SparkLabs Global Ventures' Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review 0428 2014

SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review
April 28, 2014
Weekly Highlights
Global Trends
Global tablet shipments drop 30% sequentially in 1Q14 Global tablet shipments reached only 58.6 million units in 1Q14, down almost 30% sequentially, but up 4.6% on year despite Samsung Electronics trying to boost both its high-end and entry-level tablet shipments and Lenovo pushing shipments to meet its fiscal 2013 targets. Seasonality, Apple seeing weaker sales, and the tablet market growing mature were also factors that affected shipment performance. Shipments of iPads suffered both on-year and sequential drops to reach 15.85 million units in the first quarter. Non-iPad tablet shipments were 22.31 million units, down 20% sequentially, but up over 30% on year thanks to strong demand for Samsung, Lenovo and Asustek's Windows-based models. White-box tablet shipments reached only 20.4 million units due to seasonality and labor shortages during the Lunar New Year holidays. Apple and Samsung remained the top-two vendors in 1Q14, but the two players' market share gap was less than 6pp. Lenovo was the third-largest vendor, followed closely by Asustek Computer in fourth. Global notebook shipments drop 5.5% on year in 1Q14; HP, Asustek, Apple enjoy growth Worldwide notebook shipments dropped 13.8% and 14.2% sequentially, and 6.8% and 5.5% on year, respectively in 1Q14, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures. The sequential drops were mainly due to seasonality. HP, Asustek Computer, Apple and Lenovo all achieved on-year growths in their first-quarter notebook shipments with the first three seeing growths of more than 10%. However, Acer, Samsung Electronics and Sony suffered on-year shipment declines higher than the market average in the first quarter. Acer has been restructuring its business, while Samsung and Sony have shifted their focuses away from the notebook market. The top-5 notebook ODMs' combined shipment performance was weaker than that of the overall industry. Foxconn Electronics, which landed orders for HP's educational procurement products, became the largest notebook supplier of HP in the first quarter with shipments growing over 100% to reach two million units. Akamai: Global average Internet speed grew 27% year-over-year to 3.8 Mbps, mobile traffic jumped by 70% Global average connection speeds have hit a new high, rising 27% YoY to 3.8 Mbps. At the same time, the demands of the mobile world continue to grow, with data traffic increasing by 70% in the last year. The latest figures come from Akamai, which published its quarterly State of the Internet report for Q4 2013. The firm listed 133 markets as experiencing an increase in average connection speeds YoY, ranging from 0.7% in Lebanon (to 1.3 Mbps) to a 164% rise in Runion (to 6.4 Mbps). Only seven countries saw their average connection speeds decrease QoQ, with losses of more than 20% in Lesotho, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates (to 1.4 Mbps, 1.4 Mbps, and 4.2 Mbps respectively.) All of the top 10 countries/regions saw double-digit percentage growth YoY, but only six saw growth QoQ.
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 1

