Asia Startup Pulse

While Southeast Asia remains one of the hottest markets in the region, South Asia is also catching up, especially with the likes of Bangladesh and Pakistan. The region is also home to some of the fastest-growing tech startups, and today, we venture down south to Bangladesh and talk to the co-founder and CEO of Pathao, Bangladesh's largest tech company which is valued at over $100 million. Pathao is the leading ride-sharing, on-demand logistics, and food delivery platform in Bangladesh. Today, its motorbike and car-hailing vertical alone serves five million riders across five cities in Bangladesh and Kathmandu in Nepal.

How did Pathao come into existence? For a market with typically no culture of motorcycle-taxis, how did you create the need in the market? How did they manage to stand out from the competition even against the likes of Uber? How has their journey been moving from an app to a super app? We talk about all these and more, in today’s episode.

Show Notes

02:20 Introduction to Hussain Elius

03:22 How Pathao came into existence

05:48 What the status quo was before Pathao

08:21 Inspiration behind founding Pathao

11:10 The competitive landscape for Pathao

13:50 The competition against Uber

17:20 Understanding why the “Uber-way” was not the way to go

22:37 Lessons learned from Gojek

25:30 Pathao’s expansion to Nepal

29:05 Evolution of Hussain’s role

32:43 Does mentorship matter?

36:03 Final thoughts

Many thanks to our guests  Hussain Elius; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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The increased showboating and “greenwashing” of the term “Impact Investment” has virtually led to the term being thrown around loosely: especially, as it is hard to gauge the tangible impact sometimes startups working in this domain bring. But, what exactly is impact investment? How different is the understanding of the term in developed countries compared to emerging markets? How can startups working in this domain find the sweet spot between profitability and impact? Is tangible impact more valuable than intangible ones? Or the other way around? These are some of the many questions that arise while trying to understand the impact of investment space. And in this episode, we bring a prominent guest whose experience across Asia and the US in the impact investment space makes her the perfect guest to answer these questions and more. 

In this episode, we are joined by Ilaria Chan, Group Advisor on Social Impact Investment for Grab, one of Asia’s most prominent tech unicorns. Having started her career in investment banking with Goldman Sachs, today Ilaria is a global keynote speaker, private investor, and serves on the Board of Trustees of several humanitarian organizations. We talk all about impact investment and socially conscious startups and the investment ecosystem that revolves around them. 

SHOW NOTES

03:14 Introduction to Ilaria Chan

07:04 Ilaria’s expertise in Impact Investment

09:32 Understanding the reality of Impact Invest and Difference between East & West

14:50 Impact vs Profitability: The quandary for social entrepreneurs for raising funds

20:09 How Tech Unicorns are making social impact a big of their proposition

26:05 Tangible impact vs Intangible Impact: Is one less important than the other?

30:22 The “green-washing” trend in impact investment

34:41 Flow of innovation from East to the West

43:44 Connect with Ilaria

Many thanks to our guests  Ilaria Chan; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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To join our listener group on WeChat, please add SOSV Helper (WeChat ID: sosvhero) and ask for the group  invitation.

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Chinese companies going global is not a new phenomenon today. But there was a time when this was relatively unheard of. And today, we talk to the man behind AppsFlyer, the company that essentially fuelled Chinese companies’ ambitions for global expansion by providing them much needed analytics and data in a mobile-frenzy world. Why was AppsFlyer pivotal to Chinese companies? What strategic value did China possess for AppsFlyer? In a market known for intense competition, how did AppsFlyer manage to thrive unscathed and become the market leader? 

In today’s episode, we invite Ronen Mense, President and Managing Director APAC for AppsFlyer, to help us answer these questions and more. In the last 7 years with AppsFlyer, Ronen has managed to grow the mobile analytics platform from newcomer to market leader in APAC achieving 70% market share, triple digital revenue growth year on year, and building an amazing team of 175+ across 7 offices in the region. 

Show Notes:

02:12 Introduction to Ronen

03:13 What is AppsFlyer

05:03 China’s strategic value for AppsFlyer and vice-versa

11:04 AppsFlyer’s value proposition for Chinese startups expanding overseas

14:53 What made AppsFlyer special: The need for independent analytics

20:59 Dealing with competitors: How to create moats?

23:56 Localizing product to suit the China market

27:41 How AppsFlyer stays independent in the Age of Splinternet

34:05 The Success Playbook for AppsFlyer

37:08 Ronen’s Mantra for Success

42:05 How to contact Ronen

Many thanks to our guests  Ronen Mense; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website

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Marketplace is one of the most common business models in Southeast Asia nowadays. In one of our previous episodes, we talked to Aaron Tan, founder of Carro, about how he has built one of the biggest used-car marketplaces in Southeast Asia. 

Today, we are going to dig deeper into marketplaces again with James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures. Prior to this, James was co-founder and COO of 55tuan, a NASDAQ listed e-commerce group that grew to more than 200 cities and 5,000 employees across China.

In this episode, we talk about all the business fundamentals of building a marketplace: from the advantages and challenges of building a marketplace to how to manage or control it, to the importance of timing in expanding to multiple markets. A someone who has built a successful e-commerce marketplace himself and invested in several more, James also shares the most innovative marketplace models in the market and how he believes the business model can be innovated. 

