15 Startups Join Surge 03 Acceleration Program 2020

Surge, an acceleration program for startups in Southeast Asia and India under the auspices of venture capital company Sequoia India, today announced 15 early-stage startups selected for Surge 03 2020.

It has grown and become a community of 110 startups founders from various countries since it was founded in March last year. This program provides funding of 1-2 million USD for startups.

“Southeast Asia is a fast-growing startup ecosystem driven by the digital economy and mobile-first. We at Surge have had the privilege of working with founders from Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam in our three cohorts, and we see that their enthusiasm and passion have brought real impact on their community,” Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Surge and Sequoia Capital India LLP said through written statements.

Fifteen (15) startups in the Surge 03 2020 program came from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. They are engaged in several diverse vertical industries, such as SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), Dev tools, Consumer products, Food & Beverage (F&B), Education, and Health.

Startups from Southeast Asia include these startups from Indonesia; Hangry, Bukukas, and CoLearn. Pencil, Tigerhall, Pentester Academy, and Tinvio from Singaporem also Thuocsi from Vietnam.

All Surge 03 Sessions Are Done Online

Surge 03 began on April 13 and for the first time took place entirely online. Full-day sessions are held once a week for 16 weeks.

The sessions included workshops on company-building, small group discussions, and interactive fireside chat sessions with Surge mentors such as William Tanuwijaya, Founder and CEO of Tokopedia; Doug Leone, Global Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital, and other founders and investors from Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the United States.

Nearly 25 percent of all program registrants came from Southeast Asia and 16 percent of them are from Indonesia and Singapore. There has been an increase in registrants from Southeast Asia in the B2B sector, consumer technology, and financial services.

This program carries the concept of “open architecture” and invites other investors to join the Surge funding round. About 80 percent of startups in Surge 03 get funding from institutional co-investors.

Then almost 50 percent of startups also have angel investors. Overall, the funding round for Surge 03 has raised more than 39 million USD.

This time, 15 participating startups have generated more than US $ 39 million or around Rp 603.7 billion. Each startup will get fresh funds of US $ 1 million to US $ 2 million (around Rp. 14.5 billion-Rp. 30.9 billion). Sequioa invites other investors to join the first Surge round.

Surge Program 03 Is Not Much Different Than Before

This time, 80% of Surge 03 startups get funding from institutional co-investors. Nearly 50% of these start-ups also have angel investors.

“We believe that it is very important to support startup founders, not only when they succeed, but also in difficult times,” Managing Director of Surge and Sequoia Capital of India LLP Rajan Anandan said in a press release on Monday (27/4).

He explained, the Surge 03 program was no different from before. This program is designed to provide special advantages for the founders. The trick is to help them overcome the obstacles in the early stages with access to capital assistance, resources, mentors, and experts needed to develop startups.

Therefore, the program consists of four main components. First, the capital. Second, the Community so those startup founders can learn from each other, grow, and share about their journey with each other. Third, support for company development with training and seminars. Finally, a global experience where Surge mentors from Silicon Valley, China, Southeast Asia, and India will provide an opportunity for the founders to better understand the global startup ecosystem