Leading international VC accelerator, Accelerating Asia has officially announced the first batch of investments for Fund II and its fifth cohort of pre-Series A startups joining its flagship 100-day programme. The startups from Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, the US and Vietnam have already increased their monthly recurring revenue by over 40 per cent to an average of US$20,000 per month since joining Accelerating Asia.
Read MoreGood startup founders are obsessed with money. They have to be. Money is the oxygen that a business needs to stay alive. But there's another currency to think about, social capital.
Read MoreBefore applying to an accelerator program, founders have to struggle with the question: is it worth it? While it may be easy to read some articles and form an opinion on all accelerators, the answer is usually more nuanced.
Read MoreYou’ve got an offer and a term sheet with an investor, you’re about to sign the final document. Then BOOM money in the bank. But don't forget about Conditions Precedent.
Read MoreAccelerating Asia, a startup accelerator and early stage venture capital fund headquartered in Singapore, has formally unveiled its second cohort. The ten startups that comprise Accelerating Asia’s second cohort hail from six countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Singapore. They have already raised over S$2 million in funding ahead of the programme, employ close to 200 people and have an average monthly recurring revenue of over S$40,000.
Read MoreIt seems like every week a new accelerator program is opening, yet if you ask around just as many seem to be closing their doors. Considering all of this and contemplating our career moves after muru-D, Amra Naidoo (who ran Operations and Marketing for muru-D) and I realized that there is a “third way” to operate a startup accelerator, and together we decided that we’re going to run with it…
Read MoreIt is common for a startup to atrophy based on slow or improper decision making. To understand why they atrophy you need only look at why incumbent businesses fail to disrupt. Slower more conservative decisions. Incumbents often have smart and proficient minds like startups, yet they're constrained to the self-inflicted pace of progress in the cube farm…
Read MoreAs we go through the regional Roadshow for Accelerating Asia, promoting the program, I thought it would be useful to provide a few tips on pitching.
At each of our Roadshow events we have a pitch competition, with the winner gaining automatic entry to the second round of the application process. Since our program typically receives well over 200 applications this can mean the startup gets a pass to leap past at least 150 other applications!
The pitch format is really basic: A 1-minute pitch with no slides. Here’s some tips on how to ace your pitch.
Read MoreAccelerating Asia is unique in the region. As the only independent accelerator program we have the freedom to design a program tailored to maximizing the chances that our startups will succeed. How? This is how we do it.
Read MoreAs we gear up for cohort 1 of Accelerating Asia, I am getting asked “What profile of startups are you looking for?”. It’s a good question since we don’t have a vertical focus and our investment terms are very flexible in term of valuation (we use a SAFE). At a top level we are open to any awesome founders solving big problems, but here are the 7 main things that we look for.
Read MoreRaising startup capital in Southeast Asia? Here's a quick guide to terms in an easy to reference format.
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