Show notes:

2:10 Introduction to James Tan

3:48 Transition from startup founder to venture capitalist

5:35 Introduction to Quest Ventures

6:50 Most rewarding achievements of running a marketplace 

8:40 What James was excited about marketplace

11:50 The advantages that a marketplace has to serve customers 

15:08 How to manage or control your marketplace

17:00 The most innovative marketplace models that James has seen 

19:22 Is a marketplace in Southeast Asia a regional business?

22:48 The timing for marketplaces to internationalise the business

25:00 How to localise in Indonesia? 

30:58 The next market that Indonesian companies expand to

33:40 When should companies reconsider expansion

34:35 How to innovate the marketplace revenue model?

39:38 Does “marketplace” have a higher valuation multiple compared to ecommerce?

Many thanks to our guests  James Tan; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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To join our listener group on WeChat, please add SOSV Helper (WeChat ID: sosvhero) and ask for the group  invitation.

NFTs in 2021 has become what ICOs were in 2017: the biggest buzzword in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Even though NFTs as a concept is not something entirely new, it is only now that they have become more hyped. But what exactly are NFTs? Why are they gaining so much popularity today? Which industries stand to gain the most with the rise of these non-fungible tokens? How will this industry evolve? And most importantly, is this another bubble ready to burst? 

For this special episode, we invite Mia Deng, Partner at Dragonfly Capital and Co-founder of NFT marketplace TR-Lab, to dive deeper into the NFT space and also talk more about Dragonfly Capital’s latest $225 million fund, primarily focused on DeFi and NFTs. We also cover topics around the evolution of the crypto industry and the synergies between traditional VCs and crypto VCs.

Show Notes:

1:29 Introduction to Mia Deng

4:12 How the narrative around the crypto industry has evolved

6:48 Introduction to Dragonfly Capital and their unique proposition

9:19 How traditional VCs are working with crypto VCs

11:10 Crypto is Global from Day 1!

13:21 How crypto VCs work with founders

16:17 Understanding the intricacies of Sequoia China as an LP in Dragonfly Capital

21:14 Building in the bear market

24:14 What is NFT?

25:34 Why are NFTs booming now?

28:39 What industries will adapt NFTs?

32:38 The inefficiency in the NFT infrastructure space

35:12 Is NFT the next ICO?

36:35 NFT in China

38:09 How to reach out to Mia

Many thanks to our guests  Mia Deng; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

Share, subscribe, review, enjoy!

To join our listener group on WeChat, please add SOSV Helper (WeChat ID: sosvhero) and ask for the group  invitation.

To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit  www.asiastartuppulse.com

Follow us on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/asia-startup-pulse

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Welcome to another episode of the Asia Startup Pulse! This week, we will continue with our 8x8 Global Speaker Series and bringing talks from two exceptional speakers from diverse backgrounds to share some interesting brain food for founders. First up, we have Victoria Hoang, Data Partner at Bristol Myers Squibb, where she counsels teams on data privacy and cybersecurity law. In her 20+ years of experience in life sciences and management consulting, she has served on several innovation programs working closely with startups. In today’s talk, she covers one of the most important pre-requisite for startups, which is building trust. 

Our second speaker for today is Jack Ren, Managing Director of Eminence Ventures where he is responsible for the firm’s cloud and IT infrastructure investments. Over the course of his career, he has spearheaded China Mobile’s One NET IoT platform and worked for some of the biggest tech corporations including Samsung and Sony. In today’s talk, Jack shares insights around non-market strategic thinking and how firms should factor it in their decision-making.

Show Notes:

[01:43] Victoria Hoang: How to Build Trust with Customers

[13:41 ] Jack Ren: Non-market Strategical Thinking

Many thanks to our guests Victoria Hoang and Jack Ren; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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To join our listener group on WeChat, please add SOSV Helper (WeChat ID: sosvhero) and ask for the group  invitation.

Welcome to another episode of the Asia Startup Pulse! Today, we have a special episode from our 8x8 Global Speaker Series where we bring 8 notable speakers to talk about their experiences in building, operating, and scaling businesses across Asia and beyond. In today’s episode, we are bringing three incredible speakers and seasoned investors: Rui Ma, Kal Patel, and Nichapat Ark, to share their insights on what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur building cross-border businesses. 

Rui Ma is a former VC-turned independent tech analyst with her experience spanning from seed stage to pre-IPO investing spread between the US and China. She is well versed with the startup ecosystems in the US and China, having previously worked at 500 Startups as an investment partner. In today’s talk, she offers some invaluable insights for startups going across borders and brings light to potential pitfalls that startups must avoid at all costs.

Kal Patel is a seasoned investor and the Resident Advisor at Oxford  Foundry and has led the expansion of Best Buy in Asia in the past. He brings with him a plethora of experience working with and investing in startups from all around the world. Even startups that have the most groundbreaking technology oftentimes fail to generate interest from investors early on and in his talk, he shares insights as to how early-stage startups can become more investible.

