Rare wines to ‘atas’ bak kwa: This couple is making Spanish delicacies accessible to S’poreans
Singaporean Yiping Goh, 39, and her Spanish husband Carlos Bañón, 43, would travel to Spain twice a year to visit their family and friends during pre-pandemic times.
With Covid-19 restricting travel however, they couldn’t travel to Spain for the past two years. Besides family and friends, local delicacies like Spanish wines and food like freshly sliced jamon iberico (Spanish ham), olives and cheeses, was something they truly miss.
“It [became] a project for us to directly import our favourite Spanish delicatessen and wines to satisfy our own cravings and also to share what we know about Spain with our friends and family. We also saw a huge underrepresentation of Spanish gourmet and wines here in Singapore, despite it being a food haven,” said Yiping.
“Everytime we share our private stash brought back from our travels in Spain, our friends love them. So for a few years now, we have always thought Spanish food and wines have an untapped opportunity here. Finally, the travel lockdowns triggered us to take action.”
The couple went on to establish CasaJulia — named after Carlos’ late mother — in October 2021, which is mostly a “passion project” that was born out of late nights feeding their second newborn.
They are no rookie entrepreneurs
The duo might be green to the F&B scene, but they are both not new to the business world.
Yiping is a serial tech founder. She is the former co-founder of AllDealsAsia and MatahariMall (Indonesia) by Lippo Group — the same group that produced unicorn OVO. Now, she is a venture capital investor and a partner at Quest Ventures, which has backed household names the likes of Carousell, ShopBack, Carro, 99.co, Style Theory, SGAG and Ion Mobility.
Meanwhile, Carlos owns an award-winning architecture firm called Subarquitectura, and is also a professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
They had already conducted some research legwork since a few years ago, so once they put all the other bits and pieces together, they were finally ready to kickstart the business.
However, although they are both seasoned entrepreneurs, they had some challenges navigating the business of importing and F&B, which is something “quite alien” from their regular work in tech and design.
For instance, they had difficulty finding the right partners in Spain to work with, especially since they are still a fledgling startup and could not fulfil any minimum purchase volume set by suppliers.
“We had to convince our suppliers that Singapore is a worthwhile new market to pursue and tread that fine balance,” said Carlos.
In particular, the couple feels that Asians’ palate preferences are similar to Europeans’, and our tastebuds are compatible with Spanish food.
“We love our seafood, meats, rice, cold platters and enjoy good wines. But because the Spanish culinary scene in Singapore is newer compared to the Italian and French, there’s still a lack of knowledge of Spanish food,” he added.
“Spanish wines are as good, if not better, than the other old world wines, but it’s less known and underrated. In fact, for similar quality, Spanish wines usually cost less.”
Bringing a piece of Spain to Singapore
CasaJulia is essentially an online marketplace that directly imports Spanish food favourites like jamon, rare wines, olive oil and cheeses, delivering them right to your doorstep.
For those unacquainted, jamon is touted to be the finest ham in the world and has been dubbed as one of the national culinary treasures of Spain. Like how Japan has its Kobe beef and prized sashimi, Spain prides itself on its Iberian ham.
Much like many other delicacies, they are on the expensive side — prices can go above S$1,000 for about 8 to 9 kilograms, depending on its grade, which is determined based on the parentage of the pigs, their feed and their ageing duration.
“They (Iberian black pigs) are reared in the most humane and free range conditions, [which] some say [are] the most luxurious conditions,” said Yiping, justifying its price tag.
According to the couple, every product featured on their platform has been tried and tasted to their Spanish and Singaporean palates. To date, their bestsellers are their jamon iberico legs, sliced packs and wines.
In fact, the couple has observed a gifting trend for jamon during festive seasons like Christmas.
“For Chinese New Year, we are seeing more friends nicknaming our jamon as the Spanish version of bak kwa, or ‘atas’ bak kwa, this season, especially referring to the sliced packs. It is funny, but it has a certain resonance. They are also way healthier, yet super delicious.”
When it comes to their wines, they are sourced from all over Spain, including those from “under-discovered” regions and up-and-coming boutique wineries, whose first batches only consist of a few hundred to few thousand bottles.
