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Why Asia and Why now?
That was the question posed at our recent “Taking your Startup to Asia” breakfast hosted in Melbourne, Australia.
With 48 countries and nearly 5 billion of the world's population, there’s no denying that the region is a global behemoth, though for many Australian Startups it’s often overlooked, in lieu of markets like the US and Europe.
Playing host to the world's two most populous countries, some of the most forward thinking Innovation and Tech ecosystems and a rising middle class, looking for digital solutions, it's an extremely lucrative market for any Startup.
With an expert panel from across all sectors of the APAC Startup ecosystem, we unpacked the opportunity and some key insights for Founders looking to scale into the region.
Lessons from a year of travel in the region
The breakfast kicked off with insights from my recent travels in Asia.
I’ve had the privilege of travelling to 12 Startup ecosystems across the region over the last year from the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur to megacities such as Mumbai, Beijing and Seoul.
And had 5 key trends to share with our audience:
- Across the region there are big countries without the local infrastructure to support their growth
- Where you take your venture is a competitive game and support programs exist both in and out of Australia
- There are plenty of options for landing pads into the region and many different reasons to consider when choosing one
- People are your cheat code to understanding local markets
- Australian Innovation has a strong reputation across the region, this will open a lot of doors
Generalising about a region which encapsulates 59.2% of the world’s population is a near impossible game, though these 5 things gave up for me again and again in my travels.
A panel of people who’ve been there and done it before
The main event of our session came when our panel of experts took to the stage to share their insights and experiences working across Asia.
Tick Jiang, a Founder and Investor that straddles Asia and Australia shared with us the importance of understanding culture differences and reiterated my observation that although the Australian Startup ecosystem is smaller than some Chinese cities, it does have a strong reputation internationally.
Jeanette Cheah, the Co-Founder & CEO of EdTech Hex told us that her multicultural heritage is actually her superpower when working across Asia and that she replicates this with employing diverse people in her team as Hex grows across the region.
Yass Omar, Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs at HealthTech Heidi Health, shared their current experience of deciding which market to scale in and how they test and iterate using Tech to decide which country is the best fit.
And Andrew Antal, Head of Marketing APAC for Vanta explained how they support Startups with their compliance across Asia to operate in new markets and the trends that they’ve noticed supporting some of Australia's largest Startups to grow.
If you want to learn more, click here to watch a recording of the whole event, courtesy of Vanta.
A huge thanks to our partners at Vanta for powering this event series. You can redeem a $1000 credit with Vanta when you book in a demo here
And to our event hosts Tank Stream Labs, the home of Hype Man Media.
Watch out for the next part of this event series coming soon!
