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hahao is crowdfunding education, giving incentives for mentors to share their expertise

hahow’s core team members

hahow, an online talent crowdfunding platform based in Taiwan, announced the completion of a NTD10 million (US$316,000) angel funding from Cherubic Ventures, an early stage technology-focused venture capital firm.

In a press statement, Tina Cheng, one of the partners in Cherubic Ventures, said that she reckoned the typical school education no longer satisfies the demand from the current labor force market. hahow’s services and products, however, not only fill the gaps between the supply and demand sides but also provide a secure business model.

“With the acquisition of the funding, we are able to better optimise our user interface and add more interactive features to make learning more interesting. Moreover, we are going to accelerate our expansion in Taiwan,” shared Arnold Chiang, hahow’s co-founder and CEO, in an exclusive interview.

The success of fundraising comes with no ease. Previously, hahow’s team tried to solve the common problem of cross learning, particularly to the limitations when exchanging talents or skills, but they quickly found out their first platform didn’t offer stable revenue model and were unable to overcome the spatial and temporal limitation.

In order to fix the issue, they launched another new platform and solve those thorny problems by becoming an e-publisher alike and with the use of video — evolving the initial product to an even more powerful and convenient online course platform, which is today’s hahow.

Also Read: There’s no app for that: For this learning startup, the solution to effective education goes beyond tech

One of the integral elements in hahow’s platform is the application of crowdfunding. While some might desire to make some extra money by offering services or skills, the special features not only guarantees a minimum wage which is set by a user, but also filters out some unwanted courses if the crowding figure doesn’t meet the course creators’ expectation.

Until now, there are nearly 150 online courses accumulated in hahow’s platform. Surprisingly, one of the information design courses has even been ordered by over 12,000 users and is earning a cumulative amount of around US$400,000 for the course creator, becoming the most successful case hahow has ever carried out.

“Currently, half of our members are paid users. We have roughly 10 per cent members coming from overseas markets, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the U.S., without any marketing effort. That’s all because of word of mouth,” indicated Chiang, with a chuckle.

hahow was founded two years ago. Subscribing to the agile movement and looking deep into the lessons learned from the team’s previous experience, hahow has discovered its own niche market and is ready to get off the ground, bringing a much-needed evolution to the entire education industry.

Also Read: Outsourcing, education and innovation in a post-Trump world

“Through the power of technology and creativity, our mission is to create an effective learning community, empower every corner of the world to explore knowledge and skills happily,” shared Chiang at the end of our interview.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

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Early-stage startups often have to make tough decisions to find early adopters, especially when funds are tight. Should SEO and Facebook budgets be increased? Or would it be more worthwhile to strengthen efforts on a direct email campaign?

Of all the different marketing strategies, the most expensive approach in terms of time, money, and physical efforts is exhibiting at an industry conference. The barrier is even higher when you’re bootstrapping your startup.

With limited resources on hand, when is the right time for any startup to exhibit?

1. When you are product-ready

Gone are the days when you can show up with a laptop and samples in hand and wow the crowd. If you want to ace it as an exhibitor, you need to catch your customer’s attention, stop them in their tracks, and draw them in. Freebies and brochures are great, but nothing sells quite like a convincing product demonstration.

Even if you’re an early-stage startup with only a prototype, exhibitions can help with the first level of product validation. You get to observe and interact directly with potential users, ask questions and understand their needs and expectations better.

But if you have nothing to show, or your product doesn’t work properly, exhibiting might not be the best. It’s simply not cost-effective if you fail to capture attendees’ interest – and worse when your competitors’ booths are nearby with a working prototype to showcase. You might end up losing more than you’ll gain.

2. When you have the perfect pitch

A great demo is nothing without a spirited, engaging pitch that conveys the value offering of your business. Even one sentence can make a lasting impression in a brief encounter. Armed with the perfect pitch, you’re ready for game time when an opportunity presents itself on the conference floor.

