One of the largest such providers, Constant Contact, is actually much bigger than most people think.

Launched back in 1998, the company is now publicly traded on NASDAQ and boasts a market cap of nearly half a billion dollars, and the company caters to hundreds of thousands of small businesses and organizations who use its software to spam connect with their customers and members. So if such an e-mail newsletter juggernaut launches a new service that is bound to be a competitor to a host of Internet startups, we take notice.

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Some time today, Constant Contact is launching an event marketing tool, which will enable customers to promote and manage registrations and RSVPs for their meetings, seminars, parties and other events. Users will be able to enter details for their events, communicate them with their contacts via e-mail and an optional custom homepage, and receive payments for events that require attendees to pay in advance.

The tool also lets users track campaigns in real-time and get extensive, automated reports on the e-mail marketing performance, payments, venue capacity and much more.

I gained access to a preview version of the software, and found it had quite a robust set of features. See some screenshots below to get an idea of what it’s going to look like.

Startups, take note

Considering the company’s already vast customer base, I think it’s a logical step for Constant Contact to take and one that will likely provide them with another steady revenue stream. For Internet startups who operate in this field, the announcement of the new feature isn’t exactly going to be the best of news.

Not that Constant Contact’s newest endeavor will effectively kill any of them outright, but it certainly limits the amount of small businesses they’ll be able to convince to use their tools for event marketing. After all, there’s now a large, public company with a big track record in handling large-scale campaigns offering a combination of e-mail marketing, online survey and event marketing tools all-in-one.

Pricing for Constant Contact’s Event Marketing service will be based exclusively on the number of active events – not on the number of registrants – nor are there any additional charges based on revenue collected for events. A set-up fee will not be charged either. Pricing starts at $15 per month for up to five concurrent events.

Some of the startups that will no doubt be analyzing this pricing strategy today: Meetup, Eventbrite, Evite, Cocodot, Amiando – and there’s plenty more where that came from.

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As in many parts of Asia, the 800-pound gorilla in the web arena is Yahoo: The company established Yahoo Taiwan as early as 2000 after a buy-out and acquired Wretch, a wildly popular platform for blogging and sharing media, in 2007. Today, these two sites are the biggest in the country, with Facebook following as the No. 3 (Facebook now has 3.9 million users in Taiwan).

But the country does have promising tech start-ups with a global focus, too, some of which I talked with earlier this week during a (private) trip to Taipei. The TechCrunch/Crunchgear meetup on Monday, organized together with partner and co-organizer Chili Consulting (a local innovation strategy firm), was a blast. Over 120 people attended the meetup despite of a typhoon that traveled through Taiwan that day (we actually had to stop registration after a few hours due to space restrictions). Taipei- and San Jose-based hardware maker IPEVO sponsored the event.

A total of six Taiwan-based startups were given the chance to pitch their services (all are available in English) to the audience. Here’s a rundown on all of these companies.

Startup 1:
Swagly
Swagly, which calls itself a word-of-mouth affiliate network, is targeting a multi-billion dollar market: the monetization of social networks and video sharing platforms. The key idea is to let people buy what they see in pictures and videos via a product-tagging widget. This widget is placed right below the pictures or videos, with the social network users tagging products themselves (demo).

If a friend sees a user-tagged Gucci bag in an album photo, for example, the Swagly widget will show details of the bag and where the friend can buy it (Swagly works with a slew of American retailers by integrating with Commission Junction and LinkShare). In the case of a click or sell-through, Swagly shares the revenue with the publisher and the user who tagged the product.

Startup 2:
DragNTalk by Taroko Technology
DragNTalk is what appears to be a quite powerful application that makes it possible to project presentations (and other documents) onto nearby computers just by using drag and drop. The software automatically displays presentation materials as web pages in your browser. And all you need to do to share a presentation is to share a local web address with your listeners in a local network (details).

You can then drag and drop any kind of file into the DragNTalk pane and go through your slides just like you do in Powerpoint, for example. The application lets you take snapshots of materials that are available in unsupported formats to be able to share these, too. Listeners can view the presentation you give in their browser windows.

DragNTalk is currently available as a trial edition, with a USB-powered wallet-size wireless router supporting the application in the works (people connecting through the Wi-Fi network spawned by the router will then be able to see the presentations automatically).

Startup 3:
Ragic
5-man startup Ragic wants to take on big enterprise solution companies like Salesforce with a dead simple database creation tool that’s based on a spreadsheet UI. Ragic claims their users can build a full-scale enterprise application like Salesforce’s account management system by themselves in about an hour – without any coding. Alternatively, users can customize and deploy applications offered by Ragic, i.e. their issue tracking or employee management solutions (Ragic’s own account management system is here).

The six applications Ragic currently offers are free to use for a limited time and are as easy to use as Excel. The company earns money by charging customers on a monthly basis (just like Salesforce in the form of a Platform as a Service model) and selling OEM licenses to web design companies.

