Singapore-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm and accelerator, Accelerating Asia, has announced the five startups selected for its thirteenth cohort, chosen from a record 724 applications spanning 20 countries, with an acceptance rate of under one per cent, the most competitive in the firm’s history.
All five companies were already generating revenue or active usage at the time of selection, an unusual benchmark for an early-stage intake. The cohort spans consumer-goods distribution, last-mile logistics, customer-success software, e-commerce, and retail loyalty, across markets including Singapore, the UAE, Bangladesh, the United States, and Hong Kong.
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Despite AI featuring in nearly every application this cycle, Accelerating Asia says the term’s ubiquity worked against candidates who leaned on it as a selling point. “When nearly every founder says they use AI, the phrase stops being a signal,” said Amra Naidoo, General Partner and co-founder. “The question that actually decided this cohort was whether the AI was the product or the leverage.”
The five companies selected are:
Driftly AI (UAE/US)
An AI-powered operating suite for consumer goods distribution, founded by Sheheryar Iqbal, former Head of Supply Chain at Airlift, where he launched over 80 warehouses and worked with 450-plus manufacturers. Embedded with flagship customer Gourmet for more than eight months, the company has doubled its clients’ sales footprint, saved over 20 per cent in margins, and is now on a path to US$1 million in ARR. Its warm enterprise pipeline includes Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé.
DIGIBOX (Bangladesh/Singapore)
Bangladesh’s first shared last-mile logistics infrastructure, operating a network of IoT delivery lockers across 55 sites, with close to one million deliveries and 123,000 end users. The company designs and manufactures its own lockers in-house and handles roughly one per cent of all Daraz orders in the country. It cuts delivery costs by up to 40 per cent and failed deliveries by up to 80 per cent. Co-founded by Rezwanul Haque Jami, a two-time founder with prior exits.
Meza AI (US)
Positioning itself as “cursor for customer success”, Meza AI is an AI-native platform helping SaaS companies reduce churn and unlock upsell from existing customers. It has around US$230,000 in ARR, 10 paying customers, and a 100 per cent pilot-to-paid conversion rate, monitoring more than 1,500 accounts. Founded by repeat operators Abhishek and Priya Yadav, who previously scaled a consumer platform to over two million users.
Govaly (Bangladesh/Singapore)
The largest fashion and beauty e-commerce marketplace in Bangladesh, with over 100,000 users, 70,000 orders, and 1,000-plus verified sellers in its first year. GMV has grown 27x in 18 months with zero paid acquisition. The platform operates without a warehouse, shipping directly from verified sellers, and delivers roughly 80 per cent faster than the industry average. Founded by Himel Faraz and Jeion Ahmed, with a 45-person team.
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meed (Hong Kong)
A consumer-first retail loyalty platform that works with a single QR scan, natively integrated with Apple and Google Wallet, requiring no app or login. It has attracted more than 700 organic merchant sign-ups from 85 countries with no paid acquisition, zero churn among paying merchants, and an organic LTV-to-CAC ratio of approximately 140-to-1. Founded by Phil Ingram, a 28-year product veteran, with paying traction concentrated in UK salons.
Accelerating Asia co-founder and General Partner Craig Bristol Dixon framed the cohort’s significance for investors: “Five operators already earning, across five markets that most funds never travel to, and we are in early on every one. Early entry in overlooked markets is where the structural advantage lives.”
The five companies will spend the next 100 days in the Accelerating Asia programme, culminating in a Demo Day. Applications for Cohort 14 will open soon. The announcement coincides with the final close of the firm’s second fund.
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