The pitch, however, ain’t going to cut it if your product doesn’t have a unique selling point. If you can’t explain how you’re different from your competitors, the battle has already been lost.

3. When you can invest time

Like any other businesses, startups need to hunt for prospects. Showcasing at industry conferences is the perfect avenue to do that. Media, investors, early adopters – people you’ve been dying to meet are all gathered under one roof just to listen to what you have to say. Better still, you don’t have to actively look for them – they will come to you!

Nevertheless, success does not come from just showing up on the event day. After the conference, you’ll still need to organise your leads, do your due diligence, follow-up, and push leads into paying customers or willing investors. While the return on investment may be high, this takes up a lot of man hours. If you don’t have the luxury of time, you might want to save your budget for other campaigns or participate when you’re ready.

Are you up for it?

Exhibiting at a conference has dozens of benefits for startups. They key is to pick a suitable conference to exhibit at the right time. A smart approach can yield great results that build momentum to get your business idea off the ground.

If you’re ready to bring out your A-game, come join us this May 17 & 18! We are scouring the region to feature 280 up-and-coming startups at Tech in Asia Singapore 2017’s Bootstrap Alley. Be it fintech, ecommerce, big data, or adtech, as long as you have a working prototype and raised less than USD1.5 million in funding, we want you!

Register by January 27 and shave 30 percent off your Bootstrap Alley package. Your journey to possible press mentions, new connections, and business opportunities begins with one click below.

Each Bootstrap Alley package comes with a one-day booth and two passes.

This post When is the right time to exhibit your startup? appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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About 70 per cent of the process are still conducted manually by hands

On our previous in-photos sessions, e27 had visited various startup headquarters and coworking spaces to get a clear visual on what the startup life is all about.

Once, we even went to a government institution focusing on Smart City initiatives, immersed ourselves in the hustle-and-bustle of Harbolnas at the warehouse of a fashion e-commerce startup, and saw the kitchen of a Jakarta-based food startup to see how their products are being prepared for delivery.

But this time, we took a road trip to the Cisaranten Wetan regency in West Java, just outside of Bandung, to check out a drone manufacturing factory operated by Global Inovasi Informasi Indonesia (GIII).

Dian Rusdiana Hakim, ATS founder, posing at the main room of the factory

After a three-hour journey along the highway from Jakarta, views of rolling hills and paddy fields were immediately replaced with factories and office buildings as we entered Bandung’s surrounding industrial areas.

Also Read: Out of the lab to the world: AeroLion goes from researching drones to solving real-world problems

GIII is a subisidiary of PT Aero Terra Indonesia. It is a sister company of AeroTerrascan (ATS), the Indonesian drone company who recently took part in the Menembus Langit project. While ATS focussses on sales and R&D, GIII is dedicated to manufacture the drones.

In total, the companies are being run by 70 people with less than 25 working in the factory that day.

Once the tour began, we learned that 70 per cent of drone manufacturing process are being conducted manually by hands.

The main room of the factory consists of several desks where staffs perform their work. In the right side are examples of drones the company had produced

The drones are mostly made of carbon fibre. After the material was being pressed into a mold, the honeycomb was inserted into the frame of the drone. The drones are then being taken away for colouring and polishing process, which is also conducted manually.

The drones’ body

Getting the air out through a vacuum suction process

ATS clients are mostly corporations who are using the drones for purposes such as geo-mapping. For the appearance, ATS also accepts customised design by its clients. Clients from corporations tend to choose bright colours, while clients from the army tend to opt for grey or green.

Painting process

Polish makes perfect

Also Read: This Singapore startup wants to roll out autonomous drones to shake up how warehouses operate

We also got to meet Eman Sulaiman, who was the head of the factory. Despite having never had any university education, Sulaiman was able to taught himself everything about aerodynamics, led by his passion in everything related to aviation. He was also credited for his ability to explain complex details in simple, everyday language.

During the Menembus Langit trial flights, Sulaiman took the role of flight director.