“We import [our wines] directly from Spain, working with top and off the regular cuff sommeliers there,” shared Carlos.
“In particular, we have this crazy rare underwater wine, Attis Mar, which had been submerged under the Atlantic Ocean for its ageing process — something that is unique and makes the white wine way more intense and has a really long finish.”
Yiping stressed that CasaJulia helps to bridge the gap for customers to enjoy freshly cut jamon and explore exotic wines that are hardly ever exported out of Spain, as many of them only serve their domestic markets.
“We really want to bring that experience of traveling through Spain without being physically there, or to nurse the withdrawal symptoms of someone who’s been to Spanish cities before and miss wines from there,” she added.
Achieved a five-figure revenue in two months
Covid-19 has negatively impacted many businesses, but it has also spurred the emergence of new ones — CasaJulia being one of them.
When asked how the pandemic has affected their business, Yiping said that it’s a double-edged sword as it serves as both a business threat and opportunity.
“People are looking forward to trying out new experiences when they can’t travel as much. They see trying out new culinary experiences as a way of traveling, and [it helps] that more people are hosting [meals] at home these days.”
She also acknowledged that tightened Covid-19 restrictions on household visitors can lead to more hesitation when it comes to consumer purchase, but as a whole, she feels that the opportunities outweigh the threats with the boom of e-commerce.
In fact, the bootstrapped business has already broken even, and within two months, it achieved five-figure sales with no marketing spend.
This is a testament to CasaJulia’s steady growth, but the couple are not resting on their laurels. After all, the F&B space is very saturated and competitive.
To last in the game, they feel that it’s important to “find their own niche and stay ahead of trends”. At the same time, they are making it a point to continually improve their offerings and service quality to win customers’ hearts.
“Most importantly, while we made our calculations, and checked several key assumptions over and over again, we chose not to overthink and decided to just start [because] we know that if we have a long list of criteria that a startup idea must meet, we will never start,” said Carlos.
“With CasaJulia, we followed our hearts, but we also followed opportunity gaps that this pandemic presented and is still unravelling. We went with starting small first, doing little experiments, and iterating along the way.”
In the next few months, CasaJulia plans to expand the business line to include other Spanish product such as introducing a wide range of sea salts that is rare to come by here.
Sharing other future business plans, the couple also said that they are exploring the idea of setting up offline pop-up events, collaborations with restaurants, and eventually set up a physical store when the time is right.
“Our ultimate goal is to be the top-of-mind choice for consumers when it comes to Spanish gourmet and wines”.
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Featured Image Credit: CasaJulia
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S’pore to build 15 new GCB plots – will we see another wave of tech founders snapping them up?
15 Good Class Bungalows (GCB) are set to be built over former Caldecott Broadcast Centre.
The GCB plots will range from 15,070 sqft to 250,801 sqft. The properties will hold a leasehold of 99 years and the larger plots could be subdivided to accomodate more GCBs in the future, of up to 26 bungalows.
Owner and developer Perennial Holdings will be working with authorities to widen vehicle carriageways as well as add new planting strips and pedestrian pathways.
These plans were revealed in an internal circular the Urban Redevelopment Authority distributed to residents, EdgeProp reported. The developer is said to be in the planning phase and will make an official statement via a press release when the time is right.
Creme de la creme
In Dec 2020, Perennial and its Chairman Kuok Khoon Hong won the 752,000 sqft site tender for S$280.90 million. The Chairman is said to be taking the biggest plot – which is large enough for 11 GCBs – for his extended family.
Kuok is ranked the 12th richest person in Singapore, according to Forbes. He is also the Chairman and CEO of palm oil producer Wilmar International.
The property prices of these 99-year leasehold GCBs will certainly be priced more attractively than those freehold GCBs in the area. According to research firms, freehold GCBs there have transacted at over S$2,000 per square foot.
Other than Kuok, who comes from old money, the neighbourhood is set to see new arrivals from new money backgrounds strutting around – specifically tech founders whose net worth soared amid the pandemic as people became reliant on tech services and goods.