April 28, 2014
Asia Pacific
China
Alibabas profit doubles to $1.36 billion in Q4 ahead of long-awaited IPO As the tech world awaits Alibabas US IPO, here are some new financial figures to chew on. The Chinese ecommerce juggernaut pulled in US$3.06 billion in revenue in Q4 2013, which is up 66% on the same period a year before. Alibabas Q4 net income hit $1.36 billion in net income in Q4, which has more than doubled (up 110%) from the previous year. Alibabas Q4 numbers were boosted by the popularity of Chinas equivalent of Cyber Monday, which happens every November 11. On that day, Alibabas Tmall and Taobao marketplaces saw $5.7 billion spent by shoppers in just 24 hours. Alibaba has selected New York over Hong Kong for its IPO, but the company has yet to file its prospectus with the US SEC, so theres no timetable for its public listing. Alibabas IPO will be the second largest to hit the stock markets after Facebook. China has 10 times more people, but Japan still outspends on iOS apps China downloads the second most iOS apps in the world after the US, but it still spends less money on them than the much less-populated Japan, according to App Annie. The app analytics companys new Q1 2014 report says China could be catching up to Japan, however, showing exceptional gains in both downloads and revenue. iOS App Store revenue in China grew around 70% last quarter. In 1Q14, Chinas revenue growth was stronger than download growth for the first time. Games accounted for the majority of that rise, followed by travel and social networking apps. App Annie notes much of the revenue growth in games came from WeChats gaming platform. Per capita, the Chinese still have a long way to go before theyre paying as much for apps and mobile content as the Japanese. But as a whole the Chinese market could soon usurp Japan to be second biggest spender worldwide. Candy Crush Saga hits China with upcoming tie-in on Tencents WeChat The Wall Street Journal reported that Candy Crush Saga, the mega-hit mobile game made by Londonbased King Digital Entertainment, will be integrated into Tencents wildly popular WeChat messaging app. Tencent said that the localized game will be released this summer. Candy Crush Saga is already available for download in China through the App Store and some domestic Android app stores, including Baidus. However, Chinese versions of Candy Crush dont contain the social sharing features that helped the game go viral in international markets. WeChat currently has over 355 million monthly active users, the majority of whom likely reside in China. Revenues from WeChat currently make up only a small percentage of Tencents overall revenues, but that looks set to change as games like Candy Crush Saga make their way onto app, and as merchants large and small sign up for its payment services. Weibo disappoints with low IPO debut, but shares climb after cold start After a downsized and undersubscribed share offering, Sina Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) planned to hit Wall Street at the lower end of its price range, starting at $17 per share. But when the Weibo IPO finally took off two and a half hours after trading began on Wall Street, Weibos shares debuted at a mere $16.27. The share price soon climbed up gradually, and closed its first day of trading at a healthy $20.24. Weibo has 143.8 million monthly active users (March 2014), versus 241 million MAUs on Twitter (Q4 2013). Their relative valuation is very far apart, however. Weibos IPO debut means that its valued at about $3.4 billion but thats in contrast to Twitters (NYSE:TWTR) current cap of $26.8 billion. Alibabas Alipay payment service says konichiwa to Japan as it inks deal with Rakuten Alipay, Chinas popular third-party payment service from tech giant Alibaba, will now be integrated onto Rakuten Global Market, the international e-commerce branch of Japans Amazon. According to an official statement from Rakuten, 250 shops on Rakuten Global Market will open up transactions with Alipay, though the company intends to increase that number gradually. Currently, 10,000 of Rakutens 42,000 domestic vendors sell goods internationally on Rakuten Global Market. Alipay processed a total of over $150 billion in transactions by the end of 2013, exceeding the combined volume of purchases on US-based rivals PayPal and Square by about threefold. Tesla begins sales in China, plans to assemble cars at Chinese factory in future Exactly seven months after first taking pre-orders from hopeful Chinese customers, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is

April 28, 2014 starting sales and shipments in China today (April 22). Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is in China for the launch. Speaking yesterday at an event in Beijings Geekpark, Musk said the fledgling automaker will be establishing local manufacturing in China at some point in the next three or four years, reports Bloomberg. Manufacturing the cars within mainland China will allow Tesla to avoid the 25% import duties that it currently faces. But local car assembly by law necessitates a Chinese joint-venture partner something Mercedes and BMW already do in China. The Model S starts at RMB 734,000 (US$119,000) in China. Its pricey compared to the cars US price-tag ($71,000). Xiaomi set to expand into 10 more countries this year, including India, Indonesia, and Brazil Xiaomi founder Lei Jun confirmed that the company would expand internationally in full force. Specifically, he claimed that the company will enter no less than 10 countries this year (Malaysia, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, and Brazil). Earlier this month Xiaomis Hugo Barra listed a few of these territories as upcoming destinations for the company. Xiaomi is aiming to sell a total of 60 million smartphones over the course of this year, more than three times the number it sold in 2013. OnePlus One is a Xiaomi killer, set to launch in 16 countries next month Chinas newest smartphone maker, OnePlus, unveiled its first-ever flagship phone in Beijing today at a price equal to Xiaomis flagship Mi3 in China, RMB 2,000 (US$330) for the 16GB version and RMB 2,300 (US$368) for the 64GB. The phone officially goes on sale in China on May 28 on JD and Yixun. The international version of the OnePlus will be even cheaper, retailing at just $299. Moreover, its shipping to Western markets that Xiaomi hasnt dared touch yet. OnePlus plans to sell the phone directly to global buyers via its website starting sometime around late May in 15 countries Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Unfortunately, they will only be available in those markets via invite for the foreseeable future. Uber now in 100 cities worldwide as limo service rolls into Beijing Eight months after first launching in the Chinese city of Shanghai, Uber has now rolled into Beijing. As is Ubers usual strategy, the Beijing debut is a quiet soft launch ahead of a more high-profile entrance at a later date. Uber gave rides to two Beijing luminaries earlier today local tech blogger Keso, and Beijing newbie Hugo Barra, the Googler whos now heading the global push at phone-maker Xiaomi. The arrival in Beijing marks Ubers 100th city around the world. Uber now covers five Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Its minimum fare in Beijing is RMB 30, which is US$4.80. Apples greater China revenues approach a record $10 billion, flagship stores to triple in two years Apple revealed it generated revenues of $45.6 billion over the three month period the companys strongest non-holiday quarter ever. In particular, the company had strong performances in Japan, where revenue grew 26% YoY, and in greater China, where revenues grew 13% YoY. According to Cook, sales for iPhones and Macs exceeded expectations from research firm IDC. iPhone sales increased 28% from the previous quarter, far over IDCs estimated 20%, while Mac sales were up 13%, way above IDCs estimated -8%. Total revenues for the region (which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong) hit a record $9.8 billion. This strong growth in greater China appears to originate in part from Apples deal with China Mobile, the worlds largest telecom with over 1.24 billion subscribers. In January, Apple partnered with China Mobile to make its iPhone devices, including the recently launched 5S and 5C, available for subsidy when purchased with calling and data plan bundles. Cook revealed that the company intends to triple the number of Apple stores it has in greater China over the next two years, and will continue to build out channels and expand in online. Currently, Apple has 10 flagship stores in mainland China, and an additional three in Hong Kong. It also has an official estore on Alibabas Tmall. Baidu rebrands online finance service, introduces loans Baidu officially rebranded its financial services branch changing the name from Baidu Licai to Baidu Jinrong. The name change comes with a slew of upgrades for the search giants financial platform, including a new personal loan service. Users can borrow up to ten times their monthly income and pay it back over a maximum of three years. Baidu is limited to 500,000 concurrent applications, which are divided into credit loans and mortgages. Baidu claims it can approve a loan application in as little as five minutes. Baidu Finance has seen strong growth so far, exceeding RMB 30 billion (US$4.8 billion) in daily transactions in December last year, up RMB 20 billion (US$3.2 billion) from October. In addition to loans, Baidu plans to launch a mobile payment

