Archive for the ‘Company’ Category

19
Jun

Is your start-up innovative enough? Compete in Red Herring Asia 2010!

   Posted by: Chip Tags: , , , , , ,

It seems like things have slowed down for tech start-ups in Vietnam. There is no regular gathering, few jaw-dropping projects. Tech bloggers are retired and almost all big headlines are considered braggy. Some entrepreneurial gurus have made a point that Vietnam, start-ups wise, won’t speed up again for 2 years. There are many reasons for them to be cautious: the serial failures of social networks, micro-blogging projects, the recent economic meltdown, a new dot com bubble expected to burst any time.

But I don’t think so. I believe that tech start-ups in Vietnam are undergoing tacit development, and that there are hundreds of innovative ideas out there waiting to make a boom. The question is when.

After my last blog post about some interesting ideas spotted in tech start-up scene in Vietnam, someone from Red Herring has contacted me about Red Herring 100 Asia Award 2010 that “will highlight the exciting startups from Asia. The finalists for the award will be announced in July 2010. The 100 Winners will be unveiled at Red Herring Asia 2010 in Hong Kong.” They asked if I could give them, cited from the email, “insiders view about startups you find relevant in Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.) so we could offer them the opportunity to compete for the Top 100 Asia award.”

I’ve heard of Red Herring for quite a while, both good and bad things. Though I wouldn’t say that it’s the most prestigious award in the field, nor try to compare it with Tech Crunch Award, I think it’s a great exposure for local start-ups to be in the list. The award event is also a precious opportunity for ambitious young entrepreneurs to meet, exchange ideas and find partnership opportunities with other entrepreneurs, venture capitalists as well as other big names in the region. As stated on their website, “Red Herring 100 Asia will bring together 300 C-level technology entrepreneurs, corporate strategists, and venture financiers from across the continent.”

So, if you are working on a start-up anywhere in Asia, and you think that your start-up is innovative enough (which you certainly do, else why waste time working on it?), what are you waiting for? Submit your start-up profile before Jun 30, 2010 and stand a chance to be on the list of Top 100 most innovative start-ups in Asia!

The award ceremony will be held in Hong Kong, China, August 10-12, 2010.

Applicants must be:

* A technology company

* Headquartered in the specific geographical region of the corresponding Red Herring 100 award program

* Privately held and not listed on any exchanges anywhere in the world

* Not a previous winner of a Red Herring 100 regional award

For more information, please visit Red Herring website.

P/S

If you are chosen, don’t forget me lah :P

5 Comments
27
Apr

Nganluong.vn launched, some notes about Online Payment Scene in Vietnam

   Posted by: Chip Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Today (Monday Apr 27, 2009 if you are curious lol), Nganluong.vn, Vietnamese Paypal, was officially launched, allows Vietnamese users to purchase from eBay without a Paypal account required. Nganluong.vn, together with Chodientu.vn belong to PeaceSoft Solution, a company invested by IDGVV and SoftBank China & India Holdings. Chodientu.vn is the biggest e-commerce site in Vietnam & the official partner of eBay here. And I’m sure their targets for Nganluong as well as Chodientu are set much higher than that.

As you already know, online payment is always considered as one of the biggest obstacles for e-commerce in Vietnam together with users’ consciousness and legal corridors. I haven’t tried it yet ços my stupid account at Vietnam is still locked up, but IMHO, the launch of Nganluong.vn has definitely lit up new hope about a future of being able to buy everything online :P Most of major e-commerce websites in the world still block trading from Vietnam (Am I too optimistic or too pessimistic??)

Some facts about Nganluong.vn and Chodientu-eBay:

- Nganluong.vn won’t cost you anything to use Nganluong.vn to buy things, but will cost sellers 1.000 VND + 1% total transaction value.

- After 4 months of piloting, Nganluong.vn now has 50,000 online payment accounts. Don’t know how many accounts are active and how many accounts they target after 1 year :)

- And ofcourse Nganluong.vn is not for eBay or Chodientu only, but PeaceSoft is willing to integrate Nganluong into any e-commerce website totally free of charge. Well from this point of view, can Nganluong.vn be seen as a competitor of other online payment company in Vietnam like VinaPay (another IDGVV’s porfolio), Paynet, Mobivi, OnePay, Payoo, etc.??? Actually I don’t know much about this competition things so anyone could please explain for me?

