AppWorks’ a number of key internal promotions, including 2 Principals Alyssa Chen, Ching Tseng, and Associate Jun Wakabayashi (from left to right).
AppWorks, a leading venture capital firm and accelerator in Greater Southeast Asia, today announced a series of institutional and organizational developments in tandem with a number of key internal promotions.
As part of its organizational upgrades, AppWorks has established new arms that encapsulate the firm’s core mandate components, including dedicated arms for its accelerator and web3 practices. To drive these programs, AppWorks made a number of key promotions, including Alyssa Chen, from Associate to Principal to oversee AppWorks Accelerator arm; Ching Tseng, from Associate to Principal to lead the newly created web3 arm; as well as Jun Wakabayashi, from Analyst to Associate to head AppWorks Beacon Funds operations. These promotions reflect AppWorks commitment to cultivating talent and recognizing and rewarding excellence within the firm.
In addition to these developments, AppWorks will begin its fundraising process in Q2 for AppWorks Fund IV at a target size of US$360 million.
As the foundation of the AppWorks ecosystem, the AppWorks Accelerator is held twice annually, welcoming entrepreneurs focused on the firm’s core mandate of AI, blockchain and Southeast Asia (“A.B.S.”) to attend and gain close mentorship from the program to build founder fundamentals, accelerate business growth, and gain access to funding opportunities. Since its establishment in 2010, AppWorks Accelerator has built a community of 1,402 alumni entrepreneurs, operating 435 active startups spanning across the region with combined revenues of US$13.9 billion, cumulative fundraising of US$4.7 billion, and 20,169 jobs created.
The firm also runs the bi-annual Wistron Accelerator, a joint collaboration between Wistron, one of the world’s largest suppliers of information and communications products, and AppWorks, that recruits outstanding founders across AI, IoT, cloud, information security, education and medical verticals. As more corporates aspire to establish their own vertical accelerator to bring them closer to startups as well as help startups partner with traditional industries, AppWorks decided to further institutionalize its accelerator arm to bridge the gap and amplify the firm’s existing efforts to cultivate the next generation of founders.
For the firm’s web3 investment strategy, as a new paradigm in technology transforming the digital economy, by establishing the web3 arm, AppWorks will focus on providing entrepreneurs with targeted resources to drive web3 mass adoption and support innovation in new business models. The firm will also assist founders in web1 and web2 spaces of its founder community to pivot to web3 models, bridging traditional startups into the blockchain space. Since its entry into blockchain in 2018, AppWorks has accelerated and invested in a total of 75 active new startups and 141 entrepreneurs in the web3 space, including Dapper Labs, Figment, Animoca Brands, Blocto and XREX, among others.
As part of AppWorks commitment to building a comprehensive venture ecosystem connecting Taiwan with Southeast Asia and the global blockchain industry, the firm has launched the AppWorks Beacon Funds strategy, to date backing more than 20 venture capital funds off AppWorks GP’s own balance sheet. Select AppWorks Beacon Funds include Pantera Capital, Animoca Ventures, AC Ventures, Asia Partners, Golden Gate Ventures, and others. In addition to sharing know-how, through cooperation, AppWorks Beacon Funds strategy generates co-investment opportunities, provides global due diligence and landing support, and builds portfolio company synergies throughout the ecosystem. Roughly one-third of all AppWorks investments are now sourced from AppWorks Beacon Funds. The firm plans to invest in 10 more funds every year aligned with AppWorks’ core investment mandate.
“Through the combined effort of the AppWorks portfolio company founders and our team, the AppWorks ecosystem has experienced remarkable growth since its inception. We are proud of the performance and contributions of Alyssa, Ching, and Jun—and we have decided to put on their shoulders greater responsibilities as part of our institutionalization process,” said Jamie Lin, Chairman and Partner, AppWorks. “With these structural improvements and our upcoming Fund IV, AppWorks will be more ready to create an even greater impact on the development of Taiwan and Southeast Asia, supporting more entrepreneurs, and accelerate emerging and innovative new segments of the digital economy.”
The organizational upgrades come with the firm’s recent success in key investments, such as 91APP and FLOW, designed to accelerate the firm’s momentum in key investment areas. With a 2014 vintage, AppWorks Fund II (US$51 million) has achieved an annualized internal rate of return (IRR) of 29.3% and a distribution to paid-in multiple (DPI) of 1.34x. The firm’s AppWorks Fund III (US$150 million), vintage 2018, currently posts an annualized IRR of 92.9% and has also begun to generate substantial distributions.
To further drive the growth of the AppWorks ecosystem, the firm is actively recruiting investment associates passionate about venture capital in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the global web3 industry. AppWorks offers globally competitive pay and packages, with salaries ranging between US$92,000 to US$180,000, and annual childcare assistance of US$12,000 for each child 0-6 years old.
