DealStreetAsia – February 2, 2016 – Qandme, a Tokyo-headquartered startup of Asia Plus Inc but operating mainly in Vietnam, is about to close its seed funding round, a top executive with the company said.
The funding raised will help it offer quicker and more affordable market researches and expand to Asia, its founder Kengo Kurokawa said, even as he declined to disclose the identity of the potential investors.
Realising the indispensability of market research and the high cost of of the reports during his time working as marketing manager for Asia at Japanese firms Sony and UNIQLO, Kurokawa wanted to offer an alternative to the market. Launched in October 2014, Qandme is a mobile app that allows anyone to join surveys for various categories then sells the researches to interested companies.
“The answers from mobile respondents are available online in the platform to be given to our business users real time,” said Kurokawa in an interview with DEALSTREETASIA.
He sees AC Nielsen as the biggest competitor, while another big player in Vietnam is TNS. However, those established majors use telephone calls or house visits to do the research, which could last up to a month, he said.
“Even though I spent a lot of money, I had to wait for a month and the result was not satisfying. […] Right now I see people are paying attention to Asia, and this attention is going to be higher. It is very important for the market players to understand the consumers,” he said.
According to the Japanese entrepreneur, there are no tools or services in Asia to help with the purpose at affordable cost.
What investors look for
Kurokawa came to look for investors from November last year, which is a year later than his venture’s inception. He attended a bunch of events, including TechinAsia Tour in Jakarta, Echelon in Bangkok and HATCH! FAIR in Hanoi, where he connected with investors.
“The reason why I waited for a year is that right now we have a better traction. I would love to accelerate the business, and for that I need funding.”
To clarify the traction, he revealed that Qandme had been profitable for four months.
What further interested the investors, according to Kurokawa, are the technology and the location of business.
“People in Asia are very much connected. Excluding people in rural area, if you look at people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, everybody is connected by the smartphone. So somehow the industry in this area could be changed with technology applicable in the mobile phone,” he noted.
Japan is the largest investor and trade partner for Vietnam. Having the advantage of being a Japanese businessman, Kurokawa has Japanese companies in his network as first customers.
But it also shows the possibility that once Qandme’s services get the recognition, it could be extended to reach to European, US and Asian customers.
Kurokawa, leader of a team of 12, said that by getting the funding and a bigger team, he could make that happen.
He concluded from his experience meeting with investors that the most important elements in a startup that funds want to see are potential of growth and people.
“When I talked to the investors, they tend to pay attention to the possibility that the businesses can change the industry and grow exponentially as the economy is growing. The second thing is people working in a startup, who have the potential to make it happen.”
This is also unique in emerging countries like Vietnam, he advocated. Compared to the startup companies in Japan, where technology is very important, the markets in Vietnam and Indonesia have large population, hence the potential is going to be huge.
Vietnam as tech gateway to SEA
Though Qandme is incorporated in Japan, it targets the Vietnam market first.
“The reason why I choose Vietnam is that in the future I would like to expand our business to Asian neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand,” said Kurokawa.
Vietnam has a good network infrastructure, with free wifi and relatively stable Internet connection. Major cities in Vietnam are also not too big compared to Jakarta or Manila, so it could be a relevant test market.
According to Kurokawa the economy in the region is dynamic and vibrant. “I prefer to be in the world of changes rather than staying in a stable market,” he said.