Here’s why investors should bet big on m-commerce startup Carousell Mobile commerce startup, Carousell, is set to be the hottest startup in Asia this year. Here is why. It’s been a while since I was genuinely excited about a startup in Singapore. Last year in September, there was a startup from Singapore which I was bullish about: Gridblaze. I wrote then : “Singapore-based Gridblaze aims to optimize the Internet by bringing it back to its roots of distributed storage. A shakeup that can bring massively faster speeds, greater fault tolerance and a 50% global reduction in international Internet traffic. [...] For the less technically inclined, imagine being able to use Dropbox in Singapore at local speeds instead of international speeds. That is Gridblaze for you, andpotentially revolutionary.” A few months after that, the Founder Institute graduate was acquired by an undisclosed San Francisco startup in tech transfer , and the founder cashes out in the millions. Another startup which I was bullish about is Singapore based NoiseStreet. Essentially NoiseStreet turns billboards and big outdoor screens into interactive media that can be accessed through smartphones. Back in November last year , they ran an outdoor marketing campaign with Gong Cha which resulted in phenomenal engagement from shoppers. NoiseStreet has since then worked with several other clients. My personal assessment : Game changing, This is definitely a Singapore startup to watch. Fast forward to today, there’s a Singapore-based startup which is killing it: Carousell. For the benefits of those who are not familiar with Carousell, what started off as a Singapore Startup Weekend weekend project is amobile commerce marketplace which allows anyone to simply snap Client : PayPal Country : Singapore Publication : E27.co Section : Singapore News Date : 24 June 2013 Topic : Here’s why investors should bet big on m- commerce startup Carousell Circulation : 8,512 URl: : http://e27.co/2013/06/24/why-i-will-put-my-money-on-carousell/
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Here’s why investors should bet big on m-commerce startup Carousell
Mobile commerce startup, Carousell, is set to be the hottest startup in Asia this year. Here is why.
It’s been a while since I was genuinely excited about a startup in Singapore. Last year in September,
there was a startup from Singapore which I was bullish about: Gridblaze. I wrote then:
“Singapore-based Gridblaze aims to optimize the Internet by bringing it back to its roots of
distributed storage. A shakeup that can bring massively faster speeds, greater fault tolerance and a
50% global reduction in international Internet traffic. [...] For the less technically inclined, imagine
being able to use Dropbox in Singapore at local speeds instead of international speeds. That is
Gridblaze for you, andpotentially revolutionary.”
A few months after that, the Founder Institute graduate was acquired by an undisclosed San
Francisco startup in tech transfer, and the founder cashes out in the millions.
Another startup which I was bullish about is Singapore based NoiseStreet. Essentially NoiseStreet
turns billboards and big outdoor screens into interactive media that can be accessed through
smartphones. Back in November last year, they ran an outdoor marketing campaign with Gong Cha
which resulted in phenomenal engagement from shoppers. NoiseStreet has since then worked with
several other clients. My personal assessment: Game changing, This is definitely a Singapore startup
to watch.
Fast forward to today, there’s a Singapore-based startup which is killing it: Carousell. For the
benefits of those who are not familiar with Carousell, what started off as a Singapore Startup
Weekend weekend project is amobile commerce marketplace which allows anyone to simply snap
Client : PayPal Country : Singapore
Publication : E27.co Section : Singapore News
Date : 24 June 2013
Topic : Here’s why investors should bet big on m-commerce startup Carousell
Due to its liquidity, Carousell now has a community of avid shoppers actively refreshing Carousell in
the hunt for items to purchase (See a lot more examples here). Due to its liquidity too, its users are
actively sharing about Carousell to their friends. Here’s how their viral process look like:
Register -> Use Product -> Tell friends (to get buyers) -> Purchase success (Tell friends again) -> Use
product again. Cycle repeats.
It helps to have a young community of users who are avid users of social media too. There are also
signs of shoppers shifting and congregating to Carousell and Instagram.
When users from other platforms are shifting to use your service, and when your users are
evangelizing for you, you know you are definitely on to something. This echoes something which
Joon from Pigeonhole mentioned in a sharing session which I will always remember: “How do you
know when you have reached product/market fit? When your users do your pitch for you.”
How exactly is Carousell currently doing?
Which leads to the question I always ask, how exactly is Carousell doing now? The Carousell team
has been really tight lipped about their traction and any numbers. However, few things are for sure:
1. The team is currently focusing on growing its community of users. 2. There are no revenue/monetization model in place yet. Huge potential of revenue
strategies. 3. There are clear signs and proof of happy and returning users. Users love Carousell. 4. There are no clear leaders in the mobile commerce space in Singapore, as well as Southeast
Asia. At least not yet. 5. Carousell has a solid product centric team.
Put all of these together, if I have the resources, I will definitely put my money in Carousell.