Why Hishabee was worth a second cheque

Hello John,

One of the things potential LPs often ask us is how much of Fund 2 we reserve for follow-on investments. The answer is that there is no fixed percentage, and we've done that deliberately.

Our fund model is built around the first cheque. We invest before or during the accelerator, at the valuation agreed before the company goes through the programme. If we do our job well and the company becomes stronger during and after those 100 days, that first investment should benefit from the greatest part of the valuation growth that follows.

That's where we typically expect the highest ROI. By the time we consider investing again, we have more proof, but we're usually investing at a higher valuation and with less of the early upside still available. The same money could also be used for another first cheque into a new company.

So when we decided to invest in Hishabee(Cohort 7)for a second time, we weren't simply supporting a company already in the portfolio. We were deciding that putting more Fund 2 capital into Hishabee made more sense than using that capital for another new investment.

The first time we invested, Hishabee was primarily software for small retailers in Bangladesh, with more than 100,000 businesses already using the platform. Rakin and his team could see how those retailer relationships and business records might eventually help solve a much larger problem: access to working capital.

“This lending business we've been trying to crack for a long time,” founder Rakin Mohammad Savi told us. “It took us three years to go live.”

By Q3 2026, the financing product was live. Hishabee facilitated US$1.7 million in loans during the quarter, up 569% from Q2. Revenue grew 33.9%, and the company was profitable in each of the three months.

We had also watched the team work through the parts that don't normally appear in a fundraising deck: delayed bank integrations, distributor relationships, credit assessment, collections and the field operation needed to make the product work.

Knowing the team gave us more information, but it couldn't be the reason for investing. We went back through the business based on where it stood now, what had been proven, the valuation and the risks that remained.

Our original Hishabee investment still has the greatest return potential because we entered earlier and at a lower valuation. The second cheque made sense because Hishabee had become a materially stronger business and the remaining opportunity was still large enough to justify increasing Fund 2's exposure.

> Read the full piece here: "Why Hishabee Was Worth a Second Cheque"

Fund 2 is in final close.

If you're considering early-stage exposure across Southeast Asia and South Asia, you can start with the fund deck at https://acceleratingasia.com/investors, or reply to this email with your questions.

See the portfolio. Check out acceleratingasia.com/portfolio. Filter by country, sector, or fundraising status. Request an introduction directly to any CEO.

Craig & Amra

General Partners | Accelerating Asia Ventures

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