Building Startups from the Ground Up: Inside AHG Lab's Ecosystem Approach to Venture Building

AHG Lab is the largest independent venture studio in the Philippines. It partners with early-stage startups—whether founder-led or idea-stage—and helps them grow by either providing capital, operational support, and access to a shared ecosystem of services. AHG Lab’s approach combines hands-on venture building with strategic support, often acting as a startup’s fractional CFO and long-term partner in scaling and fundraising. Their goal is to empower founders and fill gaps in the local startup ecosystem. With that, let’s dive deeper into AHG Lab’s mission and innovation with its Co-Founder and CEO, Rene Cuartero. 

What inspired the founding of AHG Lab, and how has the vision evolved since its inception?

AHG Lab was born out of a shared passion among the co-founders—myself, Mark Kooijman, and Marcel Visser—for building companies from the ground up. We had each exited previous ventures and felt a strong urge to keep solving problems and creating value, especially as digital adoption surged in the Philippines during the pandemic. Initially, we focused on the real estate sector, launching a proptech startup aimed at serving the low-cost rental market. Our first investment came from Foxmont Capital Partners in 2021, but as the economy remained stagnant due to extended lockdowns, we reassessed our approach. Rather than investing all our resources into a single startup, we proposed building multiple property technology solutions—a decision that marked our shift into becoming a venture builder.

From there, AHG Lab evolved into a sector-agnostic venture studio. Our experience and network in real estate helped us identify clear pain points we could address with tech solutions, and our background in venture building allowed us to move fast and stay lean. We maintained close collaboration with investors who supported our pivot, giving us the flexibility to test and build beyond our initial scope. What began as a focused proptech initiative grew into a broader platform for launching startups across various industries, driven by our commitment to building meaningful businesses and empowering founders.

What makes AHG Lab’s approach to venture building different from traditional VCs or accelerators?

What sets us apart from traditional VCs or accelerators is our ecosystem-driven and hands-on approach to venture building. Unlike many investors who bet on individual startups, we see every venture as part of a larger network—our startups collaborate, share resources, and benefit from one another. We’re also not married to a single idea; we’re disciplined enough to pivot when a market opportunity isn't viable, ensuring we don’t burn capital unnecessarily. This strategic flexibility, paired with a commitment to building value-creating technology platforms, allows us to operate differently from typical VCs that only provide funding or accelerators that work within time-bound structures. We come in at the earliest stages, not just with capital, but with deep operational support, leveraging our network and in-house capabilities to help ventures scale.

What also differentiates us is that we built AHG Lab itself to be a cash-generating business, not just a fund that depends on raising more capital to survive. Beyond backing startups, we invest in funds to diversify risk and returns, and we’ve built a portfolio of infrastructure ventures—like a co-working space, talent recruitment agency, finance back office, marketing agency, and tech dev shop—that support our startups and generate revenue. These businesses provide essential services to our portfolio companies while also contributing to AHG Lab’s sustainability. This model means we aren’t pressured by timelines to exit or fundraise constantly, giving us the flexibility to focus on building businesses that last.

Can you walk us through AHG Lab’s venture-building process—from ideation to scaling?

Our venture-building process has evolved significantly over time. From 2021 to 2022, we followed an idea-led model where we created business concepts, then found founders to execute them with full support from us—capital, resources, and operational guidance. However, we found that this approach sometimes lacked long-term founder commitment. Since 2023, we’ve shifted to a founder-led model. Now, we work with early-stage founders—often at the ideation phase—and support them through a five-step process: market discovery, validation, alignment, building, and go-to-market. We focus first on understanding and validating the problem together, ensuring market and founder fit, and then aligning long-term goals between the founder and AHG Lab. Once aligned, we begin building the startup by providing essential services such as back office, tech, product, branding, and  talent support.

As the business progresses to the go-to-market phase, our involvement shifts from daily operational support to more of a strategic role. We become a finance and growth partner, often acting as a fractional CFO to guide founders through scaling and fundraising. This gradual transition ensures founders retain autonomy while benefiting from our ongoing expertise. What truly differentiates our model is how deeply integrated and hands-on we are from the very beginning, with the goal of creating sustainable ventures backed by a robust ecosystem. Founders consistently tell us that beyond launching their businesses, our ongoing financial and strategic support is what empowers them to grow and succeed.

Can you share some success stories behind AHG Lab’s most successful portfolio companies? What do you think were the key factors behind its growth and success?

One of the most fulfilling parts of our work at AHG Lab is seeing how our tailored support helps startups succeed. A great example is Shoppable, a B2B procurement platform founded by Carlo Silva, a seasoned entrepreneur with multiple exits. Carlo already had deep knowledge and a clear vision, so our role was to provide capital and strategic support—particularly in product recalibration and fundraising. In contrast, DOON was led by a first-time founder with a disruptive idea in the transportation space but little experience in building a tech venture. There, we stepped in more comprehensively—helping validate the business model, structure the team, and guide early product development. These two cases show how we adapt our level of involvement depending on what the founder truly needs. 

What stands out is our intentional and honest approach. We don’t claim to know everything—instead, we assess each founder’s strengths and gaps, then match them with the right support, whether it's internal resources or experts from our network. Our goal is to be a reliable, adaptable partner who adds real value by being transparent about what we can offer and by mobilizing the right people to fill in the rest.

Are there any upcoming initiatives, programs, or ventures you're particularly excited about?

At AHG Lab, we're focused on closing critical gaps for early-stage startups by continuing our ecosystem approach—providing services like finance, recruitment, tech development, and co-working spaces—while now expanding into capital support. We’ve already launched Yellowfin Capital Partners, a fund based in Abu Dhabi that supports startups expanding between Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Soon, we’ll introduce two more funds: an early-stage equity fund for founders with prototypes, and a venture debt fund to address the lack of credit options for startups that can’t yet secure traditional loans. These initiatives reflect our belief that truly empowering founders means not only building with them, but also funding them at the earliest stages.

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Renee Cuartero is the Co-Founder and CEO of AHG Lab, the largest independent venture builder in the Philippines. Under his leadership, AHG Lab has grown into a key player in the local startup ecosystem by supporting early-stage founders with capital, strategic guidance, and essential operational services. His mission is to empower Filipino founders, foster innovation, and unlock the full potential of startups through honest partnerships and a founder-first approach.

Visit www.techshake.asia if you would like to know and connect more with AHG Lab.