backscoop
Founded 2021 · 6 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
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Backscoop is a free newsletter covering top technology and business news in Southeast Asia.
Also known as BackScoop
Founders & leadership
backscoop was founded in 2021 by Amanda Cua.
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026BackScoop is a media company publishing a free email newsletter about startups, technology and business in Southeast Asia. The newsletter is sent twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday mornings, and covers funding rounds, IPOs, acquisitions and new funds, alongside longer-form features on the region's established companies and founders. Editorial formats include short deal write-ups tagged by country and sector, a "Scoop of Success" series of founding-story features on companies such as ShopBack, Flash Express, Genting Group and Petronas, and an "Ice Breakers" interview series with founders and operators.
Beyond the newsletter, BackScoop runs an online archive of its stories that can be filtered by country (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) and by sector (fintech, e-commerce, healthtech, AI, agritech and others), as well as by event type (fundraise, public listing, M&A, new fund). It also operates "One More Scoop," a podcast of long-form interviews with Southeast Asian startup founders, executives and venture investors, hosted by founder Amanda Cua; an invite-only "Inner Circle" that sends members one curated introduction each Monday; and in-person events, including a recurring "BackScoop x SGN 35 & Under Socials" series run with Singapore Global Network. Individual news posts cite the underlying sources for each item.
Founding story
Amanda Cua launched BackScoop at age 19 while based in Manila, the Philippines, after entering the technology industry at 18 through an internship and finding startup and finance terminology difficult to follow. Inspired by Morning Brew and Axios, she created a newsletter to make Southeast Asian tech and business news easier to digest, starting the publication in August and initially recruiting subscribers by individually messaging roughly 2,000 Facebook friends and then her LinkedIn connections, which produced the first few thousand subscribers. She began publicly identifying herself as the founder and posting about the newsletter on social media that December, after which growth came through word of mouth and social posts.
Business model
BackScoop publishes a free newsletter and website content and monetizes the audience it aggregates. As described in 2024, the newsletter is free to read and funded by advertisements placed within it. The company has also built adjacent audience products: a podcast, a referral program offering access to a startup database, an invite-only "Inner Circle" introductions membership, and hosted events.
Advertising within the free newsletter was identified as the funding source for the publication as of April 2024. Additional audience-facing offerings include events and an invite-only membership program.
Traction
The website states more than 15,000 newsletter readers, 2,463 companies covered, 2,031 stories in the archive and five years of covering the region; the archive breaks down into 1,149 fundraise stories, 130 M&A stories, 40 public-listing stories and 2 new-fund stories. Earlier, in April 2024, the newsletter reported more than 10,000 active subscribers, and founder Amanda Cua had more than 30,000 LinkedIn followers. Events include a 150-spot Singapore socials edition filled first from the newsletter list.
Latest developments
The site is publishing deal coverage dated into August 2026, including items on Buddy Bites, Kita, Neocrete, Timah Partners, VentureTECH, K2 Therapeutics and Graas. It is also promoting an invite-only Inner Circle weekly introduction program and the fifth edition of the BackScoop x SGN 35 & Under Socials event with Singapore Global Network, scheduled for 22 September in Singapore with 150 spots.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
An April 2024 profile described BackScoop as one of the top newsletter resources on tech and business in Southeast Asia two years after its launch.
The publication condenses Southeast Asian startup news into a short twice-weekly read that adds context beyond headlines, including who led each round and what the company does, and pairs deal coverage with long-form founder and company narratives. Its archive is structured for filtering by country, sector and deal type, and news posts list the sources behind each item. The newsletter's stated origin is to serve readers unfamiliar with startup and investment jargon.
Go-to-market
Initial subscriber growth came from direct outreach to the founder's personal Facebook and LinkedIn networks, followed by consistent social media posting and word-of-mouth sharing among readers. The company maintains accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram, uses a reader referral program, distributes a podcast on Apple Podcasts, and gives newsletter subscribers first access to its events.
Readers are founders, executives, builders and investors in the Southeast Asian technology ecosystem, spanning early-stage and later-stage founders. Singapore is the largest reader market, with Indonesia and the Philippines alternating as the second-largest. The Inner Circle program describes members across Southeast Asia and global hubs including San Francisco, New York, MENA and India.
Geography
BackScoop is based in the Philippines, where founder Amanda Cua is based in Manila. Editorial coverage spans Southeast Asia, with story counts by country of Singapore 623, Indonesia 405, the Philippines 202, Malaysia 127, Vietnam 117 and Thailand 72, and no stories yet for Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Timor-Leste. Events have been hosted in Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong and New York.
History
The newsletter was launched by Amanda Cua as a first-time founder in the Philippines. By an April 2024 interview it had passed 10,000 active subscribers, had become Cua's full-time job, and was supported by a small hired team; Cua had also been named to Esquire Philippines' 2024 Trailblazers List. By 2024 the company had added a referral program giving readers access to a database of Southeast Asian startup information and had launched the One More Scoop podcast. As of its current website, BackScoop describes five years of covering the region, more than 15,000 readers, 2,463 companies covered, and an archive of 2,031 stories, and has expanded into in-person events and an invite-only introductions program.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsFifth edition of a Singapore networking event co-hosted with Singapore Global Network, with 150 spots offered to newsletter subscribers first.
BackScoop hosts One More Scoop, a podcast of unscripted long-form interviews with Southeast Asian tech founders, executives and VC investors, hosted by Amanda Cua and updated weekly, with episodes published through mid-2024.
The company instituted a referral program giving readers access to a database of Southeast Asian startup information for referring new subscribers.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- backscoopbackscoop.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does backscoop do?
- BackScoop is a free twice-weekly newsletter covering Southeast Asian startup funding, IPOs, acquisitions and founder stories.
- Who founded backscoop?
- backscoop was founded by Amanda Cua in 2021.
- Who are backscoop's investors?
- backscoop's investors include Buko Ventures.