2023 in Review: Journey Across The Orbit Ecosystem

"We're not unicorn hunting... We're building an ecosystem of portfolio companies that work together to create something much greater."?

-- Managing General Partner William Bao Bean on?Invest in Asia

Friends of Orbit,?

As we look back on 2023, we send many thanks to our community and ecosystem for your support of Orbit Startups. Our mission is to catalyze change and impact millions in emerging and frontier markets through innovation and technology, and our startups simply could not succeed without you.

2023 was a difficult year in the capital markets yet we saw our portfolio companies display great resilience and growth. VideoVerse, which uses AI to transform short form content creation, secured $45M following the acquisitions of Reely AI and Optikka. ELSA raised $23M in Series C funding to push the boundaries of speech recognition and AI.

Our latest emerging market startups took the stage at our Demo Days in Dubai and Singapore. In June, our silver-tech pre-accelerator program, Next Age, graduated its second cohort.?In August, we re-branded our ecosystem mixers under the name Orbit Connect, launching the first Orbit Connect in Taipei.

Follow us on LinkedIn for more highlights. Here's to a 2024 filled with exciting challenges and growth!

Until next time,

The Orbit Team

VideoVerse announced a $45M funding round in December to grow its real-time content automation platform, Magnifi.ai. The company is building on a $46.8M Series B funding in 2022, after successful acquisitions of Optikka and Reely.

The innovative language learning disruptor?ELSA?secured $23M in Series C funding. ELSA, powered by a whopping 200 million hours of anonymous English audio data collected over 7 years, is making waves as the first-ever teaching app to mimic natural conversation through generative (voice) AI.?

Other Notable Rounds and Acquisitions:

iMotorbike, buying and selling pre-loved motorcycles - $2.6M

SupplyNote, B2B SaaS platform in the food and beverage industry - $2.25M

Boost Capital, providing loans to SMEs and individuals - $2.5M

Blink, enabling restaurants to launch online channels - $2.1M

FreeD?acquired Connexus Travel

Styched?acquired Flatheads and?Zymrat

Miro,?AI for sports moments acquired by Greenfly

Know a promising team? Refer them our way. Refer a Startup

Orbit 3, Orbit 4 and Orbit 5 in Dubai and Singapore showcased startups addressing e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, web3, mobility, supply chain?challenges in emerging and frontier markets.

Meanwhile, in May, Managing General Partner?Oscar Ramos discussed the role of technology in helping millions achieve economic independence at Leaders in Islamabad 2023. Managing General Partner?William Bao Bean spoke at the 7th Future Investment Initiative (FII7) Forum in October?presenting why going cross-border is critical for startups to de-risk and grow.

In August, we launched Orbit Connect, Orbit’s new ecosystem mixer brand which continues our commitment to bring together founders, investors and corporate partners.

Our work with governments identifies promising startups to address common global challenges. We held the second pre-acceleration?Next Age Demo Day?in June with the Italian government spotlighting?8 silver-tech startups in cognitive care, tele-rehabilitation and medication adherence. In November our Korean AI pre-accelerator program won the 2023?KISED Global Startup Academy?Demo Day.