A GCB is a bungalow plot that exceeds 15,000 sqft and must also be located within one of 39 gazetted areas identified by authorities. The property prices start from S$7 million to as high as a whopping S$128 million, data from GCB transactions in 2021 showed.
The standard rule is that you need to be a Singaporean to be able to buy a GCB.
Tech founders scooping up GCBs
Last year was a year where at least five bosses/C-level executives from the tech industry snapped up the coveted GCBs.
In June, Secretlab’s co-founder and CEO Ian Ang bought a penthouse and a GCB for S$51 million. The GCB is located at 27 Olive Road in the Caldecott Hill Estate and it cost him S$36 million. The property is freehold and is located in a prime district.
Ian’s GCB has a plot size of 23,424 square feet and is closely located next to the former Caldecott Broadcast Centre site. It allows a 270-degree view of the Caldecott Hill Estate, the Mount Pleasant area, and the Singapore Polo Club.
Other tech founders have also bought properties located at other prime areas like Bukit Timah.
In July, the family of Grab co-founder Anthony Tan was said to have bought a S$40 million GCB in the Bin Tong Park area. Not long later, Razer’s co-founder Tan Min-Liang was reported to have bought a Third Avenue GCB for S$52.8 million.
In August, TikTok’s CEO Chew Shou Zi made the headlines with talks of a S$86 million GCB purchase. The property is located at Queen Astrid Park and has a land area of 31,800 sqft.
Just last month, crypto billionaire Zhu Su was said to be in early talks to purchase a GCB worth S$48.8 million at Yarwood Avenue in the Bukit Timah area.
GCB market activities
According to Sotheby’s International Realty, there were 53 deals in GCB areas totalling nearly S$1.4 billion in the first half of 2021. That’s almost twice the activity seen for the whole of 2020 which clinched 46 deals.
Stock market gains from last year might see a resurgence in GCB shopping for tech founders this year, albeit at a more muted pace due to the latest cooling measures from the Singapore government.
Singaporean property buyers now face higher Additional Buyer Stamp Duties (ABSD) of 17 per cent and 25 per cent for their second and third property purchase, respectively, as compared to 12 per cent and 15 per cent previously.
But alas, the supply for GCBs will continue to be limited and that makes these properties all the more luxurious and rare. There are only around 2,700 GCBs in Singapore.
Other tech founders who reportedly own GCBs in Singapore include Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma and Alibaba co-founder James Sheng.
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Featured Image Credit: The Peak, Tatler, Showsuite Consultancy and CBRE
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How S’pore-based Perk Coffee grew to be SEA’s largest online coffee subscription startup
Paul and Serena Berthelsen are a self-proclaimed “coffee-crazy pair”. Their coffee journey started out in Kenya, Africa, where they both lived for several years.
Kenya is renowned for its beautiful highland plantations and ‘fruity’ coffees, and was the very place that sparked their love and appreciation for coffee.
Serena grew up in Kenya, and attended boarding school in the United Kingdom and university in the United States. She now serves her community in the healthcare field.
Meanwhile, Paul had moved over to Kenya after graduating university in Australia. He quickly fell in love with the country and its coffee culture, which prompted him to chuck aside his law and finance degree to be a farmer and trader in Maasai land instead.
He started a commodity trading business first before venturing into agriculture, where he established one of the largest cereal farms in the region. He began with a small plot of only 300 acres of land, and gradually built a farm spanning over 12,000 acres.
The couple spent the next two years in Hawaii, where they continued to explore the biodiverse coffee plantations. They eventually settled down in Singapore, where Paul discovered a gap for freshly roasted on-demand coffee, which he deems a “very necessary market”.
Combining the appreciation and passion for fresh coffee with Paul’s past farming experience, the duo decided to start Perk Coffee – sourcing high quality, specialty coffee, and delivering it to your doorstep within 48 hours of roasting.
A one-stop shop for all your coffee needs
“I’ve always been into coffee. My first [business] idea was to actually start my own cafe since I wanted to drink fresh coffee — ideally, coffee that was roasted within a few days,” Paul, co-founder of Perk Coffee, told Vulcan Post.
