The Founders We Backed Are Now Backing What Comes Next
Eight years of founder relationships now strengthen how we source, assess and support companies across Fund 2.
Eight years ago, almost every useful relationship in the Accelerating Asia portfolio had to begin with our team. We made the introductions. We found the mentors. We brought investors into the room. There was no alumni network because there were no alumni.
Today, two founders we first met as applicants are investors in our funds. Other portfolio founders are writing angel cheques, helping companies enter new markets, referring startups and coming back to help us select the next cohort.
For founders, this feels like community. For investors, it changes what the fund can see and do. It gives us access to companies through people we trust, more context when we assess them and a network of operators who can help after we invest.
When people ask what founders get from Accelerating Asia other than funding, we can give them the nice, tidy version. A 100-day programme. Weekly accountability. Access to mentors, investors and people who have built companies across the region. Help with the parts of the business that aren't working, whether that is the product, sales, fundraising, financials or the story the founder is trying to tell. Blah, blah, blah... the usual sales pitch.
And all of that is true. But it's also not the full answer.
We always say that at least 50% of the value of the accelerator comes from the founders themselves. To be clear, this is a number we pulled out of nowhere. It's more of a 'finger-in-the-air' estimate. There's no scientific model behind it. But after eight years of running the programme, we still think it is about right.
The thing we can't manufacture quickly
There's so much work that goes into curating a batch. The companies need to be different enough that they aren't competing with each other, but close enough that the founders can understand the problems everybody else is dealing with. We think about markets, stages, personalities and what each founder is likely to add to the group, not just what they need from it.
You can put revenue, growth and fundraising into a scorecard. You can't really score the chemistry of ten people who are about to spend 100 very intense days together. There's a certain je ne sais quoi to a great cohort. We know it when we see it, but even now, we find it incredibly difficult to describe.
This is the part nobody can build overnight. Anybody can launch an accelerator, hire a team and write early-stage cheques. What they can't create on day one is eight years of shared experience across more than 100 startups and 16 markets, or the trust that makes a founder put their own capital, reputation and time behind somebody coming next.
Eight years later, we can see the result in what founders choose to do when they no longer have to show up. Two founders we first met as applicants are now investors in our funds. They came into our world trying to raise money for their own companies. Now they have enough conviction in what we are building to invest in the portfolios coming after them.
Many others have become angel investors in their own right. Founders who once needed somebody to take an early bet on them are now taking early bets on other people.
One cohort continued holding weekly stand-ups long after the programme ended. That, to us, is the magic. Building a company is lonely. Building a VC-backed company can be even lonelier because of the expectations that come with taking external investment. Add family, making payroll, fundraising, putting out fires and still trying to eat well, exercise, sleep and have time for friends. It can feel pretty much impossible. But if you find other slightly crazy people going through the same thing at the same time, you have real connection and real support.
What that looks like between companies
You can see the same thing in the way portfolio companies work together, often without us being involved at all.
Thyaga (Cohort 11) came through Accelerating Asia from Sri Lanka. PriyoShop (Cohort 2) came through from Bangladesh. They are now working together on Thyaga's entry into Bangladesh, with PriyoShop supporting the execution and market expansion on the ground. One company has a product ready for a new market. The other has spent years building the local relationships and operating infrastructure that can help make the move real.
Then there is meed and DIGIBOX. Phil Ingram joined Cohort 13 with meed. Rezwanul Haque Jami and Morshedul Alam Chaklader joined the same cohort with DIGIBOX. They were building different companies in different markets, and they didn't enter the programme looking for one another.
Since then, Jami and Morshed have signed SAFEs in meed and started helping Phil build the company in Bangladesh. They know the market and the things that don't appear in a market-entry report because they have already spent years working through them themselves.
The investment matters, but the relationship came first. It came from spending time together, seeing how the other person worked and building enough trust to want to keep helping after the cohort ended.
The network can still matter when the company doesn't work out. We have had founders whose startups closed go on to be hired by other companies in the portfolio that were doing well. The original company may be gone, but the founder's experience, ability and relationships don't disappear with it.
