KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s BrioHR, DoctorOnCall, Dropee and iHandal Energy Solutions are among the Forbes Asia inaugural “100 to Watch” list, which focuses on and highlights notable small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia-Pacific.
The editor of Forbes Asia, Justin Doebele, said these 100 companies are making remarkable progress and impact in spite of the challenging climate brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Their inclusion on the list comes in part from addressing significant problems with innovative solutions,” he said in a statement.
The “100 to Watch” list features a diverse range of companies spanning industries such as biotechnology and healthcare, e-commerce and retail, food and hospitality, as well as education and recruitment.
The list, which can be found at www.forbes.com/100toWatch and in the August issue of Forbes Asia, is sponsored by FedEx.
Seventeen countries and territories from Asia-Pacific are represented, with the lively startup communities in India and Singapore producing 22 and 19 companies, respectively.
As for Hong Kong, it has 10 and Indonesia has eight companies on the list.
To select the “100 to Watch” list, Forbes Asia solicited online submissions and invited accelerators, incubators, SME advocacy organisations, universities, venture capitalists and others to nominate companies.
The final 100 was selected from over 900 submissions.
To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific, be at least one year old, privately owned, for profit, and have no more than US$20mil (RM84.6mil) in its latest annual revenue or total funding through Aug 1.
Forbes Asia editors evaluated each submission, looking at metrics such as positive impact on the region or industry, a track record of strong revenue growth or ability to attract funding, promising business models or markets, and a persuasive story.
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