<article>Singapore-based tech startup media firm <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/">Tech In Asia</a> announced that their startup database serving company founders and investors <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://techlist.asia" target="_blank">Techlist</a>, has pivoted to a new model and is part of the <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/" target="_blank">Y Combinator Winter 2015 cohort</a>.</article>

Singapore-based tech startup media firm <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/">Tech In Asia</a> announced that their startup database serving company founders and investors <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://techlist.asia" target="_blank">Techlist</a>, has pivoted to a new model and is part of the <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/" target="_blank">Y Combinator Winter 2015 cohort</a>.
The only participating firm from Southeast Asia, this is a major milestone for Techlist. It&#8217;s part of the portfolio of services offered by Tech In Asia, a Singapore-based media company with offices in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan.
Backed by major VC funds like Rakuten Ventures and East Ventures, Tech in Asia has a headcount of 75 employees across three business units: the media unit consisting of the <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://techinasia.com/" target="_blank">Tech In Asia</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.techinasia.com/gaming/" target="_blank">Games In Asia</a> brands; the <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://startupasia.com/" target="_blank">Startup Asia</a> events program and conference brand and Techlist.
Willis Wee, Tech in Asia&#8217;s CEO and founder, stated “Our mission is to help build the startup ecosystem in Asia. Last year, we realized that having a database would help accelerate things.”
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<h2>Techlist Origins</h2>
Initially a platform to connect investors and startups in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and inspired by Angel List,  Wee realised the model was inappropriate. Founders were unwilling to share their data openly, unless it was restricted to a select audience of VCs and angel investors.
Techlist then became a double-sided marketplace for data and analytics, allowing investors to assess the companies listed in the database and for entrepreneurs to list crucial, highly-sensitive data for investors to access.
It operates on a freemium basis, with restricted information available for free but the full spread of data available to paying customers. This includes access to more than 1000 Asian companies and approximately 100 entries a week, according to Wee.
One of the conditions for use is agreeing to an NDA on registration, which forbids use of the data for any purpose other than due diligence.
The professional tier, designed and priced for investment professionals and angel investors, grants access to a extensive data about Asian startups. This includes details such as funding, employee numbers, web traffic history and vertical, industry-wide data for trends like funding. The enterprise tier offers more advanced requirements, but operates along the lines of a consulting partnership between Techlist and their enterprise client.
SoftBank Capital, DeNA and GMO Venture Partners, Incubate Fund, IMJ Investment Partners, Frontier Ventures, Gobi Partners, Ideosource and Innosight Ventures are amongst its clientele,  consisting of an array of VC firms and other investment companies.
But a further differentiator of Techlist, when contrasted with other databases, is &#8220;&#8230;its focus on Asia but its partner-led approach to collecting data&#8221;, according to <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jon-russell-2" target="_blank">Jon Russell</a> of <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://techcrunch.com/">TechCrunch</a>.
Explaining that “Databases are often focused on serving investors, but Techlist is built more like a marketplace and less like a one-sided business”, Wee added that only 10 percent of the information came from startups. The rest? Data mined using technology, along with input from Techlist’s own staff.
According to Wee, there&#8217;s plans in the pipeline for facilitating startups in their fundraising efforts, due to their unique position as a two-sided marketplace with a wealth of data, catering to both founders and investors.
Disclosing that they had been approached by some media firms, Wee added that Tech in Asia has no plans of selling in the near  future, with the core team aiming to further refine and build Tech in Asia.
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Singapore-based tech startup media firm Tech In Asia announced that their startup is part of the Y Combinator Winter 2015 cohort.


Techlist accepted into Y-Combinator Winter 2015

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Techlist accepted into Y-Combinator Winter 2015

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