Singapore.CNET.com - August 1, 2000 - Fresh from its first round funding exercise, Hardware Zone Pte Ltd, which operates IT portal HardwareZone.com, now hopes to up the ante by delving into e-commerce.

In an interview with Singapore.CNET.com today, Hardware Zone founding CEO Jackie Lee said that the company was investing in an e-procurement infrastructure, with help from online supply chain and logistics companies such as AceFusion.com Pte Ltd and ChainFusion Ltd.

The 24-year old Lee expects HardwareZone.com to sell computer products in three to six months, targeting Singapore customers for starters.

"With e-commerce, we hope that online product sales will contribute 10 to 20 percent of our total revenues in 2001," he said, adding that HardwareZone.com already has 18,000 members, including 85 percent from Singapore.

Although many Internet start-ups today are facing financial difficulty, Hardware Zone does not belong to this camp.

"We have been profitable from the start...(we) have generated profits of S$120,000 on revenues of S$500,000 to date," Lee said, adding that revenues came from online advertising and online marketing services such as contests.

Besides advertising, Lee disclosed that Taiwan PC motherboard manufacturers including MSI Microstar International Co Ltd, Elitegroup Computer Systems Co Ltd and AOpen Inc, as well as Singapore-based SiS Technologies Group and RFC Distribution (S) Pte Ltd, would also be selling their products on HardwareZone.com.

Based in Singapore, the 11-man outfit will be expanding to Malaysia by year end, Lee said, adding that Hardware Zone will seek its second round of funding also by the end of the year but declined to provide details.

By next year, he expects to provide online transaction capabilities targeted at IT distributors, resellers and manufacturers. This will be done by partnering with companies such as Innoweb.com Pte Ltd, which provides an e-marketplace for IT distributors and resellers. Lee has yet to approach Innoweb but will do so by year end.

HardwareZone.com was started as a hobby by a group of National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates two years ago with a mere S$1,000. The holding company, Hardware Zone, was established last October.

In fact, Lee has yet to graduate. The electrical engineering student was granted a year's leave from NUS to concentrate on his company and will only return to school to complete his final year next July.

Recently, the company secured S$1.5 million in its first round of funding from 20 angel investors, including MediaRing.com Ltd founding chairman Ng Tee Khiang.

On going public, Lee said that the company is eyeing the Singapore Exchange but only expects to list by end 2002 or the beginning of 2003.