What are the two things in common between Gojek, Tokopedia (now GoTo group), Grab & Halodoc? They all started in Southeast Asia and have great customer retention strategies. Southeast Asia has seen a boom in its digital economy in the past few years. More startups have emerged rapidly across E-commerce, Fintech, Healthtech, and Edtech verticals, taking on the most pressing challenges.

Jungle Ventures says that the total combined value of Southeast Asia’s tech startup ecosystem was over a massive $350 billion in 2020 and will grow 3X by 2025. Governments are also doing their part by promoting initiatives such as Indonesia’s 1000 Startups, Thailand 4.0, and Singapore’s Startup SG Founders, among others, that will continue to help aspiring founders get their startups off the ground. But getting off the ground is one thing, and staying afloat is another.

Reports suggest 90% of startups fail within five years since inception, predominantly running out of capital before reaching Product market fit. Pouring in huge dollars via competitive bids on Facebook and Google to acquire new users but retaining them early on is something startups fail to pay heed to.

While VCs are actively investing in early-stage startups, there used to be a lot of money chasing a lot of founders, but now there’s a lot of money chasing only a few founders. The focus has evidently shifted from a fast-growing business to building a sustainable and enduring one that can outlast funding winters.

So the real question is, should an early-stage startup burn every last dollar to acquire customers for the purpose of showing QoQ growth or should they invest in building a business that offers real value and become sustainable? When early-stage startups set up the right data stacks and foundations for retention-led growth, it paves the path to becoming sustainable in the otherwise crowded market.

Over the last 18 months, WebEngage Startup Program has been helping these young startups learn the foundations for retention-led growth.

After successfully concluding two cohorts, the program has seen more than 1000 applications from startups across the globe, including brands such as FamPay, Mudrex, Dezerv, AdaKerja, ApnaKlub, Innovist, Phool, Airblack, among others, more than 150 startups have benefited, and 30% of the startups have raised follow-on funding.

Seeing these early-age startups thrive with sustainable and retention-led growth is emblematic of us moving in the right direction.

Moving with the same vision, we are excited to announce the Southeast Asia Cohort of the WebEngage Startup Program, with the aim to propel startups from SEA towards the right growth path.

Inviting Top 50 Startups Solving For Southeast Asia (SEA)

A six-month cohort-based setup, WebEngage Startup Program will offer exclusive perks and benefits to the top 50 early-stage B2C startups from SEA this year onwards. We are looking for startups based in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines that have raised Seed to Series A funding.

Videt Jaiswal

Co-Founder, Airblack

The WebEngage team is very consultative and helps us focus on the right things that matter across stages. Today, in our marketing funnels and journeys, we can not imagine our life without WebEngage

The program will support and nurture the next wave of startups and founders by providing the following services and benefits.

• Free access to WebEngage’s Retention operating system for 6 months.
• Get up to $25,000 in platform credits
• Dedicated customer onboarding and success managers
• Guidance to set up the right data and foundations for retention-led growth and much more.

The WebEngage Startup Program will enable startups to deliver an exceptional customer experience and build customer loyalty, increase the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), and lay the foundation for retention-led growth from Day one- all of which will pave the way for building a sustainable business.

If you want to accelerate your startup’s growth and turn it into a sustainable business while building for the long haul, apply for the cohort of 2022-2023 now!

We are excited to be an enabler in accelerating your startup’s growth!

Shruti

Founder and CEO, ApnaKlub

WebEngage Startup Program has helped us deep dive into retention early in our journey. We have been able to build meaningful and personalized communications with our customers at the right stages in the conversion funnel.

Bonus Read – Inviting Applications from Top Startups across Indonesia & Southeast Asia