Four PH Companies Make it to Forbes Asia 100 to Watch List

Forbes Asia’s “100 to Watch” List gathers striking small companies and startups that are set to make waves throughout the region despite the ongoing global pandemic. Among this list, four Philippine businesses have been included.

It features companies that come from a wide array of industries such as biotechnology and healthcare, e-commerce and retail, food and hospitality, and education and recruitment.

There are certain factors that have to be met before a company can be considered for this list. Generally, companies have to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, at least a year old, privately owned, for-profit, and have a maximum of $20 million in its latest annual revenue or total funding.

“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,” explained Justin Doebele, an editor from Forbes Asia.

“Their inclusion on the list comes in part from addressing significant problems with innovative solutions.”

The Philippine businesses that found their way to the list are:

• Chat Genie, founded in 2020 and falls under e-commerce and retail. It allows customers to shop through direct messages by integrating Grab’s GPay into Facebook Messenger’s interface. Chat Genie was launched just a month before Manila’s first lockdown.
• Cloud Eats, founded in 2019 and is considered a food and hospitality business. It operates 60 restaurant brands out of “cloud kitchens” which helps in cost efficiency.
• Kalibrr, founded in 2013 and is part of education and recruitment. The company significantly makes the hiring process simpler, faster, and better for both companies and applicants. It was also the first Filipino company to be accepted by Y Combinator.
• PayMongo Philippines, a finance company founded in 2019. It offers a digital platform for partner merchants to accept various types of online payments. The company caters to 7,000 mostly micro, small, and midsized companies.

Source: GMA News