The Unglamorous Billions: Why We Invest Where Others Won't Look
Rice grading in Thailand. Fleet tracking in Indonesia. Pension paperwork in India. Credit analysis for rural banks.
None of this sounds like the future of tech.
That's the point.
These are not problems that get funded in San Francisco. They're not problems that investors in Singapore or Hong Kong typically chase either. The markets sound too niche. The customers too unfamiliar. The opportunity too... unglamorous.
But here's what we've learned after 101 investments across Southeast Asia and South Asia:
The unglamorous problems are often the biggest. And the companies solving them become very attractive once they've proven it works.
Rice is a $500B+ global market. Logistics in Indonesia alone is worth $200B+. The money stuck in India's pension and banking bureaucracy runs into the hundreds of billions.
These aren't small opportunities. They're massive opportunities that most investors can't see because they're solving problems for people and industries they've never encountered.
We call it our blue ocean.
When a founder comes to us with AI-powered rice grading, we don't have to compete with Sequoia for the deal. When someone builds infrastructure to help families recover money from government bureaucracy, there's no bidding war.
But here's what happens next: once these companies prove traction, the follow-on investors show up. Every company in our current fund has raised external funding. The deals that looked "too niche" at seed become obvious opportunities at Series A.
And the exits? They come from the same place exits always come from: larger players who need what these companies have built. Regional consolidation. Strategic acquisitions by multinationals entering these markets. Eventually, public markets.
TransTrack (Cohort 4), started in 2 cities. Now they're in 34, expanding to 100, with $2.1M raised from institutional investors. The "niche" fleet tracking company is becoming the infrastructure layer for Indonesian logistics.
The founders who solve these problems have deep local knowledge that can't be replicated. They understand the regulatory quirks, the distribution challenges, the cultural context. A team in Palo Alto couldn't build this if they tried. And that moat only gets deeper as they scale.
Here's the thing about emerging markets that most people get wrong: yes, they come with challenges. Currency risk. Political complexity. Fragmented markets.
But the business opportunities below the surface have so little competition at entry and so much upside at scale that it's hard for us to want to deploy capital anywhere else.
Our portfolio includes:
• TransTrack - Cohort 4 (Indonesia): Fleet intelligence for trucking. 72x from our initial investment. Raised $2.1M pre-Series A.
• EasyRice - Cohort 7 (Thailand): AI rice grading. Expanding across Southeast Asia.
• Kustodian - Cohort 12 (India): Recovering money stuck in bureaucracy. $3.5M returned to families, 7.5x revenue growth.
• Fineksi - Cohort 12 (Indonesia): Automating credit analysis for banks. Working with Hana, Permata, BNI Finance.
None of these would have made it past a first meeting at most Silicon Valley funds when they started. All of them are now building real businesses with real revenue in markets with real scale. And they're getting noticed.
This is what we do. We find the founders solving problems that most investors won't understand until it's too late to get in early.
If you're an investor looking for early exposure to these opportunities, we should talk: https://www.acceleratingasia.com/investors
Cohort 13 applications are now open. If you're a founder solving one of these unglamorous problems:
Apply: https://www.acceleratingasia.com/getfunded
If you know a founder who'd be a fit, send them this link: acceleratingasia.com/getfunded. Or reply to this email with their name and we'll reach out directly.
Applications close February 15. See more details below ⬇️
Applications Open for Cohort 13
Applications are now open for Cohort 13. Selected startups will receive US$100,000 in investment, participate in a 100-day accelerator, and gain long-term access to the Accelerating Asia Ventures network.
More information and the application portal are available at acceleratingasia.com/getfunded.
Opportunities for Investors
Accelerating Asia Ventures welcomes new limited partners seeking access to a rigorously selected, high-growth portfolio across Southeast and South Asia. Further information for investors is available at acceleratingasia.com/investors or by contacting team@acceleratingasia.com .
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
