Every band needs a lead singer, and every company a CEO. Strong startup founders attract an all-star team, gel people into one, and set the tone and vision for the rest to follow.
Meet Southeast Asia’s finest 30. Captains of the tech industry, these founder-CEOs are looked up to by their cohorts, and they serve as mentors to the rest.
A quick word on the methodology. The founders are picked only if they’re helming an internet company day-to-day. They’re ranked based on their current company’s revenue, traction, and funding figure, as well as their personal track record as entrepreneurs.
Of course, the list is somewhat subjective, as ranking a founder’s software company against another’s online media startup is near-impossible. But this is our best effort to present you the most inspiring founders we know today.
Ready? Starting from number 30, here are this year’s top founders:
30. Alexis Horowitz-Burdick, Luxola, Singapore
Alexis is the ultimate hustler. Soon after starting online cosmetics store Luxola, she created a list of 500 investor email addresses and reached out to all of them. That worked, and she raised millions to grow her startup. In 2015, she sold her startup to global luxury brand LVMH, and the deal was considered a win by insiders, estimated to be worth between US$30 million and US$50 million.
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Luxola data
Funding amount: US$15.6 million
Latest funding stage: Acquired
Industry: Lifestyle, Ecommerce
29. Niki Luhur, Kartuku, Indonesia
The first e-payments entry in this list is Niki Luhur of Kartuku, a company which supplies payment terminals, biometric fingerprint readers, and an internet payment gateway. While the company was started in 2001, Niki returned from studies in the US in 2006 to run it upon his father’s pleading, as the company was struggling. He managed to turn it around.
28. Ryu Suliawan, Veritrans, Indonesia
27. Victor Lavrenko, Coc Coc, Vietnam
26. Arijit Sengupta, Antuit, Singapore
25. Maria Ressa, Rappler, Philippines
24. Nadiem Makarim, Go-Jek, Indonesia
23. Steven Goh, Migme, Singapore
22. Achmad Zaky, Bukalapak, Indonesia
21. Ferry Unardi, Traveloka, Indonesia
20. Aldi Haryopratomo, Ruma, Indonesia
19. Siu Rui Quek, Carousell, Singapore
18. Darius Cheung, 99.co, Singapore
17. Nabilah Alsagoff, Doku, Indonesia
16. Aung Kyaw Moe, 2C2P, Singapore
15. Paul Srivorakul, aCommerce, Thailand
14. Samuel Lim, Reebonz, Singapore
13. Nix Nolledo, Xurpas, Philippines
12. Malcolm Rodrigues, MyRepublic, Singapore
11. Roger Egan, Redmart, Singapore
10. Razmig Hovaghimian, Viki, Singapore
9. Nguyen Duc Tai, The Gioi Di Dong, Vietnam
8. William Tanuwijaya, Tokopedia, Indonesia
7. Steve Melhuish, PropertyGuru, Singapore
6. Ganesh Kumar Bangah, MOL, Malaysia
5. Anthony Tan, Grabtaxi, Singapore
4. Maximilian Bittner, Lazada, Singapore
3. Le Hong Minh, VNG, Vietnam
2. Forrest Li, Garena, Singapore
1. Min-Liang Tan, Razer, Singapore
