月份: 2020 年 6 月

In 2020, under the influence of the epidemic, it brings an impact on many companies, especially startups. In addition to the impact of the global economic environment and changes in consumer habits, business development is not easy and operating income has shrunk. However, some startups have proposed and implemented related services or products in response to the virus outbreak. Therefore, STARTBOARD invited 5 international startup teams (Daione, Skrt, Alion, INNOVIZ, Tuteemi) and 3 venture capitals (United Daily News , CSC Venture Capital and Sky Capital) to hold an investor meetup event, In addition to letting the startup teams share the services or products developed in response to the epidemic era, venture capital can also combine the experience of connect with various startup teams in the past, sharing the perspective of consumer psychology to provide startups more Oriented recommendations.

<The reborn of tourism industry>

For the tourism industry facing the greatest challenge, it is necessary to adjust strategies in a timely manner to cope with the current situation. In Taiwan where the epidemic situation is relatively well controlled, there are three international start-ups that have launched related services for tourism:

Daione is a cross-border marketing company, with the cross-border and word-of-mouth marketing system as the core, through the matchmaking network celebrity (KOL) to promote client’s resort or store, with the influence of the celebrity’s image, and the cross-border marketing software “Daione cross-border word-of-mouth marketing tool” to provide a marketing exposure solution that best fits the country’s online ecology, allowing merchants to improve the visibility of the international market and become a must-visit place for tourists, while allowing free-travel visitors to grow multiples of shops.

SKRT is a motorcycle and scooter rental platform. Taiwan as the country with the highest density of scooters, has spawned many scooters and electric vehicle rental platforms (WeMo, iRent, Goshare). These platforms usually target urban commuters, while SKRT is particularly Taiwan’s domestic tourist attractions are the target market, focusing on matching owners of scooters and customers or tourism who need to rent one.

Alion is a smart multinational shopping platform system. Through the combination of e-commerce and multinational local merchants, it provides tourisms with fast online purchase and pickup, they only need to go to the store to pick up the goods in person. The multi-channel shopping method of “easy online shopping and fast delivery” of multiple multinational stores can not only increase the efficiency of travelers’ shopping, but also increase the exposure of local stores and create online revenue.

<New weapon for enterprises to against the epidemic- Virtual Reality >

Innoviz is a multinational VR/AR company with a partnership between Taiwan and Vietnam. It takes corporate education and training as the core. In order to make the company’s operation more efficient and commit to employee’s safety, many companies spent a lot of time and cost of training employees. Ex: factory production line operation and logistics management, due to the impact of the epidemic, which made it impossible to be onsite and actual operation in person, Innoviz took advantage of the immersive learning features of VR/AR, so that enterprise employees did not need to visit the actual site in person. Through augmented reality, they can also achieve the training effect.

<New part-time job solution for foreigners in Taiwan>

Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, most countries currently have set a restriction of arrival and departure. As a result, many foreigners in Taiwan are automatically extended their visas, but in fact, the most common problem encountered by foreigners and exchange students coming to Taiwan is the difficulty of working. Most foreigners in Taiwan are bound by stereotypes, they can only become an English teacher in Taiwan. Tuteemi, a multinational team from Guatemala and Taiwan, using matchmaking tutor as the core, providing a full tutor matchmaking platform for foreigners in Taiwan and Taiwanese students, so that foreigners in Taiwan can earn income through tutoring.

<The biggest key- platform economics>

Although the above five start-up teams have different types of industries involved, but they must connect service providers and consumers through platforms. This also shows that “the platform economics under digital transformation is accelerating.” Driven by the epidemic, it is accelerating the transformation of the consumption patterns of enterprises and consumers. The change in life patterns in the post-epidemic era is already an irreversible chemical effect. According to the report of CTCI Foundation in 2019 pointed out that the platform economy is characterized by a network effect, so that the industry development is no longer a single-point or single-chain growth, but the improvement of the overall network, making the platform industry grow in the process, Also synchronously activated other economic entities in the network. This is exactly the key niche point for the development of traditional Taiwanese enterprises, startups, and even international startups in Taiwan.

