Rising Giants Newsletter - N.16 Monkol Sok, Co-Founder and CEO of Codingate Technology in 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 Monkol Sok, the Co-Founder & CEO of Codingate, the preeminent technology consultancy and SaaS firm in Cambodia. Monkol is a passionate entrepreneur, never settling for sitting still and being at the forefront of digital transformation in Cambodia as the country rapidly moves in this direction across many sectors we discuss including e-delivery, e-commerce and ed-tech.
🧠 Want to learn more about Codingate in Cambodia?
Read this interview by Mad that dives deep into Monkol’s founding Codingate and the challenges he has faced growing the business.
Forbes highlighting Monkol and honoring him in their “30 Under 30 in Southeast Asia” in 2017.
How Codingate is helping businesses adapt to a digital age.
🎧 Find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Play, and Anchor!
📝 Venture Capital Deal Flow Highlights in Southeast Asia
Nano Technologies, a startup that lets workers in Vietnam access their earned wages immediately through an app called VUI, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The oversubscribed round was led by returning investors Golden Gate Ventures and Venturra Discovery, and included participation from FEBE Ventures, Openspace Ventures and Goodwater Capital.
Vietnamese startup Sky Mavis has raised $7.5 million from U.S. billionaire Mark Cuban and other investors to further develop what it says is the world's biggest gaming platform using nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Sky Mavis said it will use the funds to hire developers and bring its Pokemon-inspired Axie Infinity platform to millions of players.
Halodoc, a health tech startup in Indonesia, recently raised US$80 million in a Series C funding led by a unit of Indonesian conglomerate PT Astra International. The investing round was also supported by Singapore's Temasek, Telkomsel's venture arm TMI, Denmark-based Novo Holdings and Bangkok Bank.
Alice Labs, a Dhaka-based SaaS startup that offers a multi-channel customer service solution to online businesses, has raised $500,000 in a seed funding round led by Anchorless Bangladesh and joined by HOF Capital. It is the first external funding round for the startup that has remained bootstrapped since it was founded in late 2018.
📰 Frontier Market Start-Up and Venture Capital News in Southeast Asia
🇰🇭 Khmer Enterprise and UNDP join hands to boost Cambodia’s SME development.
🇮🇩 Billionaire Li Ka-shing bets on Southeast Asia’s tech startups.
🇻🇳 Why Vietnam is the leading startup hub of Southeast Asia.
🇧🇩 How experts are urging government to provide more support to startups.
🇲🇲 Bengaluru-based startup Micelio to launch electric two-wheeler for last-mile delivery.
🇵🇭 As the first Philippines’ unicorn stumbles, can the “camels” rise?
🇳🇵 Nepal app “Noodle” to connect music lovers with music makers.
📚 Knowledge Base: Entrepreneur and Investor Learning Resources
Small business grants can be hard to find, and sourcing grants for new businesses even more difficult. You can think of business grants as sort of like scholarships for adults. Just as with a scholarship, you have to convince the grant-issuer that a) you will put the funds to good use, and b) you are more deserving of the money than other applicants. In this video, Merchant Maverick point you toward several different sources that offer grants for startups of all types. And they also share 6 tips to help you actually win that grant!
Where To Find Startup Grants For Your Business:
Additional Resources To Check Out:
🔍 Tips for getting your startup team on the same page.
🎥 5 hot tips for founders from Asia’s top VCs.
🔨 Must read: Advice for founders in Southeast Asia on how to work with VC’s.
👨💻 A guide to Southeast Asia’s thriving startup ecosystem.
🔥 Hot Global Topic: Elon Musk halts the use of Bitcoin for car purchases.
👨🏼💻 Frontier Market Job Opportunities
VP Start is hiring for multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Clik Payment is hiring for multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
SoftBank Investment Advisors is hiring for an Investment Analyst in Singapore.
Sabay is hiring for multiple positions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
FEBE Ventures is hiring for an Investment Analyst in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
🗣 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”.
