukla and Ashwin Singh, Teamie enables students, parents and institutions to interact with each other on a common platform. Shukla and Singh, who earlier worked in various roles in the information technology sector, conceived the platform last March. The idea of applying social networking to a niche vertical first sprung up in 2009. “We spoke to schools and teachers and realised that education is a niche market where we could get solutions for pain points, mainly lack of proper use of current systems and rising costs,” Shukla, who is a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

One of the major challenges in implementing the idea was getting the right team on board. Shukla roped in a few interns from his alma mater, National University of Singapore, and looked for talent to speed up the development process. “Customers wanted to see the software. We had to come up with a ready product and we did it within five months,” he says. The beta launch took place last September at the Jagannath Institute of Technology in Jaipur. A key early learning was that every school runs differently and customization would be critical.

Today, the company employs nine people at its Singapore headquarters and five people in India. “Though our product is still in beta, we have customers using it,” says Shukla, who spoke to StartupCentral on the sidelines of Startup Asia Singapore. The two founders also raised a seed round of funding worth S$500,000 from individual angel investors last year. It is currently in the market for a Series A round of funding.

Teamie’s main advantage, from a customer’s point of view, is that it leverages the familiar social networking interfaces used by Facebook and Twitter to make learning fun. It is also cost-effective since the entire platform sits on the cloud, which eliminates the need for schools to buy and maintain expensive hardware. However, there are also challenges. In markets such as India, for instance, lack of access to the Internet could be a potential problem. This would be less of an issue in markets such as Singapore, where schools and colleges provide wireless Internet access and laptop computers to their students.

Another potential challenge is to convince teachers to use the platform. “This is an industry where technology adoption exists but sometimes, there is resistance to change,” says Shukla. There is also the problem of parents fearing addiction but Shukla says that as schools move towards using more technology, parents become less resistant. Teamie helps parents keep track of grade books and activities their children indulge in through a feature called locker rooms that store every student’s discussions. Further, since it is a private platform managed by institutions, undue exposure to the Internet is less of a concern. The platform is available on a pay-per-subscription basis and there is no charge for installation.

The network also protects students from cyber bullying through an in-built profanity check and report capability. “If the student feels bullied in any discussion, he can click a ‘report this’ button for a notification to be sent to the administrator and the teacher,” Shukla says.

Image Courtesy: Teamie

Singapore-based social learning platform developer Teamie beat 18 other startups to win the Startup Arena contest, the highlight of the two-day Startup Asia Singapore conference which concluded yesterday. Teamie’s founders, Singapore-based Indian entrepreneurs Shivanu Shukla and Ashwin Singh, took home a cash prize of $10,000 and goodies such Lenovo laptops and Nokia Lumia 800 mobile phones.

Founded in 2011, Teamie offers a structured and safe social network for students, teachers and parents. The platform, which sits on the cloud, combines a social networking experience with lessons and assignments. It recreates the school experience online with features such as classrooms, study groups, bulletin boards and locker rooms. The platform aims to be a cost-effective way of helping teachers save time by reducing their workload and also put some fund into classroom learning.

View the company’s demo video below:

The startup’s co-founders spent several years working in the information technology sector in the Asia Pacific region before starting Teamie. Shukla, a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, earlier led a consulting practice and sales (for ICT and public sector) at Frost & Sullivan in the Asia Pacific region. Singh, an alumni of the National Institute of Technology Durgapur in West Bengal, started his career with Tata Consultancy Services and managed sales for ADP’s Streamline business in the Asia Pacific region just prior to Teamie. The company also has a presence in India.

The panel of judges who picked Teamie as the Startup Arena winner included angel investor Daniel Saito, Ash Singh from Angel’s Gate, Eric Koh, partner at Iconic Ventures and James Tan, managing partner at QuestVC. The second and third places were also won by Singaporean startups Innova Tech and Start Now respectively. Contestants hailed from various Asian countries including Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia and Japan.

The event also saw a small showing of Indian startups. Content Highway Networks from Pune and Attico.us from Bangalore had set up booths at the conference venue. Organized by Singapore-based online technology news startup Penn Olson, Startup Asia Singapore 2012 was the company’s debut event. It seeks to showcase and promote startups born in Asia.

Read our previous post on the event.

Image Courtesy: Penn Olson

Editor’s Note: StartupCentral is a media partner for Startup Asia.

If you are a recently launched and product-ready technology startup, head to Singapore in the first week of February to attend Startup Asia Singapore. The two-day event, being held on February 2 and 3 at Singapore Post Centre, will showcase startups born in Asia. All entrepreneurs who attend the event will find a place in a list that will be shared with Startup Asia’s network of investors. The event is being organized by Penn Olson, an online technology news startup based in Asia.

Special Offer for Indian Entrepreneurs

Startup Asia is offering a 90 per cent discount on 30 passes to Indian entrepreneurs who register for the event through StartupCentral. Here’s what you have to do:

• Sign-up for the event at Startup Asia Tickets. You can also register by clicking through the logo on the sidebar.
• After you register, click on ‘Enter Discount Code’.
• Enter the code <startupcentral_entrepreneurs> and click ‘Apply Discount’

Please Note: These passes are strictly for startups headquartered in India. The discount will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Why You Should Attend Startup Asia Singapore

Startup Arena Competition: A platform for new and unknown startups to launch their businesses. 10-15 startups will be chosen to pitch at the Arena and the winner will earn a cash award of $10,000. The pitch must include a demo. Fill out the form to participate in the Arena.

Coffee Chat: Engage in one-on-one conversations with investors, successful entrepreneurs and executives such as Lim Kuo-yi of Infocomm Investment, Zaki Mahomed of Game Ventures and Arvind Rajan of Linkedin. See the agenda here.

Connect with Investors: A number of venture capitalists are expected to attend the event and mingle with startups. Some of them include Sequoia Capital India, East Ventures, Silver Creek Ventures, Neoteny Labs and Walden International.

Details on accommodation for overseas participants.

Image Courtesy: vichie81 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Editor’s Note: StartupCentral is a media partner for Startup Asia Singapore

Veteran Silicon Valley venture capitalist Timothy Draper has made an undisclosed investment in Singapore-based technology incubator Clearbridge Accelerator. Draper is founder and managing director of Menlo Park, California-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which manages over $7 billion in funds and has invested in companies such as Baidu, Skype, Hotmail and Tesla. The investment in Clearbridge appears to have been made in Draper’s personal capacity.

Founded in 2009 and led by a team of Singaporean technopreneurs and scientists, Clearbridge focuses on emerging and disruptive technologies in the areas of biomedical devices, nano-technology, advanced material sciences and computational algorithms. The firm operates as the incubator arm of Hong Kong-based venture capital firm Clearbridge Partners, which has been investing in Asia since 2002. The incubator has a co-funding arrangement with the Singapore National Research Foundation. The investment from Draper will be used to strengthening its incubation platform and expanding its team and support infrastructure, said a press release.

Like most incubators, Clearbridge provides its incubatees with mentorship, funding and operational support. It looks to convert core technologies from laboratories into commercial products in its areas of interest. It currently has four companies in its portfolio — Clearbridge BioMedics, Clearbridge BioLoc, Clearbridge Nanomedics and Clearbridge VitalSigns.

Image Courtesy: DFJ