Uber. Grab Car. Airbnb. If you haven’t been hiding in your cave recently, these fast rising startups may have rang a bell in you. Perhaps even instantly because those apps are already installed on your smartphone and you have already memorised what each of them does and offers. But mention the term “Sharing Economy” and you might be surprised by the number of blank looks you get.
Image credit: http://www.tourix.gr/
Remember
the kampong days when you can easily borrow some soy sauce, salt, or even an
egg from your next-door neighbour? Now,
you don’t even open the door when the door bell rings and you see a stranger
through the peep-through!
The
good news is, people are bringing back the good o’ old days of sharing! Sharing economy is a much-loved idea that has been welcomed
by people from all walks of life around the world in recent times. In its purest form, it essentially means people
sharing assets. For instance, sharing a spare room, a car, a garage
or an air fryer.
Thanks to the social web, not only
has the sharing economy concept taken off in Singapore with much success as
people get used to meeting strangers, you can also now share anything with
anyone anywhere in the world!
An Association of Its Own
Guess what. The sharing economy
concept even has its own trade body, “Sharing Economy Association (Singapore)”,
a group which was set up in June 2014 to represent the collective interests of
local sharing-economy businesses! A business model that is particularly suited
to internet-savvy and densely populated countries such as Singapore, it not
only helps foster entrepreneurship but also creates a sense of community
between Singaporeans that is often lost in our emotionally disconnected age.
Here are 7 Singapore startups you
ought to know that benefit from the local sharing economy
scene.
Zap Delivery
www.zap.delivery
Faster than ordering fast food online, this mobile app for on-demand express documents & parcels delivery provides consumers with fast and reliable courier service through a location based crowdsourcing platform. Consumers can send virtually anything small - from e-commerce parcels to someone's forgotten house keys or water bottle, and benefit from predictable pick-up and arrival times as items are collected and delivered within 2 hours. Have something to deliver? Just zap it!
Duriana
www.duriana.com
Yet another successful snap-upload-sell mobile-app marketplace, Duriana sells nearly half-a-million items, both new and “gently used,” across 18 categories including fashion, gadgets, and textbooks. Not only can sellers share items on social marketplace, they can also engage in private chats (both sellers and buyers) as well as set up a shop, all within the app.
The startup’s total funds saw an
increase from $2.5 million to $3.5 million in March 2015 when Japan’s Beenos injected
fresh funds into it. More recently, Duriana became a worthy follow in the
e-commerce South East Asian region after adding its own escrow payment
system.
8villages
Using mobile, cloud-based technology,
8villages provides a platform for farmers and agribusinesses—including multinationals
like Bayer—to communicate, and includes a reward-based loyalty management
program. Agribusinesses are the main source of 8villages revenue. Following its
$150K fund raising in 2011, the social startup also announced a partnership
with Indonesian telco XL Axiata in December 2014.
RedMart
www.redmart.com
If you haven’t been familiar with RedMart by now, it’s time to do so. Established for 5 years now, RedMart is in the business of “delivering happiness” to its Singapore customer base. Shoppers will be pleased to know that RedMart opens every day from 10 am to 10 pm and that reservations can be made for preferred delivery time slots (which comes in blocks of 2 hours).Not only are the prices low, there’s also a whole lot of great deals and excellent customer support to boot about.
If you haven’t been familiar with RedMart by now, it’s time to do so. Established for 5 years now, RedMart is in the business of “delivering happiness” to its Singapore customer base. Shoppers will be pleased to know that RedMart opens every day from 10 am to 10 pm and that reservations can be made for preferred delivery time slots (which comes in blocks of 2 hours).Not only are the prices low, there’s also a whole lot of great deals and excellent customer support to boot about.
TripVillas
www.tripvillas.com
With a VR marketplace that has managed to cover five continents in 6 years, Craigslist-inspired founder Roshan D’Silva is most definitely follow-worthy.
With a VR marketplace that has managed to cover five continents in 6 years, Craigslist-inspired founder Roshan D’Silva is most definitely follow-worthy.
With a database of more than 150,000
family-owned vacation homes across Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas, TripVillas
provides homeowners with extra income and travellers with large spacious
accommodation outside of the hotel/resort merry-go-round.
Till date, this travel startup had
generated more than $3M in inquiries. It also has many innovations under its
belts, including being the first marketplace to launch Instant Bookings, the
first to support Holiday Communities which are newer properties which have been
built in recent years where multiple families have bought holiday homes within
a complex and also the First marketplace to support Holiday Rental Agencies -
who manage multiple homes on behalf of non-Resident owners through their own
dedicated pages and a free directory of such agencies.
Cafebond.com
www.cafebond.com
Singapore coffee lovers can now get a taste of Melbourne's finest with a click of the mouse! Established in January 2016, Cafebond, which is currently incubated with Infocomm Investments, offers a web and mobile platform that connects coffee lovers with the best coffee brands in the world, so you can taste and buy unique specialty coffee beans and blends from roaster-owned cafes from London to Melbourne, Singapore to Beijing, in one easy checkout process.
Cafebond.com is one of the four
startups hand-picked by Microsoft Singapore to be co-located within its Asia
Pacific Headquarters. It is also currently part of DBS Hotspot 2016, a startup
support programme by one of Asia’s largest bank, DBS Bank.
Airfrov
www.airfrov.com
Have extra luggage space and don’t mind helping strangers purchase items from overseas? Or are you one of those who constantly beg your friends for help in bringing home products from overseas? Whichever category you belong to, there’s always Airfrov to the rescue! Airfrov is a peer-to-peer shopping platform which allows users to get products from overseas by getting travellers to bring them back. Requestors who want something and are willing to pay just have to post their request. Travellers who are able to help will make an offer, bring the requested item back and earn extra money by utilising their extra luggage space.
Have extra luggage space and don’t mind helping strangers purchase items from overseas? Or are you one of those who constantly beg your friends for help in bringing home products from overseas? Whichever category you belong to, there’s always Airfrov to the rescue! Airfrov is a peer-to-peer shopping platform which allows users to get products from overseas by getting travellers to bring them back. Requestors who want something and are willing to pay just have to post their request. Travellers who are able to help will make an offer, bring the requested item back and earn extra money by utilising their extra luggage space.
This post is
brought to you by Zap Delivery.
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