I know most people are probably focusing on the Didi/Uber China deal. Indeed a big deal. Combined the new Didi is worth more than US$36 billion. But, today, I would like to talk about 2 companies which I found fascinating.
Only a few hours ago, we heard on the news wire that a company called Carousell, founded by some young Singaporean entrepreneurs successfully raised US$35M. That is good stuff.
When we read that news, we immediately thought of another company in Hong Kong called YeeChoo, which recently won the support of the Alibaba competition and apparently is now funded by Alibaba.
While one is in Singapore and the other in Hong Kong, both share a few similarities. Both companies are founded by young folks who try to address problems they themselves face. Time and again, we see people succeed in business because they are passionate in finding a solution for their everyday problem.
YeeChoo's founder really address a serious problems a great number of ladies face --- to buy a new dress is expensive and is particularly not worth it if you only wear it once. So, why don't you just rent. Yet, where do you rent from? There must be a serious trust factor --- both suppliers and end users must trust the system. And, there must be selection as well.
Carousell's founders also address a everyday problem. It does look like an ebay at first glance. There is also a trust factor involved. The site, apparently available in a number of countries now (Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong etc.) Carousell essentially allows people to post what they want to sell and show to potential shoppers. On its web site, it listed that there are about 60 employees. So, it is pretty light weighted (low overhead) --- that is a great thing.
Both are founded nearly the same time, roughly in 2012-2013 time frame.
I also like the companies because the problem they address are universal, regardless of the regions. So expandability is a definite possibility.
So, these are young companies (young but not new), founded by young entrepreneurs, addressing day to day problems they themselves probably face, not too heavy in terms of overhead, requires serious trust factor, expandable to other regions, and have traction.
References:
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/southeast-asia-based-carousell-raises-35m-for-its-social-commerce-app/
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=169012
我知道大多數人可能關注於滴滴/Uber中國的交易。確實是一個大交易。結合後新的滴滴價值超過 US $ 37億。但是，今天，我想談一談另外2家公司。
只有幾個小時前，我們聽到的消息，一家名為Carousell，成功募集了US $ 35M。 Carousell
是一些年輕新加坡人的企業家創辦的。那是令人震奮。 當我們讀到這消息，我們立即想到另一家在香港的公司。它叫做YeeChoo，最近獲得了阿里巴巴的支持。
雖然一個是在新加坡另一個在香港，它們有很多相似之處。兩家公司都是年輕人在試圖解決他們自己面對的問題而成立。一次又一次，我們看到成功的創業家創業是為了解決他們見到的日常生活問題。
YeeChoo的創始人真正解決一個嚴重的穿衣問題。買了一套新衣服是昂貴的，特別是不值得的，尤其是你只穿一次。那麼，為什麼你不租？然而，你從哪裡租？這裡有一個嚴重的信任因素---供應商和最終用戶必須信任該系統。並且，必須有很多優質的選擇。
Carousell的創始人也解決日常問題。乍看它像一個eBay。還有涉及到一個信任的因素。該網站，在一些國家顯然現已上市（新加坡，馬來西亞，香港等）
Carousell基本上可以讓人們張貼他們想出售的貨物; 並展示給潛在的消費者什麼。
在其網站上，它列出大約有60名員工。好！它是相當低開銷的公司。
兩者都成立幾乎同一時間，在大約2012 - 2013年的時間框架。
我很喜歡這些公司。因為他們解決的問題是很多普通人遇到的。 這些問題也是沒有無地區性的限制。因此，它們的生意很有往其他地區發展可能性。 還有，這些都是年輕的公司（年輕的，但不是新的）。由青年企業家創辦，解決一天他們自己可能面對的，在開銷方面不太重。只要它們能建立誠信，便可擴展到其他地區。
祝他們好運！
參考文獻：
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/southeast-asia-based-carousell-raises-35m-for-its-social-commerce-app/
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=169012