Tip for start-ups: Find your footing before
raising funds
Otherwise funds
will be quickly depleted, says entrepreneur
Mr Darius Cheung (seated) has come up with a new mobile
app, Billpin, with partners (from left) Ms Aileen Sim, Mr Saurabh
Mandar and Mr Ruiwen Chua. Last week, he received $50,000 from iJam
Reload. -- ST FILE PHOTO
By GRACE CHNG
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW start-ups should be clear about what they want to do before
they raise funds, according to experienced entrepreneur Darius
Cheung.
After all, business development begins as soon as
funds are received. If a start-up is still trying to find its
footing, the funds will be quickly depleted, he warned.
Mr Cheung said early funds usually go towards
hiring developers to help build a product.
"If you're still trying to find your way, then
you're burning cash instead of using it well in product
development."
His experience comes from developing his first
start-up, TenCube, a mobile security firm which he started in 2007.
The company was acquired by global software security giant McAfee
in 2010 for an undisclosed sum.
Putting into practice his TenCube's experience, he
and three other co-founders of Billpin spent the first four months
finding out the best look and feel and features for a phone app
which lets people split bills incurred by friends over, say, a
dinner.
Feedback received after its first iPhone app was
released helped to improve the product. Only then did he apply for
funding.
Last week, he received $50,000 from iJam Reload, an
initiative for interactive digital media start-ups by the Media
Development Authority. It could receive follow-up funding of
$100,000 for additional product development.
"There were many things we wanted to do.
Ultimately, we focused on making Billpin the best app for the
settlement of bills among friends."
Once a Billpin user enters the amount spent, for
example, on a bottle of perfume selected as a birthday present, it
will split the bill among the number of friends.
The user enters their e-mail addresses and Billpin
notifies the people who owe the money.
The funding will be spent to build more features
into the app such as letting it calculate GST and to include a
payment function to let people pay their portions easily.
An Android Billpin was released last week. Further
development could include a payment gateway letting friends pay
each other at the click of a button, said Mr Cheung.
START
SINGAPORE
Crowdfunding platform
launched
SINGAPORE's first reward-based crowfunding website was launched
yesterday allowing anyone online to make a donation - in this case,
towards cash-hungry local start-ups.
Initially, the site, Crowdonomic, is running six
campaigns by start-ups with the aim of raising up to $30,000 for
each one, said founder Leo Shimada.
Donations start at $10. In return, supporters are
rewarded with digital assets in a game, T-shirts, books or products
and services.
Mr Shimada said: "Our ultimate goal is to help
entrepreneurs by addressing a key pain point - the funding gap.
Since the market, or "crowd", decides who to fund, it offers a more
democratic alternative to how capital is allocated."
Pitching
session for start-ups
ASPIRING start-up firms from Singapore and Malaysia will get a
chance to pitchtheir business ideas to potential investors this
Saturday.
The session is being organised by the Singapore
Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and the National ICT
Association of Malaysia (Pikom).
Fifteen start-ups will be pitching their plans to
top angel investors and venture capitalists from the two
countries.
It will be done in a speed dating format with the
start-ups rotating from table to table.
Start-ups interested can e-mail [email protected]. The venue is 23 Church Street,
Capital Square #10-01.
Biotech
firm raises more funds
A COMPANY spun off from the National University of Singapore
(NUS), AyoxxA Biosystems has raised another $600,000 in additional
to $4.6 million it raised in September last year.
It also announced a two-year research collaboration
with the department of bioengineering at the NUS' Faculty of
Engineering to further strengthen its research and development
efforts.
The biotech firm, with bases in both Germany and
Singapore, has created a bead-based biochip that can identify a
large number of different proteins, including markers for diseases,
from a very small sample size. It will be useful in areas such as
pharmacological screening and diagnostics.
News
portal closes financing round
ONLINE tech and start-up news portal TechinAsia has closed a
second financing round led by Russian-based angel seed fund Simile
Venture. East Ventures, which invested in the first round, also
participated.
TechinAsia also runs its business idea competition
called Startup Asia. The next event will be held here on April 4
and 5.
Simile Venture Partners' general partner Tatiana
Kim said: "South-east Asia is one of the world's most exciting
regions today, fast evolving for tech start-ups. Access to trusted
tech news and information and quality industry events are very
important for the regional ecosystem development."
GRACE CHNG
Technology, Money, The Strait Times, Thursday January 24 2013,
Pg B19