ShopBack, Secretlab, GoBear make LinkedIn’s list of top 10 startups in Singapore

• LinkedIn announces 10 startups with impressive engagement, job interest, attraction of top talent and employment growth
• These SMEs have the potential to become one of the main drivers of Singapore’s economy, a senior editor with LinkedIn News said
• The list aims to provide inspiration for other SMEs and professionals as they navigate a “truly challenging world”, he added

SINGAPORE — In its inaugural list for Singapore announced on Tuesday (Sept 22), social networking site LinkedIn has named 10 startups here that attracted top talent and jobseekers’ interest during the Covid-19 pandemic, at a time when businesses have to adapt to survive and thrive. 

They are financial services firm GoBear, cashback programme platform ShopBack, gaming-chair maker Secretlab, recruitment company Glints, big data firm Advance.AI, healthcare service provider Homage, dental startup Zenyum, wealth management firm StashAway, food delivery company Grain and co-living space provider Hmlet.

Mr Chris C Anderson, senior editor (Asia) with LinkedIn News, told TODAY that the site measured and shortlisted startups based on four criteria, namely, engagement, job interest, attraction of top talent and employment growth.

Data culled from LinkedIn itself was compiled from January to July.

Engagement looks at LinkedIn members who are not employees of the startup viewing and following the company's LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing the LinkedIn accounts of employees at that startup. 

Job interest counts the rate at which people are viewing and applying for jobs at the company via LinkedIn, including both paid and unpaid positions. 

Attraction of top talent measures how many employees working at any global LinkedIn “top company” that the startup has recruited, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. These companies are those where people want to work and stay on working, and they have been part of LinkedIn Top Companies lists.

Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over the methodology timeframe, which must be a minimum of 15 per cent.

Mr Anderson said: “The business landscape has drastically changed since the pandemic struck Singapore and the entire world, and this is no different with small and medium businesses.

“What we’ve continued to see is that SMEs that are able to adapt to the current climate are the ones that have the best chance at survival and success throughout the duration of the pandemic and beyond.”

He also said that with the Singapore Government investing heavily to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand domestically and abroad, these companies have the potential to become one of the main drivers of the country’s economy.

LinkedIn Top Startups, which is an annual global list of emerging startups to work for, aims to provide inspiration for other SMEs and professionals as they navigate a “truly challenging world”, he added.

BUILDING A STRONG COMPANY CULTURE 

To find out more about how they have managed to attract and retain top talent, TODAY spoke to a few of the startups on the list such as ShopBack. It runs a cashback reward programme that allows online shoppers to receive rewards such as money back, merchandise and promotion codes when they buy from its partner merchants. 

Co-founder Joel Leong said that ShopBack is also now looking to fill sales and technology-based positions across the various markets in Thailand and Vietnam, for example. 

The firm provides its employees with many opportunities to learn to be seasoned leaders and dynamic team members.

“We offer learning programmes that emphasise the need for continued personal growth and development. Our hope is that they will recognise the importance of constant self-improvement and reinvention, which will give them greater confidence to traverse times of uncertainty,” Mr Leong said.

Apart from that, the firm places a heavy emphasis on cultivating a strong company culture through events such as a monthly town hall, birthday celebrations, internal awards, and more. The company’s core values and goals are also explained to newcomers to the team.

Over at financial services startup GoBear, it adapted to new work arrangements during the pandemic and enabled all employees to work and collaborate remotely. 

Chief executive officer Adrian Chng said that it ran a survey to understand how its workers were coping, to identify areas that needed more attention. The team also made dedicated video calls to check in on individuals or groups.

JOB OPENINGS TO EXPAND BUSINESS

Mr Ian Ang, the co-founder and chief executive officer at Secretlab, which manufactures gaming chairs, said that the firm has more than 30 positions to fill across its product and engineering, global operations and marketing teams.

This is to drive and support its expansion globally, after the startup saw a surge in demand for their chairs with work-from-home arrangements becoming the norm.

During the circuit breaker in April and May when stay-home curbs were imposed, Secretlab hired more than 30 new team members for positions in customer service, product and engineering, operations and marketing.

“We take great care in assessing the role, growth and function of every hire. This ensures that the effort put in by every individual goes on to make a real difference in the business and they can own their successes.

“This is supported by a quarterly appraisal system, in addition to quarterly salary adjustments, which serves several important purposes for us as the company grows rapidly,” Mr Ang said, without elaborating on what purposes those might be.

Secretlab has also embarked on various projects initiated by their employees to give back to the community, which includes donating a total of 400,000 surgical masks to hospitals in Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom. 

“Millennials, who make up the majority of our staff, take well to a system that not only empowers but rewards them quickly when they take full ownership and put in their full efforts," Mr Ang said. 

"Ultimately, we want people for the long-term. It’s important to us that we help them progress in their careers and develop their abilities and skill sets.”