Victoria Ho
Writer
The Latest from Victoria Ho
Selling Hopes And Dreams In Southeast Asia
Being a startup means believing in your dreams, and Southeast Asia needs dreamers, say incubators. 500 Startups, for one, is keen to sell hope to the growing communities of startups in Southeast Asia,
Lenovo Sells More Mobiles Than PCs Now As It Rides High On Chinese Demand
Lenovo just posted its first quarter earnings, and for the first time, its smartphone and tablet sales have eclipsed those of its PCs—its core product since its inception. The period ended June 30 s
Apple Scoops Up Matcha.tv To Pack More Smarts Into Apple TV
Apple may still keep us guessing over whether it will ever make a physical Apple TV set, but it’s clearly strengthening its play for the living room, by becoming the conduit between us and the s
As Messaging App WeChat Pushes Past 300M Users, Owner Tencent Sets Up Shop In Singapore To Spin It Off
Tencent has had listed business entity in Singapore since May, although it’s denied rumors that it intends to list WeChat on the Singapore stock exchange (SGX). A China Daily report on Tuesday q
Xiaomi Beats Samsung To Top China’s Smartphone Charts
Xiaomi‘s flagship smartphone, the Mi 2S, is the most popular phone in China, according to Chinese benchmarking company, Antutu. According to Antutu’s data on “active device volumes&#
Mozilla’s Firefox Phones Get Operator Billing Through Bango
Mozilla has signed mobile payments company Bango to allow operator billing on the Firefox OS marketplace. That means that users on the soon-to-be-released Firefox phones will be able to pay for their
Voice Messaging Comes To Whatsapp
Mobile messaging pioneer, Whatsapp, has added a walkie-talkie-like voice messaging feature to its app. Users will now be able to press and hold a button to speak, and have that voice clip sent once th
Design Competition Model Is Working For 99designs, Especially In Asia
Love them or hate them, 99designs’ design contest model is working pretty well, going by its latest figures. The Melbourne, Australian company now pays out about $2 million per month to designer
Olacabs Makes Live Traffic Heatmaps In India To Solve Its Cab Problem
Getting a cab in Mumbai isn’t the same as it is in other countries, according to one of the taxi app startups in India. Olacabs‘ co-founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, said it’s harder to fla
Nara Gets First Telco Customer As SingTel Tries To Fend Off Content Competition
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.singtel.com">SingTel</a> has licensed <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nara.me">Nara Logics</a>' restaurant recommendation engine in a bid to give its Digital Li
Codlo Kickstarts A Sous Vide Machine For Us Gastronerds
Another home sous vide machine is about to enter the market. UK-made <a target="_blank" href="http://codlo.com">Codlo</a> just passed its <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/c
Alibaba Pursues New Smart TV OS To Grow Its E-Commerce Play
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has joined the smart TV race, unveiling a smart TV OS and set-top box today. It hopes to create its own ecosystem of TV-related assets that will give it a foot in the
Freemium Is Irresistable, Even For Successful Game Companies
The freemium debate continues to rage on. Some say it’s the future of how business will be run, while others say it’s synonymous with casual games (read: not for hardcore gamers). Now the
Online Grocery Store Redmart Raises Series A Round To Stay Put In Singapore
Singaporean online grocery store, Redmart, just raised an undisclosed Series A round that is “in the millions”, according to co-founder and CEO Roger Egan. Together with this funding amoun
HomeAway Buys Singapore Startup Travelmob To Enter Asia-Pacific
Nasdaq-listed vacation rental site HomeAway has acquired a Singapore-based startup Travelmob, allowing it to compete directly with Airbnb in the Asia-Pacific region. HomeAway announced today that it a
Japanese Ticketing Startup Peatix Raises $3M Series A To Fund Expansion To U.S., Singapore
Japanese e-ticketing startup Peatix just closed a Series A round of $3 million, led by Fidelity Japan. The company is seeking to be the Eventbrite of Asia, and provides a platform for event organizers
Cooliris Continues Push Into China and Russia, Shaking Hands With Tencent and Yandex
Photo-sharing startup Cooliris is continuing its push into two of the world’s biggest Internet markets, China and Russia. The Kleiner Perkins-backed company has just partnered with Tencent in C
Data Is Becoming The Beauty Box End Goal
The beauty box concept is a few years old now, but some of the newer beauty box startups in Asia have modified their business models to be more data-centric, as competition floods the market. The way
Malaysian Taxi App TaxiMonger Expands Coverage Outside Kuala Lumpur To Deal With Ongoing Rivalry
Malaysian taxi-booking app TaxiMonger has just expanded its service outside the capital city of Kuala Lumpur to cover Johor Bahru (the state sharing the border with Singapore). Additionally, it will
Bubble Motion Rebrands As Bubbly, Retires Old Voice Messaging For Good
“Voice Twitter” app, Bubble Motion, has just rebranded itself as Bubbly, and revamped its interface as it enters version 3.0 of its mobile app. The Bubbly app has been around for two years