Second Hand Car-Tech UK

According to British Car Auction reports 7.4 million used cars were sold in the United Kingdom in 2014, an increase of roughly 4% on the previous year. Private-to-private used car sales made up roughly one third of that total, around 2.8 million, with dealerships making up the rest. The value of the entire UK used car market at the end of 2013 was believed to be £42.7 billion, £6bn more than the new car market.

These are eye watering figures, but fairly logical. Nearly 80% of households in the UK have at least one car, and half of those have more than one, changing them every five years or so; there are nearly 40 million vehicles on the UK’s roads. It’s projected that there may be as many as 44 million cars in the UK by 2020.

With so many cars being traded in the market, it is an extremely competitive one, even more so when we consider that as cars in the UK are right hand drive, they tend not to get exported.

Interestingly, for such a huge market, not many dealerships enjoy the kind of reputation that makes them stand out from the crowd. Cargiant is the largest dealer in the UK, responsible for the sale of approximately 700k cars each year (nearly 10% of all cars sold), but there are thousands of other recognised dealers. The market is fragmented and in terms of customer service or value for money, no one brand stands out.

Double Is Always Better Than Single

A new startup, Carspring, wants to change all this by taking a digital approach to the buying and selling of cars. While their online platform acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller, their customer service is on hand to handle all of the paperwork, getting the cars inspected according to a stringent 150+ checklist, fixing any issues that arise, and then personally delivering the car to buyers.


They say it is a more customer focused approach which relies on leveraging technology to ensure both buyer and seller receive an end-to-end service that is an improvement on the “caveat emptor” attitude of many car dealerships, and particularly private sellers.


It seems like today there are startup businesses everywhere invading industries regarded as too traditional and closed to new ways of doing things. You’ve heard of FinTech, Fash-Tech, and Health-Tech; get ready for Second-hand car-Tech,

Disclaimer :- Following article come from Forbes

WHY RUSSIAN STARTUPS ARE FLOCKING TO SINGAPORE

A spate of Russian startups descended on the Southeast Asian tech hub of Singapore this week in a quest to raise capital and form local partnerships to build a foothold in the region.

"It's not so easy to find investments from European or U.S. companies, perhaps because of the political situation, so we'd like to find investors here in Singapore," Alina Chunaeva, deputy director of financial technology venture Artquant, told CNBC on the sidelines of the tech business conference Echelon on Wednesday.

Moscow-based Artquant, which has developed a stock market analytics tool incorporating artificial intelligence, is currently operating off the $600,000 of funding put up by its Russian founders, according to tech website e27.

Equally high on Chunaeva's agenda during her maiden visit to the city-state is finding a local strategic partner that can help her fledgling company crack the lucrative Asian market.

"Our potential clients are traders, investment banks and different financial institutions so Singapore and Southeast Asia are very interesting for us," she said.

Artquant is one of 10 Russian startups taking part in the Singapore roadshow, organized by the Skolkovo Foundation, a Russian government-backed organization founded in 2010 with the aim of fostering technology innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

The startups – which are showcasing products ranging from ultra-compact electric vehicles to video surveillance technology - are meeting local venture funds, accelerators and state agencies to explore expanding into the region.

While this is Skolkovo's first roadshow in Singapore, it's not the incubator's first in Asia. Last year, it organized a similar visit to Hong Kong, which resulted in two companies starting production in China and one opening an office in Hong Kong.

Konstantin Artemyev, chief executive of electric vehicle upstart Bravo Motors, is keeping his fingers crossed that he too will strike a partnership that will help him gain access to Asia's burgeoning consumer market.

"We've seen interest from both investors and local partners. Right now, we're talking to a Singaporean company that is involved with car sharing," Artemyev said. "It's a good start for us."

Looking East

While Russia itself is a large market, Igor Bogachev, vice president of the IT Cluster at Skolkovo Foundation, says Asia is a vast business opportunity that can't be missed.

"Asia is a big market for any IT company. The economies are growing pretty fast. That's why we believe the opportunities here," he said.

The question now is whether Asian investors are willing to look past the country's shaky political and economic backdrop.

Bogachev, however, insists that business should be viewed separately from politics.

"These are technology companies. They have nothing to do with sanctions," he said. But as a consolation prize for taking a chance with Russia's politics, the recent slide in the ruble makes investments into the country far cheaper for overseas investors, he noted.

The Russian currency has slumped over 60 percent against the U.S. dollar over the past 12 months.

Citation from CNBC : http://goo.gl/FsLFLh

Blogging Idea of Future

How four avid bloggers from Chennai made fortune by blogging

For most people, blogging serves as a good pastime, a forum to air or read views and opinions. However, for four yuppies from Chennai, harnessing the power of blogs has proved to be a money-minting venture million dollar business, to be precise.

Launched in August 2007, IndiBlogger.in started as a free blogging platform for Indians. However, the founders—Renie Ravin, Karthik DR, Vineet Rajan and Anoop Johnson—had a bigger game plan: to mobilize the blogosphere, a nascent field at the time, so that companies and brands could engage with their customers. The idea was conceptualized by the founders (barring Rajan), all in their 20s, at a party in early August 2007. Convinced that they were on to a good thing, the trio quit their respective jobs shortly afterwards and focused on their start-up. Rajan left his account manager's job with Hewlett Packard, Hyderabad, to join IndiBlogger after a bloggers' meet in Pune, in March 2008.

Luckily for the founders, they found an angel investor who chipped in with the seed capital. The money was spent on building infrastructure and marketing.

Here's how IndiBlogger works: Registering one's blog is free of charge, but members must publish at least five blog posts to continue to be a part of the community. The company's eight-strong team handles support and moderation from Chennai and Bangalore. The revenue comes from connecting brands and bloggers via unique blogging contests and meets, which are organized periodically across the country. The idea stems from the fact that brands see value in connecting with bloggers, who can influence the purchase decisions of their peer groups. In fact, a Neilsen report, Global Trust in Advertising Survey 2011, shows that less than a third of Netizens trust advertisements, while 92% have faith in peer and word-of-mouth recommendations.