Internet consultants have fallen afoul of Nasdaq investors, but not of Walden International, the VC firm with some of the longest tentacles from Silicon Valley to Asia. Walden's latest deal is a $6 million, first-round investment in Cybertouch, a Singapore e-consulting firm boasting such corporate clients as BP Amoco, DHL, Intel, Telekom Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional, and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Berhad. Cybertouch was founded four years ago and has about 170 staff in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The new funds, including $1 million from Broadvision, should help Cybertouch hire another 100 employees over the next six months and open a Hong Kong office by the end of the year, as well as offices in China and Korea in 2001. Given those plans, the company estimates the new funds will last a year. Cybertouch talks of achieving revenue of about $10 million in the year ending April 2001, doubling its revenue in the year ending last April, with Malaysia making up about half its sales. In addition to cash, Walden is supplying another prize: Walden chairman Lip-Bu Tan, who will take a seat on the Cybertouch board.--David Crowe
TENDEREXPRESS.COMhttp://www.tenderexpress.comMumbai (formerly Bombay), IndiaFUNDING: Undisclosed (26 percent equity stake)ROUND: 1stCATEGORY: Web-based tender information serviceDESCRIPTION: Provides business information to vendors and service providers.INVESTOR: Transatlantic Corporation, a group company of Americorp HoldingsTHE HERRING TAKE: Tenderexpress.com has not one but three competitors nearly sharing its name: Tendertimes.com, Tendercity.com, and Tenderhome.com. Everyone wants "tender" because it describes what these online services do: provide business information to vendors and service providers so they can pitch for contracts. There's a subscription fee or service charge based on the analysis requested. Cofounder and director Hitansh Singala says his money- and time-saving service has 8,000 clients; he expects 15,000 within a year. Believe it or not, there are about a dozen companies in this sector. What sets Tenderexpress.com apart, says Mr. Singala, is reliability, quality, and depth. He boasts that his nearest competitor handles half of his company's volume of 12,000 to 15,000 tenders per month. Tenderexpress.com, which eyes profitability by the end of the year, plans to use the funds for marketing, new products, and delivery systems. --P.C.
B2C
EASYBUYMUSIChttp://www.easybuymusic.comMumbai, IndiaFUNDING: $ 1.5MROUND: 2ndCATEGORY: Music retail storeDESCRIPTION: Fulfills on- and offline music orders with free delivery.LEAD INVESTOR: ICICI VenturesOTHER INVESTOR: PassionfundTHE HERRING TAKE: Easybuymusic has an apt name for what it does: fulfill online and offline orders for music using its comprehensive music database. "Our aim is to redefine the highly fragmented Indian music industry and become a harbinger of change," says CEO Chris George. Orders, taken over the Web or by toll-free phone, are delivered free. The service is available in nine cities, with plans to scale up to 15 by early next year. Says A.J.V. Jayachander, managing director and CEO of ICICI Ventures, "Easybuymusic has a sound business model backed by an efficient infrastructure. Its extensive domain knowledge and wide network makes it a value-based project." But will it turn a profit? Yes, of course, proclaims Mahesh Murthy, a principal at Passionfund, which provided first-round funding and participated in this round. Using some odd rationale, he explains, "I found Easybuymusic shared similar beliefs with Amazon.com, where I worked two years and learned how logistics, fulfillments, and customer services were key to their success." --P.C.
INTERNET
NETWORK365http://www.network365.comTokyo and Dublin, IrelandFUNDING: UndisclosedROUND: 3rdCATEGORY: Mobile commerce (m-commerce)DESCRIPTION: Provides m-commerce solutions.LEAD INVESTOR: JAFCOTHE HERRING TAKE: The fourth quarter has been a busy fund-raising time for Network365. Just two weeks ago, the m-commerce software developer closed a $13 million investment with London-based Amadeus Capital Partners. Now JAFCO, Japan's leading venture capital firm, has taken an undisclosed stake in the company to give it a boost in Japan's advanced wireless market. For expansion in Japan, Network365 needed a capable, seasoned exec and it seems to have landed one in Philip Greenan. He joins the company from Logica Mobile Networks, where he grew the organization from 15 people to more than 130 and opened offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Network365 enters Japan as the mobile Internet reaches critical mass and readies for third-generation (3G) devices by mid-2001. Its flagship product -- the mZone Mobile Commerce Server -- works on Japan's i-Mode systems as well as Europe's wireless application protocol (WAP). "Japan is a challenging market for Western companies, but organizations that tailor their products for the market and involve themselves at a local level can succeed," says Mr. Greenan. With the funding, Network365, founded in 1999, intends to set up a marketing and technical support office in Japan. --R.F.
