Swapit got covered by WHub

Thanks a lot to the great people at WHub! They’ve put together a comprehensive article about 6 E-commerce startups from Hong Kong that raised funds and Swapit is one of those 6 startups!

While Swapit is only one of many e-commerce startups in Hong Kong, we feel honored to be mentioned in the same breath as great companies like GRANA, Shopline, Yeechoo, Bindo and Goxip.

If you’d like to read the full post, you can do so here: 6 E-commerce startups from Hong Kong that raised funds.

More coverage of Swapit in local and international media can be found here: Swapit Media Coverage

Did you try Swapit yet? Download it for free from: http://get.swapit.la

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Patrick from Swapit on the #impact Podcast about Reducing Waste, Social Impact, Entrepreneurship and more…

After our Swapit for Social Good pitch, Regina from #impact reached out to me for a podcast. Of course, I was happy to share my views on how Swapit can have an impact in the world and Regina was kind enough to drop by our office and have a little chat with me.

I have just listened to the entire podcast for the first time and it was actually fun listen to it. There is even a short childhood story of me selling stuff at school back in the 90’s. Every now and then, some of my childhood friends still bring that up when we meet up for drinks at the bar. It’s actually quite interesting how these childhood experience can shape your life so many years later.

Feel free to listen to the #impact podcast #3 at: #3: A NEW DAD ON A MISSION TO REDUCE WASTE

If you’d like to check out Regina’s other podcasts, you can head to her website hashtagimpact.com or subscribe to the #impact podcast on iTunes.

Thanks again Regina for having me on your Podcast. Keep up the good work!

Have you tried Swapit yet? It’s free and you can get it at: http://get.swapit.la/now

Patrick from Swapit is one of the CoCoon First 100

We’re incredibly humbled that we’ve been honored with a full 3 pages in CoCoon’s First 100 book. Thanks a lot CoCoonians!

CoCoon was one of the first places I actually pitched Swapit publicly. In March 2015, we’ve been at the CoCoon Pitch Night Semi-Finals and it was a great event. I still remember vividly, how nervous I was. Personally, I believe my pitches have improved a lot since then and the nervousness before going on stage, has turned into excitement. In the following month in April, we went on to pitch at the CoCoon Pitch Finals, which was great as well!

Over the past 1.5 years, we’ve been involved in several events and exhibitions organized by CoCoon and their partners. It is a great community, which also runs a huge co-working space as well, by the way.

Thanks a lot CoCoon Team!

We are very grateful, that we’ve been chosen to be featured in their first CoCoon First 100 book. Yes, it is an actual book with real pages. Here are our three pages in there:

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If you want to find out more about CoCoon, just check out their website: http://www.hkcocoon.org

Have you tried Swapit yet? Get it for free from: http://get.swapit.la/now

5 Minutes at Xpand

Vivian from X:pand did reach out to me for an interview a while back. I was so busy that I kept it in my inbox for way too long, but finally I managed to reply and it has just gone online. Vivian had some interesting questions about my journey thus far, Swapit, hiring people and generally the tech and startup scene here in Hong Kong. Of course, I was happy to provide some answers.

Here is the full interview if you’d like to check it out: 5 Minutes With Patrick Kosiol

A little bit info about X:pand:

The Xpand Group is a specialist Digital, Technology, Media, Sales and Marketing recruitment agency. We provide strategic talent acquisition services via offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Hong Kong with further planned growth across Asia.

If you’d like to find out more about them, have a look at: www.xpand.com.hk

Swapit got covered by e-zone

We’ve actually got covered twice by e-zone, which is a publication that’s part of the Hong Kong Economic Times group. The coverage is in Cantonese, so if you can read Chinese, feel free to check out the original articles:

Coverage of the Swapit app alone:
免費二手特賣場 Swapit 按地區追蹤心水物品！

Coverage of SoftLayer/IBM supported startups (incl. Swapit):
智識經濟有錢途？（下） 創意有價推倒舊模式

More coverage of Swapit in local and international media can be found here: https://swapitblogit.wordpress.com/category/media-coverage/

Did you try Swapit yet? Download it for free from: http://get.swapit.la

Swapit got covered by ButterBoom

We received some great coverage on ButterBoom!

Here are some of the quotes from them:

We spotted a $10,000 couch from Timothy Oulton and iPads at a fraction of their original price on Swapit.

[…] Swapit has rapidly grown […]

You can read the full article here: Swapit: The Mobile App For Buying & Selling Second-hand Goods

About ButterBoom

Butterboom.com is the ultimate guide to fashion and beauty shopping in Hong Kong. Our aim is to keep you up-to-date what matters in Asia’s fashion capital. ButterBoom.com is a digital publication showcasing all that are important to fashionistas, trendsetters and shopaholics in Hong Kong. ButterBoom.com reports on the latest events and developments in retail fashion from store openings to new brands and designers entering the Hong Kong and Asia market. Covering a broad range of styles from well-known designer brands to up-and-coming labels, Butterboom is the online destination for discovering fashion and related life style content including beauty, design and travel. Our Insider section provides a platform for trendsetters and industry insiders to share their insight and knowledge and gives our readers and family community access into the industry.