Nichapat Ark works extensively with Openspace Venture’s Thailand-based startups as well as startups looking to expand into Thailand. In her talk, she shares insights as to how startups can better leverage their investors, an art that every startup founder must perfect.

Show notes:

02:20 - Rui Ma: Important considerations for Chinese startups going global

13:40 - Kal Patel: How can startups become more "Investible"

24:00 - Nichapat Ark: How to better leverage your investor

Many thanks to our speakers; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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Esports as a whole has seen tremendous growth in Southeast Asia, especially driven by the growth of the mobile-first economy. In today’s episode, we dig deeper into the esports business in SEA with Allan Phang, the Regional Head of Marketing PR at EVOS Esports and former Head of Esports at AirAsia. 

We discuss the differences between esports and traditional sports while debunking the common myths about professional esports. Furthermore, Allan talks about his opinion about the roles of different stakeholders in the whole esports ecosystem, the unique proposition of Southeast Asia market in the esports sector, and also the next big thing we can expect in the industry.

Show Notes:

02:50 Allan Phang’s experience in esports

09:00 Introduction to EVOS Esports

12:21 Debunking common myths about professional esports

14:08 Career lifespan of professional esports players

17:55 The role of game publishers in the industry

20:40 Ramifications of breaching gaming etiquette and rules

22:15 Other players and opportunities in the esports ecosystem

25:37 The relationship between global game publishers and local tournament event organisers

28:29 Southeast Asia’s unique position in the esports industry

33:10 Brands’ attitudes towards esports events

36:40 Different revenue models in esports

38:32 The next big thing in esports in SEA

39:50 How to contact Allan

Many thanks to our guests Allan Phang; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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This is a special episode which we recorded live on Clubhouse with our guest Aaron Tan, Founder of Carro, one of the biggest used-car marketplaces in Southeast Asia. 

A programmer by training and a Venture Capitalist by profession, Aaron founded his first startup at 13 and had already sold two companies before turning 21. Carro, one of the companies he founded, is an automotive marketplace that offers a full-stack service for all aspects of car ownership and is currently present in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. 

In this episode, we will mainly discuss about how to build and scale a two-side marketplace in Southeast Asia and Carro’s playbook of expansion across the region. Moreover, we will put the spotlight on how Aaron’s previous experience in venture capital industry has impacted his decisions, and also how he takes inspiration from Chinese business models and applies the insights in an SEA context. 

*Side note: Aaron and Oscar frequently mention “William” in the conversation. The William they are referring to is William Bao Bean, GP at SOSV and MD at Chinaccelerator & MOX.

Show Notes:

0:00 -  Introduction to Aaron Tan

1:32 - Aaron’s motivation to founding a startup

6:01 - The supportive ecosystem around Carro

8:19 - The importance of “Trust” in a business

8:50 - The reasons behind starting an automotive marketplace in SEA

13:35 - Inspiration from Chinese business models

19:21 - Understanding the heterogeneity in the markets

21:15 - Aaron’s experience on how copying the same model across SEA doesn’t work

25:39 - How to build and scale a two-side marketplace

30:37 - The role of Carro in the marketplace

35:17 - Carro’s expansion playbook across SEA

44:20 - What the future holds for Carro and Southeast Asia

Many thanks to our guests Aaron Tan; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

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The age-old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try again,” is applicable to countless scenarios. However, in the startup world, trying new things until becoming successful is only half the story. In the startup world, things move at a rapid pace and ideas alone do not bring success. Success requires implementation and the right implementation process requires different business experiments in order to test and validate those ideas. 

And today, we invite two successful startup founders to share their journeys on how they’ve experimented with different aspects of their business to reach where they are today. What is experimentation in the startup world? How must startups look at experimenting? And why is experimenting instrumental to a startup’s success? We answer these questions and more! 

In this episode, we invite Mukesh Bansal, Founder and CEO of Phable, a healthcare startup from India that recently raised a $12 million Series A; and Riaz Mehta, Founder and CEO, of allrites, Asia’s leading B2B marketplace for film and TV content. Our guests bring with them a cumulative 40+ years of building, and running businesses across Asia. We dive deep into what makes experimentation a pre-requisite to running a successful startup and how small changes can have a colossal impact on the business.

Show Notes:

2:26 - Introduction to Mukesh Bansal and Riaz Mehta

5:56 - Experimentation in a startup context

9:54 - How the healthcare industry encourage/discourage experimentation

13:08 - Source of inspiration in deciding about what and how to experiment

20:49 - The The Minimum Viable Experiment

25:58 - Framework for prioritizing action items

31:41 - Should founders go against their own beliefs and convictions

41:14 - How COVID has impacted experimentation

46:47 - Actionable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

Many thanks to our guests Mukesh Bansal and Riaz Mehta; host Oscar Ramos; producers Eva Shi and  Sagar Chaudhary; editor David; organizer Chinaccelerator; and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

Share, subscribe, review, enjoy!

To join our listener group on WeChat, please add SOSV Helper (WeChat ID: sosvhero) and ask for the group  invitation.

Follow us on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/asia-startup-pulse

Email us: [email protected]