“So I figured, ‘why not start a business that could solve this?’ Instead of a cafe, which is capital intensive and competitive, I figured the online space would be less crowded and offer more opportunity.”
Perk Coffee is pretty much a one-stop platform for all things coffee. It offers different coffee options (whole beans, ground coffee, drip bags, pods), as well as a range of coffee equipment and accessories.
The platform also value-adds with educational content such as brew tips and guides, as well as information about the coffee beans and their provenance.
In an effort to help customers bring the coffee experience to the comfort of their own homes, Perk also offers coffee subscription services so customers can enjoy freshly roasted coffee delivered directly to their doorstep.
Their plan is very flexible. Subscribers can easily pause their subscription, reschedule their next roast date, or change coffee types with just a few clicks. They also don’t lock down customers by charging in advance as they only bill you on the day of roasting.
Subscribers can also get a better price for their coffee at up to 20 per cent cheaper than one-off orders.
Ultimately, their ambition is to help more people understand and enjoy the at-home coffee brewing experience at an affordable price.
It’s a win-win for both consumers and farmers
“Perk is like your good friend who simply loves his coffee. While we really know our coffee, we don’t over-complicate things and we’re certainly not coffee snobs. We try our best to make specialty coffee approachable and fun,” quipped Paul.
“Our target market are coffee lovers, both the aficionados and novices. To be fair, our best customers are usually those who begin their home brewing experience with us from scratch, and discover the incredible variety and wonders in the coffee world.”
The co-founders are committed to buying responsibly. Their coffees are ethically sourced from all around the world from dedicated and reputable farmers who look after their land and employees responsibly.
They support farmers by ensuring that they pay above Fairtrade rates for all of their coffee. This is particularly important for Paul, who has been a farmer himself for 19 years.
He finds that most farmers are not adequately compensated for their work. They are often disadvantaged by middlemen, who markup their products. Although the farmer has done most of the work, they are only paid peanuts.
While their beans are sourced from overseas, they are roasted right here in Singapore.
With coffee, it begins to stale as soon as it’s roasted. To maintain freshness, it needs to be consumed within a few weeks of roasting.
Perk’s unique “roast to order” model solves this problem by conveniently sending you freshly roasted coffee — one pack at a time — at an interval that suits your needs.
They roast their coffee twice a week and send out the beans within 48 hours of roasting, so customers get to enjoy coffee at its best, at peak flavour and aroma. This also means that they never keep excess inventory so there are no stale beans lying around.
Perk Coffee also prides itself on its specialty-grade coffee, which scores a high 80 on a scale of 100 by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). This point score is awarded after stringent tasting by professional coffee tasters called Q-graders.
Their coffee prices vary depending on the method of preparation, pack type, and subscription versus one-off purchases. A pack of 10 drip bags start at S$14, while a 250g pack of wholebean or ground coffee starts at S$19.90.
Although prices may be higher than some coffee brands, the freshness and quality that they offer is something that makes them stand out from the rest.
Building its pool of customers, which are core to the business
“When I started Perk, I had practically zero experience in the tech and digital space, so it was a steep learning curve. However, I concentrated on what I knew best, which was to build relationships with my customers,” shared Paul.
“I remember every single one of my first 50 customers. I would share with friends, and hustle by attending farmers’ markets and unpaid events, just to get a chance to talk to people and get the word out about my new business.”
He would then personally reach out to each one to get firsthand customer feedback. He vividly remembers all the teething issues Perk Coffee experienced when it first launched — from website issues, to delivery delays.
“I treated every problem as an opportunity to connect and form a relationship. What I learnt was that customers are human beings [too]. When you’re honest, open, and apologise for something, despite the fact that it may be out of your control, more often than not, people understand.”
“In fact, most people love to support a startup or an underdog, especially if you can involve them in some way and make them feel part of the journey.”
The fact that Perk Coffee puts a lot of effort in their marketing campaigns and after-sales support also speaks volumes in how they manage to successfully grow their customer base.
According to Paul, their first 500 customers were acquired organically via word-of-mouth.
“We believe in our product so much that we’re not afraid to run a free trial, or to give your money back if you’re not happy with the product to always go the extra mile to make a customer happy.”
