When I first saw the news that a US firm was buying Singapore app developer Hotapps for S$876M, I thought wow, another great startup exit. However, as I dug deeper into the story there was something very strange about the headlines.

The HotApps Press Release – “Wow, another Instant Messaging App That Will Be Worth Billions”

1. Hotapps is Not Even Out In The Market Yet

I was searching around the instant message app Hotsapp and I discovered its not even in the market yet! In fact, they are still just developing the app. How does something like that command any form of valuation in that range? Being in the startup space for a while, a Seed Round valuation is generally between $1M to $2M+ and that’s usually with a functioning beta already.

2. The US Company FIE is Worthless

The supposedly listed US acquirer FIE does not have any ...