SINGAPORE (27 August 2024) – Forbes Asia today announced the fourth annual “100 to Watch” list, highlighting the fastest-growing small businesses and startups in the Asia Pacific region. The “100 to Watch” list, featured here and in the September issue of Forbes Asia, is sponsored by FedEx.
“The startups featured on the Forbes Asia 100 Hottest Companies list have collectively raised more than $2 billion in funding to date, with 83 of them raising funds since early 2023. This influx of investment was driven by innovation across some of the world's hottest industries, including space tech, biotech and robotics. Their ambition and achievements to date bode well for the future of the Asia-Pacific startup ecosystem,” said Rana Wehbe Watson, Editorial Director and Special Projects, Forbes Asia.
This mix of 100 companies spans a broad range of offerings, from AI navigation systems for space exploration to cutting-edge cell therapies and advanced medical diagnostics. There are also fintechs serving the needs of the unbanked and retailers using digital channels to reach a new generation of consumers.
This year's list features companies from 16 countries and regions operating across a total of 10 industries, including enterprise technology, robotics, finance, manufacturing and energy. India, a hotbed of startups, has the most companies on the list this year with 20, followed by Singapore (15), mainland China (10), Japan (9) and Indonesia (8).
To select the 100 Companies to Watch list, Forbes Asia invited applications online and also invited accelerators, incubators, universities, venture capitalists and others to nominate companies. To be eligible for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, be a for-profit private venture, have annual revenues of less than $50 million and total funding of less than $100 million as of August 7. Forbes Asia editors evaluated each application taking into account factors such as impact and contribution to the industry and region, market fit, promising business model, innovation, track record of consistent revenue growth and ability to raise capital.
To see the complete list of 100 to Watch, visit www.forbes.com/100toWatch.
Join the conversation on social using the hashtag #100toWatch and follow @ForbesAsia on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
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