Covid-19 is a double-edged sword
When the circuit breaker in Singapore happened, e-commerce boomed and Perk Coffee saw a surge in online orders as people scrambled to find an accessible alternative to cafe-quality coffee.
Paul was unfortunately stuck in Kenya during that period — for a good six months, in fact — because the airport was shut down.
Although their software system was well-equipped to cope with the demand, they still faced a couple of issues in other aspects.
“At one point during the circuit breaker, our last-mile delivery provider was so backlogged that normal delivery times of one to four working days became two to three weeks. We were bombarded with tickets, and our customer service was not large enough at the time to handle the volume,” recounted Paul.
“We had to immediately start sourcing for more customer support, pulling all-nighters to make sure that our customers were satisfied — from [handling] refunds to last-minute changes with door-to-door delivery providers. It cost us a bomb, but we value our customers, so it was something we just had to do.”
Although the pandemic posed some business challenges at the start, on a whole, it propelled their business as more people turned to online options, even when it came to getting their coffee fix.
“Those who had previously been curious about homebrewing could now explore it with us, who had both the coffee and brew gear to get them started, and getting on a subscription allowed them to have one less thing to worry about,” said Paul.
It’s now the largest online coffee subscription startup in SEA
Perk Coffee is a bootstrapped startup, which took about two years to break even. Their business model is purely online, and 80 per cent of its revenue derives from subscription.
“The subscription model works really well for coffee since coffee drinkers are habitual; a model that delivers fresh quality coffee in small pack sizes on a regular interval that matches consumption is a no-brainer,” remarked Paul.
It reached its first 1,000 active subscribers within a year since inception, which has since grown more than 10 times to over 10,000 subscribers in 2020.
Beyond Singapore, Perk Coffee has also spread its wings to expand into Malaysia in October 2018, and then to Hong Kong in October 2020.
“We saw synergy in having an enlarged presence, and we’re proud to be the largest online coffee subscription [service] in Southeast Asia,” said Paul proudly.
While he intends to hold on to this title and conquer beyond the region in years to come, he acknowledges that the coffee industry is a highly competitive space, especially for traditional retail, which sees the regular entry and exit of several coffee shops.
The e-commerce space — which is Perk Coffee’s bread and butter — is no different. Paul observed that there has been an influx of new players, making it very crowded and competitive.
“Despite this, we see an opportunity to build a stronger community and to use technology to understand our customers better to ensure we give them the best possible experience — not just in terms of the coffee products, but also in terms of education and engagement.”
Moving forward, Perk Coffee plans to make use of quality content and the growing interest in specialty coffee to engage and educate customers. It also plans to stay abreast of changes and innovations in the industry to maintain a competitive advantage.
“I’m optimistic about the future of ecommerce and specialty coffee in Asia. We’re living in challenging yet exciting times, and things are changing rapidly. But one thing’s for sure, coffee is not going out of fashion any time soon,” summed up Paul.
If you’re a coffee enthusiast and new to Perk Coffee, feel free to try out its specialty coffee under a free trial here.
Featured Image Credit: Perk Coffee
Also Read: Gojek remains committed to S’pore after 3 years – its GM shares company growth, future plans
NFTs in M’sia this week: High-profile figures join movement, our Queen included (somewhat)
With the non-fungible token (NFT) movement in Malaysia definitely growing day by day, we’ve decided to start a series tracking what sort of local NFT news or activity happens in a week.
It’s where we’ll have a look back on what the biggest NFT news of the week (and sometimes maybe the prior week) was, point out any new NFT platforms that have caught our eye, as well as what Malaysia’s NFT community is abuzz about, and more.
Although this week feels like a relatively slower one for exciting NFT content in comparison to earlier weeks, here’s what has unfolded in the scene recently.
In the news
A group of final-year postgraduate students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) are now running a charity project called Crypto-Nate. It takes the form of a virtual campaign that tackles the subject of infertility and is called the Arts for ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) campaign.
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) students rounded up 12 local artists who featured their art in the form of NFTs to create social awareness and raise funds for Tunku Azizah Fertility Foundation (TAFF).
