Y Combinator and Techlist

Still working as hard as ever.

Tech in Asia is proud to be part of the current Y Combinator Winter 2015 batch. As an entrepreneur, I’m learning a ton.

Through YC, I get to understand why certain things in our company have worked really well and why certain things haven’t. We will continue to make something people want and stay true to our mission.

The last thing we want is complacency. As Kevin Hale of YC said at our last Startup Asia Tokyo conference:

[It’s] easy and dangerous to get complacent in other regions, where you might think ‘I’m the best startup in this location.’ You [then] don’t focus on being innovative, or being agile.

And here’s some more cool news: we’re officially launching Techlist! Full details of Techlist launch below.

YC-backed startup Tech in Asia launches Techlist

Tech in Asia’s Techlist is an online service that helps investors track startups in Asia.

Here’s how it works. Any investor can sign up for Techlist and…

• Search, follow, and track over 1,000 Asian companies. Data are updated weekly and we’re adding 100-plus active companies per week
• Request introductions to startups with the click of a button
• If an Asian startup isn’t on Techlist, users can send a request and we’ll return a full profile within two business days
• Follow startups, put them on a watchlist, and take notes
• Analyze funding trends across Asia

Techlist is laser-focused on Asia, particularly Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines), and hot markets including India, Japan, and China. It follows a freemium model, so anyone can see a startup’s basics including the founders’ details, total disclosed funding, and some social and traffic metrics. At US$399/seat/month, paying users gain full access to our online platform.

All information is in English and paying users will have access to more details about the founders and startups, including:

• Founders’ past work experience, educational background, social footprint, videos, and a Q&A
• Startups’ employee growth over time
• Web traffic and social media growth over time
• Complete funding history

Over 100 investors have signed up for Techlist in the last three weeks and some of our paying clients include SoftBank Capital, DeNA, GMO Ventures Partners, Incubate Fund, IMJ Investment Partners, Frontier Ventures, Gobi Partners, Ideosource, and Innosight Ventures.

According to Techlist’s data, venture funding in Asia has grown significantly over the past three years, particularly in Southeast Asia. In 2014, startups in Southeast Asia raised a total of US$988 million in disclosed funding.

(Note: This chart includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Only disclosed fundings are included in our calculations.)

Despite Asia’s huge growth, the region remains a challenge for both startups and investors because markets are fragmented and information is scattered across multiple languages. After speaking to many investors in the US, we learned that the absence of reliable information in English is one of the major entry barriers to investing in Asian startups. Even in Asia, regional language differences and a lack of English-language information means that Asian investors—including our clients—often have trouble learning about Asian startups outside of their home countries.

Techlist is built by Tech in Asia, a tech publication that has been covering Asia since 2011 and has forged strong bonds of trust with founders in Asia. To date, we have published over 22,000 articles about the tech scene in Asia and covered over 5,000 startups. Tech in Asia also runs Startup Asia, one of the largest startup conferences in the region. Startup Asia is held annually in Singapore, Jakarta, and Tokyo. Our last conference in Jakarta, Indonesia had over 2,000 people in attendance.

Through our media, events, and local connections, in the near future Techlist aspires to become more than just a startup database but also an online platform where investors and founders in Asia can meet and invest.

Frustrated that Asia’s tech scene was severely underreported, Willis Wee founded Tech in Asia in 2011 right after he graduated from Singapore Management University. Headquartered in Singapore and with offices in Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Tokyo, Tech in Asia has a team of 70 members across Asia dedicated to our mission to build the startup ecosystem in Asia.

FAQs

How do you get data?

For now, 50 percent of our data are input by machines and technology, 40 percent by humans, and 10 percent of the data are provided by founders.

How different are you from other startup databases?

A few things:

• We are focused only on Asia. Our mission is to serve and build Asia’s startup ecosystem.
• We have been running Tech in Asia (our media site) and Startup Asia (our series of tech conferences) for the last four years and we know the space and people well. Both new and matured startup data usually goes through us first.
• Great culture 🙂

Why YC?

To become a better entrepreneur and to widen Tech in Asia’s network. YC has been awesome so far.