Eman Sulaiman, GIII Factory Head and Menembus Langit Flight Director

Once we were done looking at the drone-making process, we moved on to check out a row of small offices on the side. This is where founder Dian Rusdiana Hakim scribbled down ideas and calculations for new projects.

We were allowed to take a sneak-peek on one of the side projects that ATS is working on, which is a smart car that can be folded.

“Mr. Dian recently bought a smart car from Germany … and he decided that ‘Yeah, I think we can try to make one,” explained Valencia Mega Stefany, a Menembus Langit spokesperson, who accompanied us during the tour.

Let’s play a game called find the Ai-X1 drone in this room

The post In Photos: Drone-making at Global Inovasi Informasi Indonesia’s factory appeared first on e27.

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Wanted: Passionate programmers and tech gurus

Are you ready to conquer the tech world, one line of code at a time? Then these might be the tech jobs for you!

Happy job hunting, e27 Community!

Lead Developer at Simgo Asia Pte Ltd

Location: Singapore
Job Description:

• Assisting and reviewing development of project scopes, considering resources, and technological constraints including cost estimates with consideration to business impacts
• Creating and executing project work plans and revising as appropriate to meet the changing need and requirements. This includes wire framing, sitemaps & scope of work
• Defining project scope and giving clear instructions to design and development team
• Assuring that projects are completed according to schedule and within budget
• Ensuring that approved requirements are developed in sufficient scope and detail
• Assisting with developing quality assurance processes, documentation, and testing where needed
• Identifying and managing project risk

Maximum Salary: (SGD) 8K per month (US$5,604)

Junior Ruby Developer at TechGrid Asia

Location: Indonesia
Job Description:

• Do you have a flair for beauty and a knack for codes?
• Are you dreaming of making a career out of your talent?
• Do you domicile in Yogyakarta?

Salary (IDR): Not specified

Web Developer at Helpr

Location: Malaysia
Job Description:

• Develop and maintain layouts for web application
• Brainstorm and collaborate with team members on concept development
• Be able to test new functionality
• Upgrade sites by updating content and graphics; monitoring performance and results; identifying and evaluating improvement options; introducing new technology; maintaining links

Salary (USD): Not specified

Elixir/Phoenix Backend Engineer at Bazaa

Location: Singapore
Job Description:

• As a core member of the engineering team, the Backend Engineer will build scalable solutions to power next generation, real-time e-commerce stores using Phoenix and the latest web standards

Salary (SGD): 3K – 7K per month (US$2,101-4,903)

Senior Web Developer at Orami Thailand

Location: Thailand
Job Description:

• Develop or implement specification system assignment according to schedule
• Cooperate with Develop team to fixed/improvement system according to plan
• Troubleshooting existing and new application problems and providing quick solutions
• Unit Test and Fix Bug agree with customer need
• Communicate with users (Thai and International) for requirements for the website
• Manage projects to ensure timely delivery of application
• Analyse, design and code by using PHP with Class or Object and SQL
• Develop website using HTML5, CSS, JavaScript HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, AJAX, JSON
• Understand MVC / CMS / Framework (Drupal, WordPress, Symfony2, Laravel, CodeIgniter, etc.)
• Use Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, EBS, RDS, SQS, Redshift, etc.)
• IT Support on any issue in company

Salary (THB): Not specified

Full Stack Mobile Developer at GrabJobs

Location: Singapore
Job Description:

Front End

• Build and develop highly innovative consumer facing web and mobile products
• Prototype new and redesign features
• Optimise mobile products for performance
• Debugging and modifying complex, production software

Back End

• Design, write and deliver software primarily in Go to improve the availability, scalability, latency, and efficiency of GrabJobs services
• Engage in service capacity and demand planning, software performance analysis, tuning and optimisation
• Designing, building, analysing and troubleshooting large-scale system
• Full stack performance tuning and optimisation

Salary (SGD): 4K – 5.5K per month (US$2,802-3,852)

Java Developer (Mid/Senior) at Aligned Business Pte Ltd

Location: Singapore
Job Description:

• Your role will be to assist with the design and to implement new components for this new insurance industry solution. You will be working closely with stakeholders to ensure the best solutions are delivered.