Using these NFT arts, they’re aiming to shed light on the common yet still-taboo subject of infertility, while raising monetary benefits to sponsor fertility treatments for B40 couples.
The campaign is targeting to raise around RM100K from the 12 paintings, each of which they expect to see a minimum bid of RM12K on.
All 12 NFTs will be put on auction on January 29 from 1PM to 5PM via Crypto-Nate’s social media platforms, but pre-bidding will start on January 23 onwards.
Artists like Sue Anna Joe, Arif Rafhan, and Vivian Ng are just a few of the names contributing to the cause with aptly-themed pieces.
Malaysia’s Queen, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, who also founded and leads TAFF, has had Arts for ART presented to her by the UKM team.
What she actually thinks of NFTs in general, we don’t know yet, but it’s interesting to see that the movement has reached royal attention and penetrated educational institutions (a public university, no less).
It’s too early to say that the Queen and UKM’s recognition of NFT usage for charity points to a general acceptance of NFTs by the wider Malaysian community, but if more public institutions begin jumping on the trend… remember that we predicted the possibility here first.
Previously…
As mentioned, it’s been a bit of a slow week, so ICYMI (in case you missed it), here’s a throwback to a few more exciting NFT events that took place this month.
Most recently, AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes was gifted an NFT from Jay Chou’s collection, Phanta Bear. It cost 1 ETH, which was about RM14K at the time of writing then, but today translates to about RM12.6K.
At the same time, Tony had cryptically announced, “Watch airasia on Internet 3.0” on an Instagram post about the gift. From that, we’re assuming that he’s teasing AirAsia’s eventual move into crypto, NFT, the metaverse, or something within that realm.
Well, let’s see what the Malaysian airline will pull out of its sleeves. We’re ready.
Another high-profile figure who had openly announced his advocacy of NFTs was Syed Saddiq, just a few days prior.
He’s selling NFTs in the form of artwork of his face to raise funds for charity, and is doing so to secure a different fundraising strategy for the Muar constituency in the long run.
According to him, federal aid is not only lacking, but can take a long time to arrive, so he’s taking welfare funding matters into his own hands through NFTs.
Coming up next
From our end, here’s what you can expect to see next week.
We’re speaking to the folks over at Pentas.io, an NFT marketplace started by locals, and will be interviewing a Malaysian residing in Singapore who’s using NFTs to pay homage to our mutual love for a specific kopitiam food.
In between, we’re expecting to cover more NFT projects and events, and who knows, maybe another high-profile figure will make ripples in the scene.
- If you’ve got something NFT-related to share that’s both exciting and locally-relevant, hit us up with your story at malaysia.team@vulcanpost.com.
- Read more of our NFT content here.
Also Read: 6 reasons why this LG 4K Smart OLED TV can be a conversation starter in your living room
Featured Image Credit: Tony Fernandes / Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) / Syed Saddiq
Tesla to Mercedes: We zoom in on S’pore’s car rental and sharing market, and how much they cost
Had too many pineapple tarts and love letters this month that you are feeling lazy to take the public transport? Or do you have too much ‘barang barang’ to carry for Chinese New Year shopping and will need to book a taxi/private hire to get home?
For those who are planning to visit their relatives during Chinese New Year, you might be thinking of ways to avoid the surge pricing that ride-hailing apps and taxis usually charge on these popular days. Then again, you may also belong to the group that has been considering getting a car for some time but aren’t really ready for the 10-year commitment that comes with paying road tax and vehicle maintenance.
The nature of the car industry these days is very different compared to just a few years ago. It used to be that only “towkays” or rich kids got to drive around in car brands like Mercedes, Porsches, and BMWs.
Back then, even if the car model was a basic Japanese one like a Mazda or a Toyota, only a privileged few drove around in cars – those who could afford the hefty downpayment for their vehicles.
These days, you can even drive a Mercedes, a BMW, a Porsche, or a Tesla instantly without paying for a downpayment. A person who’s driving on the road need not necessarily own the car too, they can be renting it for a few hours only.
