9 Philippine startups among Forbes Asia’s 100 to Watch

MANILA, Philippines — Nine Philippine startups made it to Forbes Asia’s 100 to Watch List in 2023, the third edition of the annual list, which spotlights small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia-Pacific region.

Companies on this year’s Forbes Asia’s 100 to Watch list are a study in resilience, Forbes said.

“With rising interest rates, funding is harder to come by for startups. The companies on this year’s list therefore represent those with strong prospects to become success stories,” Justin Doebele, editor of Forbes Asia, said.

The nine Philippine companies are Edamama, which is an offline store for baby products and other goods; women’s health clinic Kindred; Kraver’s Canteen, a food delivery service that offers its customers meal options nutrition breakdowns; Packworks, a fintech company that helps sari-sari store owners; Peddlr, which helps small businesses create an online storefront; Gokongwei-backed SariSuki, a platform that connects local farms to customers and resellers; Shoppable Business which helps businesses in the Philippines buy branded products by verifying their authenticity; Sprout Solutions which supports payroll automation and data-driven analytics for employers and Tanggapp, which is an online payments startup.

Forbes noted that a drought in global venture capital activity has not deterred startups across Asia from breaking new ground.

To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia Pacific region, privately owned, for profit, have no more than $50 million in its latest annual revenue and have no more than $100 million in total funding through Aug. 7, according to Forbes.

Making it to this year’s list are companies with eco-friendly innovations, such as the development of insect-based alternative proteins and digitization of milk production to improve yields. There are also social commerce providers, which help users sell consumer products.

This year’s roster come from 13 countries and territories representing 11 categories, including biotechnology and health care, e-commerce and retail and finance.

Across Asia Pacific, Singapore topped the list, contributing 20 companies, followed by Hong Kong with 15 and mainland China with 11. The emerging innovation hubs of Indonesia and the Philippines contributed 11 and nine companies, respectively.

Forbes Asia said its editors evaluated each submission, looking at metrics such as its positive impact on the region or industry as well as track record of strong revenue growth and ability to attract funding.