How East Ventures is approaching the future of ASEAN’s startup ecosystem

Toss a pebble into a crowd of successful Southeast Asian startups, and you’d most likely hit one that East Ventures has backed.

Indeed, the sheer impact that the firm has had on the region’s startup scene can’t be understated. Just look at how some of its portfolio companies – such as Carro, GoTo, and ShopBack – are doing these days.

As part of the ongoing support it offers its portfolio companies and to share more about its efforts to develop the region’s startups, several East Ventures representatives – Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner, as well as Roderick Purwana, managing partner – were present at the recent Tech in Asia Conference. Here’s a look at everything that went down.

A healthy sector

First off, Cuaca moderated a session led by Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia’s minister of health, to discuss the future of healthcare in the country.

One of the biggest points Sadikin brought up was that according to internal data, Indonesia’s average life expectancy stands at about 73 years old, with the government spending about US$140 per citizen. The closest comparison would be Malaysia, which, according to Sadikin, has an average life expectancy of 76 years old with spending at US$430 per capita.

As the Indonesian government makes further efforts to improve life expectancy, healthcare expenditure will go up, which presents a crucial opportunity for firms in the sector. Just increasing spending to a level similar to Malaysia’s, for instance, would represent a rough total of US$81 billion trickling down to various pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and of course, healthtech startups.

To help firms capitalize on this opportunity, Cuaca announced East Ventures’  US$30 million healthcare fund later that day.

“This fund serves as our proof of our long-term commitment in this space,” he said in a statement released later.

ASEAN together strong

Next up, Purwana sat down with Tech in Asia’s CEO Willis Wee to talk about how the closer integration of ASEAN could lead to even greater things for the region.

He began by highlighting that ASEAN’s economic growth over the last five years has been great, but much of the credit went to investors from outside the region.

“One of the things we want to look at is how there can be more intra-ASEAN investments,” said Purwana.

Additionally, there are sectors that lend themselves naturally to seamless cross-market collaborations. One example is electric vehicles, with different countries in ASEAN having different but clear strengths within the supply chain.

EV manufacturers could source their computer chips from Malaysia – which has a strong semiconductor sector – and get battery materials from Indonesia, which has a large supply of nickel. All of this could come together in Thailand, known for its substantial manufacturing output.

This also means that VC firms like East Ventures will keep a closer eye on startups in sectors that can fully capitalize on the opportunities within a more integrated ASEAN.

“Fintech is one [sector]. Maybe healthcare is another,” said Purwana. “Climate and energy transition is also another that we’ve been looking at in the region and seeing how we can invest more in an integrated ASEAN company.”

Beneficiaries

Last but not least, East Ventures also showed up with two booths at the conference, which featured several startups from its portfolio. This included the likes of Mesh Bio, Chickin, Superkul, Praktis, Bababos, Sirclo, Nusantics, and NalaGenetics.

NalaGenetics is of particular note – during the event, together with East Ventures, the startup signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Ministry of Health’s Biomedical and Genome Science Initiative to strengthen genomic sample analysis in the archipelago. For its part, East Ventures is providing roughly US$66,000 worth of reagents and consumables to support these efforts.

Following this collaboration and the fund, Cuaca said his team will keep working with all relevant stakeholders to foster “a healthy and productive Southeast Asia for today, tomorrow, and more generations to come.”

East Ventures is a pioneering, sector-agnostic venture capital firm that has invested in over 300 tech companies across Southeast Asia.

Learn more about the projects and initiatives that East Ventures powers in the region on its website.

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This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.