Why we have chosen Cambodia as a meeting point for the entrepreneurial community in the Asian region has a couple of reasons. The startup ecosystem in the country is still nascent, but over the past decades, Cambodia underwent fundamental cultural and economic transformations. The rate of internet penetration in the country is impressive - only in one year, from January 2018 to January 2019, the number of internet users doubled and reached 12.5 M people which is 76% of the country’s population.

On the one hand, we can see a rapid growth of technologies and innovations in the region, and on the other hand — a strong passion led by the local community to learn and put the knowledge into practice. The Cambodian government is open to the international experience and eagerly supports every effort aimed at fostering entrepreneurship in the country as a way to compete and rank higher among the neighbouring countries. The bright example of this is our partnerships with their Ministries — the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, Post and Telecommunications, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Handicraft, Labour and Vocational Training.

Cambodia is home to impactful ideas such as My Dream Home, a social enterprise that produces low-cost, eco-friendly, interlocking bricks that can be used to build homes far below the cost threshold of most ‘affordable housing’ definitions; BanhJi, an online accounting software for SMEs; Joonaak Delivery, a leading delivery service that offers last-mile connectivity between people and businesses in Cambodia. Last year, Joonaak Delivery won the local Seedstars World Competition and got into the top 12 best startups from all over the globe at the Seedstars Summit 2019.

This year, we had a chance to discover 17 startups that proved to be the best from their countries. They will continue their journey with Seedstars at the Seedstars Summit Asia and after, will get a chance to pitch and showcase their businesses at the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland in April 2020.

Meet the most promising startups from the region:

🇧🇩Bangladesh

iFarmer is an online crowd-farming platform that creates access to sponsorship for farmers by connecting them to sponsors.

🇰🇭Cambodia

Morakot Technology is a cloud-based core banking platform for microfinance institutions and banks.

YouAdMe is Cambodia’s #1 award-winning advertising app.

SALA is a premiere school management system in Cambodia.

🇹🇭Thailand

DataCue increases e-commerce sales by creating a unique shopping experience for each visitor.

🇸🇬Singapore

Resync is an Intelligent Energy Management platform for the future smart grids with distributed energy resources like solar, wind, batteries, EVs etc.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

iLoan is a loan aggregator engine for trade credits that connects lenders to borrowers through a network-driven credit management model.

Lunah Labs is an app for consumers to manage all loyalty programs and for merchants to engage & stream branded loyalty cards directly to the user’s app.

🇻🇳Vietnam

AN VUI is the first technology company in Vietnam which builds a comprehensive software system for passenger transport.

🇮🇩Indonesia

Duithape is an e-payment solution that enables its clients to distribute efficient, accurate, safe and transparent payments to the unbanked.

🇭🇰Hong Kong

Wonderkin Limited is a solution revolutionizing elderly care. Its smart diapers and app provide on-demand alerts, reducing caregivers’ burden and making elders happy.

🇵🇬Papua New Guinea

Niunet is a local high-speed network that gives users access to free learning materials.

🇮🇳India

Probus Smart Things Private Limited is an IoT solution that helps distribution utilities achieve substation monitoring and automation

🇲🇲Myanmar

Recyglo Co. Ltd, the first innovative recycling solution in Myanmar. To discover more about Recyglo and its founder, watch a special Seedstars episode about the company.

🇵🇭Philippines

Cropital is a social impact investment platform enabling the public to help finance local Filipino farmers and gain returns at the same time.

🇼🇸Samoa
Smart Pei is the first payment platform in the pacific integrated with Digicel mobile money, M-Tala and the government of Samoa payment gateway.

🇫🇯Fiji

TraSeable Solutions Pte Ltd is a blockchain-based traceability platform that tracks seafood from bait-to-plate, aids certification, and leverages data.

[the list is being updated]

Summit Highlights: Who, What, Where?

Traditionally, the regional Seedstars Summit Asia is divided into three core days. On the first day (November 27), the private Growth Bootcamp for the above startups will take place, where the participating teams would learn how to grow and scale their business.

During the second day (November 28) each startup will have a chance to work with a mentor who can help refine their growth strategy, build a better pitch and advise on core business processes. At the moment, we have more than 20 high-quality experts and founders in our mentors' network including Paul Ark, Managing Director at Digital Ventures, Kazi Hassan, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at Grameenphone Ltd, Monthida McCoole, investor, Ardagh Investments, and many more.

The highlight of this day is also the Investor Forum with more than 200+ 1:1 meetings between startups and investors, and the regional pitch competition. The most promising ventures will then be selected to participate in the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner. The participating teams will get a chance to pitch their ideas on the main stage along with 65+ startups from all over the world and win up to USD 500 000 in equity investments.

Finally, the third day (November 29) will welcome all the participants willing to learn the latest tech trends, network and meet inspiring founders and entrepreneurs. Michael Blakey, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital, Benjamin Quinlan, CEO & Managing Partner at Quinlan & Associates, and Shazia Khan, CEO & Co-Founder at EcoEnergy Pakistan have already confirmed their participation as speakers of the Summit. To get updates on more event speakers and agenda, please subscribe to our monthly event digest (choose “Asia” as the region of your interest).

Among the organizations that support us in shaping the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Asia are the National Institute of Posts, Telecoms, ICT (NIPTICT), CBRD Fund, Smart, Chip Mong, Vaud, France 24, Southeast Asia Globe, and many more.