April 28, 2014 insurance service that will reimburse customers up to RMB 100,000 (US$16,000) annually if their payment information is compromised and it results in a monetary loss. China Mobile sees profit drop in increasingly fierce environment China Mobile has reported an increase in operating revenue in 1Q14. Operating revenue for the quarter grew 7.8% YoY, from RMB143.63bn ($23.02bn) to RMB154.83bn. However, profit attributable to shareholders fell 9.4% YoY from RMB27.88bn to RMB25.24bn under continuously increasing pressure in infrastructure resources allocation and cost control. Despite the decline in profit, China Mobile said it saw an increase of 13.88 million subscribers since 4Q13, to reach 781.08 million in total. However, average revenue per user declined since the previous quarter, from RMB68 to RMB62. Despite the decline in profit, China Mobile said it saw an increase of 13.88 million subscribers since 4Q13, to reach 781.08 million in total. However, average revenue per user declined since the previous quarter, from RMB68 to RMB62.
Korea
KakaoTalk reveals it has 140 million users, made $203 million in revenue last year Korean chat app company, Kakao, has disclosed that its 2013 revenue hit $203 million, netting $59 million in profits. 84% of the revenue was generated from commission through games, commerce, and digital content. The remaining revenue was generated from ads. Compared to 2012, Kakaos revenue grew by 4.6 times while profit grew by 10 times in 2013. Total registered user count on KakaoTalk is at 140 million with over 426 games on its games platform contributed by 217 game developers and partners. Despite posting strong figures, Kakaos revenue still falls behind Line which reported $338 million in revenue in 2013. Line also boasts to have over 350 million registered users. Line, though, remains mum about its profit. South Koreas top 10 most valuable tech startups 1. KakaoTalk ($2-3 billion): Kakao, maker of the popular KakaoTalk messaging app, is one of the most successful startup companies the country has ever produced. KakaoTalk is more than just a messaging app, and it now serves as a mobile-only platform and portal for things like social gaming, ebooks, and music streaming. Equity in Kakao was recently traded in the OTC market at $70 to $80 per share, which roughly adds up to $2 billion in total value. From a growth perspective, we estimate a total valuation of $5 billion, after applying the industry average sales-to-price ratio of 0.1 to Kakaos estimated revenue of $500 million in 2015. However, with their business slightly stalling at the moment, experts believe that Kakaos value will be in the lower range. Kakao is looking to IPO, probably next year. 2. Coupang ($350 million): Coupang is a daily deals, flash sales, and social ecommerce site operated by Forward Ventures, a US-based company. In 2012, Business Insider placed Coupang 37th in its top 100 of the worlds most valuable privately-held tech companies. Coupang supposedly commanded $550 million in value at that time, but the data in the article was not validated in the right way. Considering a slight downward turn in the online deals industry in Korea, Coupangs value may need to be heavily discounted from earlier estimates. 3. Ticket Monster ($300 million): Ticket Monsters value can be more precisely measured as it has been involved in some major transactions. In 2011, the company was acquired by LivingSocial for $300 million, and later by Groupon for $260 million. Right now, the company should be valued roughly around the same amount. At the time Ticket Monster was acquired, the valuation seemed somewhat underpriced. That was mainly because Ticket Monster had some financial issues at that time, and the overall industry trend for ecommerce was downwards. Currently, Ticket Monster seems to be stable and has succeeded in trimming some of its previous losses. 4. WeMakePrice ($200 million): According to public filings in 2012, Min Huh, the former CEO of WeMakePrice, owns 100% of the company. Due to a lack of external investments, its a bit difficult to measure the value of this daily deals site. Recently, WeMakePrices operational activities have been growing thanks to its aggressive marketing strategy. However, we assume that this created some pressure on its financials. Based on peer group analysis, the companys fair value should be around $200 million, slightly below arch-rival Ticket Monster.

