Appota debuts social mobile gaming app called onClan at #StartupAsia Arena

Appota just took the stage at Startup Asia Tokyo today, with its new product, onClan. Do Tuan Anh, founder and CEO of Appota, says that the product is a social mobile gaming platform aimed at casual and pro gamers who want to interact through their favorite mobile games.

The mobile app, which launches on both Android and iOS is meant to be an evolution on the social gaming platforms that already exist. Game Center from Apple only exists on the iOS platform and only logs scores, leaderboards, and challenging friends. Google’s Play Games system also offers similar services. Thus, the most popular services have very limited functionality. onClan, on the other hand, instead of building a backbone for gamers, provides the frontend interface for gamers to chat with each other, post tutorials, socially share achievements, and recommend new games. In other words, it’s like a Facebook for gamers.

Appota is interested in making this a new approach to gaming that is a departure from what Line, WeChat, and KakaoTalk are doing, which is to use their chat apps as a trojan horse to get gamers. Appota goes direct to the gamers and solves problems they believe are very specific to gamers.

One example of onClan’s gamer-specific functionality is anonymous accounts. The app allows users to create multiple anonymous accounts under one account so that gamers can play in different games with a different alias. According to Do, this is a feature that gamers really want.

Do believes that onClan’s methodology will create higher engagement beyond what is currently possible. And this is in a market that is worth $12.3 billion with over 1.2 billion gamers worldwide. By the end of 2015, Appota hopes to have 30 million worldwide users by the end of 2015 on onClan.

Going forward, Appota is currently raising $10 million to invest into product, people, infrastructure, customer service, and business development. The company currently has 200 people, and received a series B in April.

Judges Comments

• In general, publishers of app hate putting an SDK into their app. You’re also taking 30 percent, so how do you measure that to set that bar?

We have already integrated many of the most important SDK’s into our platform. In terms of revenue, they get a lot of benefits.

• Why did you start this app?

Yes, I’m a hardcore gamer.

• Can you talk about your competitors, since this chart doesn’t really fit your app?

In terms of Game Center and Google Play, they’re not cross platform. In terms of Facebook, it forces you to use your real identity. The same is true for GREE. So these are two areas where we can be much better.

• You do well in Vietnam, so how will you go global successfully?

Since we are strong in Vietnam, we are profitable there also. But if we want to go global, we have to invest a lot into product development.

• Why do you want a Japanese investor?

We already have one Japanese investor, so we love their working style and we have also gotten a lot of connections from them. So we feel very comfortable.