Shutta Missions have seen this local company reach new heights. Shutta enjoyed further success at the Techfest 2016 event held in November. Just a few short months ago we reported on the amazing success of Shutta, the movie capture app, based here in Ho Chi Minh City. If you remember, founder Barbara Ximenez’s was included in the “CMO Top 50 Asia Woman Leaders” list. Shutta is one of the city’s most innovative start-ups, and they are experiencing phenomenal success. A few weeks ago the number of users on their social network site exceeded 1 million; an astonishing achievement. They showcased their product at the Techfest 2016 event, held in the capital city of Hanoi. This was hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Minister Chu Ngoc Anh, told a packed auditorium that “entrepreneurship ecosystem in Vietnam is still young with great potential for development.”
Shutta is one of the most exciting apps to surface in the last couple of years. It facilitates the capture of high-quality images from any movie stored on your smartphone. The app enables users to permanently hold on to their favourite memories in the form of a still photo. The results show absolutely no degradation in resolution.
Shutta Missions are what are driving the company forward. These have proved extremely popular. These are competitions in which users have to follow a particular “Mission Brief” to photograph their best moments. The entrants then post the results to the company website. The results are really capturing the imagination of many. Initial interest came from just the individual users. However, Shutta Missions are now getting attention from big brands, media buyers, and top agencies. It isn’t surprising, they fill the gap between getting impressions and actually creating revenue from marketing efforts.
Shutta Missions at Techfest 2016
Techfest 2016 drew more than 1700 investors and 3,000 visitors. It was an opportunity for the 140 start-ups present, to showcase their companies. The two-day event pulled interested parties from domestic and international markets. This year’s theme for the event was “the development of investment and resources, and connections between entrepreneurs, the government, and of course, investors”. Techfest 2016 also saw the launch of the first national startup ecosystem executive board. This is made up of people from the Vietnamese government, plus domestic and international investors.
Shutta took an exhibition booth and in addition Barbara showcased the company on the main stage. She presented Shutta and Shutta Missions to the delegates in the “Startup Discovery Contest”; receiving a very favourable reception. This contest was to find the best startups currently working in Vietnam. The panel of judges chose Shutta as one of the top ten finalists. Interest from big business continues to grow at a phenomenal rate.
Vietnam’s rapidly growing economy startup ecosystem has not escaped the gaze of the government, who recognise the need for such growth of the entrepreneurship community. This will act as an important driving force in achieving the government’s own target of 1 million businesses in Vietnam by 2020. The current number is estimated to be around 500,000. As Vietnam continues to develop, so international funding will decrease. Whilst this is a downside to a growing economy, it also creates the need to produce more, permanent work and business opportunities. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.
