Accelerating Asia sees first graduating cohorts during Demo Day
By Digital News Asia October 8, 2019
- Cohort collectively raised SG$1 mil during program
- Some startups saw growth in customers and revenue during program
.png "Founders from the 10 startups pose with Accelerating Asia members at the graduation.")
Accelerating Asia, an independent startup accelerator in Singapore, graduated its first cohort at its inaugural Demo Day, held recently.
It’s a diverse cohort of startups originating from across the region, spanning high-growth markets such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. They cover a broad range of verticals, too, including human resources, shipping and logistics, enterprise SaaS solutions, fintech, big data, medtech and adtech.
The event marked the end of an intensive four-month program, where the founders from the 10 startups worked closely with Accelerating Asia’s regional network of mentors, investors, customers and partners to scale their businesses and solve localised pain points unique to Asia.
The first Demo Day saw the founders pitching their businesses to a private audience of investors in the region, multinationals, government partners and other ecosystem players.
The cohort has collectively raised US$723,940 (SG$1 million), on top of the SG$1 million seed funding these startups had raised prior to joining Accelerating Asia’s program. Month-over-month revenue also grew for these startups, with the aggregate monthly revenue increasing from US$72,394 (SG$100,000) to US$180,985 (SG$250,000) during the accelerator.
“At Accelerating Asia, we work with each startup on an individual basis to develop their value propositions and their core business models so they can emerge from our program as stronger companies,” says Accelerating Asia’s cofounder, entrepreneur in residence and program director Craig Dixon.
“Additionally, over 10 external investments have been made in our startups over the course of the program, which is a great credit to our founders and a testament to the solutions they are developing to effect tangible change for regional communities. Together with our partners, we believe in the potential of our startups and are extremely excited to see what they are now capable of achieving.”
Seeing growth
The startups also saw growing customer base in their respective markets during the program. For instance, Bangladesh’s Loop – a tech-enabled marketplace for full truckload freight – moved 3,200 tonnes of goods and secured a total US$4.5 million letter of intent.
Similarly, automotive service and resource platform Zantrik increased its monthly revenue by 100% and grew customers by more than 50% - taking their total number of customers to over 20,000.
Some of the startups managed to add leading multinational companies to their client base. BeamAndGo, a payment and digital marketplace with the aim of empowering migrant workers, is already working with three of the Philippines’ largest retailers.
On the other hand, Klaud9 – an online platform that matches photographers and brands – has signed on industry heavyweights such as DHL, Citibank and NTUC, among others.
Accelerating Asia is set to continue guiding the development of startups in the region through the accelerator, which provides access to its network of ecosystem partners and providing go-to-market support.
“Over the program, we’ve received positive feedback from our partners including government, VCs and startups across the region and an appetite for more programs in different locations, so we are currently exploring how we can bring our accelerator to new markets and startups,” says Accelerating Asia’s cofounder and partnerships & operations director Amra Naidoo.
Applications for Accelerating Asia’s second cohort are now open, with plans to grow the cohort size from 10 to 15 startups. The accelerator will be running roadshows in Jakarta, Manila, Dhaka, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore to recruit for the next cohort.
Those interested can visit acceleratingasia.com for more information.
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