Who’s Funding The Winners In Forbes Asia’s Rising Stars
Congratulations goes to the 300 young superstars featured in the Forbes Asia inaugural list of 300 millennial talents — and their venture investors as well.
This Forbes Asia list of the region’s next-generation leaders showcases truly exceptional talent. Their startups range from solar power plants for the Philippines to Uber-like motorcycle app for Indonesia to a social enterprise initiative for under-privileged Maori people in New Zealand.
Who’s financing the startups from the Forbes Asia list of rising stars? Here’s a sampling from research compiled by Silicon Dragon contributor Ying-Ying Lu with founder/editor Rebecca Fannin.
See Forbes column for more insights into the winners.
Hubba, Thailand
October 2015: $300k seed
500 Startups (Silicon Valley) – Lead
500 Tuk Tu (Thai fund)
500 Durians (Southeast Asia)
Ardent Capital (Thailand)
Golden Gate Ventures (Singapore)
Local angel investors: Computerlogy CEO Vachara Aemavat, Playlab CEO Jakob Lykkegaard Pederson, Stock2morrow CEO Piyaphan Wongyara
Tumblbug, Korea
June 2015: $1.5M Series
DCM Ventures (Silicon Valley)
Naver – Series A (Japan)
Strong Ventures (Los Angeles)
July 2014: Seed
Strong Ventures
WeLab, Hong Kong
January 2016: $160M Series B
Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Kuala Lumpur) – Lead
Guangdong Technology Financial Group (China)
INV Vysya Bank (Bangalore)
January 2015: $20M Series A
Iconiq Capital (San Francisco)
Sequoia Capital (Silicon Valley)
Shou Zi Chew (CFO at Xiaomi)
TOM Group Limited (tycoon Li Ka-shing)
Ule (China e-commerce platform by China Post and TOM)
Yuri Milner
2013: Seed
Tilt, Australia
Y Combinator graduate
January 2015: $30M Series B
December 2013: $23M Series B
Andreessen Horowitz (Silicon Valley) – Lead
Felicis Ventures (Silicon Valley) – Partner: Sundeep Peechu
QueensBridge Venture Partners (Los Angeles) – Partner: Nasir “Nas” Jones
DCM Ventures (Silicon Valley)
Alex Ohanian (New York; Reddit cofounder)
SV Angel (San Francisco)
Silicon Valley Bank (Silicon Valley)
Sean Parker (Napster cofounder)
Oliver Jung (Tel Aviv)
Naval Ravikant (AngelList CEO)
Matt Mullenweg (Automattic CEO)
Elad Gil (Former Twitter VP)
April 2013: $12M Series A
Andreessen Horowitz (Silicon Valley) – Partner: Jeff Jordan
Anthony Saleh (Los Angeles; Emagen Entertainment CEO)
CrunchFund (San Francisco)
Dave Morin (Former Path CEO)
DCM Ventures
Matt Mullenweg
Naval Ravikant
QueensBridge Venture Partners
Sean Parker
SV Angel
May 2012: $2.1M Seed
DCM Ventures
Felicis Ventures
Y Combinator
+ Angels
Carousell, Singapore
Seeded by Rakuten in 2012 with $800,000
November 2014: $6M Series A
Sequoia Capital (Silicon Valley) – Lead; Partner: Yinglan Tan
Golden Gate Ventures (Southeast Asia) – Partner: Vinnie Lauria
Rakuten Ventures (Tokyo)
500 Startups (Silicon Valley)
Darius Cheung (99.co Founder)
November 2013: $800,000 Seed
500 Startups
Danny Oei Wirianto
Darius Cheung
Golden Gate Ventures
Rakuten
Dashed Service Suites, Hong Kong
Self-funded with $2M debt financing from the bank
FLUX, Taiwan
$1.6M on Kickstarter in Dec. 2014
Nihao Pay, China and San Francisco
About to close on second round of financing from major U.S. VC firm, at $3.5M, following seed of $1.5M
Gojek, Indonesia
NSI Ventures, of Northstar Group (Southeast Asia)
Sequoia Capital, Series B, (Silicon Valley)
CityFlo, India
November 2015: $750,000 Seed
IDG Ventures India (India)
Pluss, India
November 2015: $1 million Pre-Series A
IDG Ventures India (India)
M&S Partners (Singapore)
Powerhouse Ventures (United States)
RentoMojo, India
November 2015: $2M Seed
Accel (Silicon Valley)
IDG Ventures India (India)
TinkLabs, Hong Kong
Private and institutional investors: $30M+
November 2015: $13M, Series C
FIH Mobile (subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group, Taiwan)
Eko Communications, Thailand
500 Startups and Siemer Ventures, $1M seed
August 2015: $7.5M Series A
Gobi Partners (Shanghai)
Snapask, Hong Kong
October 2015: Seed
SOSV (Shanghai) – Partner: William Bao Bean
August 2015: $1.8M Seed
Arthur Kho (Angel)
SOSV
Teambition, China
September 2015: $12M Series B
Northern Light Venture Capital (Beijing) – Lead; Partner: Feng Deng
Gobi Partners (Shanghai)
IDG Capital Partners (Beijing)
Vangoo Investment Partners (Beijing)
December 2014: $5M Series A
IDG Capital Partners – Lead
Vangoo Investment Partners
March 2013: Undisclosed amount
Microsoft Ventures (Washington State)
Circle CRM, China
Funded by CEO’s former boss and Northern Light VC.
