As usual, we have quite a few Asian tech startups on our radar this week, from China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
For folks who are interested in investing or partnering with these startups, drop us an email — hello[at]penn-olson[dot]com – anytime. No promise, but we’ll try our best to be the bridge. And if you’re a tech startup founder in Asia hoping to be featured, kindly send us your pitch here.
1. Youjia | China
We have reviewed several apps that help you hook up with new friends of the opposite sex. But Youjia has so far been the one that I’m most impressed with. It’s simple to use and highly sticky. Shanghai-based startup, Youjia, helps you find friends who are near your location…
2. Simeji | Japan, U.S
The Japanese subsidiary of Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), the Chinese search engine giant, has acquired the small startup team behind the Simeji input method editor (IME) app for Android. The free app has been downloaded over a million times already from the Android Market…
3. Dexetra’s mobile app Iris | India
If you’re an Android user who envies Siri on iOS5, worry not, you have Iris to play with. Iris, or Siri spelled backwards, spits out information based on voice recognition. It is built on top of Google Voice and is also able to help you call the right contact through voice, or search for movie reviews, recipes, lyrics and many other things…
Related: Creator of “Android Siri” Raised $200,000 From One97 Mobility Fund
4. Nubefy | Singapore
Nubefy told us that it has just received a grant from the Singapore government via the Technology Enterprise Commercialization Scheme (TECS). The sum of money Nubefy received wasn’t disclosed. But I’m guessing it’s at least six digits in total funding…
5. 99labels | India
This week, two-year old startup, 99labels, proudly claims to have one million users who generate 2,000 orders per day. In the early days, 99labels had only about 300-400 orders each day (which is still pretty awesome in my opinion). The two-year process must have been a tough one for the team. But it must now feel so fulfilling for the team who has made the concept work in India and other parts of the world including Paris and New York…
6. SCOOP | Indonesia
SCOOP, the magazine/news rack that focuses only on delivering digitized content, is now pre-loaded onto all new and future Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets in Indonesia, we are hearing. Developed by Apps Foundry, SCOOP claims to have more than 1,500 digital editions of content ranging from Forbes to Maxim. Users basically purchase the digitized content on the app, and SCOOP will then do a revenue share with the publishers…
7. Lipikaar | India
While India is getting increasingly savvy by embracing new technologies, the presence of more than 18 official languages in the country poses a unique challenge. In order to facilitate the use of computers among non-english speaking people, there needs to be a product which lets users interact with computers in their native language — and India continues to develop we have seen many of these sorts of these services spring up. One of the more established among them is Lipikaar, which is…
8. Clozette | Singapore
Earlier this year we told you about Singapore-based Clozette, a fashion-focused social network that was growing pretty fast at that point. Since then it was chosen by Glam Media – perhaps the top media company in the world targeting women and style – as a technology partner and publisher to help it push into South East Asia. And today Clozette is announcing that it is partnering with Glam Media Japan to launch a Japanese version …
9. Lokaly | Hong Kong
Dealised, the group buying service platform, has acquired Hong Kong-based Lokaly Network Limited (LNL). The acquisition sum isn’t disclosed. LNL provides group buying solutions and also owns ValuUp, a deals site. This deal seems very much like a talent acquisition to me. The co-founders of LNL, Doug and Matt Aitken (who are brothers), will join the Dealised team and head up its Hong Kong operations.
10. LiveShare | U.S, Singapore
We’ve been keeping tabs on CoolIris’s LiveShare photo sharing app for web and mobile, and we’re happy to hear today that its first international version has been launched in Japan. Android users in that country can now enjoy a localized Japanese language version of LiveShare, which can be downloaded from the Android Market…
Other startup related stories in Asia
- Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak Questions Singapore’s Creativity
- ZhenFund and Sequoia China Set Up 200 Million RMB Fund
- How To Help A Startup If You Have No Experience
- Why CyberAgent Ventures Chose Indonesia? Takahiro Suzuki Answers
- New Accelerator Focuses on India, Aims to Work with US Talent
- Christmas is Coming, But are Entrepreneurs in the Holiday Spirit?
- Video Games on Train Handles? Yes Please!
- The Startup’s Toolkit [Infographic]