Accelerating Asia, an international early-stage venture capital fund, has broadcast its investment into a fresh collection of companies.
The ten startups are part of Cohort 8, the latest segment of Accelerating Asia’s principal accelerator initiative.
Startups from Cohort 8 maintain market presence across an impressive seven markets throughout Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa region. The industries in which they operate are diverse, ranging from education and e-commerce to logistics and InsurTech, as well as agritech and more.
Despite the assortment of their sectors, a common feature among these ten startups is the substantial market traction they have achieved. They have jointly amassed funding of $5.8m, demonstrating their ability to raise funds even amid a downturn in overall funding. This is predominantly due to their strong revenue growth, exhibiting a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of more than $57,000 per month and an average monthly revenue above $27,000.
Craig Dixon, co-founder and general partner of Accelerating Asia, highlighted that the robust market traction was a defining factor in selecting these startups from a larger pool of applicants. “The new cohort comes into the portfolio with strong early revenue and fundraising traction in their local markets. Accelerating Asia looks forward to helping them leverage this early success to scale into larger geographies and fundraise from a larger suite of investors across the world,” Dixon commented.
In line with Accelerating Asia’s mission, Cohort 8 startups are also making a meaningful social impact in their communities. The VC fund invests in startups with impact embedded into their business model, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guiding framework. Startups from their portfolio have already generated over 1,000 jobs, with gender lens investments making up half of all portfolio startups.
So far, eight cohorts have comprised 70 startups across more than 20 sectors, led by over 100 founders. These startups show significant success, generating an average monthly revenue of over $285,000 and an annualised revenue growth of 520%.
Thanks to their impressive market traction, these startups have managed to draw top investors from around the globe, including Asia Pacific. Cumulatively, they have raised over $63.8m in venture capital, bringing the total portfolio valuation to $600m. Prominent investors backing these startups include Sequoia Capital, Cocoon Capital, MDI Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, and Indonesia Women Empowerment Fund.
Amra Naidoo, co-founder and general partner at Accelerating Asia, noted that investors choose to collaborate with the organisation for three key reasons. “investors can gain immediate diversification across industries and markets. They also obtain access to the highest quality startups, since the selectivity rate for each cohort is less than 2%. Finally, they can tap the portfolio as a dealflow source for thesis-relevant startups for their own fund,” Naidoo added.
Cohort 8 marks the fourth batch of investments for Accelerating Asia’s Fund II, launched in 2021, which aims to infuse capital into pre-Series A startups across Southeast and South Asia.
One of the companies in the cohort is Proton, a UAE-based insurance platform that helps insurance companies better risk portfolio through behavior based driving data and incentivizes insurance customers for good behavior.
The Demo Day for Cohort 8, an invite-only event, will take place on August 3. More information on how to apply to attend can be found here. If you’re interested in joining our next cohort, apply here.
Keep up with all the latest FinTech news here
Copyright © 2023 FinTech Global