Salary (SGD): 4K – 6K per month (US$2,802-4,202)

Web Developer at Efirst Asia

Location: Indonesia
Job Description:

• You will be preparing and maintaining innovative e-commerce solutions for Efirst.Asia and the South-East Asian brands that we work for
• The formats that you will be mostly working with are: product websites, landing pages and backend platforms

Salary (IDR): 5M – 15M per month (US$375-1,127)

Software Architect Java at Dah Makan

Location: Malaysia
Job Description:

• Developing new IT products and features in Java
• Deep understanding of technical challenges (optimisation problems, machine learning)
• Building large applications with clean architecture
• Documentation and code reviews

Salary (USD): Not specified

iOS Programmer at Askbox Pte Ltd

Location: Singapore
Job Description:

• iOS development experience
• Motivated, hungry self-starter
• Design skills and/or past startup experience would be a bonus

Salary (SGD): 50K – 85K per year (US$35,040-59,569) | Equity 0.5 – 5%

Looking for other openings? Search for more jobs.

And are you a startup with job openings? Post them here.

Thanks and keep visiting e27 for more tech job openings!

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Featured Image Credit: Gratisography

The post Calling all techies! These 10 jobs might be right for you appeared first on e27.

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Square Yards recently received US$12 million funding from the private equity arm of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group

The Square Yards team

Square Yards, an online to offline (O2O) real estate transaction player based out of Delhi, has raised US$10 million in fresh investment in the form of convertible notes from multiple individual investors primarily based outside of India.

The notes were issued for a fixed term at a pre-determined coupon rate and with an option to convert into equity (at a discount) on reaching the next funding milestone.

Also Read: It took US$60M to build Housing when I was there, and US$80M to shut down after I left — Rahul Yadav

Combined with the recently announced US$12 million equity funding from the private equity arm of Anil Ambani led Reliance Group, the new investment takes the total amount of funds raised by the company to approximately US$33 million since its inception in 2013.

Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards, said, “We wanted to maintain a healthy mix in our balance sheet without diluting too much of equity at this stage of our growth. The new financing would help us accelerate our expansion into newer international geographies and at the same time strengthen our existing distribution network in 10+ countries.”

The Indian real-estate tech sector is witnessing significant consolidation activity with some big ticket mergers and acquisitions announced recently. They include Quikr’s merger with CommonFloor in 2015, and Housing’s merger with PropTiger early this week.

Added Kanika Gupta Shori, Founder and COO, Square Yards: “For this latest investment round, we reached out to our own set of real-estate clients in international locations through our NRI sales teams.”

Square Yards claims to be twice the size of its nearest competitor that got merged with a classified and listing player. It currently boasts of net revenue run rate of US$1.5 million to US$2 million per month (annualised ~ US$25 million) and transaction run rate of ~600-800/month.

Infographic: India’s hottest tech sectors by VC activity in 2016

The company sources mandates from top Indian and international developers and employs multimodal distribution strategy through its network of direct sales in India and NRI markets, channel partners and e-commerce. The company recently crossed US$1 billion in Gross Transactional Value (GTV) in terms of total value of properties sold on its platform.

Square Yards also provides specialised real estate allied service expertise through its group companies. Its financial arm, Square Capital, brings home loan assistance and mortgage fulfilment capabilities. The marketing arm, Bling Marketing, offers 360-degree marketing solutions to real estate developers. It also plans to venture into comprehensive property management and home furnishing segment in the near future.

The startup has more than 1,100 employees in 22 cities and 10 countries.

The post Realty startup Square Yards raises US$10M to fight the mighty Housing-PropTiger combo appeared first on e27.

