11th July 2021

The cat is finally out of the bag!

Some of our closer partners probably knew about this some weeks ago when we sounded off of some structural changes within the company and did ask everyone to stay tuned for our big announcement. Here it is - we are proud to announce the formalization of our Series A Investment from Shanghai 2345 - a listed technology company on the Shanghai Exchange.

This investment came along with a re-organization of HiLife Interactive's business operations. The company - HiLife Interactive is split into 2 different business units - 1) HiLife and 2) HiLife+. Many may ask - what's the difference?

1) HiLife Smart Estate

HiLife Smart Estate is positioned to be the #1 Smart Estate Solution provider in the Singapore market and with the goal of expanding our areas of operation into the rest of SEA and Australasia.

The key competency of the business unit lies in the provision of Smart Estate Solutions such as Smart Metering Solutions, Smart Carpark Solutions, Smart Home Solutions, CCTV Operations, Smart Access (Condominium Access and Barrier Systems) and of course, not forgetting the HiLife Condominium App where we facilitate facility booking, payment of maintenance fees, estate notices etc. The key clients and partners of the HiLife business unit are Property Developers, Property Management Companies as well as Smart Estate Technology providers.

More information is available at http://www.hilife.sg

2) HiLife+ Social Estate App

HiLife+ comes from a different angle - the app was conceptualized in April 2021 to meet a need for residents to be digitally connected to one another, to build digital communities and of course, the goal of building a community ecosystem.

Think of us as a closed, verified social network where your key connections on the app are your neighbours and people who share a common interest within the community. The target market of HiLife and HiLife+ is also very different where HiLife focuses very much on private residential estates such as condominiums while HiLife+, a social estate app caters to everyone who resides in the country.

Although we are still fresh in the market but early user uptake numbers have been encouraging (See bottom). Not too worried about the user uptake at the moment as our priorities are very much still - are we generating enough value for our users to make them come back to our app? We believe this should be the fundamental problem that we should be tackling rather than mindlessly stepping up a gear on user acquisition. It is the system value that matters much more than mere user numbers.

Over the next couple of weeks (or rather, last couple of weeks too), we have been experimenting and piloting various campaigns as well as gathering user feedback and inputs on how can we improve and finetune the value proposition of the HiLife+ platform.

One thing had definitely changed (for the better) since we first started the app till now - we started off the project with the intention of connecting residents to one another, thinking that it is the way to build up a digital estate community. However, the past couple of weeks have shown us something more than that - the team has come to realise that a digital estate community is not just about the residents, but there are also other key elements within the estate that are just as important - Home based businesses, Small Medium Businesses (whose livelihood depends very much on the locality crowd), Groupbuy Organizers (which, by the way is a big thing here in Singaporean communities now) and not forgetting, the various government linked community bodies.

To build a digital estate community, our project team has to take care of these very important elements too. In a nutshell, our goal has shifted, or rather, more defined. From a mantra of "Connecting Residents", it has evolved into something bigger - "Building a strong community ecosystem".

Our team truly feels this is the way to move ahead. :)

-D

Press Coverage of Series A Investment:

Business Times: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapores-hilife-interactive-bags-s8m-in-series-a-funding-from-shanghai-2345

Property Guru: https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/property-management-news/2021/7/199730/singapore-based-hilife-interactive-clinches-8mil-funding-in-series-a-round

TechinAsia: https://www.techinasia.com/singapore-smart-home-startup-hilife-banks-8m-series-a-round