Recap 2020: The silver lining that SEA startups found behind the dark cloud of Covid-19

2020 wasn’t what anyone had been expecting when we first entered the year. The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely made its mark and its shockwaves will still be felt years ahead.

As the year ends, we can see that some startups have fared worse than others. But despite the adversity, there was still significant progress made in Southeast Asia’s tech landscape – a sign that we can look forward to something brighter in the new year.

Image credit: Siddharth Bishnu

We’ve put together some of the top developments in 2020 in the Southeast Asia tech and startup scene.

The Grab x Gojek talks continue

Merger talks between the region’s two homegrown ride-hailing titans have been in the news since early this year. A February report from The Information said that the two had been holding discussions for a possible deal, but that they were still far from reaching a conclusion.

The talks were said to have died down, only to resume again in September due to pressure from shareholders. A month later, it was reported that SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, a major investor in Grab, had been stepping up the pressure for the Singapore-based giant to work out a deal.

Photo credit: The Low Down

In December, Bloomberg reported that Grab and Gojek have made “substantial progress” in working out the terms of the possible merger, which is aimed at forming a publicly listed new entity.

See Also: Will Gojek’s ambitions in Vietnam survive a merger?

Days after the news came out, Grab CEO Anthony Tan reportedly told employees in an internal note that the company’s in a position to make acquisitions. The chief exec did not mention any further details, however.

It will probably be a while before a deal is completed, as a Grab and Gojek merger would be an investigation nightmare for competition commissioners in Indonesia, where the two players are battling for supremacy. If such a deal materializes, the resulting entity would be left without proper competition.

Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Business Competition Supervisory Commission said it would evaluate corporate actions based on their effects on the market post-merger. “If the Grab-Gojek merger were to happen, the commission would need a notification no later than 30 days after the merger,” said the government unit’s commissioner Guntur Saragih.

Following the reports of the ongoing merger talks, driver unions for both Grab and Gojek in Indonesia announced that they will stage protests across the country if the transaction pulls through, out of fear that the deal may result in many cut jobs.

Edtech, healthtech, and ecommerce win

Covid-19 propelled digital payments forward

First steps toward digibanks

A wave of cyberattacks on Southeast Asia’s tech firms

Path to post-Covid-19 recovery