Spurring social change

• 500-backed super app Grab announced its plans for the GrabForGood fund, which has an initial value of US$275 million. The startup is seeding the fund with US$50 million in cash and US$225 million in Grab shares, including a personal contribution of US$25 million in Grab shares from Group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan, co-founder Tan Hooi Ling, and President Ming Maa.
• The startup’s immediate commitment is up to US$20 million in cash from the fund to fully subsidise the cost of Covid-19 vaccines and vaccine administration of eligible driver- and delivery-partners not covered by a national vaccination program.
• For the wider Southeast Asia community, the startup plans to run financial and digital literacy programs, grants or incentives to build climate change resiliency, and catastrophic relief.
• Get the full details of Grab’s announcement here.

Bringing it home

• 500-backed proptech startup MHub has won third place in the Huawei Spark competition. The startup was among 10 finalists shortlisted from more than 140 entries.
• Organized by Huawei Technologies (Malaysia), the competition is part of the Huawei Spark program, which aims to incubate and accelerate company growth and build an ecosystem for businesses in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
• MHub is an end-to-end property platform designed to speed up and simplify the property sales cycle by connecting developers, agents, banks, lawyers, and buyers.
• Read the full article on Digital News Asia here.

Making the list

• Three 500-backed startups have been ranked in the Financial Times’ high-growth companies in Asia Pacific.
• Listed were automotive e-commerce platform Carsome at number 16, hospitality startup Reddoorz at number 19, and online furniture retailer Fabelio at number 34, representing Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia respectively.
• Compiled in partnership with Nikkei Asia and research provider Statista, this annual ranking lists 500 companies in the Asia-Pacific region that have achieved the highest compound annual growth in revenues between 2016 and 2019.
• View the full list on Financial Times here.

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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Southeast Asia family of funds. The 500 Southeast Asia funds have backed over 240 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.

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