East Ventures-backed founders listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia 2023

With global economic uncertainty on the rise and a significant drop in VC funding, young entrepreneurs in Asia-Pacific have faced a new set of challenges in the past year. But the current environment hasn’t killed innovation. Judging by this year’s cohort of 30 Under 30 Asia honorees, creativity has proven to be a valuable asset to survive—and thrive—amid tougher circumstances.

Here are the four East Ventures’ portfolio founders who have made the list!

Category: Finance & Ventures Capital

Aaron Villegas, Co-founder of Lista, Philippines 

Aaron is the CEO of Lista, a finance tracker app that helps individuals and small businesses in the Philippines manage their finances. The app lets users plan spending, track finances and set payment or debt reminders. Founded in 2021, the company claims to have over 1.6 million downloads. Lista has raised US$5.8 million from investors, including the US$5.1 million in June 2022.

Category: Enterprise Technology

Mirsa Sadikin & Afra Sausan, Co-founders of Biteship, Indonesia

Biteship aims to simplify logistics management for Indonesian companies. Established in 2019, its application programming interface allows sellers to integrate third-party logistics and warehouse services and manage them through a unified dashboard. Biteship, which says it works with courier firms including FedEX, Grab and J&T express, raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding in June 2022, co-led by East Ventures and Beenext. According to East Ventures, the startup’s revenue grew eight times in the first quarter of 2022 from the same period a year earlier, while ‘competitive margins’ helped it to maintain profitability.

Category: Retail & Commerce

Melvin Chee, Founder of RPG Commerce, Malaysia

In 2017, Melvin cofounded RPG Commerce, a Kuala Lumpur group of direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands. Since its launch, the startup has raised a total of US$34.5 million from Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures, East Ventures and others. Its portfolio spans lifestyle and fashion products, such as apparel brand Bottom Labs and kitchenware Cosmic Cookware.

Category: Industry, Manufacturing & Energy

Andre Septiano, Co-founder of Fresh Factory, Indonesia

Andre is the cofounder and CFO of logistics firm Fresh Factory, which specializes in handling frozen and low-temperature products. It runs over 40 cold chain warehouses in 22 Indonesian cities, offering services like storage, product processing, packing and last-mile deliveries to online and offline retailers. Fresh Factory recently raised US$4.15 million pre-series A, bringing the total funding to over US$8.5 million. The company aims to expand its network to 100 cold chain centers in 50 cities by the year-end.

Congratulations to our esteemed founders!

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Read the full list on Forbes.