April 28, 2014
5. SundayToz ($160 million): SundayToz (123420:KOSDAQ), the game developer behind casual gaming smash-hits like Anipang, filed for its IPO last November. It currently has a market value of around $160 million. Its share price has been skyrocketing in the past few months, despite a recent copyright scandal. Although some mobile gaming companies have been suffering lately, SundayToz is still standing strong, in part thanks to the successful sequel, Anipang 2. Many SundayToz games are boosted by their integration with KakaoTalks social gaming platform something that helped make Anipang a hit when KakaoTalk first ventured into social gaming in July 2012. Last month another gaming giant in Korea, Smilegate, acquired a 20% stake in SundayToz for $112 million.
Japan
Tokyo Otaku Mode gets series A funding to grow its anime estore Anime fan-site turned ecommerce portal Tokyo Otaku Mode has got its hands on series A funding worth JPY 270 million (US$2.64 million). The Bridge reports the investment was led by previous investor Itochu Technogy Ventures, with 500 Startups throwing in some cash alongside Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Sun Eight Investment, and GaiaX Global Marketing Ventures. US-based 500 Startups has contributed seed-stage funding in the past to Tokyo Otaku Mode. Founded in March 2011 as a Facebook page for people obsessed with manga, anime, and other subcultures, Tokyo Otaku Mode has more recently expanded into a global online store for cutesy item. It sells a mix of merchandise alongside rare collectibles like limited edition prints from manga authors. A range of Dragonball original drawings are on sale on Tokyo Otaku Mode for $189 a pop. Music startup Beatrobo gets $1.1 million funding to reinvent the mixtape Japanese convenience store chain Lawson announced its US$1.1 million series A investment in Tokyo-based startup Beatrobo. Beatrobo is a global, social music service that uses customizable robot avatars as a conduit for sharing songs and discovering new artists. The companys first attempt at hardware, PlugAir, may become the digital mixtape of the future. The tiny device plugs into a mobile devices earphone jack and acts as a key for instantly downloading music. For Beatrobo, the Lawson partnership solves two key hurdles for bringing PlugAir to the world: mass production and distribution. Beatrobo will license the PlugAir patent through Lawson, and that will open up a whole new world of merchandising opportunities. Accounting SaaS startup freee nets $8 million in funding, aims for one million SMBs in Japan Japans top accounting SaaS startup, freee, has netted US$8 million in series B funding from DCM and Infinity Venture Partners (IVP). IVP previously invested in freee. Freee is integrated with over 1,600 banks in Japan, making accounting easier to manage without too much data entry. A company accountant just has to approve the bills. Freee also helps small businesses generate tax reports in a few clicks for tax submissions to authorities. Founded by Daisuke Sasaki and Ryu Yokoji in July 2012, freee is currently used by over 70,000 small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). According to Sasaki, CEO of Freee, freee is aiming for one million SMBs to use its product before expanding to other Asian markets next year.
India
Indian media giant gobbles up restaurant booking startup to merge with online food portal Times Internet, the online subsidiary of The Times of India Group, announced that it has acquired the restaurant reservations startup Dineout, which covers a number of restaurants in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. Dineout had previously partnered up with Times Internets TimesCity, a web portal for restaurant and venue reviews and listings, to add in restaurant bookings. That partnership has now been formalized with this buy-out. The financial terms of the acquisition havent been revealed. Dineout claims to have made reservations for 200,000 diners in the two years since it started up. TimesCity now covers listings, reviews, bookings, and also online food ordering. That makes the massive web portal a challenger to listings sites like Zomato as well as the online food ordering service Foodpanda. Yatra gets $23 million funding to battle in Indias increasingly tough travel booking market Indian online travel site Yatra has revealed that it has raised a Rs 140 crore (US$23 million) funding round led

