Author: azeeadmin

Vietnam’s startup ecosystem is making forward progress. Just a week after 500 Startups’ local entity closed a $14 million fund for early-stage investments, one of the country’s elder statesmen of startups — educational service Topica — has closed its $50 million Series D.

The round — which is one of the highest to date for a Vietnamese tech company — comes from PE firm Northstar Group. Northstar, which manages some $2 billion in assets, is already linked to Topica via Openspace Ventures, the Singapore-based VC firm that is already an investor in the startup and counts Northstar among its LPs. (Openspace rebranded from NSI earlier this year, prior to which it was an arm of Northstar.)

Northstar’s total ownership stake is described as a minority but the exact size, and the valuation of the Topica business, hasn’t been revealed.

Topica was founded a decade ago at a launch event attended by Bill Gates, and since then it claims that it has helped more than one million adults through its online education platform. The business counted Microsoft and Qualcomm among its original sponsors and today it covers the six largest countries in Southeast Asia — Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It offers a range of different services that include English-language tutoring and university-level courses, but it has expanded to less traditional disciplines including a ‘founders institute’ accelerator program and a 3D ‘technologies’ program.

On the higher education focus, Topica works with 16 universities to offer Batchelor degree qualifications. That program has graduated some 6,200 students, the company claimed. Its dropout rate is above 90 percent, according to its data.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Head of Microsoft General Embassy Bill Gates and other sponsors’ launching the program in April 2006 [Image via Topica]

Topica has 1,700 staff and 2,000 teaching instructors across offices in Bangkok, Danang, Hanoi, HCMC, Jakarta, Manila and Singapore. There’s no specific aim for the investment other than to further the company’s ongoing mission of helping reach more students using digital mediums.

“We have been blessed to work with great partners like Northstar and our existing investors, who are all enthusiastic about our vision of investing in the long term to help bring quality education to millions of learners in Southeast Asia and beyond,” Dr. Tuan Pham, Topica chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Topica employees regularly take part in marathons, ironman competitions and more across Southeast Asia

In particular, you can likely expect that Topica will continue to push its business-building initiatives as Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem continues to grow. A recent report co-authored by Google forecast that the digital economy for the region — which houses over 650 million people — will triple over the next seven years. Topica claims that already it is invested in one-third of the startups in Vietnam that raised seed or Series A funding in 2016, so it seems entirely logical it’ll work to expand that to other markets.

Vietnam’s startup ecosystem is making forward progress. Just a week after 500 Startups’ local entity closed a $14 million fund for early-stage investments, one of the country’s elder statesmen of startups — educational service Topica — has closed its $50 million Series D.

The round — which is one of the highest to date for a Vietnamese tech company — comes from PE firm Northstar Group. Northstar, which manages some $2 billion in assets, is already linked to Topica via Openspace Ventures, the Singapore-based VC firm that is already an investor in the startup and counts Northstar among its LPs. (Openspace rebranded from NSI earlier this year, prior to which it was an arm of Northstar.)

Northstar’s total ownership stake is described as a minority but the exact size, and the valuation of the Topica business, hasn’t been revealed.

Topica was founded a decade ago at a launch event attended by Bill Gates, and since then it claims that it has helped more than one million adults through its online education platform. The business counted Microsoft and Qualcomm among its original sponsors and today it covers the six largest countries in Southeast Asia — Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It offers a range of different services that include English-language tutoring and university-level courses, but it has expanded to less traditional disciplines including a ‘founders institute’ accelerator program and a 3D ‘technologies’ program.

On the higher education focus, Topica works with 16 universities to offer Batchelor degree qualifications. That program has graduated some 6,200 students, the company claimed. Its dropout rate is above 90 percent, according to its data.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Head of Microsoft General Embassy Bill Gates and other sponsors’ launching the program in April 2006 [Image via Topica]

Topica has 1,700 staff and 2,000 teaching instructors across offices in Bangkok, Danang, Hanoi, HCMC, Jakarta, Manila and Singapore. There’s no specific aim for the investment other than to further the company’s ongoing mission of helping reach more students using digital mediums.