Alyssa Chen – Principal
Alyssa Chen oversees the AppWorks Accelerator, Wistron Accelerator, as well as AppWorks alumni, mentor network, and community programs. Alyssa joined AppWorks as an intern during university, later returning to the firm as an Analyst in 2016 and promoted to Associate in 2019. During this period, Alyssa drove the rapid growth and regionalization of AppWorks Accelerator, incorporating the core mandate of AI, blockchain, and Southeast Asia (“A.B.S.”) and successfully implementing a hybrid in-person/digital model for the accelerator in response to the global pandemic. In 2021, Alyssa successfully launched the Wistron Accelerator vertical accelerator in cooperation with Wistron.
Ching Tseng – Principal
Ching Tseng oversees AppWorks investments in global web3 projects, and started with the firm as an intern in 2015. Joining the firm after graduation as an analyst, Ching was promoted to Associate in 2019. With a passion for blockchain and its associated applications, Ching has built the firm’s web3 practice from the ground up as an early mover in Asia’s web3 ecosystem, bridging Taiwan to global projects and teams. Select investments include Dapper Labs, Animoca Brands, Blocto, and CHOCO TV (acquired by LINE), among others.
Jun Wakabayashi – Associate
Jun Wakabayashi leads the day-to-day operations of AppWorks Beacon Funds, overseeing investment activity in Greater Southeast Asia and coaching the accelerator team. Born and raised in the United States, Jun joined AppWorks as an Analyst in 2017, driving the regionalization process of the AppWorks platform, and engaging with startup communities in Greater Southeast Asia, gradually winning the trust of entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders. Jun’s efforts have enabled AppWorks Accelerator to attract outstanding entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, generate tangible results for the AppWorks Beacon Funds, and investing in regional startups including EMQ and Beam.
【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】
AppWorks Ecosystem breaks a US$10B valuation, with aggregate turnover and funds raised both more than doubling in growth
AppWorks Funds outperforms the world’s top quartile of venture capital and private equity funds, generating 2.5x TVPI, 1x DPI, and 26.5% IRR
AppWorks School graduates 256 students, with a 92% placement rate
On February 2, 2021, AppWorks unveiled its key milestones over the past decade, while highlighting operational results from 2020. Despite the raging impact of the pandemic, the AppWorks Ecosystem displayed the utmost resiliency, with the funds and all encompassing companies producing healthy growth and profits.
AppWorks has just passed its 10 year anniversary in 2020, and with all pillars of its influence only continuing to grow, including AppWorks Accelerator, the AppWorks Ecosystem alumni, AppWorks Funds, and AppWorks School. AppWorks has achieved several key milestones, and made significant headway in establishing Taiwan as the technology epicenter of Greater Southeast Asia (ASEAN+TW). Looking forward into the next 10 years, AppWorks’ goal is to continue positioning Greater Southeast Asia at the forefront of an increasingly digital, automated, and decentralized 21st century.
Milestones in the AppWorks Ecosystem: Aggregate valuation, fundraising, and turnover each exhibited more than 2x growth, with the overall valuation exceeding US$10B
In 2020, AppWorks Accelerator announced its updated focus on “ABS” strategy, narrowing the recruitment of startups to only those focusing on AI, blockchain, and Southeast Asia. Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, AppWorks Accelerator graduated 51 new startups across AW#20 and AW#21, of which 27 are working in AI/IoT and 13 in blockchain/crypto. More than 62% of the entrepreneurs hail from countries across Greater Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia. In response to the widespread lockdowns and travel restrictions, we also shifted our program to a hybrid online-offline model in order to facilitate a seamless experience for all of our founders despite physical limitations.
With the addition of AW#20 and AW#21, there are now a total of 395 active startups and 1,331 founders in the AppWorks Ecosystem (including accelerator alumni and portfolio companies). Collectively, all companies produce a turnover of US$ 8 billion, an annual increase of 162% compared to the same time last year, and foster 17,359 employees, 73% more than the year prior. Altogether, the Ecosystem raised a total of US$ 2.36 billion, an annual increase of 140%, with an aggregate valuation reaching US$ 11 billion, growing 160% YoY.
With COVID-19 effectively turbocharging the demand for digital technologies in 2020, the Ecosystem’s overall valuation, total funds raised, and annual turnover have each more than doubled in growth, notably exceeding the 29%, 36%, and 98% respectively experienced a year prior.
In the course of building this ecosystem and cultivating Taiwan and Southeast Asia’s innovative capabilities, AppWorks has helped generate sizable economic impact both in terms of value created and jobs produced. The combined annual turnover of US$ 8 billion is now equivalent to 0.7% of Indonesia’s GDP, and the more than 17,000 employment opportunities created are equivalent to 0.3% of Singapore’s working population.