Want to read more media coverage of Swapit? Check out our Media Coverage category.

e27 Says Swapit is Mind-Blowing

The great folks at e27 have just published a new article on Startups in Asia. They cover 30 great and mind-blowing startups across the region and Swapit is one of them.

Here is a quick quote:

Receiving seed funding from Aria Ventures in December, Swapit is a mobile app that allows users to easily buy and sell stuff nearby. With instant messaging and maps integration, Swapit […] pro-actively reaches out to potential buyers who are nearby. Swapit is an app that promotes face-to-face deals rather than impersonal online orders.

True that! We love to connect buyers and sellers in densely populated places like Hong Kong. People who are nearby each other can trade in real-time and therefore, make everyone’s life a lot easier.

You can read the full e27 article here: 30 mind-blowing companies you should definitely meet

Want to give Swapit a try? Download it for free from: http://get.swapit.la

Swapit got covered by Unwire.PRO

We’ve just received some new coverage by Unwire.PRO, a Hong Kong online media website with some great content covering big name companies like Lenovo and Tesla, and also what’s happening in the startup scene in Hong Kong.

Following our participation at the Startup Connect 2016 event by IBM SoftLayer, we’ve already gotten some great coverage from StartupBeat of the HK Economic Journal as well as coverage on Mingpao Weekly. Now, Unwire.PRO has joined the club and covered us as part of their feature about the Startup Connect 2016 event.

You can read the full article (Chinese) here: 共享交流創業心得　IBM SoftLayer Catalyst 初創成員齊聚 Startup Connect 2016

About Unwire
Unwire.PRO has over 17,000 fans on Facebook and their local general news Unwire.HK has a whopping 183,000 fans on Facebook and 2,900 followers on Twitter.

Swapit got covered by StartupBeat of the Hong Kong Economic Journal

Last week we were invited to present our vision for Swapit at the StartupConnect 2016 event hosted by IBM SoftLayer. It was an invite-only event for industry professionals and was co-sponsored by KPMG and took place during Hong Kong’s very own StartmeupHK Festival 2016 which even brought Elon Musk to Hong Kong.

As one of 4 great startup teams, we could deliver a quick 3-minute pitch to the audience followed by the usual Q&A. Before that, though, we had a chance to talk to some great journalists along with fellow startup and SoftLayer Catalyst Alumni SPACIOUS. Below you can see the great IBM & SoftLayer startup community managers Hie Ping & Casey on the left and right, as well Asif from Spacious and myself representing Swapit.

As a result of our media interview, we got some great coverage on StartupBeat of the HK Economic Journal. If you’re interested in reading it up and you can  read Chinese, feel free to read the full coverage of Swapit in StartupBeat of the Hong Kong Economic Journal here: IBM:已協助培育8千間Startup (Chinese)

 

Swapit covered by Mingpao Weekly

Swapit has just gotten some great coverage by the local Hong Kong magazine Mingpao Weekly. The whole article is in Chinese, but we’ve got our own English translation for you:

Pairing/Matching Users, Trade/Exchange Conveniently

Alex wants to achieve (economic autonomy/economic independence) with (internet/internet platforms). Patrick Kosiol, a German residing in Hong Kong, target the uniqueness of Hong Kong’s dense population. Developed a mobile app Swapit.la, using GPS to (locate/connect) users in different areas to find items nearby, reducing the time to close the deal.

Patrick is a software developer, when he became a father last year, he realised baby items on the market are expensive, but kids grow up so fast, the items won’t be needed a year later. But searching on second hand or swapping items groups and forums often find out the location is far after some exchange in messages, making exchanging/closing the deal difficult and annoying. So he started developing Swapit.la, using user’s device and preset locations to show nearby items posted. Allowing users to set both home and work locations to increase their posted items exposure, the in app chat messenger also has snippets with basic exchanging phrases to reduce typing time, very detailed designed.

“Hong Kong is very densely populated, people are always exchanging items or making second hand deals at the MTR stations, a lot of people want to get rid of their stuff, so this is very convenient. If this is Germany, it’s hard to make it work because the population is spread out.” said Patrick. Tailor made for Hong Kong, that is why the name of the app also contains the culture of local language.

Inquiry: swapit.la

If you’re interested in reading the full article in Chinese, you can find on the Mingpao website: 斷捨離　清空生活
(click “羣組分享　交換平台” on the right side and then “1” at the bottom)