April 28, 2014 by IDG Ventures, Vertex Ventures, along with its seed investor Norwest Venture Partners. Yatra will use this fresh investment to push the companys growth plans. That will include strategic investments in mobile technology. It may do this through acquisitions of smaller startups, as it did with Travelguru. Dhruv Shringi, Yatras co-founder and CEO, said that his company has been growing consistently and is focused to expand its market reach as well diversifying in terms of hotels and holiday package tours. Indias Economic Times says that institutional investors now hold an 80% stake in Yatra. The newspaper believes Yatra is now valued at $400 million, but that number hasnt been confirmed by the company itself. WhatsApp doubles its numbers in India in past 6 months, now has 50 million active users WhatsApp is reinforcing its stance as the worlds top messaging app with a bunch of new numbers that show how its still growing. Facebook owned WhatsApp now has 500 million monthly active users (MAUs) and, according to its blog, the app has grown fastest in countries like Brazil, India, Mexico, and Russia. WhatsApps Neeraj Arora said that it now has 48 million monthly active users in India. Rounding that up to 50 million, thats double the 25 million it had in India five and a half months ago. Other messaging apps, most notably WeChat, Line, and Viber, are battling for Indias mobile-first web users on both smartphones and more basic feature phones. But WhatsApp is leading the way in India. The social media numbers out of India look set to continue growing as the nations smartphone market and 3G user-ship are still at fairly early stages. 44 million new smartphones shipped in India in 2013, but feature phones still prevail for now. Amazon woos merchants in India, helps deliver items faster to shoppers In a bid to reach out to more online merchants in India, Amazon India announced two initiatives that will help make life easier for its third-party sellers. Its a move by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to woo some merchants away from rival Indian sites such as Flipkart and Snapdeal. The two new things are all about speed for Amazons online sellers in India. Now they can make use of Self Service Registration (SSR) and Amazon Easy Ship. That first one allows merchants to sell their products and items on Amazon immediately after signing up. Amazon Easy Ship helps sellers with logistics because Amazon will directly pick up products ordered by customers from the merchants warehouse and deliver them straight to the final destination. It will also speed up delivery times for shoppers in India an important thing in the growing battle for new customers. Amazon first launched in India in June last year. Flipkart remains the ecommerce market leader in India.
Indonesia
Indonesias central bank seeks to boost epayments industry with updated regulations Epayments are taking off in Indonesia as ecommerce grows in country. That has caused the Bank of Indonesia to revise its regulations governing the nations epayment services. The central bank recently reported that there are an average of 420,000 daily transactions with total value of IDR 8.7 billion (US$762,000) using epayment tools. There are currently 17 online payment companies in Indonesia. Indotelko reported some of the important revisions inside the regulations. Epayment players are no longer allowed to strike exclusive partnerships. This means any company can cooperate with multiple epayment tools at the same time. Another revision deals with the minimum balance that customers need to keep inside an epayment service when withdrawing the money. That minimum balance has now been reduced to zero. Rocket Internet and Qatars Ooredoo team up to create an ecommerce empire in Asia Qatari telco Ooredoo and ecommerce venture firm Rocket Internet announced the two massive companies will partner to jointly develop online businesses in Asia. The two firms will join forces to create Asia Internet Holding, which will cover Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Australia. The companys ventures will range from online retail and marketplaces to payment services. The partially state-owned Ooredoo was previously known as both Qtel and Qatar Telcom, but rebranded in March 2013. The amount of capital that will go into Asia Internet Holding has not been disclosed, but the deal is expected to receive regulatory approval sometime this quarter.
Taiwan

