Here’s the startup we are sending to Tech in Asia Jakarta from Manila

The Tech in Asia tour this week made its way to Manila for the first time as part of our mission to handpick the best local startups to showcase at our Jakarta conference, which is on November 11 and 12.

Our panel of judges in Manila at Impact Hub Manila were Jason Chia of 1337 Ventures, Earl Valencia of IdeaSpace and Christian Besler of Kickstart Ventures. The judges kicked off the lively evening with a fireside chat, after which we introduced our three local startups and dived straight into the main action of the event – the much anticipated pitch battle.

Here’s a look at our contenders:

Chef on Demand

If you’ve ever been to a restaurant in the early evenings, you might have wondered what chefs do in their spare time when business lulls. According to Chef on Demand, this downtime can cause expensive overheads for restaurants – and it wants to change that.

The startup pre-orders a certain number of meals from chefs each day, who then prepare the food in their free time before the lunchtime rush. Chef on Demand then takes orders from consumers with the promise of delivering it in under 20 minutes. In the first 6 weeks following its launch, the service has worked with 5 chefs to serve some of its 1,500 registered users.

Cropital

Cropital started its pitch by posing a seemingly innocent question: “What can I do with 20 pesos?” The founder then explained this is a somber reality for many small farmers in the Philippines. With little access to capital, their productivity often takes a hard hit as well. Cropital aspires to empower these farmers with resources gathered through a crowdfunding site.

The website offers a selection of farms curated by the startup, where the public can choose to put their money in. The funds will then be utilized to improve production. Investors can receive returns at the end of each crop season.

Klaseko

Klaseko hopes to end the era of paper with a web-based platform that automates enrollments and processes payments for schools. The startup claims that the process in the Philippines takes up an unnecessary amount of time, resulting in many human errors and high overhead expenses.

To cite an example, Klaseko mentioned that one of its co-founders vanishes for 3 days each year when her child’s enrollment window for school opens.

By allowing users to enroll and pay their school fees via the app, Klaseko aims to create a one-stop solution for schools and users to reduce business expenses and save parents’ time.

Which startup will you meet in Jakarta?

The winner of our Manila leg is… Chef on Demand. It was a unanimous decision among all three judges who believed that there was a niche in the premium food sector that this startup could capitalize on. They were also optimistic that it could potentially expand into other initiatives, suggesting that they could literally supply chefs to consumers for events.

In addition, the founder’s experience in food logistics and his other complementary businesses in creative production and mobile development made a strong case that the food delivery startup will get the support it needs to flourish.

The Chef on Demand team won a sponsored trip to Tech in Asia Jakarta 2015, taking place on November 11 and 12. If you have questions, feedback or just want to say hi to the friendly faces behind the startup, Bootstrap Alley is where you can find them.

Get your conference passes before October 25 to enjoy a 15 percent discount off all tickets – the code to use is tiajkt15.

A shout out to our awesome partners

The success of this event was made possible with the support of our various partners.
Impact Hub Manila is an incubator, coworking and events space for a membership community of entrepreneurs, activists, creatives, and professionals taking action to drive positive social and environmental change.

They are now taking the next step to foster sustainable innovation and empower entrepreneurs. The Fellowship in Innovation in Mobility with LBC will be the first in a series of annual innovation and incubation programs. Applications are open until November 15.

The Founder Institute is the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, helping aspiring founders across the globe build enduring technology companies.