The big problems across Asia hiding in plain sight
Last week, we asked our community a question: what is a problem you care about that still doesn't work as well as it should?
The point wasn't for us to tell founders what they should build. We invest across sectors and across South and Southeast Asia. We wanted to hear what the people around us notice because of where they live, what they have built, the companies they work with and the problems they have experienced themselves.
And they answered. The conversation included our team and LPs, as well as founders from Cohorts 3, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 13. They wrote about everything from childcare and women's health to cash on delivery, music rights, SME finance and the daily cost of getting to work.
More data isn't useful if nobody knows what to do with it
Care came up again and again. Amra wrote about early childhood education and aged care, two issues that are personal to her as a mother of two young children with loved ones getting older. At both ends of life, families are making incredibly important decisions without a clear view of quality, safety or whether the system was designed around the person receiving the care.
There is also far more information available than there is useful guidance. Zelia looked at women's health, where apps can track cycles, sleep, temperature and mood but still leave women piecing together advice about hormones, perimenopause and menopause. Craig made the same point about personal health more broadly. We have blood tests, wearables, family history and more research than ever, but most people are still left trying to work out what any of it means for how they should eat, sleep, train or manage their health.
And even a clear recommendation isn't very useful if the person who needs it can't reach the care. Sherwin's post about healthcare across the Philippines described referrals and patient information still moving manually across thousands of islands while specialist care remains concentrated around major hospitals. Across all of these examples, families and patients are expected to interpret the information, join up a fragmented system and work out the next step themselves.
Trust is still doing the work the system should be doing
Trust came up in markets that otherwise have very little in common. Govaly co-founder Jeion sees it every day in Bangladesh's ecommerce market, where cash on delivery remains dominant because customers have been burnt by orders that never arrived or products that looked nothing like the listing. Sellers then have cash tied up in parcels, refused deliveries eat into margins, and every bad order makes the next customer less willing to pay upfront.
Osman saw a similar problem in hiring. Candidates repeat the same information across different systems and often hear nothing, while employers face hundreds of applications without a reliable way to identify the strongest people. So both sides fall back on more work and personal referrals. In music, Cohort 3 founder Ario described royalty reporting and licensing still moving through proprietary data, mismatched records and manual negotiations, despite more than 20 years of new platforms and technology.
Cash, referrals and personal relationships are filling gaps that better infrastructure should have closed. The hard part isn't necessarily building another payment product, hiring platform or database. It is creating enough trust for people to change how they already behave.
Growing businesses are still held together by people doing manual work
Growing companies are often operating well ahead of the systems supporting them. After working with thousands of SMEs in Indonesia, Cohort 10 founder Tracy has watched finance remain spread across bank accounts, spreadsheets, accounting software and operating platforms. Her post asked what it would take to bring reconciliation, bookkeeping, reporting, cash flow and tax together, so an owner can understand what is happening while there is still time to make a decision.
In agriculture, EasyRice founder Phuvin focused on the mills, traders and processors making quality decisions worth millions using paper records and visual inspection. But the answer isn't simply more software. It has to work offline, in local languages and simply enough that the people running mills today will actually choose to use it.
Sometimes there is already too much software. Cohort 13 founder Phil described independent retailers juggling point of sale, accounts, inventory, payroll, WhatsApp, Instagram and loyalty tools that don't work together. As he put it, the owner becomes the API. Auptimate co-founder Davin widened that into a bigger question: which operational bottlenecks have entire industries accepted as simply the way things work?
The same opportunity is appearing around newer infrastructure. One of our Fund II LPs, Toyo, looked beyond Asia's data-centre buildings to the cooling, power management, security, monitoring, maintenance and people needed to operate them. This middle of the market doesn't always get the attention of the product sitting in front of the customer. But it is where companies lose time, money and the ability to grow.
Jens, another Fund II LP and regular Selection Week mentor, looked further upstream and called it Reality Tech: the unglamorous systems behind agriculture, food storage, irrigation, clean water, energy, waste and rural supply chains. These are markets where reducing waste, lowering costs and improving access are not separate from building a strong business. They are the business.
A big market isn't the same as an accessible one
Cohort 11 founder Pisey wrote about one of Southeast Asia's most familiar contradictions. We talk about the region as one enormous growth market. Then a company proves its model in one country and has to relearn labour, regulation, logistics, customer behaviour and operating costs in the next.
Access can break down within a single city too. Ground founder Iqbal wrote about workers spending a significant share of household income getting to work, while mobility companies are often rewarded for increasing ride volume rather than reducing the cost of moving more people. A market can be enormous and a service can already exist, but neither matters if the economics, infrastructure or behaviour don't work for the people the product is meant to serve.
These are only some of the problems worth solving
These were the problems our community happened to talk about last week. There are so many more across South and Southeast Asia, including problems inside industries and communities we don't know well enough yet.
That is part of what makes early-stage investing interesting. The strongest founders often see a gap long before everyone else does because they have lived with the problem, worked inside the industry or tried to solve it for themselves.
Cohort 14 applications are open, and we're looking to fund seed to pre-Series A founders who are passionate about solving a big problem across South or Southeast Asia. It doesn't need to be one of the problems on this page. In fact, we hope many of the strongest applications won't be.
If you think we should know what you're building, apply before 23 August.
If you're building a seed to pre-Series A startup in South or Southeast Asia, applications for Cohort 14 close on by 23 August to be included in priority review. Applications will remain open after that date, but later applications will be reviewed only where the selection timetable and team capacity allow.
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FOR COHORT 14
Apply by August 23, 2026
US$100,000. 100 days. Up to 10 startups. We back seed to pre-Series A founders solving real problems across South and Southeast Asia.
For investors, the range is the point. Strong early-stage opportunities don't always arrive under a theme someone has already named. They often begin with a founder who understands a market-level problem before it becomes obvious to everyone else. Accelerating Asia Ventures Fund II is in final close.
Investor information at acceleratingasia.com/investors.
Start with the fund deck. Choose your path at acceleratingasia.com/investors and we'll send access.
Ask a question first. Email team@acceleratingasia.com and we'll get back to you.
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