Other than the usual driving rules required such as the need to have a driver’s licence before one can be on the road, the accessibility to obtain and drive cars is no longer deemed as a luxury in this day and age.
Car marketplaces are offering car rentals that span from annual plans to renting a car down to the minutes. Customers are able to take their pick and choose the option that suits them best with just the click of a few buttons via online or on the car subscription apps.
Car rentals for six months or more
Leasing with Tribecar
The car marketplace offers a Leasing with Tribecar service, in partnership with Drive.SG.
The service gives customers a chance to “own” their dream car with zero downpayments. The rates are fixed per month and Tribecar provides 24 hours roadside assistance and regular servicing intervals for customers.
It claims that the service helps customers safeguard themselves from resale value shocks and frees up the stress of Total Debt Servicing Ratio loading.
On the website, it states that customers can rent a Nissan Elgrand for S$2,100 for a six-month lease period. Other car models like Mazda 3 and BMW 216GT are sold out at the moment and are rented out at less than S$2,000 per month.
For a 12-month lease period, the car brands available for rent include Mercedes Benz E250 for S$3,000 per month and a Tesla Model 3 SR+ for S$3,900 per month. There are subscription plans for up to 36 months and the rental rates are slightly cheaper the longer the rental term.
Carzuno
Carzuno’s mission is to provide users with a new way to get their own car without buying or leasing. Every car includes insurance, servicing, maintenance, 24/7 roadside assistance and no deposit or downpayment is needed.
According to Carzuno, customers just have to pay a flat monthly fee and subscribe to the Carzuno subscription plan which ranges from one month to two years. They can sign up online and their vehicles will be delivered to their doorstep in 24 hours.
Cars for rent on the platform include brands like BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi. For those looking for higher-end brands, there are Bentley, Maserati, and Porsche.
The rental fees range from S$1,499 per month for a 2016 Mazda 2 1.5 to S$2,999 per month for 12 months for a 2010 Porsche Boxster 2.7 Auto Convertible.
Customers can change their cars at the end of their subscription period to suit their needs.
This Singapore startup may be young but it has been steadily entering the car-sharing scene and strengthening its foothold. It was founded in May last year by former Uber and Grab executive Amrt Sagar and former staff of Hertz and ComfortDelGro Andrew Chan.
Subscribe to a car for 4 weeks
Tribecar subscription plan
The company offers a car subscription service that allows members to “own” a car for S$128 a month.
Members are eligible to own a car for two free hours of daily bookings of the cars, on weekdays Monday (12.00am) to Friday (5.00pm).
Users have to book the vehicle up to two hours in advance and the subscription is only applicable for one booking a day.
The first two hours will be complimentary but any additional hours will be subject to normal booking rates. If users exceed 24 hours on top of the free two hours, they will have to pay the daily cap pricing.
The subscription plan runs for four weeks from sign up and will auto-renew if users do not cancel the subscription. Users can book any available vehicle in Tribecar’s fleet which includes traditional car brands like Toyota.
Blackout dates are stated on the subscription page. For this Chinese New Year, normal rates will apply from Jan 28th to Feb 2nd.
Tribecar said that weekends are not included in the plan due to the higher utilisation of its fleet.
Rent a car for a couple of days or hours
GetGo carsharing
GetGo is a relatively new car-sharing player in the Singapore market. From its fleet of 400 vehicles in March last year, it has since doubled to over 1,000 cars located islandwide.
Users don’t have to pay for any deposit or subscription fees, instead, they pay based on the time and mileage used. GetGo said that it covers the cost of maintenance, insurance, and even petrol costs.
The cars are available round the clock, and can be booked from as short as an hour to up to two days. It follows a price package of S$3.00 to S$9.00 per hour depending on the time of the day.
The price excludes fuel so there’s a mileage charge of 35 cents for every kilometre travelled for petrol/diesel vehicles and 0.25 cents for electric vehicles (EV).
The app currently serves over 100,000 verified users, with over 400,000 bookings completed to date.
BlueSG
Drive away without feeling guilty about carbon dioxide emissions with EVs. EV service BlueSG offers car subscription plans that start with membership fees from S$8 per month.
