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We want to continue to create a two-way channel for foreign students and domestic enterprises. Today we passed the torch to the 2nd batch of Brand Ambassadors. This time we recruited 8 international talents from #India, #Indonesia, and #Vietnam to join this big family.We hope to work together and create a better startup ecosystem to enhance the networking experience for international talents.Let’s welcome all of them!

Taiwan has built a strong environment for startups over the past few decades, and devoted to strengthening the international connections in recent years. As the latest sizable international accelerator in Taiwan, Taiwan Accelerator Plus (TAcc+ ) not only provides start-up-related assistance for startup companies but creates an “advanced industry strategic implementation platform” for them. This year, TAcc+ Demo day was held on 15th July 2020 at Linkou Startup Terrace, and it mainly focuses on IoT and Healthcare. It supports those startups through 3 stages, which are open innovation, strategic entrepreneurship, and customer development edge. TAcc+ has already served more than 100 startup teams, the services include problem determination, plan to consult, and more. By doing so, it helps those startups systematically find out their own developmental, profitable business models, and make them more growth-oriented companies in the future.

Nowadays, the government has been paying more attention to the issue of innovative industries in order to create a dynamic startup ecosystem in Taiwan and built up Taiwan as a startup hub in Asia. However, the unpredictable economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic changes people’s lifestyles and business behavior dramatically. Nevertheless, it is also an opportunity to encourage these startups to focus on medical and technology as their developmental goals. This year, there were 30 startup teams participating in this event which include Digital Transformation, Intelligent Manufacturing, Living Technology, etc. TAcc+ invited many wonderful mentors as investors that can help to solve funding bottlenecks. These talented startups displayed their products in the exhibition and pitched to investors, speaking about their products’ strength, business model, competitors, and how to build up their entry barrier to create market segmentation. Several startups have remarkable achievements, for they have already cooperated with big companies. Although some companies focus on the domestic market, some of the enterprises said that they plan on entering Southeast Asia countries as their key development goal.

This year, STARTBOARD also joined TAcc+ DEMO day. We are excited to hear those brand new ideas and meet up those clever people with brilliant thoughts in this grant event. For example, Sounds Great and Yallvend, two startups who have collaborated with STARTBOARD, also participated in TAcc+ Demo Day.

【Sounds Great- Revolution of audiphone】

Sounds Great is committed to improve the functions of traditional audiphones based on classical semiconductor technology. The technology not only can make the devices more energy efficient but also can better up the quality of audiphones. Moreover, this technology can reduce the cost of producing audiphones and lower the price, which creates a win-win situation for both producers and consumers. STARTBOARD provided Sounds Great patent consulting in Taiwan. Aside from collaborating with Sounds Great.

【Yallvend- Upgrading the vending machine only requires a simple device】

STARTBOARD also met the old friend- Yallvend in the event. Yallvend is a startup that sells an up-graded vending machines module, and this module can combine mobile payment and cloud management systems with the machine. The technology bestows the consumers who want to use the traditional vending machines with the convenience of paying without cash easily . Until now, their device has already entered Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, four Southeast Asia countries.

Apart from the above two companies, we also made connection with other startups who have joined the DEMO Day, sharing new ideas and exchanging information with each other. We always devote ourselves to help Taiwanese startups expanding to ASEAN-India markets by providing legal services, talent matching, company set up strategy tutoring, and so on. We are always here to help people making their dream come true.

SO, COME AND JOIN US!

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.

【Startup Spotlight–Sounds Great】

As we are provided with a wide range of social media influencers, platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu, each tries their very best to attract our attention. This ongoing influence leads us to continue to watch the next video that is recommended by the algorithm.

According to studies, about 78% of people are watching online videos every day in Taiwan, therefore the average time of watching is 1.6 hours per day. The thriving media industry is also bringing an increased demand for audio and visual equipment. The research institute, GHK, indicated that the first half of 2019, the global speakers and headphones market reached USD 8.7 billion. In this industry with a bright future, there is an acoustic design startup from Taiwan, that will undoubtedly blow our minds and show us the innovative technology of audio hardware design. The Taiwan-based startup – Sounds Great is founded by Hong Da Chou, his classmates, and his instructor in college. Their core technology is using semiconductors and electromagnets to redesign traditional audio speakers.  The team responded, “Long story short, we will reduce the size of traditional speakers by 99%, whereas the volume is fifty times louder than before.” Hong Da Chou, the founder of Sounds Great, took out a coin from his pocket and spoke, “just imagine that we put a boombox into this coin.”   Sounds Great and their core technology makes them stand out from a crowd, as they have also gained many acknowledgments from professionals as well as businesses. Sounds Great also got selected and awarded by the FITI innovation and startup program.