April 28, 2014 Taiwan market: Ambit 4G infrastructure plan raises security concern over Huawei equipment Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) has not yet approved the infrastructure construction plan proposed by Ambit Microsystems, one of the country's six 4G mobile communication licensees, because the firm's plan to adopt base station equipment produced by China-based Huawei Technologies has raised national security concerns, according to NCC. The concern is in tandem with the US and UK governments' bans on companies procuring ICT equipment from Huawei due to risks to national security, according to industry sources in Taiwan. The other five licensees have not listed Huawei among their equipment suppliers and their 4G network establishment plans have obtained NCC approval, the sources indicated.
Thailand
Some Bitcoin enthusiasts want to hijack the symbol for Thailands currency According to the Bitcoin community on Reddit, there are some Bitcoin enthusiasts who want to use !, the symbol for Thailands currency the Baht, as the sign for Bitcoin. This discussion came as Bitcoin has gained popularity around the world but theres no official symbol that represents this cryptocurrency yet. Many alternatives have been suggested, but an unanimous decision has not been reached. The most popular one so far is the B with two lines, but that cant actually be typed on keyboard while the Thai Baht (!) can. Proponents suggest that the Unicode sign should be recognizable like other currency symbols ($ ! ), yet it should be distinct from the Baht. That should actually make using the ! out of the question. As of last month, the Bank of Thailand ruled Bitcoin not a currency and warned Thai citizens to avoid using it as a means of payment. Rakuten Tarad founder predicts this is the year of m-commerce in Thailand According to Rakuten Tarad, the Thai branch of the Japanese eshopping titan, the site saw that over 53% of its viewers in Thailand are on mobile thats from January to March this year. That means the estore has crossed over from mostly PC to mostly mobile visitors. Rakuten Tarad saw growth in sale of 80% and website visit of 105% in the same period of time. But the company declined to reveal the ratio of mobile-based purchases on the Thai site. Rakutens (JSD:4755) Thailand estore has had success when it partnered with mobile chat app Line to run a sales promotion. That involved mobile-only purchases. Thus the company is optimistic about mcommerce shopping this year.
Singapore
Singapore government to pump $48 million into six venture capital funds The Singapore government has selected six venture capital firms to each receive S$10 million (US$7.9 million) in taxpayers money under the Early Stage Venture Fund (ESVF) scheme. The money will be matched on a one-to-one basis with the VC firms own funds, which will be used for investments into Series A level startups. In total, S$120 million (US$96 million) worth of government and private sector money will be plowed into innovative young technology companies. The six selected venture capital funds are: Jungle Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, Walden International, SBI Ven Capital, New Asia Investments, and Monks Hill Ventures. This is the second time the government is running the ESVF in which the state becomes a limited partner in selected VC firms. The first was launched in 2008, and involved a S$50 million cash infusion from the state.
United States
Microsoft lags behind Sony, with 5 million Xbox Ones shipped Yesterday, Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 has sold 7 million units at retail. Today, Microsoft shared its numbers, which are less rosy: 5 million Xbox Ones have been shipped to retailers. The company did not specify what percentage of that stock has been sold through to consumers. The company was quick to point out that the console's sales are outpacing the Xbox 360's at the same point in its lifespan -- by a robust 60% but didn't address the gap between its sales and Sony's.

April 28, 2014 Facebook Launches 'Nearby Friends' Location Feature for Meet-Ups IRL Facebook announced Nearby Friends, a new feature built into Facebook's mobile app that allows you to see which of your friends are close by, and even share your exact location with others. The new feature uses the geolocation technology in a smart phone to determine when users are close to one of their Facebook friends. When activated, the feature will send periodic notifications alerting them to friends who are nearby. The new feature is opt-in, meaning users will need to activate it within the app, should they choose to participate. Users who do not activate Nearby Friends won't be affected in any way, and will not share with or receive any location information from others on the platform. Facebook Q1 revenue grows 72 percent on rising mobile ads Facebook Inc's mobile advertising business accelerated in the first three months of the year, helping the Internet social networking company top Wall Street's financial targets. Facebook said that mobile ads represented 59% of its ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 30% in the year-ago period. Facebook's overall revenue grew 72% YoY to $2.5 billion in the first quarter, above the $2.36 billion expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The companys total number of monthly active users reached 1.28 billion as of March 31, with 1.01 billion of those users accessing its service on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Apple reports $45.6 billion revenue for Q2 2014: 43.7m iPhones, 16.3m iPads, 4.1m Macs, 2.7m iPods Apple announced its second quarter results for 2014 with revenue for the quarter coming in at $45.6 billion. Thats compared to the guidance it previously provided of $42 $44 billion and estimates by analysts averaging approximately $43.5B. Apples $45.6 billion in revenue is also up from the $43.6 billion in revenue in the year ago quarter. Break down of device sales for 2Q14 include 43.7m million iPhones, 16.3 million iPads, and 4.1 million Macs. Compare that to an average of 38M iPhones, 19.3M iPads, 4M Macs, and 3M iPods predicted by the analysts leading up to today. In the same quarter last year, Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads, just under 4 million Macs, and 5.6 million iPods. Apple is provided guidance for its next quarter of revenue between $36 billion and $38 billion. Apple Acquired 24 Companies Over Last 18 Months, 'We're On The Prowl' for More During its 2Q14 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple has purchased a total of 24 companies over the last 18 months, some that are known and some that remain unknown. Just over half of Apples acquisitions have come to light, which means the company has purchased a number of additional companies that have not been disclosed. So far in 2014, Apple acquired SnappyLabs, a company that produced a burst-mode photo app, and Burstly, the company behind the Testflight iOS beta testing platform. 2013 saw Apple acquire several different mapping apps, including BroadMap, Embark, HopStop, Locationary, and WiFiSlam, along with other notable additions like 3D company PrimeSense and Novauris, a speech recognition company. Back in October, Tim Cook noted Apple had completed 15 strategic acquisitions in 2013, pointing towards a number of new acquisitions already in 2014. Foxconn Sells Communications Technology Patents to Google Foxconn, which assembles gadgets for companies such as Apple, said it has sold a number of its communications technology patents to Google for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, the company said it has applied for 128,400 patents and has been granted more than 64,300 patents world-wide. Google, which is battling with Apple for mobile dominance, has continued to strengthen its patent portfolio through acquisitions. The Internet giant's purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2011 gave it a formidable patent portfolio, and protected its Android mobile operating system and partners from legal threat from competitors, including Apple and Microsoft. Website-Building Platform Weebly Raises $35M More Weebly, which offers easy-to-use tools for building websites, announced that it has raised $35 million in Series C funding. The money comes from previous investor Sequoia Capital and from Chinese company Tencent. Weebly CEO David Rusenko told the Wall Street Journal that the round valued his company at $455 million. With the support from Sequoia and Tencent, the company will make Weebly more accessible. It will continue to build an empowering technology platform that helps people turn ideas or passions into scalable businesses. The company says it has been used by 20 million people in every country in the world to build websites, blogs, and online stores. Competitor Squarespace announced last week that it had raised a $40 million Series B.

