High five!
- Congratulations to five 500-backed companies for being honored on the 4th annual Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list! This list showcases small companies and startups in Asia-Pacific with a strong innovative streak, grabbing investors’ attention even as venture capital funding in the region hit a 7-year low last year.
- The honorees come from diverse industries — spacetech, e-commerce, and consumer — and are based across Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Get to know these trailblazing companies:
- Aliena: Their flagship engine, called Music (which stands for Multi-Stage Ignition Compact), provides electric propulsion that enables small satellites to operate in very low earth orbits. In March, the team raised a US$5.6M Series A to expand their existing jet-propulsion test facilities in Singapore and accelerate the global deployment of their engines.
- Applecrumby: The company offers babycare products, including chlorine-free diapers and wipes, with subscription packages for repeat orders and delivery to locations across Southeast Asia as well as mainland China. In March, 500 Global invested US$4.2M in the team.
- DealCart: An online grocery site for Pakistan’s growing middle class, customers can order fresh fruit and vegetables, snacks, detergents and other sundries. Small grocery stores can also sell on DealCart to tap its customer base. In July, they raised US$3M in seed funding.
- iMotorbike: An e-commerce platform for buying and selling used motorcycles in Malaysia and Vietnam, the team promises reliability with 170-point inspections and easy returns. The team raised a US$2.6M Series A in June 2023.
- Proglix: A platform to help small Indonesian companies procure raw and finished metal materials for construction and other industries — no minimum orders required. The team even offers competitive pricing and payment plans. They were the only Indonesian startup selected for the Y Combinator winter batch in 2023, and raised US$1.4M in seed funding in 2023 from 500 Global and more.
- Check out the full list on Forbes.
