e27 celebrates 56 unsung heroes who helped the SEA startup ecosystem shine in 2020 

COVID-19 pandemic brought in the worst global health crisis and has impacted businesses worldwide. But in these difficult times, resilient startups have managed to innovate, survive and thrive because of the outstanding support by many individuals. To honour such individuals, e27, Asia’s largest tech media platform, announced an e27 Luminaries list featuring 56 individuals of the Southeast Asia startup ecosystem, who blazed through the challenges brought by COVID-19, and became key players for their respective companies’ success and growth.

The e27 initiative highlights the unsung heroes of the startup ecosystem: undeterred and high-achieving individuals who do the day-to-day grind and make the company’s vision come true. The e27 Luminaries features non-founders, who have led groundbreaking projects, implemented life-saving ideas, or made improbable achievements despite the unfavourable situation, and who are directly nominated by their respective organizations. These companies were selected by the e27 team based on their remarkable achievements in any one of the five categories: Pivots, Fundings and Acquisitions, Partnerships, Expansions, and Breakthroughs.

“e27 Luminaries is a recognition of the people working at startups striving to make the impossible happen and working against all odds to realise the missions behind startups,” said Mohan Belani, Co-Founder and CEO of e27.

“A thriving tech ecosystem requires not just visionary founders and investors willing to say yes to crazy ideas, but a strong pool of people dedicated to braving the ups and downs of working in a startup helping to realize these visions and ideas,” he added. “Our goal is to shine a spotlight on these individuals and some of the achievements they’ve made that many might not be aware of.”

Among those featured include Xiaole Kuang, Head of Engineering in Deliveries of superapp giant Grab; Severan Rault, CTO of Indonesia’s first unicorn gojek; Nadine Yap, Chief Products Officer of parenting community theAsianparent; Jig Young, Chief Product Officer of Philippine-based Expedock, which holds the distinction of raising one of the biggest seed rounds in the country; Jen Lim, Business Development Manager of biotech startup producing cell-based milk TurtleTree; Lynette Seow, COO of SafeSpace , a Singapore-based digital mental healthcare provider and ecosystem; and Herman Widjaja, SVP and CTO of Indonesian e-commerce company Tokopedia.

Thanks to the efforts of these individuals, their companies have created more than 13,000 jobs and served at least 200 million customers in the market. They also have a combined valuation of more than US$50 billion.

For the full list, visit the e27 Luminaries page.

e27 is Southeast Asia startup ecosystem’s go-to platform for insights, connections, talent and funding opportunities.