RANKED: Southeast Asia’s top 30 Tech Startup Founders

Southeast Asia is catching the eye of investors and innovators alike. From 2016 to 2017, funding raised by the region’s startups increased threefold, soaring from US$2.52 billion to US$7.86 billion.

At the heart of these opportunities are a group of smart and inspirational founders who have started companies that have gone on to fetch millions or even billions of dollars in funding.

Three years ago, Tech in Asia compiled a list of Southeast Asia’s top 30 tech founders. We’ve update this list by using the funding data and research we’ve gathered over the past two years.

Some of the founders from our previous tally remain, but new names have made it as well.

Founders are only included if they’re actively running a startup, and their placement is based on two factors: their track record and their firm’s public data – funding, revenue, and valuation. They’re then placed into three groups based on their company’s size.

Here are the complete list:

THE UP-AND-COMERS

Aaron Tan Carro, Singapore

Akshay Garg, Kredivo, Indonesia

Andrew Khoo, Tessa Therapeutics, Singapore

Ankiti Bose, Zilingo, Singapore

David Jou, Pomelo Fashion, Thailand

Joseph Phua, M17 Entertainment, Singapore

Kelvin Teo, Funding Societies, Singapore

Krishnan Rajagopalan, Hooq, Singapore

Lai Chang Wen, Ninja Logistics (Ninja Van), Singapore

Markus Gnirck, Tryb Group, Singapore

Pranoti Nagarkar, Zimplistic, Singapore

Shaun di Gregorio, Frontier Digital Ventures, Malaysia

on Tran Ngoc Thai, Tiki, Vietnam

THE ESTABLISHED ENTREPRENEURS

Darius Cheung, 99.co, Singapore

Joel Bar-El, Trax, Singapore

Lawrence Wu, Sunseap, Singapore

Le Hong Minh, VNG, Vietnam

Malcolm Rodrigues, MyRepublic, Singapore

Paul Srivorakul, aCommerce, Thailand

Quek Siu Rui, Carousell, Singapore

Robin Khuda, AirTrunk, Singapore/Australia

Samuel Lim, Reebonz, Singapore

Shashank Dixit, Deskera, Singapore

THE INDUSTRY GIANTS

Anthony Tan, Grab, Singapore

Ferry Unardi, Traveloka, Indonesi

Forrest Li, Sea Limited, Singapore

Nadiem Makarim, Go-Jek, Indonesia

Patrick Grove, Iflix, Malaysia

Tan Min-Liang, Razer, Singapore

William Tanuwijaya, Tokopedia, Indonesia

Source : Tech in Asia