The additional rental rate breaks down to 33 cents per minute, or S$19,80 per hour, but the business often introduces rental package deals that offer discounts from the standard rates.
The EVs require to be charged at the stations when idle. With its many stations islandwide, even in Sentosa, members can book and return the vehicles in a different charging lot from the pick up destination.
This makes it the most flexible option for single journeys like staycations where you need to bring bulkier items like your luggage to the hotel. You can just drive via BlueSG and park them at the designated charging point when done and use the cars again when you are travelling home.
The road ahead for car sharing
With the press of a button, you can book a car at your convenience. Sharing a car also has its perks, such as lesser or almost no maintenance fees needed. It’s also a much more affordable option versus ownership – you pay for the car for how long you drive it.
According to Deloitte’s 2021 global automotive consumer study, 52 per cent of Southeast Asian consumers prefer to commute via personal vehicles now, compared to 37 per cent pre-pandemic. This reflects a trend of people opting for greater comfort and convenience.
Car subscription plans are mostly suitable for those who only need a car for events and on occasion. For some families who require the use of a car on a daily basis, it will be more practical to consider fully committing and buying one instead of signing up for a subscription plan.
Such plans are also unsuitable for those who live further away from key drop-off locations and designated parking spots.
All in, the car-sharing concept goes in line with sustainability and environmental efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If the industry takes off, other potential benefits would be lesser needs to build parking infrastructure and fewer cars on the road.
Not to mention it’s also friendlier to the wallet too.
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Featured Image Credit: Carzuno, GetGo, Tribecar, BlueSG
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Dropee drops news of huge US$7M Series A, here’s their 3 key advice on securing investors
Malaysian B2B wholesale startup, Dropee has announced that it’s completed its US$7 million Series A round comprising a combination of equity and debt investments from new and existing investors.
The current financing round is led by returning investor Vynn Capital and welcomes new investors HCL Capital, Resolution Ventures, and LKF Capital, as well as other undisclosed new investors alongside existing investor Brama One Ventures.
Launched in 2016, Dropee has grown from helping SMEs adopt digital solutions to now providing loan and financing services too.
To date, it’s seen over 80K SMEs procure wholesale inventories in its marketplace, annually totalling more than US$100 million in transaction value. The marketplace operates across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia currently.
Lennise Ng, co-founder and CEO of Dropee said in a press statement, “With this Series A round, we’re doubling down on helping micro and small local businesses adopt digital solutions so they’re able to bring down their operating costs, have more access to financing support, and increase their business longevity.”
The funding will also be used to accelerate its finance product offerings for wholesalers and retailers over the next 12 months.
Thus far, the Dropee team said that they have built a significant track record with credit financing portfolios over the past year, and are ready to scale up the offerings by working with strategic partners, including regional banks and non-banking financial institutions.
3 key advice for startups seeking funding
Dropee’s last financing round was in July 2020, when the company raised US$1.3 million. A few months earlier, it became the second Malaysian startup to enter the coveted Y Combinator accelerator programme too.
Prior to all that, it announced an earlier seed round of US$350K in January 2019.
Speaking to Vulcan Post, Lennise shared 3 pieces of advice that she’s learnt through experience when it comes to successfully seeking funding.
Firstly, it’s quality over quantity for her. “It’s always better to find 100 customers who love your product than 1,000 customers who just like it,” she said.
But how does one measure it? By looking at metrics like customers’ monetary spend (paying for your product/service), time spend (their hours spent on using your product/service, and your own social equity (the number of shares and recommendations people spread about your offerings).
Once you’re aware of these metrics, you’d have a lot more confidence when pitching to investors. But she also disagrees with the perception of there being a “perfect time” to do anything.
“You’re never 100% ready, whether you’re talking to investors or customers. Key is to just do it,” she laid out.
Most importantly though, “Always build trust. No matter how big or how small your company is, remember that asking people (VCs, team, customers, etc.) to grow alongside you requires trust.”
“Put in the effort to build trust, listen often, and always communicate and act with integrity,” she concluded.
- You can read our previous coverage on Dropee here.
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Featured Image Credit: Dropee
