100 to Watch: 11 Indian companies finding solutions to real-world problems

(From left) Saurav Kumar, Euler Motors; Amit Lakhotia, Park+; Pankaj Mahalle and Shweta Thakare, GramHeet; Rohan Nayak, Nishanth KS and Prateek Dixit, Chirag Taneja, PocketFM; Ankush Talwar, Chirag Taneja and Vivek Bajpai, Gokwik Image: Chirag Taneja, Rohan Nayak, Amit Lakhotia and Saurav Kumar by Madhu Kapparath; Shweta Thakare by Saurabh Adbe for Forbes India

In the post-pandemic world, small companies and startups across the Asia-Pacific region have brought creativity, innovation and a force of being social change makers to the fore. The second Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2022 list includes 11 Indian companies. It highlights companies and startups across the region that are addressing real-world challenges with fresh thinking and innovative products and services, including faster blood tests, more accessible elderly care services, and wellbeing apps to help those struggling with isolation or burnout.

Some other companies on the list focus on climate change, while others are offering fintech solutions to digitise and connect underserved markets.

The list, which includes companies from 15 countries and territories across 11 categories, has taken into consideration companies that are headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, are privately owned, for-profit, have no more than $50 million as latest annual revenue and have no more than $100 million in total funding through August 1.

Singapore leads the list with 19 companies, followed by Hong Kong with 16 and South Korea with 15. India is at rank 5 with 11 companies, tailing China at rank 4 with 13 companies.

INDIAN COMPANIES ON THE LIST

• AGROSTAR (2013), CEO: Shradul Sheth
• ANIMALL (2019), CEO: Neetu Yadav
• BIJAK (2019), CEO: Nukul Upadhye
• BIJNIS (2015), CEO: Siddharth Vij
• EULER MOTORS (2018), CEO: Saurav Kumar
• FRND (2018), CEO: Bhanu Pratap Singh Tanwar
• GOKWIK (2020), CEO: Chirag Taneja
• GRAMHEET (2020), CEO: Pankaj Prakash Mahalle
• PARK+ (2019), CEO: Amit Lakhotia
• POCKET FM (2018), CEO: Rohan Nayak
• TARTANSENSE (2015), CEO: Jaisimha Rao

The 11 categories, sponsored by FedEx, are ecommerce & retail, enterprise technology, finance, logistics & transportation, food & hospitality, construction & engineering, agriculture, education & recruitment, entertainment & media, consumer technology, and biotechnology & health care. The main technology category has been subdivided into enterprise technology and consumer technology.

The highest number of Indian companies on the list are from the agriculture sector (five), followed by ecommerce & retail and logistics & transportation (two each), and one each from consumer technology and entertainment & media.

The list is unranked, and the final 100 companies have been selected from 650 submissions. The metrics used to evaluate the submissions include positive impact on the region or industry, a track record of strong revenue growth or ability to attract funding, promising business models or markets, and a persuasive story.