THREE Philippine startups made it to Forbes Asia’s annual 100 to Watch list this year.
The list, in its fourth year now, showcases small companies and startups in the Asia-Pacific region that grabbed investors’ attention — and their checkbooks, Forbes Asia said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.
The Philippine startups were financial management platform Lista, digital bank Zed and Mober Technology Pte., Inc., a construction and logistics firm.
Lista, whose app has had 2.5 million downloads since 2021, has raised more than $5 million in funding. The app gets 75% of its revenue from selling credit scores to consumers, while the rest comes from referral fees from financial institutions.
Another financial startup, Zed, offers credit card services and instead of charging interest or annual fees, it collects a share of network fees that merchants pay with each purchase.
In March, Zed raised $6 million in seed funding, led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Forbes Asia said.
Meanwhile, Mober, headed by Chief Executive Officer Dennis Ng, operates a fleet of electric vehicles to help businesses achieve their sustainability goals for last-mile delivery. The startup aims to increase its fleet to 238 electric trucks by early 2025 from 60.
Forbes Asia said the 100 to Watch list came from 16 countries and territories, and industries such as enterprise technology and robotics, finance, manufacturing and energy.
Forbes Asia solicited online submissions for the selection process. It also invited accelerators, incubators, universities and venture capitalists to nominate companies.
To qualify, companies must be based in the Asia-Pacific region, privately owned for-profit ventures and have no more than $50 million in annual revenue and no more than $100 million in total funding through Aug. 7, it said.
“Startups on our fourth annual Forbes Asia 100 To Watch list have collectively drawn over $2 billion in total funding to date, with 83 of these companies raising capital since the start of 2023,” Rana Wehbe Watson, editorial director at Forbes Asia, said in the statement.
She said the influx of investment was driven by their innovations, spanning some of the “world’s hottest industries” such as space technology, biotechnology and robotics. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
