4 PH startups among Forbes’ ‘100 to watch’

Four startups from the Philippines made it to Forbes Asia magazine’s inaugural “100 to Watch” list, which spotlights notable small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia-Pacific region.

Education and recruitment platform Kalibrr, payments processor PayMongo Philippines, e-commerce firm ChatGenie and food and cloud kitchen operator CloudEats joined a diverse range of 100 companies picked by Forbes across 17 countries and territories in the region.

“Companies on the ‘100 to Watch’ list 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,” Justin Doebele, editor of Forbes Asia, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Co-founded by entrepreneur Paul Rivera in 2013, Kalibrr is an artificial intelligence-powered recruitment company that has now served five million jobseekers in Indonesia and the Philippines. Kalibrr aims to make the hiring process simpler, faster and better for companies and applicants.

PayMongo Philippines, co-founded by Francis Plaza in 2019, serves in its digital payments platform about 7,000 mostly micro, small and midsized companies that are moving beyond brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce.

ChatGenie, co-founded by Ragde Falcis in 2020, combines online shopping platforms and Grab’s GPay and delivery into the Facebook Messenger interface to allow customers to shop via direct messaging. It was launched a month before Manila’s first pandemic lockdown.

CloudEats, established in 2019, operates 60 restaurant brands out of versatile “cloud kitchens.” Led by its co-founder and CEO Kimberly Yao, the company is also developing its own brands and tailors recipes and concepts based on customer feedback.

To come up with the list, Forbes Asia solicited online submissions, and invited accelerators, incubators, small and medium enterprise advocacy organizations, universities, venture capitalists and others to nominate companies. The final 100 was selected from more than 900 submissions.

Forbes Asia editors evaluated each submission, looking at metrics such as a 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. INQ