Got Schwag? Asia Venture Schwag launches

• New web startup Asia Venture Schwag launches
• Similar model to Startup Schwag based in the US
• Members get schwag like tee shirts featuring logos of start-ups
  

Regional - After much delay, Asia Venture Schwag finally looks set to launch proper with its first issue expected to be sent out to subscribers in early September.

Among the initial partners the company has onboard include Michael Arrington's Singapore start-up CrunchPad as well as social media company CloudRelease and an Indian on-vehicle advertising concept provider called CASHurDrive.

Asia Venture Schwag is an Asian focused start-up schwag and tee shirt of the month club, and operates similar to US-based company Startup Schwag.

"We're pretty much the Asian version of them [Startup Schwag]," Asia Venture Schwag co-founder, Ng Cheng Wei said.

"But this is just the first step of something bigger that we're building here, and eventually we want to create an entrepreneurial community which functions as more than a news platform," Ng said.

The company was founded in Singapore by Ng and Jeffrey Paine and since mid-2008 both men have been setting the groundwork for the launch.

"There's not really any big hurdle to get past in terms of logistics but marketing-wise, this is a concept which could take a while [for people] to get used to in Asia," Ng said.

Like with Startup Schwag, the revenue model is subscription-based with subscribers paying a fee (Asia Venture Schwag charges US$14) each month to receive a schwag bag containing a tee shirt and stickers.

The company says it is also looking at providing "À la carte" items in the near future as well.

The first start-up logo to appear on an Asia Venture Schwag tee shirt will be CrunchPad, a company making tech news headlines of late for its attempt to build a low-cost Web Tablet device.

Asia Venture Schwag marketing starts this month, mainly through avenues such as Facebook and word-of-mouth within the start-up community.

"We're looking for subscription numbers because a higher volume gets us lower cost which means better schwag for the subscribers," Ng said.

The company is targeting to reach at least 80 to 100 subscribers for the launch and plans to multiply that number six times by the end of the year.