- Chodientu-eBay also partners with Vietnam Post & Telecom Group which allows users to debit money into their accounts at 3000 post offices in Vietnam. I just wonder if we can debit via mobile phones someday.

- Nganluong.vn accepts payments via local banks, including Vietcombank, DongA Commercial Bank, Techombank and Vietnam International Bank (VIB-Bank) and others in the Smartlink network. It also accepts payment via VISA, Master, Amex or JCB cards.

- Nganluong.vn guarantee 100% refund if you don’t recieve exactly the product you order. For more information about this program.

- Ebay’s Gross Merchandise Value from Vietnam’s users grew 82% in 2008.

Some facts about Vietnam Online Payment:

- Online Payment accounts for 3.2% total payment in Vietnam (account transfer, cash, post office transfer), according to Ministry of Industry & Trade.

- The biggest obstacles for Online Payment are: people’s habit of using cash; security & safety during online payment process; legal corridors for this type of payment are still under construction; online payment infrastructure.

- In 2007, JetStar Pacific was one of the first companies to allow customers to book tickets and pay online. And in the past 2 years, JetStar Pacific lost billions VND (more than 500,000 USD) because of risks during payment process.

- A recent survey of Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency on 50 e-commerce websites in Vietnam revealed that: (Frankly I don’t think Vietnam has that much so-called e-commerce websites)
+ 98% has information about products & services provided with prices but only 38% has a clear price structure.
+ 46% doesn’t have any transaction clause.
+ 98% doesn’t provide sufficient information about seller (name, age, phone number, email, business license, etc.) & 96% doesn’t have a policy to resolve contentions.
+ Only 12% publishes a policy to protect personal information.

13 Comments
18
Mar

I have a new profile, thanks to Facebook & FastCompany

   Posted by: Chip Tags: , ,

I don’t know if it’s ever happened to anyone, but this situation is kind of funny for me.

After signing in FastCompany with my Facebook account, I suddenly became Terry Cohen.

I’m Chip Huyen on Facebook, and I have nothing to do with Terry Cohen or Lynne d Johnson!

It’s funny, but it’s not a joke!

I don’t know whether I should distrust Facebook or FastWeb now, or maybe both!

3 Comments
19
Feb

Yahoo! Vietnam Ltd., is now on – An acquisition is expected

   Posted by: Chip Tags: , , ,

Rumors of Yahoo closes its offices to escape from Vietnam were settled off when Yahoo officially announced that it would open a subsidiary company here to better serve its sales & marketing strategies in this market. The move will take place on Feb 20. Vietnamese – languages websites will still be operated by Yahoo! Southeast Asia headquartering in Singapore. For more details, click here. or:

“Under Yahoo’s long-term plan, the company will implement many investment projects in Vietnam through the forthcoming subsidiary, and cooperate with some Vietnamese partners to establish a joint venture to localize its digital content for Vietnamese Internet users.” (SaigonTimes)

Seems like Yahoo! is trying its best to make money out ouf its 5th largest market in the world. Some acquisitions are negotiated, significantly is between VON (Vietnam Online Network) and Yahoo! Vietnam over the destiny of Timnhanh. After “dirty content” scandal on Timnhanh servers and  huge lay-off, it seems to be the best escape for Timnhanh. The price is not yet revealed, but it’s supposed to be much cheaper than unsuccesful negotiation one year ago. Looking forward to seeing Yume.vn to join Yahoo! 360 & Yahoo! 360 Plus family. (Someone from VON plz confirm that rumor).

About Yahoo! Vietnam & the market:

  • Yahoo! totally dominates Vietnamese Internet users with about 16M – 18M users (out of 20M Internet users in total) for all Yahoo! services.  Its locally relevant and essential services accessed by 90% of internet audience in the country.
  • Yahoo! Messenger is the most popular chat engine in Vietnam with approximately13M – 15M users.
  • Yahoo! Mail reaches out to most of the total internet users in Vietnam and is the most used personal email engine.
  • Yahoo! 360 in Vietnam has approximately 2M accounts out of 5M accounts of this services worldwide. (this one is not reliable)
  • Yahoo! Music for Vietnam was shut down last month (Jan ‘09) due to issues over music copyright, local partner selection and digital content.
3 Comments
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