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Hello reader,
Is perception really reality?
It’s a hard philosophical question to answer, but as with all things, if you can look at some good data, you stand a better chance of answering it.
For example, one might have the perception that amid a funding winter and economic headwinds, VCs don’t have much capital available to invest. Our VC funds tracker, however, tells a different story.
The data shows that VCs focused on Southeast Asia and India have plenty of dry powder on hand, so they’re perhaps just being more cautious about where they invest it.
Today we look at:
- Updates to our VC funds tracker
- The Chinese AI investor marching to the beat of his own drum
- Other newsy highlights such as Lazada Logistics Indonesia’s CEO resigning and Japan looking into a QR code deal with Southeast Asian countries.
Premium summary
Follow the funding
Image credit: Timmy Loen
We may be in the middle of a funding winter, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t dry powder out there.
In fact, Tech in Asia’s VC funds tracker shows that VCs targeting Southeast Asia and India secured a record amount of over US$13 billion in 2023.
- Promising signs: Just a month into 2024, VCs focused on the two regions had already amassed more than US$1 billion. Notably, some VCs that announced the final close of their funds this year launched in 2022 and 2023. An example is Northstar Ventures Fund I, which saw its first close in January 2023 and collected US$140 million in total at the end of the year.
- AI on the rise: Only four AI-focused funds were raised when the fund tracker was first published last year, but now the number stands at 12, showing how much interest the sector has drawn recently. However, a significant number of investors we track are notably sector-agnostic.
- The whole world’s a stage: Unsurprisingly, most of the VCs we’ve tracked favor investing in early-stage startups. Though funding for late-stage startups is available, relatively few VC funds focus on these deals, with macroeconomic headwinds likely a factor.
Read more: VC funds tracker: Orient Growth, Cactus Venture, others add $184m in new funds
A different approach to AI
The rise of Malaysia’s tech ecosystem
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