April 28, 2014 Blue Apron Cooks Up $50M From Stripes Group At $450M Valuation Blue Apron is raising $50 million Series C round led by Stripes Group, TechCrunch has learned. The latest round is based on a $450 million valuation, according to multiple sources. Blue Apron is a company that delivers fresh ingredients and recipes to your home for your cooking pleasure. Each meal costs $10/per person, and is delivered fresh with a full set of instructions to get cooking. As of March 2014, the company was serving up 500,000 meals per month, up from 100k meals/month in August 2013, so growth is apparent. The company also seems to have a $60 million revenue run rate, based on the latest figures for sales and price per plate. Up until now, Blue Apron has raised a total of $8 million, according to CrunchBase. Two earlier rounds were led by Bessemer Ventures, so its possible that Bessemer followed on for this round, but not likely.
Europe
Uber Ride-Sharing Service UberPOP Now Banned in Brussels Uber is slowly but surely expanding its ride-sharing service UberPOP in Europe before Lyft expands to Europe. After opening first in Paris, the company recently launched UberPOP in Brussels, Berlin and Barcelona. But the company is facing legal opposition in Brussels as UberPOP is now banned in Brussels. Uber will receive a $13,800 fine (!10,000) any time a car is found to be operating under its UberPOP service. The company probably has no choice but to stop operating in Brussels. The traditional black car service was already banned in Brussels, thats why Uber opted for its low key, regulation-friendly UberPOP service. The Currency Cloud, An API-Based Money Mover, Raises Another $10M The Currency Cloud, which provides an API that end user-facing companies use for cross-currency transfers, has raised a $10 million Series B round of funding from existing investors Atlas Venture, Anthemis Group, Notion Capital and XAnge Private Equity. Silicon Valley Bank also provided an unspecified, further line of capital. Mike Laven, the CEO of Currency Cloud, says that the funding will be used to expand the Londonbased, European-heavy business internationally, and specifically into the the U.S. Currently the startup is processing around $400 million of payments each month with payment processing currently growing a twelvefold rate YoY. This latest round brings the total raised by The Currency Cloud to $19 million since 2012. The London Fintech Boom Globally, fintech investment has more than tripled over the past three years, according to a recent study by Accenture. Its risen from $928 million in 2008 to $2.97 billion in 2013. Fintech investment has increased at more than four times the rate of overall VC investment. The U.S. is still the dominant market for fintech investment value, but the fastest growing region for fintech deals is now the combination of the U.K. and Ireland, where deal-volume has been growing at an annualized rate of 74% since 2008 vs 27% globally and 13% in Silicon Valley. Whats rarely discussed is that fintech companies often based themselves in Ireland to take advantage of the low tax regime, but then sell into Londons enormous financial markets. In London the biggest so far is TransferWise, which has announced it transferred over a 1 billion (1,000 million) since launching only three years ago. TransferWise is backed by Peter Thiels Valar Ventures, SV Angel, IA Ventures, Index, Seedcamp, and TAG. Work4 Raises $7M To Rival Job Sites With Its Social Network-Based Recruitment App Work4, an online recruitment startup that uses social networks to advertise and find leads for job vacancies, has picked up another $7 million in funding that it plans to use to expand further into markets outside the U.S., and the scope of its product. The Series B round was led by new investor, the French VC Serena Capital, with participation also from existing investor Matrix Partners. Prior to this, Work4 had raised $11 million from Matrix as well as a number of prominent, strategic individuals, including Yuri Milner, former Monster.com president Steve Pogorzelski, and Hearsay Social co-founder and CEO Clara Shih. Work4 already works with thousands of businesses such as Gap, AIG, Intel, LOreal, Groupon and Hard Rock Caf, and has shared some 12 million jobs to date, up 29-fold since June 2013. Two-thirds of traffic currently comes from the U.S., with the top-two traffic sources Facebook and Twitter. Urban Transport App, Citymapper, Pulls In $10M, Led By Balderton, To Roll Into More Cities Urban transport app Citymapper has just announced a new Series A funding round of $10 million, led by Balderton Capital. Connect Ventures (Bill Earner), Index Ventures (Robin Klein) and Greylock Partners (Laurel

