GLOBAL • SEEDSTARS WORLD
Eugenia Shevchenko
MARCH 19, 2021
In this early stage of 2021, we have welcomed eight new ventures from Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East to our Seedstars family.
As of March 2021, we have a portfolio of over 67 companies in 31 countries. We’re very proud to have expanded our current portfolio to include Thailand, India and Pakistan!
Since our initial investments, over $30M has been raised by our portfolio companies collectively. Given that most of our investments took place in 2019 and 2020, this is a strong sign for both our portfolio selection and the overall quality of founders in emerging markets.
Now it’s time to e-meet the new companies that have joined us. We asked the founders just one simple question: “How is your startup making an impact in your industry?” and we are excited to share their responses with you:
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Data Driven Debt Collection and Risk Mitigation via Smartphone Collateralisation
“Datacultr is opening up a $200bn market segment for financial institutions in emerging markets, the 'new to credit'. Datacultr is enabling its clients to offer loans at a much reduced risk and at a much higher collections efficiency, making it a win-win for clients as well as the 'new to credit'. Datacultr thus far has secured 150k+ loans in India, Bangladesh and Malaysia, amounting to over $24mn worth of loans, it is currently averaging 2000 new loans every day”
B2B marketplace connecting FMCG retailers and suppliers
“There are over two million retailers in Pakistan and they all face problems purchasing supply. They have to source from many wholesalers who charge high prices and self-delivery is an added challenge. Dastgyr is a B2B marketplace that connects small retailers with manufacturers and suppliers. Dastgyr’s app helps retailers save 30% when buying supplies and also offers on-demand delivery. By helping these underserved retailers procure at a discount, Dastgyr is creating an impact in the lives of millions of retailers that otherwise have remained at a disadvantage. Moreover, through Dastgyr Logistics we are able to reduce supplier logistics cost by 20% by optimizing for route and fuel efficiency; thereby also enhancing SMEs distribution coverage."
Globalwork seeks to create trusting relationships between companies and their workforces
“At Globalwork we are creating the fundamental relationships of trust in the future of work, verifying the history of candidates, accompanying present employees and projecting the future of teams. With our technologies, we provide HR teams with optimizations to their processes and data that have a direct impact on fraud prevention, emotional and performance problems, while also building highly effective teams in an environment of well-being and transparency.”
Pay as you go financing solution for basic household appliances
“Graviti enables low income, unbanked families to buy what they need the most by providing accessible and flexible financing of household appliances. We help them build credit history and reduce their financial insecurity. We’ve developed a unique understanding of our specific customers and market and built the whole company around that understanding together with a ground up thinking about adaptability and flexibility."
A managed marketplace for healthcare in emerging Southeast Asia
"Our mission is to bring affordable healthcare to the 99% in emerging Southeast Asian markets like Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Specifically, we target cash pay health shoppers who are uninsured or under-insured and who, due to the absence of a "family physician" concept common in developed markets like the United States, Europe, and developed parts of Asia, are left to fend for themselves in terms of product and price discovery. By aggregating the existing healthcare supply and exposing healthcare products and pricing information online through our platform, we make it easier for our users to educate themselves, pick the right products, and compare pricing. We complete this value proposition by processing the majority of our transactions through conversational commerce which allows our customer experience team to go back and forth with the user to provide more context and product information."
Currently a digital insurance broker, soon a full-stack insurer in Mexico, providing simplified insurance coverage in an underpenetrated market
“Mango Life has redefined the way we purchase life and health insurance in Mexico. Our approach is to deliver a human, simple and digital experience that helps individuals and families to protect themselves against fundamental risks of life. We are tapping a market (Mexico) where only 15% of the working population has life Insurance and barely 7% of the population has access to private health insurance. We say we are human, in the sense that we have removed most of the technical jargon to explain our product. We say we are simple, because we always aim to create/evolve our products into simplified, affordable and yet relevant insurance solutions that users finally understand and acquire. And finally, digital, since we take advantage of technology to craft digital experiences that offer instant protection in compliance with regulation. With Mango Life there is no need to pass through tedious medical tests nor filling enormous paper forms to get covered.”
Online marketplace to find tutors in Egypt and the MENA region
“Orcas' goal is to offer personalized, high-quality learning to K-12 students. Students benefit greatly from the tutoring, reporting an average rating of 4.8 stars over more than 100K tutoring sessions. It is equally important to us that we help teachers in emerging markets increase their limited annual income. Our teachers add 40% to their annual income by working 2-6 hours per week on our platform.”
Mobile-first Shopify plus last-mile logistics marketplace for SMBs in SEA
“At TUK we're helping small businesses in developing markets get online and sell their goods and services within their local communities. Often we're the first touchpoint of modern mobile technology for the local businesses we work with. We're laser-focused on building the digital tools local businesses need to survive and thrive in these trying times.”
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