Research consulting startup Arches raises US$450,000 in seed round

SINGAPORE-BASED Arches, which provides knowledge-sharing services through its database of experts in Asia, has raised US$450,000 in its seed round of fundraising.

Participating investors included Vietnamese accounting firm I Glocal and eight angel investors, Arches said on Thursday.

The angel investors are mainly from the private equity industry. Among them are Bain Capital Private Equity managing director Masashi Suekane, as well as ACA Investment partner Hiroyuki Ono.

The research consulting services firm said it will use the funds to expand its database of experts, strengthen its team and speed up the development of its expert data platform.

It is planning to expand its business operations in Singapore, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh, Shanghai and Tashkent in Uzbekistsan.

The fresh capital will also enable the startup to enhance its business development and sales function, and to optimise operational protocols, systems and procedures to maximise the efficiency of its client-expert matching system.

Arches' clients include consulting firms, investment funds and multinational corporations.

Its database of experts include former policymakers and leaders of large enterprises as well as startups.

"Arches is building a platform that shares people's intangible assets - namely knowledge - across countries," said Hiroki Kato, chief executive officer of Arches.

"We want to break down the barriers associated with the free flow of information over time and to reduce the difficulty for global companies to enter new markets," he added.