“We have been blessed to work with great partners like Northstar and our existing investors, who are all enthusiastic about our vision of investing in the long term to help bring quality education to millions of learners in Southeast Asia and beyond,” Dr. Tuan Pham, Topica chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Topica employees regularly take part in marathons, ironman competitions and more across Southeast Asia

In particular, you can likely expect that Topica will continue to push its business-building initiatives as Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem continues to grow. A recent report co-authored by Google forecast that the digital economy for the region — which houses over 650 million people — will triple over the next seven years. Topica claims that already it is invested in one-third of the startups in Vietnam that raised seed or Series A funding in 2016, so it seems entirely logical it’ll work to expand that to other markets.

A lot of Chinese millennials may be delaying or opting out of childbearing, but those who have committed to parenting often go all out to ensure their children grow up healthy and do well in school.

One company capitalizing on China’s booming mother and infant industry – which is expected to double in market valuation between 2015 and 2018 to top $520 billion, according to consulting firm Roland Berger – is Babytree. The Beijing-based firm started trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Founded in 2007, Babytree operates an online platform for parents to exchange know-how, shop for baby goods, and purchase early education services.

The firm debuted at HK$6.91, or $0.88, compared to its IPO price of HK$6.80. That values Babytree at HK$11.5 billion, or $1.47 billion, well below its May valuation of $2.19 billion after it inked a strategic investment from Alibaba that saw the partners collaborating on multiple fronts, including ecommerce, advertising, and paid content.

Last week, Babytree slashed its IPO by 70 percent to $282 million amid waning investor interest in Hong Kong.

Babytree, in which Alibaba owns a 9.9 percent stake, was started in 2007 by venture capitalist Shao Yibo – who founded Matrix Partners’ China subsidiary and EachNet, which Ebay bought out in 2003 to take on Alibaba’s Taobao – and former Yahoo and Google executive Wang Huainan.

Babytree’s other major investor is Chinese conglomerate and investment firm Fosun International, which has also backed its smaller competitor Qinbaboao, a social media service for young parents to share photos and knowledge.

The parenting portal reached an average of 175 million monthly active users between July and September, according to its IPO prospectus. Qinbaobao claimed to have more than 70 million registered users when it raised hundreds of millions of RMB in a series C funding round in October.

Babytree generates most of its revenues from advertising fees and ecommerce transactions, but Wang the co-founder said recently that paid content is one of the company’s fastest-growing segment. The parenting site posted revenues of 408 million yuan, or $58.6 million, in the first half of 2018, up 12 percent from the same period a year ago. Its adjusted profit increased by 30 percent to 122 million yuan, or $17.6 million, during the same period.

A lot of Chinese millennials may be delaying or opting out of childbearing, but those who have committed to parenting often go all out to ensure their children grow up healthy and do well in school.

One company capitalizing on China’s booming mother and infant industry – which is expected to double in market valuation between 2015 and 2018 to top $520 billion, according to consulting firm Roland Berger – is Babytree. The Beijing-based firm started trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Founded in 2007, Babytree operates an online platform for parents to exchange know-how, shop for baby goods, and purchase early education services.

The firm debuted at HK$6.91, or $0.88, compared to its IPO price of HK$6.80. That values Babytree at HK$11.5 billion, or $1.47 billion, well below its May valuation of $2.19 billion after it inked a strategic investment from Alibaba that saw the partners collaborating on multiple fronts, including ecommerce, advertising, and paid content.

Last week, Babytree slashed its IPO by 70 percent to $282 million amid waning investor interest in Hong Kong.

Babytree, in which Alibaba owns a 9.9 percent stake, was started in 2007 by venture capitalist Shao Yibo – who founded Matrix Partners’ China subsidiary and EachNet, which Ebay bought out in 2003 to take on Alibaba’s Taobao – and former Yahoo and Google executive Wang Huainan.

