EMERGE - Tophatter Produces Addictive Online Auctions

Tophatter Claims 90 Second Auctions are an Entertaining Way to Buy Online 

Imagine 16 million online shoppers (TOPHATTER'S number) focused on over ninety items each one in an individual auction window showing the retail price, the number of bidders, the current bid, the cost to ship and a countdown bar that displays the bidding process (Accepting Bids, Going Once, Going Twice) until SOLD.

The entertainment value of watching things go at prices that are unexpected, eventually draws buyers and sellers to participate, according to some observers. Over the holidays, we observed several sessions and experienced the addictive nature of this auction medium. Although not registered as a buyer, one could easily imagine how setting aside $50 for a few hours of fun and entertainment with surprising results (purchases) could be fun.

Online auctions aren't new, as those who follow this sort of thing know. Platforms such as eBay, Invaluable (France) and Auction King (Sacramento, California) provide a price discovery service and logistics for sellers as well as some level of vendor trust indication for buyers. Platforms like Kijiji and Craigslist compete with print media classified advertising to bring together buyers and sellers for price discovery. Platforms like Amazon, Alibaba and Walmart try to replicate the whole shopping experience for the online customer with huge investments in logistics and inventory to secure customer satisfaction for their own brands and those they serve.

However, what seems novel about the Tophatter platform is the way this service adds a measure of gamble and entertainment to the process. TOPHATTER promises vendors, the fastest growing mobile shopping app for professional sellers, businesses, and brands.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT:
This platform provides another low cost path to the consumer with a novel client experience factor. Since streaming video is influencing the consumer to stay out of the marketplace faster than anyone anticipated, adding a window to the entertainment screen so consumers can play in an online auction may have surprising results. Watch for platform competitors, for brands using the service to introduce new products and for the impact on liquidators like the 'Dollar Store' etc.

Emerge - Test Flight of UAE's Air Taxi

Maiden Flight of Volocopter  Autonomous Air Taxi in Dubai

The accompanying article and video shows the progress of  the  autonomous air taxi program in the UAE. 

“After the remarkable success of the first driverless metro in the region, we are glad to witness today the test flight of the Autonomous Air Taxi,” said Sheikh Hamdan. “This is another testament to our commitment to driving positive change. We are constantly exploring opportunities to serve the community and advance the prosperity and happiness of society.”

ARTICLE AND VIDEO

EMERGE - Blockchain Webinar CMO and the Next Era of Marketing

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Jeremy Epstein, is the author of "Blockchain and the CMO" project. If you are in marketing you need to attend this Webinar: 

How does blockchain—as a trust machine—change advertising, data analytics, branding, and the customer experience? 

How does blockchain offer organizations an opportunity to differentiate and gain competitive advantage?

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EMERGE - New Venture Funding Designation

Pre-seed is the new seed capital term for early stage investment As seed and Series A rounds have grown increasingly larger, a new category of funding has emerged: the pre-seed round.  According to Crunchbase, those funding emerging opportunities say seed rounds today closely resemble what Series A funding looked like five to 10 years ago.  Perhaps the pre-seed level of funding may help new ventures who have experienced difficulty to find traditional sources of capital. Pre-seed rounds may also allow smaller capital providers to play. Huffington Post was one of the first publications to use the term and updated the article in 2016 to include important details. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: Search the term to understand the magnitude and perquisites for this funding. Then use Crunchbase and other such resources to discover those involved in this level of funding. Develop a profile and executive summary that shows a compelling story for those who fund at this stage of emergence.

Emerge - Portea Medical Raises US$26M in Series C Funding

Emerging company in India takes healthcare to the patient

Portea Medical is a 'Late Stage Venture' that operates across four major segments in the healthcare space -primary care, chronic disease management, elder care and post-operative care. The services offered include physiotherapy, doctor consultations, new mother-and-baby care, specialty pharmacy, nutritional wellness, diabetic care, surgery discovery and tele-consultation. Their mantra is 'Heal at Home'.

"In under five years, we have served over 2.5 lakh customers across 16 cities in the country. We look forward to further refining the paradigm for consumer-centric healthcare here," said Meena Ganesh, MD and CEO of Portea Medical. "With this funding round, we will add more depth to our services and consolidate our position," she added.

Portea works with over 50 leading hospital partners, 15 pharma majors and leading insurance companies, according to company information. The model may be replicated in other developing markets to lower the cost of health care delivery and improve the level of patient care.

According to Crunchbase the Series C investment round was lead by Sabre Partners and MEMG CDC and brings the total funding of Portea Medical to US$72,500,000.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT: Heal at home services are being facilitated by new technologies. The concept may have the ability to reduce or eliminate the cost and resource commitments of the legacy health campus (hospitals) in chronic or post-treatment scenarios.

EMERGE - Healthmatch App Wins TechCrunch Battlefield Australia Competition

HealthMatch makes clinical trials more accessible to patients who need them. Recruiting for clinical trials can prove costly for CROs and tedious and time-consuming for patients. 

HealthMatch uses machine learning and proprietary algorithms to efficiently match patients with the trials for which they’re eligible. The service is completely free for patients and charges CROs on a per-client basis or on an annual license.