Rising Giants Newsletter - N.15 Bridget McIntosh, Country Director at EnergyLab Cambodia
Max & Dom chatting with the boldest and most inspiring entrepreneurs and investors in Cambodia 🇰🇭 Turn on 💡, tune in 📻, keep up 🚀
Welcome to the Rising Giant's Podcast Newsletter by Max Thornton and Dominic Kalousek.
If you enjoy our content, please subscribe to our post-interview newsletter as we share our most recent podcast episode, Southeast Asia startup and venture capital news, venture deals, entrepreneur resources, and job opportunities in the region!
In this weeks episode, we are joined by Bridget McIntosh of EnergyLab - a clean energy pioneer who has been involved in the space in Cambodia and across Asia, from an investment, incubation and policy perspective since the early 2000's, when it was still a very nascent and unrealized concept in the region. She is currently leading EnergyLab Cambodia, which is the go-to organization in the country for anything clean energy related.
We get into:
☀️ Cambodia's leapfrog in adopting on-grid solar over the last decade, going from less than 1% solar in 2014, to close to 20% today.
🔌 Improving access to electricity; how Cambodia massively expanded the grid to reach 80% of households in a matter of years.
👷🏼 Roadblocks and challenges for the country to continue its path towards a diversified energy mix; seasonal balancing of renewables, industrial solar adoption, reliance on imported power, hydrocarbon exploration etc.
🧠 Want to learn more about EnergyLab in Cambodia?
Read about Bridget’s perspective on the benefits of alternative energy to cope with future demand.
Want to learn more about clean energy in Cambodia? Check out EnergyLab’s awesome resource website.
Check out EnergyLab’s programs currently available in the country.
🎧 Find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Play, and Anchor!
📝 Venture Capital Deal Flow Highlights in Southeast Asia
Indonesian consumer research startup Populix announced today it has raised $1.2M in an oversubscribed pre-Series A round led by returning investor Intudo Ventures, with participation from Quest Ventures. The new capital will be used for product launches, marketing and hiring.
Indonesian hyperlocal social commerce and Y-Combinator startup Super has done it again - raising an oversubscribed $28M Series B led by SoftBank Ventures Asia. The company will use its new funding to double its presence in the region and launch in other Indonesian provinces this year. It will also expand its product categories beyond fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and develop its recently launched white label brand, SuperEats.
Bangladesh education technology startup Thrive has raised USD $180K in its pre-seed round as it continues to work towards reshaping the education landscape in Bangladesh. The company says it is working towards changing how learning works in the classroom by bringing the power of personalized education to every classroom in Bangladesh.
Filipino gaming, and e-sports entertainment startup Tier One Entertainment has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round of funding Led by Gobi Partners. The infusion of financing will power Tier One to set up local operations in other Asian countries. The proceeds will also be utilized to hire back-end teams that will further support their talents, expand its e-sports operations in Blacklist International (Tier One’s e-sports team), and set up its first content creation hub in the Philippines.
Indonesian fitness and sports startup Doogether has secured an undisclosed amount of funding in its latest round after expanding into live online classes amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Doogether plans to use the new funds to create or improve products and services on its app, said CEO Fauzan Gani.
📰 Frontier Market Start-Up and Venture Capital News in Southeast Asia
🇰🇭 Sign up today to participate in the Cambodia Energy Efficiency Competition.
🇮🇩 Early-stage learnings from former Grab employee on building a startup to help labor in Indonesia.
🇻🇳 These 10 startups are getting ready to venture into Vietnam.
🇧🇩 How the innovative power of youth will bring success to Bangladesh’s digital economy.
🇲🇲 The top 10 most exciting startups in Myanmar today.
🇵🇭 Angel investment fund Buko Ventures is the Philippine’s newest fund eyeing to boost startup ecosystem.
🇳🇵 Nepal health and wellness startup Naturo Earth talks about how they build their business.
🇵🇰 Pakistani startup collaborates with CPEC to promote tourism for Pakistan.
📚 Knowledge Base: Entrepreneur and Investor Learning Resources
In this week’s video resource, we share Seed funding for startups: How to raise venture capital as an entrepreneur by Slidebean. In this video, Slidebean walks through how to raise money as an early-stage founder - sharing how to create pitchdecks, looking into transaction requirements, and how to find investors. We hope you enjoy!
Seed Funding for Startups: How to Raise Venture Capital as an Entrepreneur:
Additional Resources To Check Out:
🔍 Tips to growing your career a bit every day.
🎥 Must Read: The architecture of tomorrow - an interview with Ben Horowitz.
🔨 If you feel like your startup is like pushing a boulder up a hill, read this.
👨💻 Why you should keep a startup journal.
🔥 Hot Global Topic: Medina Spirit wins the 147th Kentucky Derby.
👨🏼💻 Frontier Market Job Opportunities
Viber is hiring for an Business Development Specialist in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Clik Payment is hiring for multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
VSV Capital is hiring for an Investment Analyst in Hanoi, Vietnam
Sabay is hiring for multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Snaphunt is hiring for an Associate - Venture Capital in Jakarta, Indonesia.
🗣 Help Spread The Word!
Did you enjoy this weeks newsletter and podcast? Subscribe now to get more updates each week as we grow this channel!
Follow us on our socials at Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin!
🧐 What is Rising Giants?
The Rising Giants Podcast was created in November 2020 by Max Thornton and Dominic Kalousek after realizing that there were a limited number of resources available for insight into the local startup and investor ecosystem in Southeast Asia.
Our mission is to talk to entrepreneurs and investors in the world’s most rapidly evolving frontier markets to help understand what it takes to have bold ideas and build the business disruptors of tomorrow. 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”.