Babytree’s other major investor is Chinese conglomerate and investment firm Fosun International, which has also backed its smaller competitor Qinbaboao, a social media service for young parents to share photos and knowledge.

The parenting portal reached an average of 175 million monthly active users between July and September, according to its IPO prospectus. Qinbaobao claimed to have more than 70 million registered users when it raised hundreds of millions of RMB in a series C funding round in October.

Babytree generates most of its revenues from advertising fees and ecommerce transactions, but Wang the co-founder said recently that paid content is one of the company’s fastest-growing segment. The parenting site posted revenues of 408 million yuan, or $58.6 million, in the first half of 2018, up 12 percent from the same period a year ago. Its adjusted profit increased by 30 percent to 122 million yuan, or $17.6 million, during the same period.

Facebook Watch has failed to capture viewers with its content, so it’s hoping to differentiate through the company’s core strength: social. Today Facebook fully launches Watch Party, its co-viewing feature where users can see and comment on the same video at the same time, to all profiles and Pages around the world.

Watch Party had previously launched in Groups and been in testing with other types of accounts. But now any profile or business can post a Watch party invite to sync up with other users and simultaneously view videos they’ve discovered on Facebook.

Watch’s content lineup is still lackluster compared to YouTube, Netflix, or even Snapchat Discover. CNBC reports Facebook is giving up on younger teens that are already ditching its app, and pivoting the video hub towards an older audience. Facebook is hoping a shared experience with users commenting together on clips could make Watch more appealing, but it’s a genuinely new behavior that may prove difficult to instill.

Facebook is also testing a few other tricks to breathe life into Watch. Pages and Groups will be able to schedule a Watch Party to draw more viewers, maybe by setting up a nightly gathering. Watch Parties with lots of activity will have their comments threaded so it’s easier to follow discussions.

And most interestingly, Facebook will try allowing Watch Party hosts to go Live picture-in-picture so they can commentate in real-time. This could be a hit with celebrities, as it will make users feel like they’re sitting beside them watching TV together. Basketball star Shaq will test out the Live Commentating feature through his Page tomorrow.

Watch Party’s statistics sound impressive, with 12 million started from Groups so far, 7X more daily Watch Parties in Groups per day since its launch in July, and 8X more commenting than on non-Live/synced videos. Pages are using it to let fans binge watch playlists of their old videos, replay their TV content for users in different time zones, and let fans ask each other and the hosts questions about recipes as they cook.

But given Facebook’s 2.2 billion total monthly users, billion-plus Groups users, and the fact that measuring growth in multiples is easy when you start with a low number, the feature clearly hasn’t reached the zeitgeist yet.

Perhaps the best hope for Watch and Watch Party is a feature TechCrunch broke the news on last week. Facebook is now internally testing a Watch Party-like co-viewing feature inside Messenger. Baking the option into chat might be a lot more natural, especially in group texts. 

Facebook has been desperately trying to shift video consumption behavior from passive zombie viewing to interactive and social engagement with fellow viewers. But that only works if the content is compelling.

Beyond a reboot of MTV’s The Real World, nothing on Watch truly stands out. Facebook may need to open up its wallet and pay big for more tent pole shows to pull in users and hope they get lost commenting on clips with friends and like-minds.

Facebook Watch has failed to capture viewers with its content, so it’s hoping to differentiate through the company’s core strength: social. Today Facebook fully launches Watch Party, its co-viewing feature where users can see and comment on the same video at the same time, to all profiles and Pages around the world.

Watch Party had previously launched in Groups and been in testing with other types of accounts. But now any profile or business can post a Watch party invite to sync up with other users and simultaneously view videos they’ve discovered on Facebook.

