The local winners of the Seedstars World Competition (SSW) 2020 have been announced with 15 startups from Asia included in the batch.
The next phase will take the local winners to the regional stage where 10 startups will receive US$50,000 in the growth program investment as well as the chance to compete at the Grand Finale for a shot at the “Global Winner prize of US$500,000 in equity investment”.
The regional stage will include a one-month long programme to help startups get investment-ready. It will include action-driven webinars on key business metrics; online office hours, where startups can discuss challenges they are facing; domain groups and one-on-one mentoring sessions; investor meetings for potential funding opportunities; and peer-to-peer learning and networking sessions.
“Sourcing for early-stage tech startups used to be linked to the ability to find one hidden gem out of hundreds of applications. Times have drastically changed, especially in Asia. With the development of technology, a surge in internet adoption, and a fast-growing market, new entrepreneurs are capturing these opportunities by using technologies to solve our daily problems. I wish the best of luck to all the winners for the next stage of the SSW 2020/21 Competition, and I hope we will see an Asia-based startup becoming the Global Winner this year,” said Seedstars Asia Regional Manager Giovanni Corradini.
The Swiss VC fund has a portfolio of 59 startups across the globe. It claims to have more than half of its companies to have successfully gone on to raise follow-on capital from later stage investors such as Omidyar, Sequoia and YCombinator.
Also Read: Meet the 3 startups from emerging markets that will pitch at Seedstars International Demo Day
Here are the 15 selected startups:
shurjoMukhi Limited (Bangladesh)
An online payment gateway for online banking, bill payment and shopping.
One Click Shop Bhutan (Bhutan)
An e-commerce grocery store.
PlasGate (Cambodia)
An SMS gateway and aggregator.
BOXS (Hong Kong)
BOXS Universal Interface connects all technology to optimise and automate company workflow.
iSchoolConnect (India)
Improves school admissions by utilising marketing, recruitment, assessment and engagement.
TukangSayur (Indonesia)
Allows users to shop for economical, fresh and hygienic vegetables through a smartphone.
Finology (Malaysia)
Fintech company primarily serving clients in banking, insurance and property industries.
Message Owl (Maldives)
A B2B and B2C SMS platform which allows businesses to send SMS Messages (Promotional and Transaction).
Also Read: E-payment solution Duithape wins Seedstars Jakarta
Kiu Myanmar (Myanmar)
Empowers MSME/SMEs to improve their business efficiencies by channelling loans to grow their business.
Diyalo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Nepal)
Software company that develops level applications for web and mobile devices.
ELN Limited (Pakistan)
Provides online vocational training to over 25 countries in education, quality assurance, health and safety.
Smartfuture (Singapore)
Offers integrated IoT and AI-enabled white-label platform for telemedicine to healthcare providers.
Healthnet (Sri Lanka)
An online registered and licensed pharmacy that delivers medications at the doorstep.
Foodie (Thailand)
An online food delivery platform that also includes breakfast and tiffin services.
Also Read: Sayurbox wins Seedstars Jakarta, will represent Indonesia in world final stage in Switzerland
Bot Ban Hang (Vietnam)
A leading messaging and omnichannel commerce for online businesses.
–
Image: Seedstars
The post Meet the 15 Asian startups that will advance to Seedstars World Competition 2020 appeared first on e27.