Business: Forbes counts 22 Indian firms among ‘100 to watch’ in Asia-Pacific
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Hinting that the Indian economy is rising irresistibly, despite the pandemic and other variables, business magazine Forbes Asia’s inaugural “100 to Watch” list has included as many as 22 Indian startups, out of 100 in the Asia-Pacific Region, in industries as diverse education, e-commerce, and healthcare.
The list that the magazine issued on Tuesday highlights small firms and start-ups “on the rise across the Asia-Pacific Region.” They include agriculture start-up Aquaconnect, BeatO (biotech and healthcare), Bellatrix Aerospace (logistics and transportation), Betterplace (education and recruitment), and Captain Fresh (eCommerce and retail) among the rising Indian companies.
The Forbes Asia lists 17 countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region, and also includes start-up communities in Singapore and Hong Kong producing 19 and 10 companies, respectively. Indonesia has eight firms on the list.
“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,” said Justin Doebele, Editor, Forbes Asia.
For the selection of the ‘100 to Watch’ list, Forbes Asia sought online submissions and invited accelerators, incubators, SME advocacy organizations, universities, venture capitalists, and others to nominate companies as well.
The final 100 companies were selected from over 900 submissions. To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, be at least one year old, privately-owned, for-profit, and have no more than USD 20 million in its latest annual revenue or total funding through August 1.
Forbes Asia editors evaluated these submissions, 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.