Startup 4:
Starmugs
Starmugs was surely the most unusual of the demo companies presenting at the TechCrunch Taipei event. The site sees itself as the primary online destination for all lovers of Starbucks City Mugs, apparently quite popular collectible coffee mugs Starbucks started selling in 1994. If you’re one of these people, Starmugs lets you list up, display, trade and share stories about your mugs. The site even has its own virtual currency (Mug Cash).

Startup 5:
Citiport
Launched at DEMO last year, Citiport can roughly be described as a mix between Yelp and TripAdvisor. The site offers travelers “insider information” on the best places to visit in cities around the world. The idea is to collect recommendations on so-called “hotspots” (restaurants, bars, nightlife, shopping, sightseeing, hotels etc.) from people who live in these cities. These locals can be contacted directly on the site and may be ready to help travelers get around in real life as local tour guides.

Startup 6:
YusReader by Cloudonline Technology
YusReader is a nifty full-content RSS reader and sharing platform. The site encourages you to log in with your Facebook account, as YusReader makes it possible to find blogs read by your Facebook friends and share your own favorite blogs with them. The site is also pre-populated with blogs grouped in several categories (sports, lifestyle etc.), but allows you to add your own RSS feeds, too.

Each blog is displayed as an icon in a customizable grid-view. Click on the icon to view the blog in a full browser window where you’ll find a YusReader bar at the top. You can choose the blog you want to read via a drop-down menu and quickly browse through the articles from that blog by scrolling up and down with your mouse.

Event sponsor:
IPEVO
Founded in Taipei, Taiwan & San Jose, California in July 2007, IPEVO creates devices that expand and enhance the overall experience over the Internet. Renowned for its iconic line of VoIP and Skype hardware, IPEVO has established a reputation for innovating award-winning designs and affordable products to help make the Internet a better place for what matters most–connecting, communicating, and sharing with the world around us.

IPEVO’s current product line includes the best-selling So20 Wifi phone for Skype and the Kaleido R7, a digital frame that features a unique pivoting display design and comes bundled with EyeStage software to wirelessly stream Flickr, Picasa, Facebook and other Internet contents from a PC or Mac to the frame. Available in late October, the Point 2 View USB Camera (pictured below) is a 2.0 Megapixel, PC & Mac compatible webcam that sits on a versatile swing-arm stand.

Many thanks to all attendees, demo companies, co-organizer Chili Consulting and sponsor IPEVO. xie xie! You can find many more pictures of the event here (courtesy of Chili Consulting).

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Every guest should have received the invitation by now, and please remember the venue changed (the schedule remains the same though). Thank you very much for the incredible interest in the meetup, which is sponsored by Taipei- and San Jose-based hardware maker IPEVO.

Please note you can’t register for this invitation-only event anymore – sorry.

Special thanks again to Chili Consulting for organizing this meetup. Make sure to follow the company’s Facebook page and blog for any last-minute updates (which are very unlikely to happen).

I’m looking forward to seeing over 100 TechCrunch readers and a handful of selected Taiwanese demo companies tomorrow.

Use the hashtag “#tctaipei” when twittering about this event (although I know Plurk is quite big in this country).

Taipei 101 picture taken from Flickr

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Here are the details (in Chinese):

• Event date: October 05 (Monday), 2009
• Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm (doors open: 7pm)
• Venue: Mary’s Bistro 2nd. Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City
• Fee: NT$250 per person

Register for the event here. Please note that we are restricted on numbers, so don’t be disappointed if you can’t get on the guest list (this is strictly an “invitations only” event).

Please send an email to service [AT] chiliconsulting.com if you’d like to sponsor the event. Do the same if you have something cool and “made in Taiwan” to pitch (i.e. mobile tech, a web service, gadget etc.). Use the hashtag “#tctaipei” when twittering.

Special thanks to Chili Consulting for organizing this meetup (make sure to follow the company’s Facebook page and blog for updates).

We hope everyone has a great night and are looking forward to seeing you all on October 5 in Taipei!

Update:
Thank you very much for the huge interest in this meetup. Please note you can’t register anymore.

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Financial results actually fell short of forecasts put forward last year, when Meetup aimed for 50% growth in both meetups and revenues by this Summer. Despite the fact that growth was actually more like 35-40% over 2008 in its main metrics, Meetup (unexpectedly) hit profitability last July on net income of $30,000.

Interestingly, the company informed its investors that it wasn’t actually aiming for profitability this soon, referring to it as a ‘byproduct of hard work’, and remains cautious about predicting future profitable months. In fact, they’re clearly stating that an increase in ‘Successful Meetup Groups’ (SMUGs) has priority over revenues and profits at this point. The company’s biggest challenge right now? Hiring staff fast enough to keep up with growth.

Let’s dive into the numbers.

Year over year, Meetup’s cash sales went up 37.2%, from $558,576 in July 2008 to $776,495 in July this year. At an annual run rate, that means Meetup is currently clearing about $9.2 million in revenues. The number of meetup groups increased from about 19,700 groups to 27,500 in the past year, which is relevant because organizer fees make up the bulk of the company’s income. Approximately 85% of Meetup’s income comes from meetup organizers who pay for the service; the rest comes from sponsorships and on-site text advertising.