Coincidentally, the year AppWorks exceeded a decacorn valuation is the very same year of our 10th anniversary. The increased adoption of digital technologies and outsized demand for innovative business models under COVID-19 was just enough to inch the Ecosystem into the ten billion dollar territory, not only marking a new milestone in AppWorks’ history but also representing the sheer impact that a community of digital innovators can bring. We see the scale and influence of our ecosystem only growing from here on out, into the next decade.
The strength and potential of the AppWorks Ecosystem is perhaps best represented through the many achievements over our alumni this past year:
AppWorks Ecosystem highlights: ShopBack successfully entered the Vietnamese market; Mighty Jaxx successfully sold 5 million collectibles
Medtech startup iWEECARE (AW#9) closed a US$2.4M pre-A financing, led by previous round investor TransLink Capital. The company’s ergonomic, child-friendly smart thermometer “Temp Pal” played a critical role in disease prevention and control in hospital systems across the world during this pandemic including Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Ireland. Online cashback platform ShopBack (AW#13) officially landed in Vietnam, attracting more than 800,000 users since launch and generating nearly US$200K in cashback rewards. The company now maintains a presence in 9 countries across GSEA, covering more than 20 million users.
ShopBack team
CakeResume (AW#14), Taiwan’s leading technology job search platform, announced in 2020 that it completed a seed round of approximately US$900K. It plans to use the funds to expand into Japan and India, ultimately striving to become the largest talent platform in Asia.
Hong-Kong based Omnichat (AW#16) recently completely a seed round of US$800K in 2020. The company offers a chatbot-based marketing automation service that helps e-commerce clients enhance performance and improve checkout conversion rates by 3x – 7x. Building on its success in the Hong Kong and Taiwanese markets, Omnichat is planning on expanding its service to Southeast Asia in 2021.
Taiwan’s leading digital identity verification solution AuthMe (AW#18) helped identify a security flaw in the MyData platform, the National Development Council’s latest effort to promote personal data ownership and privacy protection. After stumbling upon the vulnerability, the AuthMe team worked together with digital minister Audrey Tang to quickly investigate the issue and install a security patch before re-launching the service 24 hours later.
MightyJaxx (AW#20), a technology-driven trading platform for art and toy collectibles, received US$3.2M in financing this past year. They’ve partnered with some of the world’s leading brands such as Warner Bros, Marvel, and Disney to design a variety of pop culture collectibles, shipping 5 million units to collectors in over 60 countries in 2020.
Cryptokitties developer Dapper Labs announced several partnerships with IP owners such as NBA and UFC, while launching a new public chain designed specifically for the entertainment ecosystem called Flow, which recently raised US$18M in a token sale.
Taiwan’s largest cloud POS provider iCHEF, completed a US$5M Series B round of financing, while accumulating more than 8,000 restaurant clients across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. At the same time, it successfully integrated delivery services with platforms such as Uber Eats and foodpanda, while putting in place imminent plans for an IPO.
KKday, Asia’s leading e-commerce platform for travel experiences, successfully closed a US$75M Series C round of financing. With the support of strategic investors, the funds will be used to deepen its presence across all its international markets.
The good news and milestones also extended into the personal lives of our founders, with several newlyweds coming to light. In 2020, Kevin Wong of Origami Labs (AW#15), and Tina Lin of Flipweb (AW#15) became locked in holy matrimony; Just as well, in the same year, Matthew Lee of Codibook (AW#15) and Hanna Wu of Anno (AW#15), also found themselves entering the next stage of their lives together. This is the second and third AppWorks couple after Richard Zhu of WriteTime (AW#15) and Fiona Shi of Good Moon Mood (AW#15) became the first in 2019.
AppWorks Funds II has outstanding performance: TVPI reached 2.5x, DPI reached 1x, and IRR reached 26.5%, outperforming the world’s top quartile of venture capital and private equity funds.
After 10 years of hard work, AppWorks Funds is today one of the largest and most active early-stage venture capital funds in Greater Southeast Asia. It has three venture capital funds totaling US$176M AUM, with investments in 56 startups encompassing 4 IPOs, 1 decacorn (worth more than US$10B), 1 unicorn (worth more than US$1B), and 6 centaurs (worth more than US$100M).
In 2020, AppWorks Funds continues doubling down on three key areas AI, blockchain, and Southeast Asia, with a total of 9 new investments this past year, including WeMo Scooter, Taiwan’s leading shared electric scooter operator; Fabelio, a fast-fashion furniture retailer that provides OMO consumer experience in Indonesia; and Dcard, the most widely used social media platform among Taiwanese youth.
