Early-stage venture capital (VC) fund Accelerating Asia has announced the 11 members of its fourth 100-day, pre-Series A startup program, featuring companies based across Southeast Asia — from Indonesia and Singapore to Bangladesh and Pakistan, according to a Tuesday (April 13) press release emailed to PYMNTS.
The accelerator program, currently running virtually because of pandemic-related travel restrictions, offers master classes, pitch coaching and meetings with investors to help early-stage startups fast-track growth, according to the Accelerating Asia website. It runs through June 17, the release stated.
In the first month of the program, the 11 startups saw their average monthly revenue increase, on average, from 45,000 Singapore dollars (about $33,500) to 56,000 Singapore dollars (about $42,000), a 25 percent increase, the release stated. They also experienced monthly growth of 30 percent on average, compared to 16 percent prior to beginning the program.
Revenue growth is crucial when building out a startup in Asia, Accelerating Asia General Partner and CEO Craig Dixon told PYMNTS in October.
“You can’t really grow a business here [in Asia] without revenue beyond pre-seed or maybe seed funding … investors need to see revenue traction.”
Over the 100 days, “participating startups on average grow monthly revenue 350 percent, and 90 percent of companies raise outside capital from our network of angels, family offices and institutional investors,” Dixon said in the Tuesday release.
With 11 startups, this is the fund’s largest program yet, the release stated. Those startups range in covering 10 industry verticals, and 80 percent address at least one United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. A total of 35 percent of the startups are co-founded by females, and 6o percent are gender lens investments.
According to the release, Accelerating Asia’s Cohort Four startups include co-living operator Casa Mia; HealthTech firm DoctorKoi; mobility startup Drive lah; online dating platform KopiDate; ResTech firm Waitrr; cleaning and handyman service provider HandyMama; and exchange marketplace SWAP. The cohort also includes Amar Lab, a diagnostics test service provider; Independents, a marketplace for finding talent for marketing projects; Mobiliti, a firm manufacturing prosthetics; and TransTRACK.ID, a fleet telematics system integrator.
“We’ve selected Cohort Four from 500 startups from 30 countries, a record number of applications for us that shows the demand for a Singapore-based accelerator with an international footprint,” said Accelerating Asia Co-Founder and General Partner Amra Naidoo in the release.
The startups, which joined the program with over 6 million Singapore dollars (almost $4.5 million) raised for their companies, are eligible for investments of up to 200,000 Singapore dollars (about $150,000) from Accelerating Asia’s VC fund, the release stated.
Singapore-based Accelerating Asia has worked with 36 startups since beginning the program in 2018, according to the release. To date, past cohorts have raised over 30 million Singapore dollars (about $22,400).
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