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Thailand’s mototaxis. Photo credit: Wikimedia.

500 TukTuks, 500 Startups’ microfund for Thailand, has finally closed at a sum of US$15.4 million, up from US$10 million at its launch.

Led by Krating Poonpol and Moo Natavudh, the fund gained massive interest from high net-worth individuals and corporate investors, leading to the increase in its size.

With more capital, 500 TukTuks is moving at full speed. “We have reached the 30th investment in our portfolio, which we believe marked the status of the most active seed investor in Thailand and in Southeast Asia,” says Krating in a statement today.

Out of the 30, 10 already nabbed follow-on funding or are about to close their next round of funding.

500 TukTuks, named after Thailand’s iconic mototaxis, will likely invest in 30 more startups, he adds.

While the country is often overlooked in favor of more advanced neighbor Singapore and more populous Indonesia, the local ecosystem is growing rapidly. A number of startups like digital entertainment platform Ookbee have gained the attention of investors. Ookbee recently formed a joint venture with Tencent, China’s most valuable tech company and maker of WeChat.

More moolah

Next year, a second 500 TukTuks fund will be launched. It will focus on seed to series A investments in Thai startups.

Krating tells Tech in Asia “our next fund target will be more than US$20 million” given the pace of progress of Southeast Asia’s ecosystem.

Apart from TukTuks, 500 Startups has a designated fund for the whole of Southeast Asia called 500 Durians. It also has a microfund for Vietnam and is likely to launch one for the Philippines.

In the meantime, 500 TukTuks today unveiled its third batch of 10 investments, which received a combined US$2 million. Those 10 include:

• Fashion store Pomelo
• Financing solution FinAccel, which provides instant credit checks and buy-now-pay-later loans to online shoppers
• Holiday home booking platform FavStay
• Tourkrub, a platform for all outbound tour packages
• TrustingSocial, a credit scoring platform for the underbanked in emerging markets that analyzes data from telcos and lenders
• Pet care ecosystem PerroPack (Perropet, Perrobox, Perromart)
• Employee development, training, and engagement tool Gnowbe
• Reward and equity-based crowdfunding platform Asiola
• Cookly, a booking platform for culinary activities and tourism
• Fresh food and restaurant marketplace Freshket

This post 500 Startups boosts Thai microfund to $15m appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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The edtech startup also runs an educational YouTube channel in India, with over 27 million video views and over 375,000 subscribers

(L-R) Top: Sachin Gupta and Gaurav Munal. Bottom: Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh

Unacademy, an Bangalore-based edtech startup providing free online learning platform, has raised US$4.5 million (INR 30 crore) in its Series A round of funding, led by Nexus Venture Partners and existing investor Blume Ventures.

Girish Mathrubootham (CEO of Freshdesk) and Ananth Narayanan (CEO of Myntra), along with Stanford Angels, have also participated in the round.

With the new round of funding, Unacademy will grow its educator-base from 200 to 2,000 in the next one year, across varied exam preparation, language learning and professional growth topics. A portion of the funds will go into hiring talent and improving user experience.

Previously, Unacademy raised US$1 million in fresh funding, led by Blume Ventures, with participation from Stanford Angels India and WaterBridge Ventures.

Also Read: After Mark Zuckerberg, World Bank unit invests in Indian edtech startup Byju’s

The startup was co-founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh, and Sachin Gupta in 2015. It allows educators to create courses using their app on various subjects, including exclusive content for various competitive exams, which can be accessed by students on Unacademy.com. It also runs an educational YouTube channel, with over 27 million video views and over 375,000 subscribers. It also boasts of 5,000 educational lessons made by over 200 educators.

The platform, which aims to get the best minds of the country share their knowledge, has more than 500,000 registered users with over 200,000 active users.

CEO Munjal said: “Unacademy aims to be the largest platform in the world where teachers or educators come and share their knowledge. Our teachers apply various innovative approaches from storytelling to mnemonics to make students understand a topic. And more importantly, we have teachers from a lot of two-tier and three-tier cities and even villages teaching on the platform.”

