As part of SHEN’s initiatives to foster a more entrepreneurial environment in NCSH, we would hold monthly Speaker Series where we invite entrepreneurs to share their stories to NOC students.
In January, we had the good fortune to meet the Co-founders of Igloo home. A Singaporean start-up, Igloo home is essentially an amalgamation of Smart Technology and a mobile application. In 2014, Co-founders Anthony and Walter formed a team of four to participate in a hackathon organised by SingTel - SingTel Innov8. The winner would walk away with an all-expense paid spot at a US accelerator. 60 hours into the hackathon: Anthony’s team emerged with customers and $20000 in crowdfunding; and a spot to the accelerator. Today, they are one of the official Global Partner of Airbnb Host Ecosystem which gives them easy access to 2 million host listings globally. The genesis of the idea could be traced back to Walter – CTO of Igloo home who faced problems managing his Singapore Airbnb listings. Igloohome addresses two key areas of concern for Airbnb hosts:
Its energy saving product, Igloosense, also helps hosts save energy costs by up to 30% by recognising when guests are not in and automatically shutting off the air-conditioning. (Taken from Digitalnewsasia: https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/smart-home-startup-igloohome-raises-us125mil) This January, they were participating in a regional hackathon “The Next Unicorn” held in Shanghai. When we met them, they had made it to the Top 18. Their other mission was to meet potential Chinese partners as they wanted to expand into the Chinese market. The Chinese home sharing economy is indeed very attractive. There are at least twice as much listings when compared to Airbnb. In Anthony’s words “make it or break it, at least we tried and it’s worth trying”. To many entrepreneurs unfamiliar to the Chinese start up ecosystem, the Chinese market can be easily summed up as an unknown abyss. The risks might actually outweigh the potential gains. Nonetheless, the vibrant start-up culture here in Shanghai continue to excite co-founders and founders who want to take that shot in the Chinese market. As fellow Singaporeans active in the Start-up scene here in Shanghai, we would be really excited to see Igloo home making its name here! Check out Igloohome: http://www.igloohome.co/
0 Comments
|
SHEN
申城 (shen cheng) is an ancient name for Shanghai.
As a group of NUS and NOC students who are in Shanghai for a year-long internship programme, we have named our student organisation as SHEN (Shanghai House of Entrepreneurs). Archives
November 2017
Categories |