W25 Demo Day: Meet Southeast Asia's most promising early-stage startups

Hey, welcome! Demo Day is the culmination of our 12-week accelerator program 💡

What can I expect during the live session?

We kick it off with a short opening from the Iterative team. Then, each startup will pitch for 3 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of live Q&A 💬

Just to confirm - this is an online event, right?

Yep! This event is online. After you register, we'll send you the link to join.

Sounds fun! What happens after that?

After we wrap with a closing note, it doesn’t end there—You’ll have the opportunity to connect with founders after the event.

We call it Love & Connect 💌 — our way of helping investors and founders continue the conversation beyond Demo Day!

Registered! See you virtually on 14th May 👋

Why attend W25 Demo Day?

The Most Promising Startups in Southeast Asia

This is our 10th batch, and one of our most exciting yet. We received over 1,000 applications and conducted more than 500 hours of interviews.

From there, we handpicked 21 exceptional startups that are building something great across FinTech, AI, HealthTech, Consumer, and more.

3cat

One-stop platform to buy, sell and repair used devices

Website

Sembuh AI

AI-powered fraud detection for insurance

Website

Fling.ai

A warehouse digital twin data platform for stock-checking

Website

Autoradar

Pokemon Go for car spotting

Website

Check

Hyper-personalised AI tutors for every student

Website

Screened

Screens, interviews and engages candidates, better than a recruiter

Website

Elgo AI

Making AI accessible through no-code custom AI application builder platform

Website

Bungkuus

Blindbox promo platform for F&B

Website

Onward Health

Accelerating clinical research in Southeast Asia

Website

Chhaya

Bangladesh’s first digital micro-insurance platform

Website

LenderLink

Credit information aggregator for the unbanked in APAC

Website

Peek

An AI-powered productivity app for personal finance

Website

Pulse Tech

Bangladesh's fastest growing B2B e-commerce platform for retail pharmacies

Website

Seedflex

A pay-as-you-sell advance for cashless merchants

Website

Chartera

Intelligent AI solutions for maritime trade and freight operations

Website

Beetlelabs.ai

Full stack AI solutions for BFSI sector

Website

Seeds

Duolingo for finance

Website

KreditHero

Asia's first AI credit marketplace for businesses

Website

Kubegrade

Kubernetes cluster upgrades made simple

Website

WalledAI

Guardrails for AI-Preventing hallucinations, sensitive data leak, and unsafe responses

Website

SPUN

Modernising global permit & visa creation

Website

Learn why we’re excited about these companies

160+

Companies built across Southeast Asia since 2020

US$180M+

Follow-on funding raised

US$1.1B+

Combined portfolio valuation

Since 2020, we’ve backed 160+ companies across Southeast Asia, spanning fintech, healthtech, edtech, crypto, marketplaces, and more. These startups have gone on to raise over US$180M in follow-on funding, and collectively hold a combined valuation of over US$1.1B.

We often invest as the first institutional backer, supporting founders at the earliest stages with capital, mentorship, and hands-on help. Our portfolio includes:

$14M raised

Propseller, a tech-powered real estate agency redefining property transactions in Singapore, backed by Hustle Fund, Vertex and Vulpes Ventures.

$7M raised

Fluid, a B2B Buy Now Pay Later solution, backed by Insignia Ventures Partners and New Stack Ventures.

$5M raised

PriyoShop, a B2B ecosystem empowering small businesses in Bangladesh through streamlined supply chains and embedded finance, backed by Century Oak Ventures, Evolution Ventures and Orbit Startups.

$8M raised

GoZayaan, a travel platform simplifying global exploration with tech-enabled solutions, backed by Wavemaker Partners, 1982 Ventures and Nordstar Partners.

These are just a few of the many startups we’ve worked with across the region — from pre-seed to Series A and beyond.

See our full portfolio

Invest alongside great investors

Join notable VCs like Vertex Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Hustle Fund, Golden Gate Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Jungle Ventures, and Saison Capital—many of whom went on to invest in companies they discovered at our events.