Also Read: Attention VCs! These 10 startups could be your goldmine in 2017

“Why should knowledge sharing be only done by Professors of Stanford, Harvard or IITs? With the influx of capital, Unacademy aims to empower more educators who come on the platform to create highly engaging courses that impact millions of students,” he added.

The courses on the platform, which currently cater to major competitive examinations, will soon have content from areas such as personal finance, personality development and more. Currently, the platform has more than 6,000 lessons spread over 500 courses.

Unacademy expects its active user base to organically grow from 200,000 to 1 million users in 2017. In one year, it has grown 10x and is now doing 5 million video views every month (25 million video views in 2016), the company said in a statement.

The edtech venture also plans to launch its Android app by the end of February 2017.

The post Unacademy raises US$4.5M to allow educators to create free online courses in India appeared first on e27.

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Myths about the popularity, profitability, and potential of grocery e-commerce have been holding back the growth of the whole industry

Food and beverage, being the largest retail category in the US with annual sales worth US$600 billion, still accounts for 1 per cent of total e-commerce sales.

But as consumers get used to the convenience of ordering online, online grocery ordering may benefit from it, too. Only 15 per cent of US adults have purchased general food items online, and 25 per cent of the total online population has bought specialty food and beverages online that are difficult to find elsewhere.

Shopping habits are changing with time, and niche online grocery services that compete on convenience and selection are gaining traction, as well. In fact, according to a recent report, the entire grocery industry is anticipated to boom in the next five years, at a forecasted growth of 21.3 per cent by 2018.

This rise will take its value from GBP169.7 billion to GBP205.9 billion (US$206.67 billion to US$250 billion) and will transform it into one of the most important growth drivers in the online e-commerce sector. Seeing this monumental change, many entrepreneurs have started establishing their own grocery e-commerce solutions.

Being the enablers of e-commerce, we see this segment full of potential for aspiring entrepreneurs. But, there are certain myths that lead to entrepreneurs stepping back from starting an online grocery ordering website.

Also Read: Done deal: Alibaba-backed Lazada acquires online grocer RedMart

Let’s discuss each myth and look the reality behind each one:

Myth 1: Online grocery shopping has no future

E-commerce accounts for a small percent of all grocery sales, but that is entirely due to “lack of availability”. However, this is changing and experts forecast that online grocers will see an 8 to 10 per cent rise in sales.

According to Business Insider, the sales of online grocery are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.1 per cent from 2013 to 2018 and will reach US$18 billion by 2018.

As per Nielsen, many internet users are already ordering groceries online, and more than half of them are happy. The data also showed that the number of people ordering groceries online has increased by 300 per cent in the the recent years.

Myth 2: People choose ‘pick up’ than home delivery’ to avoid extra charges

According to several surveys and reports, 75 per cent of US customers choose ‘pick-up’ over ‘delivery’. However, in a commuting society, waiting for an online order appears to be an unproductive habit. Due to strategically located grocers, people find it time-saving to just go and pick their groceries after ordering them online. Doing so, people not only save time but also save additional charges, which are pointless, if deliveries are delayed.

Also Read: So what, exactly, are the differences between grocery startups?

Myth 3: Selling groceries online will hamper offline sales

Most brick and mortar stores evolved over time and moved online. This is true in the case of major brands such as Nike, Wallmart, etc. In fact, when consumers have multiple options, they tend to buy more from an online store with better customer service.Given this evolution, to innovate is a must for brick and mortar shops running grocery businesses.

In the online grocery segment, people who adopt multi-channel shopping spend 20 per cent more with their primary grocer. Also, moving online can enable you to reach a wider audience, which can bring a boost in sales.

Myth 4: People avoid ordering perishable food

As per statistics, 30 per cent of orders include fresh items, 93 per cent include dairy products and 50 per cent of online shopping orders include meat and seafood. In the US alone, many households get their weekly groceries through grocers that offer subscription boxes. The idea that people want to touch fruits and vegetables prior to purchase still prevails, but the notion is slowly fading away.

