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Startup Group HobbyMash to Represent PH at DEMO Asia 2012 in Singapore
HobbyMash, one of the 28 Filipino startup teams that were recently formed during the first Startup Weekend Manila hosted by Proudcloud, Globe Telecom, Dynamic Objx and Microsoft Philippines, was chosen to represent the Philippines at Demo Asia 2012 to be held in Singapore this February 29 to March 1.
Together with its partners, Startup Weekend and Founder Institute, Microsoft BizSpark is taking ten startup companies to DEMO Asia 2012, Asia Pacific’s launchpad for the latest technology and trends. DEMO Asia is an event for the best companies and tech startups to launch their products throughout Asia to attract potential investment. In this year’s event, a selected number of new products and projects will make their public debut to potential investors, partners and the media.
Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software companies and startups by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with investors and key industry players.
"We're very happy to select HobbyMash as the Philippines’ representative for DEMO Asia 2012. Besting 27 other startups from Startup Weekend Manila, the HobbyMash team will showcase Filipino talent and ingenuity in front of the world’s top VC's." said Alvin Gendrano, Developer & Platform Evangelism Director, Microsoft Philippines.
HobbyMash is a web app that connects people with others according to similar interests and location. The application’s algorithm suggests new friends who share similar interests as well as new interests that are tailored to the user’s profile. On top of this, it also allows one to enrich the social experience by informing users about upcoming events and groups within the user’s spheres of interest.
Liezl Buenaventura, CEO of HobbyMash, shared what inspired her group to come up with the concept of HobbyMash. "Based on personal experience, my fiancée and I always found it difficult to find people who shared our interests. So with this dilemma, we both discussed about how it would be handy to have an app that solved the problem of connecting and discovering people with similar interests and at the same time, learn new hobbies and activities from the people we meet. This pushed for the creation of HobbyMash," Buenaventura explained.
Joining Buenaventura in coming up with HobbyMash are Josh Liao, Rafael Oca and Mark Co. According to Buenaventura, the application’s primary drive is to share one’s interests and allow one to meet and interact with people based on these interests. In addition, HobbyMash is fully integrated with Facebook, which makes it easy to use. Buenaventura also shared that while the application uses Adobe Flash for the front end, it also has a C# ASP.NET server hosted on Microsoft's Windows Azure for its back end.
Some of the companies who have acquired promising DEMO companies in the past include Adobe, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, Symantec and Yahoo!. DEMO Asia 2012 is co-organized by Sphere Exhibits and the International Data Group.
"Microsoft believes in what Filipinos can achieve with the use of technology. There are many great Filipino minds and we are doing our best to help them recognize their potential in the field of information technology. We will continue to support these individuals as they compete in DEMO Asia 2012 and represent the country," ended Gendrano.
For more information on DEMO Asia 2012, visit http://demo.asia/2012/demo-asia/ and for the list of startup groups presenting during the event, check out http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/NewsAndEvents/DemoAsia.aspx.
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