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Tag: founders

  • Fintech Startup Aspire Sets Sights on Southeast Asia’s Digital Economy

    Fintech Startup Aspire Sets Sights on Southeast Asia’s Digital Economy

    The Singapore-based neobank has raised a $158 million led by renown VCs and fintech founders.

    Aspire is looking to double down on existing markets, while building the foundations to serve growing business clients across the whole South East Asia region, the firm said in an announcement on Monday.

    The oversubscribed funding round consisted of $58 million in equity and $100 million in debt. It was led by an undisclosed global growth equity firm, together with DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Partners and global hedge fund Fasanara Capital. Existing investors including Hummingbird Ventures, Mass Mutual Ventures, Picus Capital, and AFG, as well as a number of individual investors also participated.

    The company also operates in in Indonesia and Vietnam and is laying the groundwork for expansion into other Southeast Asian markets.

    Founded in 2018, Aspire provides an all-in-one finance operating system, which incorporates accounting, payroll, invoice management, FX, credit solutions, and banking. It serves more than 10,000 business accounts, which transact a total of around $2 billion annually, doubling in five months from May.

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  • Echelon Bangkok roadshow showcases the bright new stars in Thailand’s ecosystem

    Echelon Bangkok roadshow showcases the bright new stars in Thailand’s ecosystem

    Recently, Echelon, the tech event startup organizer from Singapore held an event at WeWork Asia Centre in Bangkok. The Echelon Roadshow is part of a series of international stops leading up to the annual Echelon Asia Summit happening in May.

    The event brought together the local startup ecosystem over a night of networking, Thailand top 100 startup, plus a panel discussion with feature founders sharing their startup journeys – from how they scaled their company to how they addressed obstacles such as building a sustainable team. The panellists included Surasit Sachdev, CEO of Hungry Hub, Casey Liang, co-founder of Pomelo, and Bond Thaiyanurak, CEO&Founder of Box24. The discussion was moderated by PachareePantoomano, BrandNow.asia’s Director of Make it Happen, the agency that launched large startups such as Grab, Lalamove, and Honestbee in Thailand.

    The panel discussion tackled Founders Confessions which panellists shared their experiences as part of starting up. Bond talked about working with the right partners and having the right chemistry. He’s had to resolve a conflict with a shareholder. Surasit confessed that when he initially started the company, he did not do market research and that causes him to burn through his investment quickly. He advised anyone thinking about starting up should do the research and work on the proof of concept from the beginning. When Pacharee asked the panellists if they started their companies for love or money, Casey said that it was a bit of both. However, it’s the love for growing the business that keeps him going. The life of a start-up can be a bumpy one and he said that if you love what you do, it will help you stay true to your goal.

    Thaddeus Jit Siong Koh, the co-founder of e27, shared “The journey for these winners has only just begun. We are excited to see them compete against the other bright new stars of Southeast Asia’s ecosystem in Singapore — at our Echelon Asia Summit 2019 which is taking place on May 23rd and 24th at Singapore Expo. We also hope that these startups will be able to level up through absorbing insights from thought leaders, corporate business matching, and more”

    Pacharee added, “It is important that we continue to contribute, develop and grow the ecosystem locally, regionally and globally. These events and competitions bring about better products and services for businesses and consumers. We are delighted to be Echelon’s media and community partner in Thailand. It is an opportunity for us to support our local startup scene and do our part in fostering the digital economy”.

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  • AirAsia X names new CEO to take over from Founders

    AirAsia X names new CEO to take over from Founders

    Malaysia’s long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X on Thursday appointed Nadda Buranasiri as its new group chief executive officer to take over from its co-founders. Buranasiri, chief executive of the Thai arm of AirAsia X since 2014, will replace co-CEOs and co-founders Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun with immediate effect, the company said in a statement. Fernandes and Kamarudin will become non-executive directors.

    In July, Fernandes said AirAsia X was looking to restructure itself into a group holding company along the lines of affiliate AirAsia Group Bhd .

    He had also said AirAsia X would focus on flying to countries where it would dominate routes, such as Japan, Korea, Australia, China and India, and remove what he called peripheral routes where no growth was seen.

    AirAsia X reported a loss for the June quarter, weighed down by higher fuel prices.

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  • Flappy Bird creator lends a wing to Vietnamese startups

    Flappy Bird creator lends a wing to Vietnamese startups

    ‘Just propose those projects to me, no matter how bad it is,’ Nguyen Ha Dong writes on Facebook. The overnight success of mobile game Flappy Bird has turned its creator Nguyen Ha Dong into a star of the local startup scene.

    The game, hailed by the industry as one of the milestones of Vietnam’s startup history, has brought Dong great fame and fortune, all within a short period of time.

    Now Dong is making a pledge to pay it forward and fund Vietnamese startups in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, social services, community development and education.

    “Just propose those projects to me, no matter how bad it is,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

    He did not give specific details about mentoring and funding.

    Flappy Bird was released in May 2013 with little fanfare. By February 2014, the sleeper hit topped the charts in more than 100 countries and had been downloaded more than 50 million times. Dong reportedly earned an estimated $50,000 a day.

    The Vietnamese government has seen successes like Flappy Bird as an encouraging sign. It is trying hard to cultivate a startup scene where tech entrepreneurs can create products and services that will go global.

    Unlike the well-developed startup ecosystem in most other countries, where there are venture capitalists and a strong network of entrepreneurs working together, the system in Vietnam is at a fledgling stage, with many funding difficulties.

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