AnyPerk, Japan and Silicon Valley
Japan’s first Y Combinator graduate
February 2015: $8.5M Series A
DCM Ventures (Silicon Valley) – Lead; Partner: Osuke Honda
Digital Garage (Tokyo, Incubator)
June 2014: $3M Seed
FundersClub (San Francisco) – Lead
Vayner/RSE (New York) – Lead
Tien Tzuo (Las Vegas) – Lead
Digital Garage
Gary Vaynerchuk (New York)
Lee Linden
Rony Kahan (Partner, Capital Factory)
Tien Tzuo (Zuora Cofounder)
March 2013: $1.4M Undisclosed
Ben Lewis (Karma Science Cofounder)
CyberAgent Ventures (Tokyo)
Digital Garage
Matt Molinari (VP of Business Development, Indeed)
Michael Liou
Shogo Kawada
May 2012: $1.45 M Seed
Andreessen Horowitz (SV)
Digital Garage
SV Angel (San Francisco, Ron Conway)
Y Combinator (Silicon Valley)
Patsnap, Singapore and China
NUS Enterprise in Singapore and Suzhou
December 2015: $10M Series B
Summit Partners (Boston) – Lead
August 2014: $4.5M Series A
Vertex Ventures (Silicon Valley) – Lead; Partner: Joo Hock Chua
Temasek Holdings (Singapore)
TradeGecko, Singapore
April 2015: $6.5M Series A
Jungle Ventures (Singapore) – Lead
NSI Ventures, of Northstar Group (Southeast Asia) – Lead
Wavemaker Partners (Los Angeles)
December 2012: $1.2M Seed
500 Startups (Silicon Valley)
Golden Gate Ventures (Southeast Asia) – Partner: Vinnie Lauria
Jungle Ventures
Wavemaker Partners
February 2012: Seed
JFDI.Asia (Singapore, Incubator)
Softbaked, Thailand (Page365)
December 2014: $420,000 Seed
Inspire Ventures (Bangkok)
Galaxy Ventures Co. (Bangkok)
March 2014: $109,000 Seed
Galaxy Ventures Co.
Bluedot Innovation, Australia
2013 Graduate of ANZ InnovyzStart accelerator in Adelaide
January 2015: $2.46M Angel
Jeff Katz (formerly of Mercury Payment systems) – Lead
August 2014: Series A
June 2014: $265,000 Angel
January 2014: $130,000 Angel
Eddie Sandrini (Angel)
Luke Woodgate (Angel)
November 2013: $235,000 Grant
October 2013: $225,000 Seed
AsaanJobs, India
February 2016: $5M Series A
Aspada (Bangalore) – Lead
January 2015: $1.5M Seed
IDG Ventures India – Lead; Partner: Ranjith Menon
December 2014: $1.5M Seed
Vitargent, Hong Kong
Private and government investors: $1M in 2011.
2014: Series A
WI Harper (San Francisco) – Lead Series B (undisclosed) in early 2016
MoEngage, India
September 2015: $4.25M Series A
Helion Venture Partners (Mauritius) – Lead; Partner: Rahul Chandra
Exfinity Venture Partners (Bengaluru)
Kunal Bahl (New Delhi)
Raghunandan (Cofounder, TaxiForSure)
Rohit Bansal (Snapdeal COO)