SOFTWARE
PLATYPUS TECHNOLOGYhttp://www.platypustechnology.comSydney, AustraliaFUNDING: $7MROUND: 1stCATEGORY: DRAM developerDESCRIPTION: Designs storage devices that use dynamic random access memory (DRAM) to improve the speed of memory storage.LEAD INVESTOR: The Carlyle GroupOTHER INVESTORS: JAFCOTHE HERRING TAKE: Although Platypus Technology calls its main product a memory drive, you won't find any disks spinning inside it. The QikDrive uses solid-state memory chips to provide high-speed storage and faster processing times for business applications. Replacing disk drives with memory chips is not new, of course, but the company expects its "drives" to exploit new demand. Platypus, named after one of Australia's more camera-shy native animals, was founded one year ago after its founders left Hypertec, an Australian memory manufacturer. It has since grown to 30 staff and has sold technology to Boeing Australia and the Australian Department of Defense. This venture round will be used to double the company's R&D team and expand its small office in Hanover, New Hampshire. "That's the main game; that's where we need to be," says chairman Geoff O'Reilly of the U.S. office. Managing director Colin Lillywhite is heading to the U.S. to lead the expansion. --D.C.
OTHER
DEEP VIDEO IMAGINGhttp://www.actualdepth.comNew ZealandFUNDING: NZ$5M ($1.9M)ROUND: 2ndCATEGORY: 3D videoDESCRIPTION: Commercializing a depth-of-field video monitor for use with interactive kiosks, computer gaming, and 3D Internet content.LEAD INVESTOR: IT CapitalOTHER INVESTORS: Tindall Family Holdings; Power Beat InternationalTHE HERRING TAKE: Throw out those old 3D viewing glasses: Deep Video Imaging wants to sell you a computer screen that displays multiple levels and enhanced 3D graphics. The company is barely known outside New Zealand: appropriately enough, its hometown is called Mystery Creek. Investors in this round were hardly new to the company: IT Capital, listed on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges, acquired 40 percent of Deep Video earlier this year. The Tindall family, led by prominent New Zealand retailer Stephen Tindall, was also an existing investor. Still, the increased investment could help take Deep Video into international markets, thanks in part to IT Capital's office in Ardmore, PA, and its links to Cross Atlantic Capital and Snider Capital in the U.S. The Deep Video technology works by using multiple liquid-crystal displays to produce several layers of imagery on a flat-screen display. The result is greater depth, but at a cost: the company sells its 12bx LCD screen for $7,500. --D.C.
NEW VENTURE FUND
HANSOL IVENTURESSeoul, KoreaFUND: Hansol iVFUND CHIEF: Y.C. KimFUND SIZE: $60MPITCH CONTACT: 011-822-531-8020FOCUS: Korean startups developing code division multiple access (CDMA) products to drive wireless usage.THE HERRING TAKE: Dong Man Cho, vice chairman of Hansol Group, claims this new fund is the largest in Korea. While that's hard to prove, what helps its credibility is limited partner and largest investor Qualcomm, a San Diego-based developer of digital wireless products based on CDMA software. The Korean government is also behind the fund, no doubt fostering Korea's entrepreneurial culture and fast-growth startups. The Small and Medium Business Administration of Korea and the Korean Teacher's Pension Fund are investors. As for Qualcomm's involvement, Jeff Jacobs, senior VP of business development, easily explains that Korea has been an "early adopter of CDMA technology and possesses a large pool of technical and marketing talent in CDMA." --R.F.
Dealflow Asia is reported and written by David Crowe, Rebecca Fannin, and Partha Chari.
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