We’re Kat and Karen, Asia Regional Managers of Seedstars World. Ask us Anything!

Hi TIA Community!

We’re Karen Mok and Katarina Szulenyiova, the Asia Regional Managers for Seedstars World. Seedstars World is a Swiss-based initiative to find, connect, and invest in the top seed stage startups in emerging markets. We were founded to fill the funding and resource gaps for seed stage startups. In three years we’ve scaled from 20 to 55 countries across Africa, LATAM, MENA / CEE, and Asia. Our format is an international startup competition – we select one winner per country via a rigorous selection process and a local pitching event. The pitch events also enable us to bring together the stakeholders in the local startup ecosystem.

Pitches: Gotta capture them all!

Our 55 local winners come together at the Seedstars World Final Event in Switzerland in March 2016, where they have the chance to win up to $1.5 mn in seed stage funding, connect with the other top global entrepreneurs, and access mentorship and resources from international investors.

As the Asia Regional Managers, Kat and I are hosting Seedstars World pitch events in 15 countries from March until December 2015. So far we’ve been to Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. Coming up are Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The Group Selfie, arguably one of the most important moments at any Seedstars World event

Yes, it’s a lot of travel! We’re now bona fide experts on the Airbnbs and airports of Asia (protip: The Oasis lounge in the Singapore Changi Airport is a great place to nap on a layover).

We’re happy to answer any questions, especially on topics like:

• Trends, similarities, and differences in the startup ecosystems in Asia

(Bonus: What does it even mean to build a startup ecosystem??)

• Asia vs Europe (Kat’s from Slovakia) vs US (Karen’s from San Francisco)