Accelerating Asia co-founders Craig Dixon and Amra Naidoo (L)
Accelerating Asia (AA), a Singapore-based accelerator-cum-venture fund, announced today that it is increasing its investment size from US$150,000 to a maximum of US$250,000 per deal.
The early-stage VC fund has also announced plans to launch its second in the second half of 2021. The original plan was to launch an ‘up to US$50 million’ fund in Q1 2020.
“We’re so excited by the traction, results, and growth of our portfolio startups so far. And, with the increasing investor interest, they’re receiving, it’s early signals for us that our accelerator VC model is working. We’ve decided the time is right to increase our investment amount and take bigger bets on the startups coming through our program,” said Accelerating Asia co-founder Amra Naidoo.
While most angel investors and startup programmes in Southeast Asia focus on ideation-minimum viable product stage startups, and solid product-market fit, startups with a robust product at early stages of customer traction are often overlooked.
AA designed to support pre-Series A startups to fast-track growth and drive success.
Its programme boasts of an acceptance rate of less than two per cent with only eight selected from 450 applications, where participating startups range from B2B, B2C, and B2G verticals, including energy, transportation, healthcare, and cleantech.
Also Read: A snapshot of the 11 startups joining Accelerating Asia’s 4th cohort
Since 2019, the VC has accelerated 36 pre-Series A startups in Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India. Its portfolio companies have collectively raised US$27 million.
As per a statement, startups who completed the programme in 2019 and 2020 have almost tripled monthly recurring revenue, up from over US$9,000 at the start of the programme to US$27,000 in 2021.
Its Cohort-4 startups have also successfully managed to raise US$5 million, besides an additional US$1 million in soft commitments.
Applications for cohort-5 are also currently open and will close on 30 June 2021.
Beyond its flagship accelerator programme, AA also supports the startup ecosystem by offering Amplify, a 6-module virtual accelerator that gives startups access to top-level resources to grow their business.
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Image Credit: Accelerating Asia
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