During this Meet Taipei event, there were many international startups participating in the exhibition. We had a chance to talk with them and found that many startups are paying more and more attention to digital technology. Most of them are expanding to Southeast Asia. What impact does digital technology have on the Southeast Asian market? Let’s unveil why Southeast Asia will become the next cradle of digital technology.
【Make The Matrix learning style possible】
MUJUN, a 3D martial arts training App found by the Hong Kong company, uses motion capture and 3D scanning technology to record and preserve the masters’ action, creating a 3D video for martial artists. The users could freely adjust the video perspective and control the video speed, which resolves the problem of 2D video blind spot to imitate and follow the movement more precisely. MUJUN shares that not only Chinese love martial art, but also other Asia, American and European countries are full of interests in this sport. In the future, MUJUN desires to expend their business into ASEAN for not only promoting Chinese martial arts but also recording unique martial arts in Southeast Asian countries, for example, “Silat” from Malaysia, “Kalarippayattu” from India. MUJUN hopes to use technology to promote traditional martial art to the world.
【 Breakthrough the dilemma of foreign tutoring in Taiwan】
A learning platform for foreign language tutors and Taiwanese families, TUTEEMI, was found by a Guatemalan and Taiwanese teacher. They found out that the demand for foreign language tutors is increasing; however, most of the foreign teachers are not familiar with Chinese, tutor-seeking websites and other resources. TUTEEMI resolves the language and culture problem to build a safe and reliable platform for foreign tutors and locals. TUTEEMI also provides customized lessons for tutors to meet each student’s specific needs. The language tutor service includes English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Now, they are eagerly looking for Southeast Asian language teachers to solve the problem of insufficient language talents for the Taiwanese government and enterprises to the Southeast Asian market. TUTEEMI has been one of STARTBOARD members. After numerous meetings, they’ve built their official website and a working prototype. TUTEEMI also won the third prize in Dragons’ Chamber 6 minutes pitch competition.
【 Create your own Gaming competition 】
Bountie is a startup from Singapore. Because the e-sports market has already become an international event and South Asia’s rapid growth in internet penetration rate, Southeast Asia has become a key development area for the e-sports market.
Bountie observed this trend and they thought holding e-sports games should not only be a privilege for major gaming companies.With Bountie and its gaming platform, gamers can participate in different e-sports events and top gamers can be rewarded in Bountie Tokens. Organizers and gamers can use Bountie to create and join free-to-play Tournaments that are available through all year round. At Singapore headquarters, they created an e-sports arena, hoping to build Southeast Asia’s e-sports network and create the largest e-sports market in Asia.
【Golfing is Easier than Making Reservation in Thailand】
Golfdigg, a startup founded in 2014 in Thailand, is a platform to quickly and easily book golf service online at over 150 golf courses. The advantages of Golfdigg are real-time, twenty-four-seven and provide the reservation service; its business is scalable and runs by a strong IT team. With the season and time changed, it provides up to 80% off discount to their members to meet fluctuated demands. Golfdigg has cooperated with the Thai Golf Course Business Association and has more than 50,000 premium members. In the near future, they hope to replicate their success story to Taiwan’s golf courses.
【Connection with ASEAN Talents】
STARTBOARD sincerely thanks to Meet Taipei and Business Next Media Corp. for the invitation to be an exhibitor. STARTBOARD has been assisted 30 startup teams to get entrepreneurial VISA, file company registration, provide intellectual property and legal advice. We also work with Taiwanese enterprises to expend their business into ASEAN and this demand is increasing exponentially. STARTBOARD observed this pain point and developed our core value – nurturing international talents to start their career or business in Taiwan and supporting Taiwanese to land their business abroad. So far, STARTBOARD has more than twenty thousand Facebook followers specialized in ASEAN and international communities in Taiwan including startups, government, corporations and media personnel, etc. Through this platform, STARTBOARD desire to answer different needs of foreign entrepreneurs, and to provide a platform for all stakeholders to co-brand and promote themselves.
【Southeast Asia’s Growing E-commerce Market】
From Meet Taipei 2019, we could see the power of innovation in Asia and the outline of the future market trend.
The overall Asian innovation industry is moving to the next stage, where Taiwan’s market is the natural base for expending into the wider Southeast Asia market.
The charm of the Southeast Asian market derives from its demographic dividend and the increasing Internet penetration rate driven by governments which lead to consumption habits change. To answer the change, the next rising star will be in the e-commerce or mobile service industry and those will be the key point to find the spot in the flourishing Southeast Asia market. Enterprises should take the priority of adding more language services (EX: English, Thai, and Hindi) on their websites and social media channels.
From the startups in the exhibition, we can find that the online platform is the basis for the virtual connection between the customer and the related physical services (EX: tutor, sports, video games, costume, pet consultation, restaurant, restaurant waiting time…etc.). Beside effectively reducing the cost of physical services, it is also easier to replicate and rapidly expand the market overseas.