Rising Giants Newsletter - June 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.
▶️ Rising Giants Recap
Rising Giants N.52 - Jolyda Sou, Financial Management & Investment Specialist
For our 52nd episode of Rising Giants, we had Jolyda Sou on the show to talk about her journey and dive deep into the growing startup ecosystem in Cambodia. In this short conversation we cover a variety of topics related to Cambodian startups, such as financial management, preparing for investment readiness, criteria investors use when screening investment opportunities, and her overall perspective on which sectors she's most excited about over the next couple years.
Rising Giants N.53 - Hal Bosher, Board Director, Delta Capital Myanmar & Co-Founder, Wave Money
Hal Bosher joins as our 53rd guest, having had a fascinating career so far in the emerging market investment scene in Southeast Asia. Hal currently serves as the Board Director at Delta Capital Myanmar, the largest private equity fund for the country with $100m+ AUM. Prior to Delta, Hal worked with the IFC and World Bank, before having an opportunity to relocate to Myanmar and join Yoma Bank in 2012 (one of Myanmar's largest private banks), where he served as CEO until 2019. In his time at Yoma he also co-founded Wave Money (JV between Yoma Bank and Telenor), which is Myanmar's largest payment network for mobile transactions.
📝 Venture Capital Deal Flow Highlights in Southeast Asia
Phnom Penh-based retail technology social enterprise iCare Benefits Group has raised up to $15 million impact facility from Singaporean-based FinTech firm Helicap. iCare Benefits was established as a comprehensive retail, buy-now-pay-later and leasing social enterprise focused on low-income women factory workers in developing countries. The investment will enable iCare to continue supporting workers at the bottom of the economic pyramid through iCare’s comprehensive retail solution with flexible repayments. (Link here.)
Bangladesh-based business-to-business commerce startup ShopUp has raised $65 million in a follow-on funding round led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. Since then the company has grown by a multiple of four, and the existing investors are doubling down with this follow-on round, ShopUp said in its statement. Bangladesh is home to one of Asia's most fragmented retail markets, with 98% of all retail consumption happening through 4.5 million neighborhood mom-and-pops, ShopUp said earlier. (Link here.)
Doctor Koi, a Bangladeshi startup digitising medical prescriptions, has received $0.5 million in seed funding from Verge HealthTech Fund, an early-stage healthcare tech venture capital fund focusing on the Asia-Pacific, the Middle-East and North Africa regions. The flagship product of the startup Digital Rx, a prescription writing software, is currently being used by over 900 doctors who are generating more than 350,000 digital prescriptions monthly, it reads. The platform also offers online consultation, appointment management, content management, marketing and other services. (Link here.)
📰 Start-Up and Venture Capital News in Southeast Asia
🇰🇭 WorldBank forecasts Cambodia’s growth at 4.5% in 2022. (Written by Cambodia Investment Review).
🇮🇩 Indonesia looks to develop digital startup ecosystem.
🇻🇳 Here Are Vietnam’s 8 Most Active Fintech Investors and The Startups They Are Betting On.
🇧🇩 Recruitment marketing strategies for startups in Bangladesh.
🇵🇭 Ex Grab exec launches Philippine grocery-delivery startup Supah.
🇳🇵 StartUps ink in Nepal agreement for investment of Rs 245 million in CNI Young Entrepreneurs Forum.
📚Additional Resources To Check Out:
🔎 How to build your newsletter following.
💡 How to build influence in venture.
🤝 How to validate your startup idea.
🧠 Ways to make your brand stand out.
👨🏼💻 Frontier Market Job Opportunities
iCare Benefits is hiring for a multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Devenco Development is hiring for a Analyst in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Belt Road Capital is hiring for a Management Associate in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Emerging Market Consultants (EMC) is hiring for a Business Consultant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The World Bank is hiring for a Disaster Risk Finance Consultant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Belt Road Capital is hiring for a SME 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”.