Meetup still has $8 million left in the bank, having raised $20.1 million in venture capital since its 2002 Series A round.

Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman had earlier confirmed some of the numbers on Twitter.

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Our first TechCrunch/CrunchGear meetup in Tokyo (TechCrunch Japan is one of Japan’s main blogs) yesterday night was a blast. Peter Ha was in town and over 100 people attended the event on very short notice, including representatives from Yahoo Japan, telecommunications giants KDDI and NTT, Opera, MySpace Japan, mobile social network GREE and many more. Japan’s super blogger Danny Choo also joined, spending the whole evening in Stormtrooper gear.

There were a lot of companies with iPhone apps in the room: iPhone manga, iPhone Othello, iPhone Meow Cam, even an iPhone newspaper. Here is a selection of some of the web services and iPhone apps from smaller start-ups that were pitched to me yesterday (in no particular order). Next time we really need to schedule more than two hours for these events.

Startup No. 1:
Genkii, a developer of iPhone applications, virtual world and social media projects, presented One Coin Comics. The platform for the iPhone launches this month with a multi-lingual, interactive manga called “Foxfire”. In addition to releasing original comic projects, Genkii told me they will open the platform this spring to other writers and artists. Artists can then submit finished art to Genkii for assembly and release through One Coin Comics, and share the revenue.

Startup No. 2:
CEO CTO Masahiko Tachizono told me that his site Natalie is probably the main hub on the web for news about Japanese pop music in English. Unlike similar sites, all news are delivered directly from Tokyo and the site gets updated a few times daily. Tachizono also said he is currently looking out for strategic partnerships in order to expand distribution, especially outside Japan. Natalie is also available as a Facebook app (in English).

Startup No. 3:
DigiDock is an iPhone development company currently selling Reversi Sister, a pretty unique version of Reversi (a board game also known as Othello), in the iTunes AppStore (in English). The game, which is enriched with anime-style audio and graphics, is actually tons of fun and costs $2.99. Watch a Reversi Sister demo video here.

Startup No. 4:
MyGengo offers crowdsourced human translation (currently in English and Japanese only). After uploading or pasting texts into the order form, users receive instant pricing to order their chosen quality level, and receive completed translations within a few hours through the site. CEO Robert Laing told me his company relies on an outsourced network of pre-tested native-speaker translators to keep business costs down, claiming users can save up to 70% in translation costs this way.

Startup No. 5:
Appliya just yesterday announced a collaboration with SoftBank Mobile (Japan’s third biggest cell phone carrier) that aims at bringing iPhone apps with a Japanese flavor to the global market. The company has released 26 iPhone apps soo far. What Appliya showed me yesterday was Meow Cam. Download it ($0.99) and the iPhone meows when you press the Meow button, causing a cat to be photographed to look into the direction of the camera (video). The Baby Cam, which also costs $0.99, is the corresponding app for infants (video). The Ghost Camera Lite app (free) automatically overlays a Japanese style ghost image on top of every picture you take with your iPhone. This is some crazy stuff and you can find more in their iPhone app catalog.


Startup No. 6:
Japanese print media companies are notorious for being very slow in embracing the web. But Yappa distributes the printed contents of the Sankei Shimbun, one of Nippon’s main daily newspapers, to Japanese iPhone users for free. The iPhone version is available at the same day the newspaper comes out, features all its pages and layout and has been downloaded around 200,000 times since December 12, making it one of the most successful apps in the Japanese iTunes store. Judging from what I have heard, Japan’s conservative publishing industry is not very amused about the Yappa-Sankei Shimbun collaboration.

Cool Japanese geek group:
Some ultra-geeks from Hacker’s Cafe, an interest group of 11 individuals, demonstrated Cyber Star Rally to me. The Cyber Star Rally is basically an outdoor game that involves a person riding a mountain bike trying to collect virtual “stars” (only visible for the player) by using GPS. The Augmented Reality-powered project is weird but also very, very cool (see the video below for more).

Hacker’s Cafe also offers an English blog now, which I can highly recommend (you don’t want to miss stuff like the running web server).

We had a great time (the after-party ended at 4am) and I think the event, which was originally planned as a casual get-together “with a couple of readers”, turned out to be a huge success. Many thanks from Peter Ha and me for coming out. Arigatou gozaimasu!

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Eventvue brings social networking to the context of conferences, helping conference goers re-connect or follow up with business they couldn’t follow up with in the limited span of a conference. Networking at a conference is a fairly inefficient process, left up to chance encounters and stacks of business cards. Anything that can help optimize the limited conference time that thousand dollar ticket bought you is an easy sell.

Confabb is the most direct competitor in the space, but has focused on being a comprehensive directory of the who, what, and where of industry conferences rather than on the palm greasing that goes on at the events. More social competitors include Meetup.com and Eventwax. Eventvue is set for a public launch later this year.

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