The pandemic marked the end of an era where VCs focus solely on a startup's growth trajectory as a measure of its investment appeal, says Pahrada Sapprasert, who is the co-founder and a partner of 500 TukTuks, the Thai iteration of early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator 500 Startups. 

“Before this, investors tended to neglect other important metrics when assessing a startup deal, such as profitability,” she says. “In order to achieve this hyper growth, startups, in turn, burned so much money from their fundraising to increase users or to expand locations, while running negative on unit economics.” 

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Today, Sapprasert looks for startups that are more resilient, sustainable and have a clear path to profitability. “The coronavirus outbreak has convinced investors like myself to choose a founder who is handling the crisis well. That is, someone who is decisive enough to reduce costs where necessary and willing to do whatever it takes to keep their company alive.”

Lee also points to a startup’s agility—“[a founder]’s ability to pivot their business to meet the needs of the current climate”—as another highly sought-after trait that investors look out for.

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The acceleration of digital trends induced by the pandemic also means the future looks brighter for investors such as Roderick Purwana, who is the managing partner of Indonesia-based SMDV and also a partner at Singapore-based EV Growth—both venture capital firms. 

“The crisis has been bad for everyone, including VCs like myself, in the short-term due to economic contraction. But I believe the mid- to long-run impact on the investment landscape will be positive,” he says. “This is largely because digital adoption has been accelerated worldwide. What would have taken five years to happen will now probably only take one to two years.”

While investors are now more cautious with their funds due to the current uncertainty, Purwana says investors, him included, are “cautiously excited” about the opportunities available now and in the future.

See more honourees from the Finance & Venture Capital category of the Gen.T List.