As many as 22 Indian firms in industries as diverse as healthcare, education and ecommerce are included in Forbes Asia’s inaugural ‘100 to Watch’ list, the business magazine said on Tuesday.

The list highlights small companies and startups “on the increase across” the Asia-Pacific region.” Agriculture startup Aquaconnect, BeatO (biotech and healthcare), Bellatrix Aerospace (logistics and transportation), Betterplace (education and recruitment), and Captain Fresh (ecommerce and retail) are among Indian companies within the list.

The list represents 17 countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region, and also includes startup communities in Singapore and Hong Kong producing 19 and 10 companies, respectively. Indonesia has eight companies on the list.

“Companies on the 100 to observe list are making remarkable progress and impact in spite of the challenging climate brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their inclusion on the list comes partially from addressing significant problems with innovative solutions,” said Justin Doebele, Editor, Forbes Asia.

For the choice of the 100 to observe list, Forbes Asia solicited online submissions, and invited accelerators, incubators, SME advocacy organisations, universities, venture capitalists et al. to nominate companies also . the ultimate 100 was selected from over 900 submissions. To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered within the Asia-Pacific region, be a minimum of one year old, privately owned, for profit, and haven’t any quite $20 million in its latest annual revenue or total funding through Lammas .

Forbes Asia editors evaluated each submission, watching metrics like a positive impact on the region or industry, a diary of strong revenue growth or ability to draw in funding, promising business models or markets, and a persuasive story.