4 Filipino companies join Forbes Asia's '100 To Watch' list

MANILA, Philippines — Four Filipino firms made it to Forbes’ first ever list of Asia-Pacific’s small companies and startups that are on the rise.

Chatgenie, Paymongo Philippines, CloudEats, and Kalibrr made the cut and was included in the international business magazine’s inaugural “100 To Watch” list. To be included in the roster, companies had to be at least a year old, privately-owned and needed to have no more than $20 million in funding or total revenue.

“Their inclusion in the list comes in part from addressing problems such as improving transportation in congested cities, expanding affordable connectivity in remote regions and preventing food waste. Seventeen countries and territories are represented,” Forbes noted.

Kalibrr, founded in 2013 by Paul Rivera and Dexter Ligot-Gordon, is an AI-powered recruitment company that has helped five million job seekers in Indonesia and the Philippines by simplifying the hiring and application process for job-hunters and companies in its platform.

CloudEats, co-founded in 2019 by Kimberly Yao, prepares and provides food using cloud kitchens, or warehouses were a single kitchen could cook multiple dishes from different restaurant brands. Yao also started Boozy.ph.

Paymongo Philippines is a company that runs an online payment platform for micro, small, and medium businesses that are expanding into e-commerce. The company was founded Francis Plaza, Luis Sia, Jaime Hing III, and Edwin Lacierda.

Chatgenie, founded by Ragde Falcis in 2020, integrated Grab’s delivery into Facebook Messenger, which allowed consumers to buy through simple direct messages.

Forbes Asia waded through 900 submissions, some came from online while some were recommended by experts, universities, and venture capitalists to name a few.