Watch’s content lineup is still lackluster compared to YouTube, Netflix, or even Snapchat Discover. CNBC reports Facebook is giving up on younger teens that are already ditching its app, and pivoting the video hub towards an older audience. Facebook is hoping a shared experience with users commenting together on clips could make Watch more appealing, but it’s a genuinely new behavior that may prove difficult to instill.

Facebook is also testing a few other tricks to breathe life into Watch. Pages and Groups will be able to schedule a Watch Party to draw more viewers, maybe by setting up a nightly gathering. Watch Parties with lots of activity will have their comments threaded so it’s easier to follow discussions.

And most interestingly, Facebook will try allowing Watch Party hosts to go Live picture-in-picture so they can commentate in real-time. This could be a hit with celebrities, as it will make users feel like they’re sitting beside them watching TV together. Basketball star Shaq will test out the Live Commentating feature through his Page tomorrow.

Watch Party’s statistics sound impressive, with 12 million started from Groups so far, 7X more daily Watch Parties in Groups per day since its launch in July, and 8X more commenting than on non-Live/synced videos. Pages are using it to let fans binge watch playlists of their old videos, replay their TV content for users in different time zones, and let fans ask each other and the hosts questions about recipes as they cook.

But given Facebook’s 2.2 billion total monthly users, billion-plus Groups users, and the fact that measuring growth in multiples is easy when you start with a low number, the feature clearly hasn’t reached the zeitgeist yet.

Perhaps the best hope for Watch and Watch Party is a feature TechCrunch broke the news on last week. Facebook is now internally testing a Watch Party-like co-viewing feature inside Messenger. Baking the option into chat might be a lot more natural, especially in group texts. 

Facebook has been desperately trying to shift video consumption behavior from passive zombie viewing to interactive and social engagement with fellow viewers. But that only works if the content is compelling.

Beyond a reboot of MTV’s The Real World, nothing on Watch truly stands out. Facebook may need to open up its wallet and pay big for more tent pole shows to pull in users and hope they get lost commenting on clips with friends and like-minds.

YouTube today is launching lower-cost subscription plans for students who want to enjoy an ad-free version of YouTube or its music streaming service, YouTube Music. The new plans are the first significant changes to YouTube’s music subscription program since its launch last year. At that time, YouTube had also rebranded its ad-free YouTube Red subscription as YouTube Premium.

For eligible students, YouTube Music Premium is now $4.99 per month instead of $9.99 per month, and YouTube Premium is now $6.99 per month instead of $11.99 per month.

YouTube is also running a special promotion which offers YouTube Premium for $5.99 per month if students sign up by January 31, 2019. This price will be good for the entire duration of their student membership up to four years, says YouTube.

YouTube Music Premium competes with Spotify Premium, Apple Music, Pandora Premium, and others, as it offers a way to stream tracks on demand, browse playlists, get personalized recommendations, play artist radio stations, and more. But it also caters to those who want a video component to their music listening experience. And it provides access to remixes, covers, live versions, and deep cuts that aren’t available elsewhere.

In addition to the removal of ads, the paid subscription to the music service includes support for background listening and offline access through a downloads feature, like its rivals.

Upgrading to YouTube Premium then expands that ad-free experience across all of YouTube’s videos – not just music videos – and adds access to YouTube Originals.

It’s not unusual for streaming services to go after students with discounted pricing. Getting younger users addicted to a particular service early on can be a valuable long-term strategy – especially on apps which customize themselves to your likes and interests over time. That makes it more difficult to switch to a competitor at a later date, as you’d lose your personalized playlists and new music suggestions.

Spotify began offering half-priced student plans five years ago, which expanded worldwide in spring 2017. Last fall, it also began offering a discounted bundle with Hulu aimed at students, which later added access to Showtime to further sweeten the deal.

Apple Music also introduced its own student plans in 2016, similarly discounting its subscription by 50 percent.

These moves have likely paid off in terms of growth among the young adult demographic. Spotify’s Premium Subscribers grew to 83 million in Q2 2018, while Apple Music passed the 50 million subscriber mark this fall.