450+

Investors attended S24 Demo Day

650+

Connections facilitated

Handpicked startups across SEA

Easy access

All 21 startups are actively fundraising and ready to connect. After Demo Day, we facilitate direct introductions through our Love & Connect program, making it simple to follow up with the founders that interest you most. No complicated processes—just straightforward access to the region's most promising investment opportunities.

FOUNDERS SUPPORTING FOUNDERS

Iterative is a YC-style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. Founded by the co-founders of Decide.com (acquired by eBay), we differentiate ourselves with partners, mentors, advisors, and investors who have previously started, scaled, and exited startups.

Our mission is to build the strongest, most supportive network in the region for early-stage founders. We run two 12-week accelerator programs every year (Winter and Summer batches). Before the program begins, we invest in every selected company up to US$500K for 10-15% equity.

THE ACCELERATOR

During the program, founders get hands-on support through these activities.

Orientation

We give founders a crash course into how Iterative works—What to expect, key milestones, and the tools we use. It’s also the first time everyone meets in person, starts building relationships, and gets plugged into the community.

Office Hours

During weekly 1:1 coaching sessions, our founders work closely with experienced partners to review progress, troubleshoot challenges, and set clear goals to drive growth.

Group Office Hours

Every other week, founders meet in small groups to share updates, learn from each other’s experiences, and gain motivation from peers tackling similar problems.

Expert  Sessions

We host candid, off-the-record talks with successful founders and operators who share the real stories behind building and scaling their startups.

Fundraising  Bootcamp

In the final weeks of the program, founders go through a focused bootcamp to refine their pitch, understand investor psychology, and run a tight fundraising process ahead of Demo Day.

Demo Day

It all culminates in Demo Day, where founders present to hundreds of investors across Southeast Asia and globally.

Learn more about our accelerator

Meet Our Visiting Partners of W25

Tessa Wijaya, Co-Founder of Xendit (left) at S23 Orientation and Brian Ma, General Partner of Iterative (right)

Throughout the program, our founders had the opportunity to work with an incredible group of Visiting Partners—experienced founders and operators who’ve built, scaled, and exited companies across different industries.

These experts joined our Weekly Office Hours, a dedicated space where founders figure out which growth experiments to run and debug what's working or not working.

Our Visiting Partners also led closed-door sessions and offered tailored advice based on their real-world experience. Many founders said these sessions were some of the most valuable moments of the program, helping them navigate tough decisions and uncover blind spots they didn’t know they had.

Oswald Yeo, Co-Founder of Glints (left) at W24 Orientation and Brian Ma, General Partner of Iterative (right)

Aaron Yip

Co-founder and CEO of Issa Compass, solving global immigration through tech. Former Head of Software at Social Construct and Head of Storytelling at Viva Translate.

Cathy Guo

Head of Investments at Iterative. Previously founded Dunya Labs and was Head of Portfolio at Antler.

Dayana Yermolayeva

Founder of JiPay, a fintech for migrant workers. Raised funding from top VCs and is now at Revolut.

Derry Sakti

Co-founder of Ula, a B2B marketplace backed by Sequoia and Lightspeed. Ex-P&G and Sales Director.

Franklyn Chien

Co-founder of PrizePool (acquired by Apple) and ex-Facebook PM.

Gabriel Lim

Co-founder of Blue Whale Energy and Saleswhale (YC S16, acquired by 6sense).

Mat Ward

Co-founder of Workmate (acquired).

Nathaniel Yim

Co-founder of Janio and Founder of Nila Studios.

Ram Vaidyanathan

Co-founder of BetterCapital, previously at Meta.

Sylvia Yin

Co-founder of Omnilytics, a B2B SaaS retail insights platform.

Brian Ma

Brian was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of Divvy Homes (a16z, GIC). In 2014, he and Elpizo Choi started Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013. In 2005, he was one of the first PMs at Zillow before they launched. Brian has a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.

Hsu Ken Ooi

Hsu Ken was previously the Chief Product Officer of Workmate, an on-demand blue collar staffing platform in Southeast Asia. In 2014, he was VP of Product at Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013. Hsu Ken has a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Washington.