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Published in 2021, Link
My Key Takeaways
More great insights from Golden Gate Ventures’ report explaining drivers behind SEA tech’s past decade of phenomenal growth, and what to look forward to in the region’s upcoming “Golden Age“💰:
From 2010 – 2020, SEA’s total capital invested per annum increased 50x to US$6.5B!
The close of the decade culminated in 15 mega-deals of over US$100M each, accounting for over half of the total capital invested.
Number of active SEA-based VCs with a mandate to invest in the region increased 3.4x, from 115 in 2010 to 393 in 2020.
EU/UK VCs have told me about their interest in Southeast Asia for years, but your US counterparts are moving REALLY fast.
US VC funding in SEA increased ~10x to US$4.3B from 2016-2020 compared to the previous 5-year period! [Slide 10]
List of top PE and later-stage venture funds leading deals greater than $50M
Europe, like SEA, also face challenges with late-stage funding rounds.
EU/UK scale ups should take note of these late stage funds and VCs when you are expanding into Singapore and SEA [Slide 12].
Which sectors are getting the funding?
Top 3 most well-funded verticals over the past 10 years are e-commerce, Fintech, and Entertainment.
Fastest growing verticals? Food, Fintech, and Logistics.
Scale-up success strategies include Indonesia or regional – Indonesia has been the market requirement for ~75% of SEA unicorns. Less than half of SEA unicorns target just 1 market.
Don’t forget CVCs
In 2020, CVCs were involved in ~8.7% of all VC deals & are increasingly leading funding rounds, especially in Seed & Series A.
Beyond financing, CVCs offer distribution access, strategic advice, and a potential exit.
Just make sure that you quickly categorise the type of corporate VC you are dealing with while also getting the corporate BUs’ buy-in, beyond the CVC team alone.
What’s coming ahead for Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem? 🌏
The report is bullish about VC AUM in SEA doubling to US$300B by 2030, with growth sectors like Social Commerce, Medtech, B2B SAAS, and Media & Entertainment.
Less well-known but SEA is emerging as a global Islamic Tech Hub
SEA has ~240M Muslims, with Indonesia having the largest Muslim population globally (225M).
Indonesia’s and Malaysia’s market size will grow 8x current size by 2030, including muslim lifestyle/halal economy sectors like fashion, food, & finance.
Tech companies should consider this rather sizeable segment in their SEA growth plans.
SEA’s unbanked population is ready for a Fintech revolution
I’ve mentioned this before but there is a large unbanked population in large SEA countries like Indonesia (48%), Philippines (67%), Vietnam (69%), with immense opportunities for Fintech unicorns like e-wallets and neo-banks.
Shortly after this report Singapore announced its latest payments unicorn Nium in July 2021! 🦄🎉
Tech ecosystem cheatsheets
Slides 31-39 of the report: you’ll find Singapore, Vietnam, & Indonesia country cheatsheets on their economies, emerging industries, key government agencies and supporting incentives/programmes for startups and investors.
Stoked for Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to be mentioned as one of the key players supporting Singapore’s tech ecosystem too!
Link to my LinkedIn post here.
About Zhilin SIM
Having worked and lived in Singapore, the Nordics, China, Spain, UK, I’m now based in Paris.
I’m fluent in English, French and Mandarin, and I’m learning Arabic because it’s a beautiful and fascinating language.
My team creates and supports one-many initiatives connecting Corporate and Startup ecosystems in Europe to business and innovation opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
I’m passionate about horticulture, watercolour, startups/tech as well as French cuisine, Peranakan kueh techniques and other global cuisines.
Feel free to connect with me if you think my network in Europe and Asia could be of benefit to your business and innovation activities.
