Looking back, going forward

• “When we started investing in 2014/2015, you could probably fit all of the VCs in the entire ecosystem into my small living room,” reflected Vishal Harnal, Managing Partner at 500 Global. Today, it takes multiple conference rooms as we’ve seen at many events this year.
• “In 2021, there were 25 new billion-dollar companies formed in just that year alone. And it’s a sign of an inflection point that the ecosystem’s reached. Now you’ve got the full stack of capital, all the way from idea right up to IPO,” he continued.
• 500 Global was the first investor in several landmark companies in Southeast Asia — Grab, which went on to achieve the largest listing of a tech company in the region on the NASDAQ through a SPAC; Bukalapak, the largest technology listing in Indonesia when it went public last year; Prenetics, which went public earlier this year; Carsome, Malaysia’s first unicorn tech startup; and FinAccel, which is now a billion-dollar company. And many more are coming up the ranks.
• Amid this phenomenal growth, how have investment trends evolved over time? “When we started investing, the dominant trends were really e-commerce, fintech, and e-commerce enablement,” Vishal shared. “Now there’s a much deeper variety of companies that you can invest in.”
• According to Vishal, with fellow Managing Partner Khailee Ng, they tried to do everything for everyone when they first started. After realizing this approach was not scalable or sustainable, they decided to focus on the 3 most important things for founders in the ecosystem.
• #1 Fundraising: ”We built out a team to help the founders in our portfolio raise capital.”
• #2 Media, Press & Communications: “Many founders don’t like talking about themselves, and that actually hurts the companies in the longer run, because if people don’t know who you are, you’re less likely to get customers, you’re less likely to be able to hire talented people, and of course, get capital or partnerships down the line.” One such tool founders can leverage is, of course, Daily Markup!
• #3 The 500 Network: “500 has almost 3,000 portfolio companies in 80 different markets; we have people on-the-ground creating systems, processes, communication channels, and finding ways for founders to connect with each other and their networks. This is something that we’ve devoted a lot of time and attention to,” he shared.
• Listen to the full interview on the Rise of the Next podcast.