By comparison, YouTube proper is far larger with 1.8 billion logged-in monthly users, but the company hasn’t shared how many of those are paying subscribers to either YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium. However, as YouTube Red, the service had only reached 1.5 million subscribers within its first year.

YouTube says full-time students at an accredited college or university in the U.S. can take advantage of the new student pricing. Those discounts will roll out to users in other countries later in the future. The service doesn’t require an @edu email, so students can keep the account when they graduate.

YouTube today is launching lower-cost subscription plans for students who want to enjoy an ad-free version of YouTube or its music streaming service, YouTube Music. The new plans are the first significant changes to YouTube’s music subscription program since its launch last year. At that time, YouTube had also rebranded its ad-free YouTube Red subscription as YouTube Premium.

For eligible students, YouTube Music Premium is now $4.99 per month instead of $9.99 per month, and YouTube Premium is now $6.99 per month instead of $11.99 per month.

YouTube is also running a special promotion which offers YouTube Premium for $5.99 per month if students sign up by January 31, 2019. This price will be good for the entire duration of their student membership up to four years, says YouTube.

YouTube Music Premium competes with Spotify Premium, Apple Music, Pandora Premium, and others, as it offers a way to stream tracks on demand, browse playlists, get personalized recommendations, play artist radio stations, and more. But it also caters to those who want a video component to their music listening experience. And it provides access to remixes, covers, live versions, and deep cuts that aren’t available elsewhere.

In addition to the removal of ads, the paid subscription to the music service includes support for background listening and offline access through a downloads feature, like its rivals.

Upgrading to YouTube Premium then expands that ad-free experience across all of YouTube’s videos – not just music videos – and adds access to YouTube Originals.

It’s not unusual for streaming services to go after students with discounted pricing. Getting younger users addicted to a particular service early on can be a valuable long-term strategy – especially on apps which customize themselves to your likes and interests over time. That makes it more difficult to switch to a competitor at a later date, as you’d lose your personalized playlists and new music suggestions.

Spotify began offering half-priced student plans five years ago, which expanded worldwide in spring 2017. Last fall, it also began offering a discounted bundle with Hulu aimed at students, which later added access to Showtime to further sweeten the deal.

Apple Music also introduced its own student plans in 2016, similarly discounting its subscription by 50 percent.

These moves have likely paid off in terms of growth among the young adult demographic. Spotify’s Premium Subscribers grew to 83 million in Q2 2018, while Apple Music passed the 50 million subscriber mark this fall.

By comparison, YouTube proper is far larger with 1.8 billion logged-in monthly users, but the company hasn’t shared how many of those are paying subscribers to either YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium. However, as YouTube Red, the service had only reached 1.5 million subscribers within its first year.

YouTube says full-time students at an accredited college or university in the U.S. can take advantage of the new student pricing. Those discounts will roll out to users in other countries later in the future. The service doesn’t require an @edu email, so students can keep the account when they graduate.

VW Group has put a new spin on its all-electric I.D. Buzz Cargo van concept. This time, the German automaker has reimagined the concept as a support vehicle for the Volkswagen I.D R, the electric vehicle prototype that had a record-breaking run this year in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb competition.

VW Group’s commercial vehicles unit unveiled Tuesday the I.D. Buzz Cargo van —with a livery that mimics the R’s colors and includes the course map for the race — at the 2018 LA Auto Show. VW Group also showed off its all-electric cargo bike.

Both of these concepts were first unveiled at the 69th IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany in September.

The I.D. Buzz Cargo is meant to be the commercial equivalent of the I.D. Buzz microbus revealed in 2017. The cargo van concept is longer and has smaller 20-inch wheels than the microbus shown last year and features a short front overhang. The van gets 340 miles miles on a single battery charge (under the WLTP cycle)  and has a solar roof that can extend the range up to 9.3 miles a day.

