e27 (Optimatic)

🛜 Collectively, the startups of IdeaSpace Foundation have onboarded more than 588 food-and-beverage and general merchandise branches, 350 dealer branches, and built a combined user base exceeding 12,000 active users. 💻 Several have launched enterprise pilots, secured follow-on funding and established business-to-business collaborations in sectors such as banking and financial services. 🏢 "We believe the overall future of the Philippine startup ecosystem has never been brighter,” says Rene "Butch" Meily, President of IdeaSpace Foundation. #e27News #startups #ThePhilippines https://lnkd.in/gkE9hrS4

After a year of speaking with founders across Southeast Asia, one thing is clear: 💡 The funding winter didn’t just cool the market; it reshaped the mindset of an entire ecosystem. In our latest feature for e27 (Optimatic), I asked founders a simple question: Did 2025 make Southeast Asian startups more disciplined… or just more cautious? Their answers surprised me. From profits-first execution and AI-driven efficiency, to tougher investor scrutiny and a renewed focus on sustainable business models, founders across the region are rewriting the rules of what it means to build a company here. Some called it a necessary reality check. Others described it as a reset toward maturity. Almost all agreed: “growth at all costs” is officially over. This piece dives into the stories, reflections, and hard-won insights behind Southeast Asia’s year of recalibration — told directly by the founders navigating it. If you're curious about how the ecosystem is evolving, and what resilience really looks like in 2025, this is a conversation worth reading. 👉 From caution to discipline: Inside Southeast Asia's year of startup reset (https://loom.ly/vpV8srk) Ami Sugiyama SECAI MARCHE SDN BHD Amit Saberwal RedDoorz Giovanni Casinelli Aspire Adrian Joseph Peh Sern Heaster Andrea Hilary MessengerCo Joe Lu ✈️ HeyMax

The fifth article in our series unpacking insights from the Philippine Startup Ecosystem Report 2025, authored by Gobi Partners and the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, explores what truly drives Filipino founders. From resilience and increasing gender diversity to the grassroots funding pathways that fuel early-stage growth, this piece highlights the traits and realities shaping the country’s entrepreneurial landscape. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ggsqwuSf #PhilippineStartups #Founders #StartupEcosystem #InnovationPH #ASEANStartups #e27

Payments are getting hands-free as Ant International brings iris authentication to Alipay+ GlassPay, turning smart glasses into a new checkout point 👁️👓 With partners like Xiaomi and Meizu, AR commerce is moving from concept to everyday reality. Read more: https://loom.ly/_wJSCI0 #Biometrics #SmartGlasses #Fintech #AI #AugmentedReality #FutureOfPayments Antom

🤖 Imagine outsourcing everyday finance tasks to AI, from payments to cash flow decisions. Ant Group believes this shift could soon become normal for small businesses worldwide. Read more: https://loom.ly/ez-OtAY #SME #AIForBusiness #FinTech #DigitalPayments #FutureOfWork Antom

📈 Taiwan’s markets are not just big. They are becoming accessible to foreign founders looking for serious growth and long-term exits, with support from partners like KPMG. Read on: https://loom.ly/DvS0ZFQ #ScalingUp #TechFounders #AsianMarkets #InnovationEconomy

⚡ With HKSTP behind its rise, Innorna is turning cutting-edge mRNA science into one of the region’s most promising RSV vaccine candidates: https://loom.ly/UPlbEGc #PublicHealth #BiotechNews #mRNA #RSV #HongKongTech HKSTP - Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation HKSTP Startup Ecosystem

🚀 STARTUP OF THE WEEK: Kyrim – Simplifying spend management Meet Kyrim on e27: https://lnkd.in/gwbubPi5 If you’ve ever scrolled endlessly through WhatsApp trying to prove “Pak Budi already approved this,” Kyrim is here to save you. Led by CEO Januar P., the team built a platform where approvals, payments, and receipts finally live in one clean, trackable space instead of getting buried between lunch orders and family memes. No more screenshots, no more chaos. And the way they build the product is just as relatable. Their QA and Product are actually their HR and Finance managers. Every feature starts from their real-life pain: missing receipts, chasing signatures, end-of-month stress. The team builds the fix, HR and Finance stress-test it, and only then does it go live. It’s product development powered by everyday workplace chaos. If Kyrim were an animal, it would be a Capybara: calm, friendly, and everyone’s best teammate. Their platform plays nicely with different systems, stays steady under pressure, and scales effortlessly as businesses grow. They’re also celebrating a big win. Kyrim’s API remittance now processes hundreds of transactions daily, eliminating Excel nightmares for good. And with tax auto-calculation added to Kyrim Payroll, 2–3 days of manual work now take just a few clicks. Goodbye weekend overtime. Get featured on e27 like Kyrim. Create your startup profile at e27.co/startupprofile and share your milestones at e27.co/milestone/post. #Kyrim #Fintech #Payroll #StartupOfTheWeek #Automation #Workflow #SaaS #e27Community

It’s Cyber Monday and the last day of this year’s biggest promotion! While everyone else is fighting over last-minute deals on socks and gadgets, you can grab something that actually matters — 800+ premium content pieces from the e27 vault. We’re talking listicles, deep dives, founder interviews, resource articles, and Echelon session recordings, all for 50% off the Yearly Pro Content Plan. All this for just $6 per month, cheaper than a coffee, and it’s a deal that actually upgrades your brain instead of your caffeine levels. Check out what’s waiting for you: https://lnkd.in/g_3-rbSy. Click any article, subscribe to the yearly plan, and use code BFPRO50 to claim your discount. Questions? Email our guy at paulo@e27.co. He doesn’t bite, but he might judge your online shopping habits if you miss this Cyber Monday deal. #CyberMonday #e27ProContent #StartupEcosystem #FounderResources #HalfOffDeal #SmartShopping #LevelUpYourStartupJourney

Antom’s new EPOS360 shows how even the smallest food stall can go online, access credit, and boost sales in minutes — all powered by AI. 🍜⚡ https://loom.ly/oUW8mUM #Digitisation #Antom #AICopilot #SmallBusiness Antom