Why the programme is remote and participation isn't optional
We can't force any of these relationships to happen. We can, however, design the programme so founders have enough time together for real relationships to form.
The programme is remote because these founders already have teams, customers and businesses to run. It's also founders only, with a minimum 80% participation requirement. The format has to fit around the reality of operating a company, but founders still need to spend enough time together to understand the context behind one another's decisions and give feedback that is actually useful.
We also bring everyone together for the cohort retreat. The sessions and workshops matter, but so do the moments between them. Sitting down for a meal. Having a drink. Talking when nobody is presenting or trying to get through an agenda. Those are often the moments when the relationships become real.
The work we only hear about afterwards
Some of the most useful work happens without us knowing about it at the time.
During Cohort 14 recruitment, alumni spoke to founders before referring them because they weren't prepared to put their name behind somebody they hadn't taken seriously. They explained the interview process, helped people prepare and told us when there was somebody we should look at again. Some joined selection conversations and challenged our assumptions because they knew the market or had been through the exact problem the applicant was describing.
We often hear about half of this only afterwards. A founder tells us an alumnus spent an hour preparing them for an interview. Somebody messages to say three different founders told them to apply. A referral arrives with far more context than anything we could have pulled from an application form.
This is why we take referrals from the community so seriously. By the time somebody puts their name behind a founder, there has often already been a lot of private vetting. They are thinking about whether the company could be a fit, but also whether the founder will show up, contribute and give back to the people around them. The process is built on trust, and the people making the referrals understand that their own judgement is part of what they are putting forward.
This gives us much more than another name for the pipeline. We may hear about a company earlier, but we also hear what the founder is like to work with, how they respond to difficult questions and what has changed since the last time somebody in our network met them.
Founders also tell us which investors asked useful questions, who understood the market and who followed through. That information changes how we prepare the next founder and who we bring into the room for them.
This is why the word 'community' never quite feels big enough. It sounds nice, but also a bit fluffy. We sometimes call it a family, but that doesn't feel quite right either. We're investors, and performance matters. But so does genuinely wanting the best for the people around you, including when there is nothing immediate to gain from helping them.
What moves through the network is very practical: capital, deal flow, market access, customer introductions and information we can use when evaluating a company or an investor. Sometimes it is a phone call before a difficult meeting, or somebody in another country telling you what they wish they had known before they launched there.
So what does this mean for Fund 2?
None of this turns a bad company into a good one. Every investment still needs to stand on its own and earn its place in the portfolio, and a warm introduction doesn't guarantee that a founder will succeed.
But venture doesn't begin and end when we write the cheque. We need to find the companies, decide which ones are worth backing and then help them through whatever comes next. After eight years, this network is useful at every stage: better access before investment, more information while we're making the decision and more operating support afterwards.
So, yes, we will probably keep saying that at least 50% of the value of the accelerator comes from the founders themselves. And the number is still made up. What's no longer theoretical is the value those founders are now putting back into Fund 2 and the companies coming next.
Fund 2 is in final close. If you're considering early-stage exposure across Southeast Asia and South Asia, this network is part of what you're investing in through Fund 2. You can review the fund and co-investment pathways at https://acceleratingasia.com/investors.
Then review the fund and portfolio, or email team@acceleratingasia.com to talk through your questions with us.
Start with the fund deck. Choose your path at acceleratingasia.com/investors and we'll send access.
Ready to invest? Book a call here with a partner.
See the portfolio. Check out acceleratingasia.com/portfolio. Filter by country, sector, or fundraising status. Request an introduction directly to any CEO.
For investors and partners. Choose your path at acceleratingasia.com/investors. Whether you're looking to co-invest in individual startups or invest in the fund, the next step is there.
* Carta Q4 2025 VC Fund Performance. US benchmarks used as Asian fund comparables remain limited.
About Accelerating Asia Ventures
Accelerating Asia Ventures is an independent accelerator and venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups across Southeast and South Asia. Founded by operators, the organisation is committed to supporting founders with capital, credibility, and a long-term community.
For interviews, data requests, or portfolio introductions, contact: team@acceleratingasia.com