The vehicle’s front and sliding door can be unlocked via a sensor, a nod to a future when autonomous vehicles deliver items to customers. Users can unlock the vehicle from the outside via a sensor that recognizes authorized persons via a digital key which is sent to the van from a smartphone. The van also has wide-open rear doors that when opened reveal a shelving system that is “connected” to allow all items to be tracked.

The van is also equipped with LED headlights that illuminate the road and communicates
interactively with pedestrians.

Concepts are a funny thing in the automotive world. They often never become reality. Instead, concepts should be viewed as a compass of sorts that shows where a particular automaker might be headed.

In this case, the e-Cargo bike is slated for production — and soon.  The three-wheel bike, which is expected to come to market in 2019, features a 250-watt motor powered by a lithium-ion battery. The cargo bike can carry a payload of 463 pounds and is designed to keep load platform horizontal in turns.

The I.D. Buzz Cargo, meanwhile, “could” go into production in Europe by 2022, if VW commits to making the vehicle at all. Still the I.D. Buzz Cargo, even if it’s never made, provides some insight into VW’s plans.

The cargo van is based on the company Modular Electric Drive Kit, or MEB, a modular design for electric cars that it introduced in 2016. The first vehicles produced with the MEB design are expected to be in production by the end of 2019. The company has said that the MEB platform will allow it to build electric vehicles more efficiently.

The company is charging forward with its electric vehicle plans. The company has booked production for 15 million electric cars, VW CEO Herbert Deiss said in a recent interview with Automotive News.

VW Group has put a new spin on its all-electric I.D. Buzz Cargo van concept. This time, the German automaker has reimagined the concept as a support vehicle for the Volkswagen I.D R, the electric vehicle prototype that had a record-breaking run this year in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb competition.

VW Group’s commercial vehicles unit unveiled Tuesday the I.D. Buzz Cargo van —with a livery that mimics the R’s colors and includes the course map for the race — at the 2018 LA Auto Show. VW Group also showed off its all-electric cargo bike.

Both of these concepts were first unveiled at the 69th IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany in September.

The I.D. Buzz Cargo is meant to be the commercial equivalent of the I.D. Buzz microbus revealed in 2017. The cargo van concept is longer and has smaller 20-inch wheels than the microbus shown last year and features a short front overhang. The van gets 340 miles miles on a single battery charge (under the WLTP cycle)  and has a solar roof that can extend the range up to 9.3 miles a day.

The vehicle’s front and sliding door can be unlocked via a sensor, a nod to a future when autonomous vehicles deliver items to customers. Users can unlock the vehicle from the outside via a sensor that recognizes authorized persons via a digital key which is sent to the van from a smartphone. The van also has wide-open rear doors that when opened reveal a shelving system that is “connected” to allow all items to be tracked.

The van is also equipped with LED headlights that illuminate the road and communicates
interactively with pedestrians.

Concepts are a funny thing in the automotive world. They often never become reality. Instead, concepts should be viewed as a compass of sorts that shows where a particular automaker might be headed.

In this case, the e-Cargo bike is slated for production — and soon.  The three-wheel bike, which is expected to come to market in 2019, features a 250-watt motor powered by a lithium-ion battery. The cargo bike can carry a payload of 463 pounds and is designed to keep load platform horizontal in turns.

The I.D. Buzz Cargo, meanwhile, “could” go into production in Europe by 2022, if VW commits to making the vehicle at all. Still the I.D. Buzz Cargo, even if it’s never made, provides some insight into VW’s plans.

The cargo van is based on the company Modular Electric Drive Kit, or MEB, a modular design for electric cars that it introduced in 2016. The first vehicles produced with the MEB design are expected to be in production by the end of 2019. The company has said that the MEB platform will allow it to build electric vehicles more efficiently.

The company is charging forward with its electric vehicle plans. The company has booked production for 15 million electric cars, VW CEO Herbert Deiss said in a recent interview with Automotive News.