5 Questions with Brian Chin and Jessica Lam, Co-Founders of BUTLUR and Microsoft Venture Competition Winners

February 11, 2014 by Iris Leung

Founders

Jessica Lam and Brian Chin are the co-founders of BUTLUR, a service for well-meaning but often clueless men that want to choose the perfect gift for the women in their lives.

Also the winners of the Microsoft Venture Competition, Brian was a former investment analyst at a $40 billion investment fund in New York while Jessica worked in fashion retail at Gucci and also founded an online lifestyle store called PandaSundae. Both with economics degrees under their belts, the nexus point for these two co-founders was at Columbia Business School.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Brian Chin, BUTLUR, Jessica Lam

PaperclipHK’s Deepak Madnani Opens Hong Kong’s First Startup Academy/Co-Workspace in Sheung Wan

February 10, 2014 by Iris Leung

deepak

With Hong Kong’s first Startup Grind on tomorrow at Paperclip, we went by the new co-work space and academy to chat with founder Deepak Madnani.

By taking a leaf from Steve Blank and Eric Ries’ book, the heart of Paperclip is in the academy, and courses will be drawn from the methodologies behind the lean startup movement. For those unfamiliar with the lean startup principles, it encourages entrepreneurs to get comfortable with failure and stresses the importance of always innovating and iterating. While great execution is what brings an idea to life, the lean startup way suggests that experimentation vs. elaborate planning can actually make starting a company less risky.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Interviews, News Tagged With: Co-Workspace, Deepak Madnani, Education, PaperclipHK, Sheung Wan

Fashion App ‘Viss’ Has Been Acquired By AID Partners, the Private Equity Fund that Owns HMV Hong Kong and Singapore

February 7, 2014 by Iris Leung

viss

As reported in most Chinese media today, Viss, a fashion e-commerce and media platform, has been sold to AID Partners for an undisclosed amount.

AID, which is a private equity fund primarily focused on Greater China, has also purchased HMV Hong Kong and Singapore in the past. In just May of last year, Viss raised seed funding from new angel group 8 Plus Holding in the US $500k range, and had already gained a ton of traction: having been featured in Apple App Store’s ‘New and Noteworthy Frontpage’ and ‘What’s Hot’ section across 14 Asian countries, along with clocking 18M monthly page views on their website.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: AID Partners, Ivy Wong, Leo Ku, Viss
Copyright © StartupsHK.com