Retail platform Bindo is a cloud-based inventory indexing tool that brings merchants online through an iPad Point-of-Sale system. A NYC startup that realizes the breadth of business opportunity in Hong Kong, Bindo is now developing a ‘Square’-type mobile payment solution for the local market and has their office in Hong Kong Science Park.
Co-founder Jason Ngan comes from a physics and electrical engineering background and first entered the entrepreneurial realm doing network security for a tech startup. Although Bindo is Jason’s first startup business, he fills his spare time building websites, mobile apps and setting up network infrastructure for friend’s companies.
What is your startup?
Bindo unites local retailers and enables 24/7 local shopping at your fingertips. Essentially, we deploy a cloud-based POS to local merchants (or integrate with theirs), index products and create a search engine for local inventory. Bindo Marketplace puts the convenience of local shopping at the fingertips of consumers, 24/7. As the network grows, Bindo becomes a real-time product graph, connecting brands, consumers and merchants.
How did you come up with this idea?
JoMing and I have been best friends since college. We share similar interest in tech and gadgets. We started trading all kind of consumer electronics on eBay and Amazon since college and profit from price arbitrage. One of the biggest hassles is shipping, which is both tedious and expensive. After selling half millions of merchandise online, we started to wonder why there isn’t a local platform to streamline sales and fulfillment. In 2011, we quit our job to work on a few consulting projects and then sparked the idea of indexing inventory of local businesses. In 2013, we launched the private beta for Bindo POS and have signed up over a hundred of stores.
Who are you targeting and how big is the market in HK/Asia?
Actually, we started Bindo in New York first. When I came back to Hong Kong for vacation, I soon realized that the business opportunities here were much bigger than originally anticipated. We opened our office at Hong Kong Science Park and are now working on a few opportunities with local businesses in Hong Kong.
What are your futures plans for your startup?
We believe in online and offline convergence and transparency. We index world’s local businesses online and enable everyone to shop anywhere anytime. We believe that a consumer should be able to find what they want when they want it.
1 Benefit and 1 Challenge in the HK startup scene?
Challenge: In general, Hong Kong people are risk averse, short-sighted and less collegial. Building a successful company is more like a mission than a job. It takes time to find the right person with the right skillset and mindset for startup. We hope to bring our startup culture to Hong Kong and nurture more talents here.
Benefit: the living cost in Hong Kong is relatively lower than Manhattan. Food and office rent is relatively cheaper.
Bindo on Startbase.HK: Bindo
Jason Ngan on Startbase.HK: Jason Ngan
