Heaptalk, Jakarta — East Ventures revealed six portfolio companies in the prestigious Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2024 list. The fourth annual Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list showcases small companies and startups in Asia Pacific that grabbed investors’ attention—and their checkbooks.
Melisa Irene, Partner at East Ventures. “This recognition is a testament to the extraordinary innovation, dedication, and hard work these teams demonstrate. We have always believed in empowering visionary founders who strive to make a meaningful impact in their respective industries, and this acknowledgment underlines their significant contributions.”
East Ventures’ six portfolios on Forbes 2024
- ESQA Cosmetics
Childhood friends Cindy Angelina and Kezia Trihatmanto founded ESQA, which claims to be the first vegan cosmetics brand in Indonesia. ESQA now offers a wide range of cosmetics and skincare
products sold online and through retailers such as Sephora, Sociolla, and Watsons. The beauty startup has expanded into Vietnam and Singapore and is eyeing other Southeast Asian
markets. It raised a US$6 million series A round in 2022, participated by East Ventures. ESQA says it became profitable after just two years of operations
Jakarta-based Gravel makes hiring construction workers daily or per project easy. The company also offers maintenance services and sells building materials. It says it has helped with 6,000 projects in 20 Indonesian provinces, and some 1.7 million construction workers are listed on the platform. The company has raised US$14 million in funding from investors such as East Ventures, which invested in this startup in December last year.
- Lista
Lista offers an app that helps individuals and small businesses in the Philippines manage their
finances. Its analytics tool tracks spending habits and cash flow, alerting users to upcoming
bills. Lista has raised over US$5 million in funding and says its app has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times. It gets 75% of its revenue from selling credit scores to consumers, while the rest comes from referral fees from financial institutions. East Ventures injected funds in November 2021.
McEasy helps companies monitor their transportation fleets with software and other tools like
cameras, GPS, and sensors. Customers include state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and
Jakarta-based logistics company JNE. In June, McEasy raised series A+ funding from East Ventures, following an earlier US$6.5 million round led by East Ventures in 2022, bringing its total series A financing to US$11 million since September 2021.
Mesh Bio creates a digital replica—or “twin”—of a patient’s body to gain insight into the potential
response to various treatments and therapies for chronic diseases. Mesh Bio is working with hospitals in Singapore to predict the risks of patients developing kidney damage from type 2 diabetes. In January, the company raised US$3.5 million in series A funding from investors led by East Ventures, which has invested in Mesh Bio since October 2023.
- SaladStop! Group
This startup sells meals that appeal to the health-conscious: the SaladStop! Brand, grain bowl, Heybo, sushi takeout line Wooshi, and catering service FreshKitchen. Cofounded in 2009 by
the father-son duo Daniel and Adrien Desbaillets, the company is also led by Daniel’s daughter Katherine and son-in-law Frantz Braha. It operates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines, and it has over 800 employees and 75 outlets. In 2021, SaladStop raised S$12 million (US$9 million) in a series B investment round participated by East Ventures, which has invested in SaladStop! since 2021.