<Southeast Asian Trends in Post-epidemic era>

According to the ” PwC’s COVID-19 CFO Pulse ” released by PwC in April 2020, this report operating strategies of various large chain enterprises or SMEs have set “priority to accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises” as the first development goal, and According to the market survey conducted by STARTBOARD, it is affirmed that in recent years, many Taiwanese businessmen have actively deployed in the Southeast Asian market and adopted more merger and acquisition strategies. Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand are the three most obvious investment strategy countries.

This layout premise is not only the country’s huge demographic dividend and fast-growing consumption potential, but also a contingency strategy due to rapid geopolitical changes and the impact of the epidemic, in order to strengthen the resilience to strengthen corporate resilience and unpredictable risks In addition to manufacturing, people’s livelihood consumer products, and retail channel industry is a key. This is also a suggestion that international startup companies in Taiwan should think about and actively develop.

Daione: https://www.daione.one/
Skrt: https://skrt.com.tw/zh/

Alion: https://alion.jp/tw/top/
Innoviz:http://www.innoviz.com.tw/

Tuteemi: https://www.tuteemi.com/

[Startup Spotlight – Ann Chen]

Entrepreneurship does often lend itself to the question of ‘what if’ leaning a business away from its initially steered direction toward the ideal. It’s compelling to imagine what the world would look like today if either W. Colgate had not produced the ‘Cashmere Bouquet’ soap in 1866, nor without the existence of Procter & Gamble’s ‘Ivory’ in 1879. And, we all have our own practices of personal hygiene complied or avoided in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, for better or worse.

Ann Chen the entrepreneur is merely one of four Ann Chens. She is one of the Olympic gold medalists in history, TV host, and by all accounts, hardly less remarkable as an author. When Chen joined the STARTBOARD incubation program, she already knew what she wanted.  Sitting around the meeting table one late Friday evening, Chen and Mason Lin (STARTBOARD’s Project Manager) were discussing the details and direction to transform her vision into reality- The Sustainable Soap.

Ann Chen was sharing the vision of her ideal startup with Mason Lin during the mentoring session.

For in an eerie way, the soap ideas each entrepreneur left us seems complete, as though nothing more left to be said. It is difficult to imagine soap going beyond cleanliness or skin-nourishing, difficult to imagine soap going beyond the chemical reaction between lye and oil ingredients. Ask yourself: What more could we have expected from a bar of soap?

[The Social Entrepreneurship]

Peter Drucker defined the social enterprise as any business creation that does not only pursue financial objectives and profitability but mainly a certain social change. According to Digital Minister Audrey Tang, diverse forms of social innovation have been developed in Taiwan in the past 20+ years, tackling a wide range of social issues. This leads to a culture shift in redefining success: The success of a social enterprise is the success of ALL involved.

The nearly-expired cooking oil can do a lot of good- Ann Chen (24^th April 2020)

In 2017 alone, 12,000 tons of waste cooking oil (WCO) are discarded in Taiwan. The nearly-expired oil is under the umbrella of the WCO- to this, Chen asks, “Are we really discarding that much of WCO at the expense of other people who do not have anything?” Due to its chemical composition, recycling WCO seems the most cost-effective option as it contributes to a growing negative environmental impact such as greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, vapor explosion, to name a few.

[The Sustainable Soap Project]

With all these considerations in mind, Chen initiated The Sustainable Soap Project. The objective of this project is to maximize the utility and value of the nearly-expired cooking oils across Taiwan. Instead of ending up in landfills, Chen desires to reuse the nearly-expired oils and transform them into scrumptious-smelling soaps. Meanwhile, all soaps are free of packaging to embrace the spirit of zero-waste. Chen’s first company has been so successful. It inspired her to start a series of handmade soap workshop events for the disabled group, availing them to become business leaders of their community.

Ann Chen is always trying her very best to help people around her. The fragrance of home-made soaps is not only because of aroma of flowers but also with the positive impact of social innovation and SDGs.  Ann Chen sets an amazing example for female entrepreneurs, athletes and social innovation advocates. The Olympic gold medalists does not stop her becoming the best herself, neither does the title of business owner. Now, Ann Chen is ready for the next match which is fighting against pollution and waste. No matter who is going to win this match, Ann deserves our respect and applause because she is fighting for each of us and our mother nature.