Myth 5: Grocers should limit their inventory

According to research by Morgan Stanley, a growth of 34 per cent was forecasted for grocers who are selling fresh food, and the statistics will only get better as we enter 2017.

Experts believe that the e-commerce ecosystem is showing potential for vertical e-commerce players. This does not mean that horizontal e-commerce players will run out of business.

Also Read: These 3 points will determine the future of grocery e-commerce in Southeast Asia

Grocers who believe that they should stick to fewer options in online selling have equal potential to grow as grocers who sell a wide variety of products on their online store.

Conclusion

Myths about the popularity, profitability, and potential of grocery e-commerce have been holding back the growth of the whole industry.

But times are changing as the online grocery industry is seen to be rebounding back from the doldrums. By partnering with an experienced e-commerce service providers, grocers can quickly deploy an online solution that will help them build new business and boost relationships with existing customers.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

Featured Image Copyright: maximkabb / 123RF Stock Photo

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Need this to fit into a 12 ft by 15 ft space? Foyr can help you out. Photo credit: Loren Kerns.

In 2014, engineer Shailesh Goswami set out to be a magician.

After a disenchanting experience doing his own home interiors, he found himself dreaming of the tech that could bring him more transformative power. While browsing home decor sites, he’d found inspiration in beautiful spaces, but those rooms didn’t translate well to the size of his own home.

He’d had a decidedly disenchanting experience doing his own home interiors.

Typically, people who want to renovate their new homes have to first find and visit a designer, who usually takes around four weeks to get an idea of the house layout and come back with a design. Then, they have to implement all the design changes: order furniture, buy decor, and install everything in the house. That takes around a month and a half, meaning that there could be two and a half months between buying a home and moving into the space you want.

Shailesh’s dream was to be able click on an image of a room and get a completely customizable version. By “waving a magic wand,” he could then transform the space into whatever room dimensions he wanted, then look at the different furniture samples shown and figure out where to find them in different cities.

Shailesh Goswami, Founder and CEO of Foyr. Photo credit: Foyr.

“We’re replacing a traditional interior designer and home decorator,” he tells Tech in Asia.

It took around 15 months for the IIT-Delhi grad and former Microsoft engineer to develop the software. In 2015, he released the site for Hyderabad-based Foyr, which currently offers owners of brand new homes in Hyderabad and Pune custom-made room designs for their floor plans.

Tech-made magic

Currently, Foyr only serves customers in Hyderabad and Pune. They can visit the website and submit a floor plan and basic home requirements, such as their budget and preferred design – art nouveau, for example. If a floor plan is unavailable or customers want to provide additional information, they can submit pictures of their empty house, even if they’re taken with a smartphone. The software will then give them three personalized designs, along with their price. The website services are free and take about 10 minutes.

If customers want to proceed with the designs – Shailesh says that around 10 out of every 100 customers decide to go ahead – they can go into one of Foyr’s offices and fine-tune their customization. Assisted by a Foyr designer, they can switch out furniture in the designs or adjust the overall cost.

Once design and cost are finalized, implementation takes about 40 days – nearly halving the time taken in the traditional route.

Once design and cost are finalized, implementation takes about 40 days.

All of the furniture seen on Foyr’s visualizer is available in its respective city. The startup has partnered with local shops to feature their items. When customers purchase the decor for their homes, Foyr takes a cut of the price. Shailesh says this can be anywhere from 8 to 30 percent of the price, but it usually rounds out to about 25 percent.

Foyr has filed for patents in the US and in India for its software.

2017’s bringing change for the company. Foyr and its 70-person team – approximately 50 in Hyderabad and 20 in Pune – are trying to change their business model around to be more workable for several locations at once, including places outside of India. Through the new model, Foyr will take up a software-as-a-service approach, and other companies will be able to pay a monthly fee to use the services.

