By Steven Millward, Terence Lee, Paul Bischoff, Josh Horwitz, and Enricko Lukman
2013 was a vintage year for Asian startups, launching into a huge variety of sectors and showing the adeptness needed to grow in their markets and even expand into other nations.
A number of those are the startups to watch in 2014. They’re the ones who have traction to get real results this year, attract funding, and perhaps even acquire rivals so as to consolidate the market. And they’re in all the right areas: e-commerce, location-based service apps, mobile commerce, online investment, hardware, and more.
They’re not just making gimmicky apps in over-crowded segments – they’re really crafting great web businesses.
Here’s a list from four of the editors at Tech in Asia of 10 Asian startups that will be making the headlines all year.
Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache (China)
On-demand transportation apps will be worth watching worldwide as more people get used to hailing rides at the press of a button. In China, of the swarm of taxi-booking apps to emerge over the past two years, two have emerged as frontrunners and arch-rivals. Didi Dache, which is backed by a $100 million investment and a blessing from Tencent, rules Beijing. Kuaidi Dache, backed by e-commerce titan Alibaba, sits at the throne in China’s southern metropolises.
Didi and Kuaidi are worth following for two reasons. First, despite widespread adoption, neither company has monetized, partially in fear that doing so will interfere with China’s tightly-regulated taxi industry. That’s an obstacle that doesn’t bode well if either two frms hope to operate proftably independently, but acquisition by frms that are better equipped to challenge the government – Alibaba and Tencent, namely – remains an option in the future.
See more: China’s car services startups get a funding boost that will drive them off a cliff
LeTV (China)
A lot of people talk about companies who can bridge the gap between hardware and software, but video portal and smart TV maker LeTV adds content to that dynamic. After closing a $32.5 million funding round, the company acquired its own production studio in late September 2013. By November, LeTV rose to be China’s second-most popular video portal and posted big profts. On the hardware front, its upcoming 70-inch smart TV is both voice- and motion control-enabled.
Wandoujia (China)
Demohour (China)
RedMart (Singapore)
CrowdBaron (Hong Kong)
PriceBaba (India)
Pirate3D (Singapore)
Avalable (Thailand)
Traveloka (Indonesia)
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