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The theme of social impact is taking over the centre stage in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem this year, with social enterprises being in the spotlight, but challenges remain for companies that are working in the sector.

Quest Ventures shares its insights on the biggest challenges faced by startups in the social impact sector.

“Startups will face the challenge of balancing impact creation and business growth, aligning expectations of stakeholders and business partners, and getting their investors to better understand how impact can translate into enterprise value,” says James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures.

“With sustainability coming into focus in these few years, the challenge may be slowly mitigating, but investors should put teeth in their commitment to sustainability and impact by actually investing in and supporting the growth of impact-driven startups … Together with our local and international partners in the startup investment ecosystems and social sectors, we are able to support the startups in expanding beyond the local market and pulling together resources to replicate and scale.”

Alfie Othman, CEO of Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, raiSE, explains the challenges that social impact companies are facing: “According to a study on The State of Social Enterprise in Singapore that raiSE conducted in partnership with the British Council in 2021, the top three challenges faced by social enterprises are customer acquisition and market development, access to financial support, and building internal capabilities.”

“We continue to partner with Quest Ventures to provide promising, socially impactful startups with the support they need to improve their competencies and access regional and global markets for the second cohort of the accelerator this year. The Sustainable Impact Accelerator’s first cohort has proven successful – with companies pitching to over 2,000 investors, corporates, and government organisations within the programme’s first three months. We are always heartened to see participants benefit from the programme, whether it be scaling their business, growing their impact, or gaining footholds in new markets,” says Othman.

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Vistra

Quest Ventures wanted to use the Singapore Variable Capital Company (VCC) structure to get their investor-led funds to market at speed. Vistra supported Quest Ventures with a full suite of end-to-end fund setup and administration solutions, allowing them to focus on their core business.

“We had an ambitious target of launching multiple funds with different strategies across the Asia-Pacific region. From the outset, the Vistra team was responsive and flexible and fast became our trusted partner. Critically, they provide us with a full range of solutions that mean we can focus on our core business of looking for investment opportunities”, says James Tan, Founder and Managing Partner, Quest Ventures.

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KrASIA

Quest Ventures is calling for startups focused on making a sustainable impact to apply for the second cohort of their Sustainable Impact Accelerator (SIA) in partnership with raiSE. James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, said, “Socially impactful enterprises can also scale like high-growth startups, unlocking capital and resources to impact more people regionally and globally. Building upon the success of the first cohort, we look forward to partnering with raiSE again to propel high-potential impact businesses forward in their journey.”

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The Edge

This accelerator, organised by the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, raiSE and Quest Ventures, a venture capital firm in Asia, aims to support budding impactful startups by providing financial and non-financial support to help them improve their competencies and gain access to regional and global markets.

Since launching in 2022, companies from the first cohort of the Sustainable Impact Accelerator have collectively pitched to over 2,000 investors, corporates, government organisations, and other stakeholders across Asia within the first three months of the programme. Some companies have also successfully raised their next funding round within a few months and gained a foothold in overseas markets such as Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, said, “Socially impactful enterprises can also scale like high-growth startups, unlocking capital and resources to impact more people regionally and globally. Building upon the success of the first cohort, we look forward to partnering with raiSE again to propel high-potential impact businesses forward in their journey.”

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Channel NewsAsia

Treatsure’s Mr Wong said that investors’ understanding of the potential of food waste companies still appears to trail behind in Asia compared with the West.

“It does seem that they’re trailing behind in … that understanding of the potential impact if a company could scale similarly in terms of what our peers in Europe have done.”

He pointed to other tech platforms aimed at reducing food waste in Europe and North America, such as Copenhagen-based Too Good to Go and London-based Olio.

“It’s still quite a niche and selective group that we’re talking about,” Mr Wong said of Asia’s investors in food waste companies.

But he also pointed out that there were “encouraging signs”. Last year, venture capital firm Quest Ventures came on board as an investor with Treatsure.

“There are investors who are looking at this opportunity, because food waste is quite a significant opportunity. It’s just (a matter of) the model in which the business operates,” he said.

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8视界

本地初创公司商会创业行动社群指出，随着明年的全球经济阻力加大，高达八成的本地初创公司正面临倒闭的风险。处于早期阶段的初创公司，也将更难吸引到投资资金。

新加坡创业行动社群主席陈中说：“我们看到来自欧洲、美国甚至是北亚的海外投资者都想要进入东南亚市场因为他们看到了这里有通过科技颠覆或科技转型所带来的机会。”

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Channel NewsAsia

The Action Community for Entrepreneurship warns that a majority of Singapore’s start-ups are at risk of going out of business as they face challenges in getting funding and investment due to economic headwinds. Early-stage start-ups have the added hurdle of proving their growth potential or profitability.

“Startups that have not been able to raise funding this year are going to run out of cash next year, and we are going to see more shut downs, more layoffs before it gets better”, says James Tan in his capacity as the Chairman of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship.

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Lianhe Zaobao

尽管面对通货膨胀攀升和地缘政治不确定等不利因素，本地起步公司今年的集资活动仍保持韧性，特别是处于早期融资阶段的公司，获最多投资者的支持。

不过在宏观经济逆风下，本地起步公司的融资条件明年料会收紧，资金充足或能取得盈利的起步公司可能会延后集资以避开不利条件。

创业行动社群（ACE）主席兼求索创投（Quest Ventures）合伙人陈中注意到，曾为迅速增长而设的科技公司现在追求可持续增长，风险资本家希望公司创始人能为延长现金跑道做好准备，资金充裕或能取得盈利的起步公司可能会延后集资以避开不利条件。

2021年可谓本地起步公司的丰收年，集资额创历史新高，达116亿7000万美元。

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Yahoo! Finance

Quest Ventures continues commitment to Vietnam.

The investment provides 360° support across capital, talent and business development to accelerate Vietnam’s startup ecosystem at critical inflection point

The commitment is backed by over 40 Venture Capital firms spanning Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, the US, and Vietnam (full list of firms can be found in the Appendix).

Themed Shifting Global Capital Flows, this third edition of the Vietnam Venture Summit drew the largest gathering of Vietnam’s top political leaders, global investors, founders, international tech giants and venture capital firms to discuss the future of SEA’s startup ecosystem and, in particular, Vietnam’s growing importance on the regional and global scale as an investment magnet.

Against the uncertain global outlook, emerging and developing Asia is predicted to witness the highest GDP growth of 4.9% in 2023, topping all other global regions; SEA attracted US$174 billion in foreign direct investment in 2021; and SEA-focused VC funds raised US$3.1B so far in 2022, nearing the US$3.5B they raised in all of 2021.

In particular, Vietnam shines ever brighter against the region’s positive outlook, with Vietnamese startups raising a record US$1.4 billion across 165 deals in 2021 and the momentum expected to continue into 2023 with an anticipated GDP growth of 6.7 per cent in 2023.

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DealStreetAsia

Quest Ventures continues commitment to Vietnam.

Venture capital firms have committed to invest $1.5 billion in Vietnam over the course of the next three years, the organisers of the Vietnam Venture Summit 2022 announced on Monday.

The 41 investors committing to the initiative include VC funds across multiple stages, geographies and corporate profiles.

This combined commitment represents a major increase from 2020 when 33 participating VCs committed over $815 million for the 2021-2025 period. At the inaugural event of the Vietnam Venture Summit in 2019, investors committed $425 million to support Vietnamese startups between 2019 and 2021.

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