【It starts with an idea of bulletproof vest】 

Hong Da Chou flashed back to his college life when he was an undergraduate majoring in Chemistry in FJCU. He found a high-strength fiber material in the lab and was pondering about how to commercialize this material. The initial idea that crossed his mind was “I can use this fiber material to strengthen the bulletproof vest and it will save many soldier’s life!” As a result, Hong Da Chou sent testing samples to a testing laboratory and waited for the feedback. The researcher of the testing laboratory showed them the outcome of the testing results and introduced a speaker diaphragm manufacturer, which was looking for a similar fiber material they made. Therefore, Sounds Great pivoted their bulletproof vest business idea to the game-changing acoustic material startup.

【Early stage – money burning to survive in the winter of R&D】

The very beginning of startup life was a tough time.  As a hardware startup is not like SaaS, software, and mobile app startup. The capital is burning for the salary, rent, equipment, testing materials and so forth. It wore out their passion and entrepreneur dream of this budding startup and suddenly brought them back to reality. Hong Da Chou recalled their early stage. To gain more financial aids, Hong Da Chou brought their proposal to meet with various investors, apply for government subsidies, and exhibit in startup expo.  Then, Sounds Great received a wonderful chance to be chosen in the FITI program organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and represented Taiwan startup to receive business training in Singapore for a month. In the early stage, they adjusted and restructured their business model from the opinions by mentors in Singapore.

【External investment – the spring is around the corner】

After burning the midnight oil day by day, Sounds Great has finally proved its core technology and collects enough experiment data. Recently, Sounds Great is a partner with the semiconductor market leader to start further steps of product-market fit. Hong Da Chou showed the chairs in the office and said, “we have some nice and comfortable chairs here because we seep at the office often.” Sounds Great is a member of the STARTBOARD incubation program. The first investor meetup does not have any financial support, but that was an excellent experience for them to sharpen their pitch skills and business proposal.

Entrepreneurship is hard, especially for the first couple of years; however, Sounds Great has developed a strong foundation for their business from previous failures. The student startup–Sounds Great has transformed and became more mature in both their mentality and product. Then, their pitch and business are receiving more and more helpful feedback from different pitch competitions and investors. Sounds Great was enduring through the winter of being an underdog and finally obtained the investor’s monetary support and received a lot of public attention last year. This investment boosts the team and their product; Meanwhile, there are some global brands that see the potentiality of the innovation of audio devices. Sounds Great receives more support from the hearing-aid company as well as the Government. For this budding startup, Spring has come earlier than expected.

【The global business strategy and risk management】

There is a whiteboard with a clear roadmap of business strategy and patent portfolio at Sounds Great’s office. The demand for home theatre and smart home devices has increased significantly and the acoustics development has been technologically stagnant for years. Sounds Great is ready to take action to make good use of their game-changing audio technology, either having their brand or becoming the OEM partner of audio equipment companies. Besides US and European markets, Sounds Great is also planning to strategically expand their business in Singapore and Vietnam, and arrange for the Southeast Asia market. During the interview, Sounds Great would like to recruit talented engineers specialized in semiconductor, acoustic devices, and product development. If you are the one with the desired background, Sounds Great welcome you to join this high-potential startup to bring the world a better audio experience.

On Dec 18th, STARTBOARD is honored to meet Ms.Sharon Ho, Residents Of Malaysian Friendship And Trade Centre and Mr.ALFADILADAM, Vice Residents Of Malaysian Friendship And Trade Centre.

We sharing how did we help Malaysian students and startups in Taiwan in past 3 years. Such as our Malaysian startup Ecosaver. Also, we propose our projects in 2020 which could cooperate with the Malaysian Friendship And Trade Centre.