Accelerating Asia picks 9 startups for fifth cohort

Accelerating Asia, a Singapore-based early-stage venture capital fund, has announced its fifth cohort of pre-series A startups and its first batch of investments from its US$20 million Fund II.

The accelerator has shortlisted as many as nine startups across Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the US. The venture fund said that shortlisted startups had already increased their monthly recurring revenue by more than 40% to an average of US$20,000 per month since joining Accelerating Asia last month.

Photo credit: Accelerating Asia

Accelerating Asia added that the fifth cohort was the most competitive to date as it saw 550 applications from 30 countries. The shortlisted startups, which operate across eight verticals, including fashion, ecommerce, agritech, fintech, ecommerce, healthtech, insurtech, and edtech, will join its 100-day program.

Amra Naidoo, co-founder and general partner of Accelerating Asia, said in a statement that the selected startups were likely to grow their revenue significantly over the next 12 months, as the accelerator’s portfolio startups have typically seen their average monthly recurring revenue climb 180% to hit around US$55,000 after completing the program.

Here are the startups that made it to Accelerating Asia’s fifth cohort:

Chat Genie
The Philippines-based business-to-business (B2B) platform provides online stores for businesses on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Viber, GCash, PayMaya, and other apps. It provides integrated online payment and automated delivery services to more than 2,000 merchants.

Dana Fintech
The Bangladesh-based fintech firm helps banks, financial institutions, and fintech firms offer digital lending and buy now, pay later facilities to underbanked small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and individuals through its credit-scoring engine, digital underwriting, and application programming interface platforms.

The startup has already raised US$200,000 in seed funding and has partnered with the likes of Ajkerdeal, iFarmer, and V-cube.

Ellegra
The Malaysian online personal styling platform for women has more than 25,000 users. It also has partnerships with brands, such as Dressing Paula, Mis Claire, Curve Cult, and Love Knot.

Giftpack AI
The US-based startup provides AI-driven personalized gifting services at scale. Its AI analyses each recipient’s social media, cultural background, and digital footprint to customize gift options. The startup already works with more than 800 corporate accounts and is also backed by 500 Startups (rebranded as 500 Global).

Mayani
The Philippines-based ecommerce platform focused on agriculture provides smallholder farmers with broader access to the market, while minimizing food loss through a digitized agricultural value chain.

It is also the first Filipino startup in the space that has received investment from Silicon Valley agritech venture firm, AgFunder.

Sohopathi
The Bangladesh-based edtech startup provides an online social platform for peer-to-peer learning. It has set up a community of 200,000 learners and educators.