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Daily Markup #215: This week’s top stories feat. the surprising key to above-average profitability and trailblazing women in startups

500 Southeast Asia Team

Published

19.03.21

Credit: Grab

From Daily Markup #211

  • “Research has shown that companies with a diverse executive suite are up to 15% more likely to generate above-average profitability,” said 500-backed Grab’s Head of People Chin Yin Ong to Tech in Asia. How has this insight changed things around Grab? Get the details here.
  • On International Women’s Day this year, Grab launched ‘How She Made It’, a podcast produced in partnership with Tech in Asia. All episodes are available on Spotify.
  • 500-backed InvestaX, a licensed digital securities issuance, investments, and trading platform has launched the world’s first Digital SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) using smart contracts and blockchain technologies.
  • Get the full stories here.

From Daily Markup #209

  • Carsome is always about challenging industry norms by doing things differently… Today, 35% of our senior positions are held by women, a number far above industry average,” said the 500-backed startup’s Group CFO Juliet Zhu to Yahoo! Finance. Read the full feature here.
  • 500-backed founder and CEO Vap Yap of insurtech startup PolicyPal has been honored as one of the top 100 women in fintech by FinTech Magazine.
  • 500 Durians is honored to be a part of 56 companies that are founded and led by women entrepreneurs. Watch our International Women’s Day dedication to the #500Strong female founders here.
  • Get the full stories here.

From Daily Markup #212

  • PC Gan, Country Manager of 500-backed Homage Malaysia shared her thoughts with BusinessToday on the importance of embracing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) values.
  • On a panel about women leadership in fintech, Xfers’ Sharon Lourdes Paul shared that while she expects others to treat her as an equal, she does the same in return, eschewing different or favourable treatment just because of her gender.
  • Get the full stories here.

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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Southeast Asia family of funds. The 500 Southeast Asia funds have backed over 240 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.

This post is intended solely for general informational or educational purposes only. 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. and its affiliates (collectively “500 Startups”) makes no representation as to the accuracy or information in this post and while reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that the information herein is accurate and up-to-date, no liability can be accepted for any error or omissions. All third party links in this post have not been independently verified by 500 Startups and the inclusion of such links should not be interpreted as an endorsement or confirmation of the content within. Information about portfolio companies’ markets, competitors, performance, and fundraising has been provided by those companies’ founders and has not been independently verified. Under no circumstances should any content in this post be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 Startups, or an offer to provide any investment advisory service with regard to securities by 500 Startups. No content or information in this post should be construed as an offer to sell or solicitation of interest to purchase any securities advised by 500 Startups. Prospective investors considering an investment into any 500 Startups fund should not consider or construe this content as fund marketing material. The views expressed herein are as at the date of this post and are subject to change without notice. One or more 500 Startups fund may have a financial interest in one or more of the companies discussed.

500 Southeast Asia Team