Cubie/Pay+

Cubie Inc. was established in early 2012 by the husband-and-wife team Cjin Cheng and Yenwen 'Tempo' Feng. Before launching Cubie, the founders had prior entrepreneurial experience, having started and sold a company named Willmobile to a Taiwanese IT firm. Their venture into the mobile messaging market was driven by the observation that users employed different apps for various types of communication, spotting an opportunity for a specialized offering.

The company's flagship product was Cubie Messenger, a mobile messaging application for iOS and Android that differentiated itself by integrating features allowing users to draw while chatting. Beyond text, the app supported sharing of photos, videos, and voice messages. A key feature was the ability to doodle on a blank canvas or over images, providing a more expressive and visual communication tool. The app gained significant traction shortly after its launch in March 2012, surpassing two million users within two and a half months and establishing a strong presence in Southeast Asia, with Thailand being its largest market.

Cubie Inc. successfully secured $1.1 million in seed funding in October 2012 from a consortium of investors including 500 Startups, B Dash Ventures, NTT Investment Partners, and others. This funding was aimed at fueling expansion into the U.S. and Japanese markets. The company was also part of the 500 Startups accelerator program, which provided valuable mentorship on user metrics and product focus. To monetize, Cubie introduced premium sticker packs and partnered with Fortumo for carrier billing, a strategic move for markets with low credit card penetration.

Facing intense competition from larger, well-funded messaging platforms, Cubie Inc. underwent a significant strategic shift. In March 2015, the company re-incorporated in Singapore as Pomelo Network and rebranded its app to Pal+, moving its focus from pure messaging to a social network centered around games and user-generated forums. By this time, the original founders had departed; Cjin Cheng joined 500 Startups as an entrepreneur-in-residence in 2014, and Tempo Feng started a new venture.

Keywords: Cubie Messenger, Pal+, Pomelo Network, Cjin Cheng, Tempo Feng, mobile messaging app, drawing chat, doodle message, Southeast Asia tech, 500 Startups portfolio, seed funding, mobile app monetization, sticker packs, carrier billing, app rebranding, social gaming network