Survivor stands tall amid growing pile of fallen services marketplaces

Dear readers,

My original title for this letter was “A growing graveyard of services marketplaces.” But I thought that was too grim for the holiday season, so I went with something more hopeful.

GoWabi is a beauty services booking platform that seems to be rising even as competitors fade away.

GoWabi founders (L to R) Wipawee Wongsirisak, Samir Cherro, and Vadim Eremeev / Photo credit: handout

It appears that unlike ecommerce, plenty of “Uber for services” or services marketplace models have failed to live up to their potential, though there are clear exceptions as well. Such companies like Vanitee and Vaniday have shuttered, and I’m just scratching the surface. I do wonder why, but that’s a topic for another day.

Looking outside of services marketplaces, 2C2P is also a survivor. The fintech pioneer grew by capturing the online travel market, and is now valued north of US$200 million.

Another startup that’s rising above the challenge is Amartha, a peer-to-peer lender that survived after the founder threw his last dice.

For more insights on companies that are playing the odds, check out the rest of our premium pieces from the past week:

• Rising startups: New wave of car marketplaces are taking off
• Time to end Singapore’s mailbox monopoly?
• It’s too easy to villainize founders

Here’s more good stuff you may have missed:

• Indonesia’s ecommerce race gets brutal
• GoGoVan’s CEO on $1b merger, Vietnam plans, and concerns for the future

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Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Cheers,

Terence