In addition, AppWorks Fund II, which was established in 2014, reached peak performance in 2020, reaching a TVPI multiple (Total Value to Paid-in-Capital) of 2.5x, a DPI multiple (Distribution to Paid-in Capital) of 1x, and an IRR (internal rate of return) of 26.5%, surpassing the top quartile of global venture capital and private equity funds with the same vintage, while creating superior financial returns for our investors.
Exceeding a 1x DPI multiple not only means that we’re now at a point where we can generate substantial returns to our shareholders, but also that AppWorks Fund II has begun to produce carried interest, generating profits that effectively cover all the accumulated losses over the last 10 years.
Most of these bonuses have been distributed to all members of the AppWorks team. Thank you to all of our colleagues for their hard work in the past 10 years. With the addition of the bonuses, the average annual salary of AppWorks (excluding partners) colleagues has reached US$ 87,000 in 2020, operating on par with most internationally recognized VCs. In the next few years, as AppWorks Funds continue to realize profits, we plan to further increase the annual compensation packages to better attract and retain the best talents both domestically and from abroad.
Key figures of AppWorks School: 256 graduates, 92% successfully placed in software engineering roles
Needless to say, quality talents are the lifeblood of any startup, but they continue to be a scarce resource in this part of the world. In order to plug the increasing talent gap and truly help facilitate the region’s digital economy, AppWorks School was started in June 2016, offering intensive 4-month long coding programs spanning iOS, android, front-end, back-end, and data science which are free, practical, and efficient.
Since its establishment in 2016, AppWorks School has successfully graduated 256 students across 12 batches. 92% of the graduates have been successfully placed in prominent tech companies such as iCHEF, 91APP, KKBOX, LINE TV, WeMo Scooter, LineTaxi, PicCollage, Hahow, VoiceTube, Bonio, Omnichat, and Gogoro, with a median starting salary is US$25,060 (approximately NT$700,000).
AppWorks School Batch #12 Orientation Day
Chairman & Partner Jamie Lin: AppWorks will help grow an early-stage VC ecosystem in Southeast Asia over the next 10 years
Looking back on the first 10 years since its establishment, AppWorks chairman and partner Jamie Lin said: “It was no miracle that helped us get to this point, only hard work and consistent effort. After a long and continuous 20-mile march, AppWorks’ flywheel has finally begun spinning at high velocity. Whether it’s the nearly 400 startups fostered, US$ 8 billion of economic value produced, or over 17,000 jobs created, AppWorks has helped spawn an entirely new digital ecosystem in Taiwan and across the region without consuming a single dollar of social capital. We’ve also helped solidify venture capital and the broader startup industry as a prominent asset class for potential investors and employees.”
He took a step deeper and pointed out: “A society that wants to accelerate digital transformation while empowering and providing opportunities for the younger generation to flourish requires more VCs like AppWorks — I think Taiwan and Southeast Asia can have at least 10 more AppWorks. Therefore, looking at the next 10 years, AppWorks will continue to operate accelerators, alumni communities, and venture capital funds based on the original ethos of “by founders, for founders”, that is assisting more startups and promoting win-win collaborations between them and corporates. To promote the development of the digital economy in Greater Southeast Asia, we will dedicate our resources to cultivating the “venture investment ecosystem”, with hopes of producing more high-quality venture capital firms, especially those focusing on early stages to seed the region’s future pipeline of innovators. On the other hand, the scale of AppWorks School will continue to expand, providing more interested tech talents an intensive environment to learn and hone their craft among like-minded peers. In other words, building on top of the current momentum, AppWorks hopes to further accelerate and amplify our contributions in the next 10 years, and we look forward to presenting an even more outsized impact during AppWorks’ 20th anniversary.”
At the end of the year, taking this opportunity to look back, Jamie also extends his gratitude to all the friends, partners, and stakeholders that have assisted AppWorks along the way: “I sincerely thank the 1,331 entrepreneurs who have given AppWorks the opportunity to serve you over the past 10 years. I also thank all AppWorks Mentors who have enthusiastically mentored these founders without asking for anything in return. I would also like to thank our platform partners, including AWS and GCP, investors in AppWorks Funds, and partners in government departments that have given us their continued support over the past 10 years. Of course, I also want to thank our media friends for their long-term interest in AppWorks and all the initiatives that we’ve undertaken in the past decade. In addition, I would like to especially thank all the present and former AppWorks colleagues who have participated in this journey, if it were not for your contribution, the company would not have been able to reach this point. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the angel investor who took a bet on me and generously lent the tens of millions of NT dollars that helped get AppWorks started — my mother, Dr. Lin Jeang-Yun, without you and your blind faith, all of this would not have been possible; Grandpa and grandma are proudly looking down from the heavens. Thank you, everyone, and please continue to lend us your support and guidance over the next 10 years.”
Jamie’s sharing on long-term thinking
【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI / IoT, Blockchain / DeFi, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】
