Global startup generator and early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Antler announced that it has invested US$1.4 million into 14 companies from the third batch of its Singapore programme.
The firm showcased the startups in a demo day event on Wednesday in the city.
“The growth in the Southeast Asia tech landscape is evident. There is a huge opportunity for founders who join our programme in Singapore to build, work on and mould an idea from the very beginning for this region. As a VC and startup generator, we have the ability to accelerate the innovation created by entrepreneurs,” said Jussi Salovaara, co-founder and Managing Partner Asia at Antler.
Selected out of 3,000 applicants, the programme brought together 100 qualified individuals from 30 nationalities, with an average of eight years working experience, to set up an “ideal” team.
The companies that have made it to the list are:
Appboxo
Team: Nursultan Keneshbekov (CTO), Kaniyet Rayev (CEO)
An open-platform and SaaS solution to make native apps into super apps such as Grab and Gojek.
Also Read: Antler raises US$50M from investors including Facebook co-founder to expand into new locations
Capture
Team: Abdul Aziz (CTO), Josie Stoker (CEO)
An app that enables users to track, reduce and remove CO2 emissions from everyday life.
Evercare
Team: Sohail Khan (CEO), Gourav Goyal (CTO)
EverCare said that it is the first platform in Asia that takes care of users’ parents after they have
moved away.
Goblin
Team: Jim Nadackal (CEO), Phaneendra Chiruvella (CTO)
Goblin provides mobile developers visibility into app performance from a user-point-of-view, helping them understand, track and resolve user issues quickly.
Homebase
Team: Phillip An (co-founder), JunYuan Tan (co-founder)
A co-investment platform that aims to make homeownership more affordable and accessible.
Kotoko
Team: Cynthia Krisanti (CEO), Kanta Nandana (COO)
Kotoko aims to be a dominant Indonesia-focus omnichannel solutions provider for
Southeast Asian independent brands.
Nectico
Team: Rani Yanarastri (CCO), Amry Fitra Amanah (CEO)
Nectico provides enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution in a B2B marketplace for cooperatives in Indonesia to ease their business processes and to add business value by enabling them to operate digitally and connect them to the larger ecosystem.
Also Read: New Antler-NUS initiative to nurture deeptech talents, to invest in 30 startups annually
Playy.World
Team: Alvin Tjhie (CTO), Mark Thong (CEO)
Playy.World is a trusted marketplace for trading card games as well as collectible toys where enthusiasts can gather, share knowledge, compete, and trade with each other on a global platform.
Reebelo
Team: Philip Franta (CEO), Fabien Rastouil (CPO)
Reebelo.com is Singapore’s leading marketplace for pre-owned electronics.
Sova Health
Team: Max Kushnir (CSO), Tanveer Singh (CEO), Rahul Tiwari (CTO)
Sova is a precision nutrition platform that guides users towards a healthier lifestyle with personalised nutrition advice based on blood biomarker analysis.
StoryBrain
Team: Jikku Jose (CEO), Jibin Mathew (CTO)
StoryBrain is an application programming interface (API) that transforms the way images are consumed by using optimised images generated using AI to improve UX.
Tokobox
Team: Jaco Ahmad (CTO), Matthew McDonnell (CEO)
Tokobox uses technology to connect brands and e-commerce platforms with offline consumers, while providing income to casual workers.
Tradedi
Team: Lance Ma (CEO), Hai Duc Nguyen (CMO)
Tradedi.com is a B2B digital marketplace that enables cross-border trading between Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and the US. Their platform brings international traders, wholesalers, retailers and Vietnamese manufacturers on a single platform.
Zengage
Team: Jim Dabell (CTO), Lisa Sorensen (CEO)
Zengage is a consumer confidence tool for e-commerce. Their SaaS increases online revenue by displaying the information consumers need to feel confident to make their decision while buying products.
Repeat, repeat, repeat
In addition to pitches from the startups, the demo day event also saw an opening remark by Enterprise Singapore Chairman Peter Ong, followed by keynote speeches by theAsianparent founder and CEO Roshni Mahtani and content creator Nas Daily.
In her speech, Mahtani shared the nine lessons that she had learned about running a business in Southeast Asian. One of her notable advice was to “ignore 99 things [posts] you read on Medium about UI/UX.”
“Most of our users are not even aware that the three short bars at the top corner of our page are a menu bar,” she explained. “Because the Southeast Asian users are more accustomed to the super app model as introduced in China, where all the features they need are available in just one page.”
As a content creator whose claim to fame was his daily videos of his travels, Nas Daily put emphasis on the importance of repetition in his speech. To improve the quality of the videos he produces, he produces his videos on a daily basis, claiming that he never misses a day.
On Antler
Launching its first programme in Singapore in 2018, Antler has generated 47 tech companies from Southeast Asia. These companies have raised more than US$10 million in follow-on funding since finishing the programme; their examples include coliving company Cove, on-demand job platform Smapingan, e-sim marketplace Airalo, robotics company Cognicept, and personalised skincare products Base.
Also Read: Antler pours US$2.4M into its second batch of 17 startups
Globally, Antler has over 120 companies in its portfolio through its programmes in London, New York, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Sydney, and Nairobi.
The announcement of this new batch closely followed the news of Antler’s US$50 million global funds, which saw the participation of investors such as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Its Southeast Asia fund itself was closed in November 2019.
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Image Credit: Antler
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