5 interesting startups we spotted at Bootstrap Alley

This is day one of our Startup Asia Jakarta 2014 conference and we met hundreds of entrepreneurs. Some are up and running already, some are funded by venture capital, and many are bootstrapped.

We like to give a leg up to the bootstrapped ones, and so we have a hundred of them showcased at the Bootstrap Alley here. Here are five exciting startups we spoke to today in the alley:

1. Ayobis

Indonesian roads see more than a million people traveling in 30,000 or so intercity buses running every day. This bus industry generates an astounding US$4 billion in revenue annually. Yet the country didn’t have an online aggregator to make travel booking easier until Ayobis. This online travel agent for bus travel provides a one-stop platform with comprehensive ticketing information, curated reviews, and flexible payments. For bus operators, Ayobis is a platform to effectively manage their fleet and inventory.

2. Kurio

Kurio is a smart news app, which lets you discover, explore, and read the content you like. It helps organize the internet for you, by offering a wide range of categories like gadgets, technology, and politics to match your preference, interest, and curiosity. With its recommendation engine, it studies your current interests, and makes intelligent suggestions that you might like to explore.

3. Wifimu

How often do we go to a restaurant, find that a wifi network is available, but cannot access it because the staff do not know the password? This happens to me all the time. Wifimu is an Indonesian startup which wants to solve this problem in its country. It sets up wifi zones in restaurants which people can access using their Facebook accounts. It is currently operational in restaurants in three Indonesia cities – Jakarta, Bali, and Jogjakarta. Wifimu is planning to be in 20,000 restaurants in Indonesia soon.

4. Moomee

Moomee is a social networking app with a difference. With it, you can now challenge your friends on games, compare ranks, and encourage your friends to try games. It aims to enhance the interaction between friends through fun games. It handles chats, emoticons, stickers, and other elements that matter for social apps.

5. Votinc

Votinc lets startups and entrepreneurs build instant crowd voting platforms. You can use it to post questions and get immediate input from your friends and fellow entrepreneurs. Votinc believes that a service like it is very important for entrepreneurs who have to take quick but informed decisions.

Tomorrow, we will pick five more startups from the Bootstrap Alley.