14 businesses that caught attention this week in Asia

1. Phewtick | Japan
Japan’s Phewtick is an app that allows its users to meet new people, and even earn money while doing so. The app currently has 600,000 registered users and is aiming to reach four million by the end of 2013.

2. Ookbee | Thailand

Ookbee is a Thai e-book startup that has shown huge growth, with more than 2.5 million users. It also has offices and partnerships across Southeast Asia.

3. Flocations | Singapore

On a tight budget? Singapore’s Flocations helps map out possible travel destinations to fit your budget. Ten months ago, the startup was pitching onstage at our very first Startup Asia Singapore conference – and today Flocations has raised SGD$700,000 (about US$573,000) in a round of funding led by TNF Ventures.

4. Meetrip | Japan

Meetrip is a travel sharing service that matches up travelers and local guides, offering its services to about 12 cities in Asia – and it now has 12 new Android apps for each city.

5. Foody | Vietnam

Foody is a Vietnamese startup that offers food recommendations and restaurant listings with more than 13,000 restaurants listed and 7,000 reviews in its database.

6. FlowerAdvisor | Singapore

Singapore-based FlowerAdvisor is a flower and gift e-commerce service that generated SG$1 million last year, with most of the customers from Singapore and Indonesia. The startup plans to explore market opportunities more closely in other Asian regions like Malaysia and Hong Kong.
7. Fantibody | China
Fantibody is very unique startup from China that allows users to search for medical antibodies on its search engine/e-commerce platform.

8. Looloo | Philippines

Philippine’s Looloo is a mobile app that allows users to discover the best dining, entertainment, and travel destinations within Metro Manila – and it also prides itself as the only friends-powered place discovery app that is focused on Manila at the moment.

9. Hike | India

Hike is a group messaging app from India which this week rolled out internationally.

10. Between | Korea

Korea’s Between is a mobile app aiming to create a one-on-one ‘intimate space’ to share chats, photos, videos, and emoticons between lovers. At the recent Global Brain event held in Tokyo last Friday, the Korean startup mentioned in its pitch that the word “Between” is becoming a verb used in relationships, such as, “Would you between with me?”

11. Heritage Wine Club | China

Heritage Wine Club is both an online seller of premium wines, and also aims to be the leading subscription e-commerce offering on the wine market in China.

12. TradeHero | Singapore

Recently launched on the Apple app store, Singapore’s TradeHero is a mobile app that allows users to trade virtual money based on real-world stock market data and provides money-making opportunities.

13. 8 Securities | China

8 Securities is a Hong Kong-based socially-oriented stocks trading portal that recently closed a $3 million funding round last week and announced they will open a Tokyo office March 2013 with a launch for Japanese users soon.

14. IndSight | Indonesia

NoLimit, an Indonesian startup, recently launched IndSight, a portal where users can monitor the latest social media trends in Indonesia.