April 28, 2014 Bowden), also participated in the round, along with as a number of unnamed angels. The startup said it plans to use the new funding for launching in new cities, and expanding the team. The urban transport app, which is currently live in London, New York, Berlin and Paris, is designed to help users figure out the best way to get around a city pulling in live public transport data and drawing on all available multi-modal options, from buses, subways and taxis to bikes and even walking, to suggest potential routes to get to your destination. Rocket Internets Carmudi, A Car Classifieds Site, Grabs $10M In New Funding To Expand In Asia Asian car classified ads company Carmudi, a Rocket Internet- backed startup raised $10M for its expansion in more Asian cities. Investors include Tengelmann Ventures, the investment arm of the German retail giant. Its network currently operates in 11 countries, with the majority in Asia - Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia. The recently launched startup claims to have grown its listings up to 200% every month, reaching at least 100,000 across the globe. However, a report states t that in the fiscal year ending June 30, the company lost $2.78 million, far above its revenue of $551,000. CEO Damon Reilly declares the loss as necessary flow for its rapid expansion. This is what Rocket Internet is trying to achieve too- launching in emerging markets, especially mobile- centric marketplaces, and rapidly grow with Tengelmann's support. According to Carmudi's global managing director and co- founder Stefan Haubold, the recent funding will be used to further expand its growth in Asia, making them the topnotch online vehicle market in Asia. For the moment, he believes that the site is a one- stop shop for all car- related issues, from tips, reviews to news and current events. Delivery Hero Gobbles Another $85M To Fuel A Price War With Just-Eat Delivery Hero, an online food delivery ordering service, has announced it has raised $85 million in Series F funding, which was led by Luxor Capital Group. Delivery Hero plans to use the funding to defend its leading position in key markets, especially in its home market of Germany. The money will also go towards marketing and price discounts for customers. Delivery Hero raised around $285 million since launching in 2011 and over $170 million of this amount was this year alone. Delivery Hero also eventually plans to go public. That will likely happen in 2015 or later. Delivery Hero works with around 60,000 restaurants in its network across 14 countries. Its network of restaurants collectively generate over half a billion dollars in sales annually and 5 million meals are delivered each month. European tech blog Tech.eu raises !150K from angels Tech.eu, one of the very few tech blogs that covers European tech scene with in-depth analyses in English, has raised !150,000 of seed funding from a group of individual angel investors that include Dave McClures 500 Startups and Adeo Rossi of Founders Institute from the Silicon Valley. The company said that they raised funding because they didnt want to have to think about getting as much traffic and advertising money as possible from day one, and build a sustainable business that doesnt necessarily rely on that. In addition to McClure and Rossi, the incomplete list of investors also include Tim OShea, Doug Scott, Toon Vanagt, Cedric Kutlu, T-REGS, Simon McDermott, Oriol Juncosa, Daniel Waterhouse and Carlos Eduardo Espinal. Microsoft completes Nokia acquisition Microsoft has completed its acquisition of the Nokia devices and services business following approval from Nokia shareholders and global governmental regulatory bodies, the two companies announced recently. Microsoft announced on Sept. 3 its intention to acquire Nokia for a total of !5.44 billion ($7.5 billion) in cash. The deal consisted of !3.79 billion (approximately $5 billion) along with an agreement to license Nokia's patents for !1.65 billion ($2.17 billion). As recent adjustments for net working capital and cash earnings were positive for Nokia, the company now expects the final price to be "slightly higher" than !5.44 billion. Under the acquisition, Nokia's president and CEO, Stephen Elop, will rejoin Microsoft as executive vice president of the Microsoft Devices Group and report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The group is responsible for Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products and accessories.

SparkLabs Global Ventures' Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review 0428 2014

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

SparkLabs Global Ventures' Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review 0428 2014

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review

April 28, 2014