Rising Giants Newsletter - April 2022 Edition
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Rising Giants Newsletter - April 2022 Edition
Welcome to Rising Giants - Cambodia’s #1 business & entrepreneurship podcast! 🇰🇭 Turn on 💡, Tune in 📻, Keep up 🚀
Welcome to the Rising Giant's Podcast Newsletter by Max Thornton and Dom Kalousek.
This past month has been jammed pack with recording 3 podcasts along with taking a break for Khmer New Year. Max traveled over to Thailand to enjoy some rest and relaxation at the beaches while Dom is trekking through Napal on his way to the base camps of Everest and Annapurna. Don’t you worry, we’ve recorded our 50th episode of Rising Giants and we’re very excited to share the release of our guest Kay Kyeongsik Woo - Founder of Onion Mobility and MVL Chain.
Be sure to tune in next week as we have a surprise leading up to our episode release so follow us on our Facebook and Instagram page to learn more 😊.
▶️ Rising Giants Recap
N.47 - Sok Visal, Founder, Director, and Executive Producer of KlapYaHandz and 802 Films
For our 47th episode of Rising Giants we were very excited to share our interview with Sok Visal - Founder, Film Director, and Executive Producer of KlapYaHandz and 802 Films. Visal has been recognized as playing a huge part in the rebirth of Cambodia’s music and film industries having many accomplishments on both as a music and film producer over the past 20 years, founding Cambodia's first Hip Hop, Alternative Music Label KlapyaHandz as well as 802 Film Productions and Mekong Movies to name a few.
N.48 - Jamie Raine, Co-founder and CEO of Indriya and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Wildcats.io
With the release of our 48th episode of Rising Giants, we had the pleasure of hosting Jamie Raine - Co-Founder and CEO of Indriya and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Wildcats! Jamie was born in Australia and moved to Phnom Penh to pursue his career in the startup world which included going viral as a music artist and utilizing that opportunity to grow Indriya - a company which provides integrated technological solutions to companies across the Southeast Asian markets.
N.49 - Roxana Gheorghe, General Manager at TRIBE Hotel (Phnom Penh)
In our 49th episode of Rising Giants, we had the pleasure of speaking with Roxana Gheorghe - General Manager at TRIBE Hotel located in Phnom Penh! Roxana has had a successful career working within the hospitality industry, growing through the ranks where she is now leading operations of the first TRIBE hotel debut in Asia under the Accor Hospitality group.
This 260 room TRIBE Hotel will be located in One Phnom Penh Square and will feature rooftop restaurant and bar Hemisphere, as well as an outdoor saltwater pool overlooking the Mekong River. In addition, they offer an incredible co-working space for adventures and digital nomads to post up when visiting the Kingdom. (Link here to see more!)
📝 Venture Capital Deal Flow Highlights in Southeast Asia
Masan Group is taking a 25% stake in Vietnamese fintech startup Trusting Social valued at $65 million as the consumer conglomerate accelerates its transition to e-commerce. Through a strategic move, Masan will tap the startup Trusting Social’s fintech technology as it integrates its offline and online businesses. (Link here.)
Zantrik, a Bangladeshi automobile maintenance startup, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by Bangladesh Angels and Startup Bangladesh Limited. The new funding will be used to digitize 100 garages, to ensure better customer experience, transparency and value for money for vehicle owners (Link here.)
Vietnam electric motorbike startup Dat Bike announced a $5.3 million Series A round fundraise, led by Singapore-based Jungle Ventures. Dat Bike intends to use the new round of funding to invest in technology, scale production, expand to metro and Tier one cities across North, Central and South Vietnam, and hire top talent. (Link here.)
BintanGO, a Jakarta-based startup focused on boosting Indonesia’s creator economy, announced that it has raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Investible, eWTP Technology and Innovation Fund. The company offers everything Indonesian creators need to monetize their content - from their CreatorSpace, which helps individuals manage brand collaborations by measuring engagement and sending invoices, to businesses who can easily find verified creators to collaborate. BintanGO says it onboarded about 10,000 creators last month, and that creators on the platform have earned a total of almost $150,000 in the past three months. (Link here.)
Indonesian-based food tech startup OFF FOODS announced its $1.7 million Seed funding round led by Alpha JWC Ventures. Founded in 2021, OFF FOODS’ products are currently available in seven cities and recently opened a new branch in Bali which is one of the most important plant-based food markets in Indonesia. OFF FOODS will see more adoption and partnership in the near future as OFF MEAT has high applicability in the kitchen. (Link here.)
📰 Start-Up and Venture Capital News in Southeast Asia
🇰🇭 Morgan Stanley firm buys $43M of Acleda Bank shares. (Written by Cambodia Investment Review).
🇮🇩 Singapore startup ION Mobius set to launch electric motorbikes in Indonesia.
🇧🇩 Why the Netherlands are keen to help Bangladesh build sustainable startup ecosystem and how.
🇵🇭 Philippines startups raise over $1 billion in 2021 🤑.
📚Additional Resources To Check Out:
🔎 Building ecosystem advantages by Confluence Weekly
🤝 Secrets of you raising your first time fund as an emerging manager.
🧠 Principals to live by when it comes to wealth creation.
🔥 The importance of mental health in business.
👨🏼💻 Frontier Market Job Opportunities
Sevea is hiring for a Junior Financial Business Consultant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Confluences is hiring for a Senior Finance Officer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Belt Road Capital is hiring for a Investment Analyst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Amara Capital Plc is hiring for an Senior Investment Analyst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Insitor is hiring for a Analyst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Belt Road Capital is hiring for a Investment Manager in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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🧐 What is Rising Giants?
Rising Giants was created in 2021 by Max Thornton and Dominic Kalousek after realizing there were limited outlets for gaining insight into the startup and investment ecosystem in the Cambodian and Southeast Asia markets.
Rising Giants serves as an upbeat medium for entrepreneurs and investors to share their experience working and living in some of the most dynamic and positively evolving countries in Southeast Asia.
Our mission is to talk to entrepreneurs and investors to help understand what it takes to have bold ideas and build the business disruptors of tomorrow, in the most challenging, but highest potential markets of the region.
Through our personal exploration of these landscapes, we dive deep in our interviews with inspirational individuals learning about their career journeys, ideas, and insights into the markets of developing startup ecosystems, and expanding on why they see their business and the region as a "Rising Giant”.