In the meantime, Foyr’s set its sights on Singapore – where it’s already incorporated – and is trying to raise additional funds to continue its expansion there.

Mirror perfection

With two months left in India’s fiscal year, the jury’s still out on how good 2016 has been to the startup. Shailesh points out that they’re still trying to hit their goal of designing 248 homes this year. So far, they’ve hit 170. Next year, the startup hopes to do 616 homes. In October, it raised funding from property firm Jones Lang LaSalle India.

In 2015, it bagged a nearly US$2.5 million from Astarc Group and Brick Eagle.

A sofa has to have very nice, soft shadows.

Indians looking to design their homes can look to startups like Bangalore-based LivSpace, an end-to-end home design startup, to do up their homes in 12 weeks with a network of designers. Furdo uses virtual reality software to get the same process done in 60 days, connecting customers with furniture startups like Pepperfry to deliver home items.

According to Shailesh, Foyr differentiates itself by holding high standards for its software, which runs completely on a browser without installers or plugins. The quality, something Shailesh has found lacking from available open-source libraries, should not differ between devices – meaning the 3D room model should have the same quality on a tablet as well as a desktop computer.

Foyr’s team. Photo credit: Foyr.

“A mirror has to have a very clear reflection before you can [call] it a mirror,” he explains. In the same way, a 3D rendering of a sofa should possess qualities like it would in reality. Getting the software closer and closer to that goal was something Shailesh found “most satisfying.”

“A sofa has to have very nice, soft shadows,” he says simply. Or else the model is not good enough.

This post Empty house? This startup will design and fill it for you in 40 days appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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Can a startup have a mermaid for a COO? Yes, it can

In February 2015, Sharmeen Looi brought cashback platform ShopBack into Malaysia. As COO, she oversees the daily operations of all departments at ShopBack Malaysia to ensure smooth execution and consistent growth.

Sharmeen also leads the development of ShopBack’s merchant and customer base, while at the same time facilitating marketing collaborations that help to strengthen the startup’s local business presence.

As part of our 5 Fun Facts series of articles where we get startup founders and executives to show their lighter side, we asked Sharmeen to answer these five fun questions.

What is one thing that is definitely on your bucket list?

To be a mermaid. Oh, wait! I already am. Take a year off, buy a green bus and travel half of the globe with my pet dog. I think everyone should travel solo and yolo at least once in a lifetime.

What is the oldest gadget you have that is still working?

I actually purchase more gadgets than heels, so this is going to be hard. But if I’m not wrong, the oldest gadget that’s still working should be this brick game device that I’m still using! It’s a great companion on the plane. It’s even cooler when I have the sound on! So simple yet so addictive.

Believe it or not, Sharmeen Looi’s brick game device is still working.

What is your favourite movie of all time and why?

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. When I was 6 I fell in love with Edward (not Johnny Depp) and I got my first heartbreak when my mom told me Edward is a fictional character and that I couldn’t marry him. First cut is the deepest. Heartbreak aside, I love the movie because it taught me to embrace uniqueness and individuality, which I am preaching until today. Everyone is created differently and each individual has a special gift that they can offer to the world. And Tim Burton of course, is the king of imagination (salute).

Which fiction book has influenced you most and why?

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Besides being very entertaining, I like how it is narrated from the third person omniscient point of view. It teaches you to look at things from different perspectives and definitely find the humour in any terrible situation. The characters are amazing and they are anything but ordinary!

If you could travel back in time, where would you like to go and whom would you like to meet?

I would choose to go back to four months ago, when my mom was still alive and tell her how proud I am of her for being a great parent to me. We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
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Thanks, Sharmeen!

Hey, e27 Community, which startup founder or executive would you like us to feature next? Sound off in the comments!

The post 5 Fun Facts: ShopBack Malaysia COO Sharmeen Looi on solo travel and Edward Scissorhands appeared first on e27.

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