These big tech firms had a really rough year

The terrible “winter” analysts expected to send a chill through startup world this year didn’t weaken tech companies in Asia as much as it could have.

India probably suffered most. After a boiling hot 2015, prominent Indian startups like Zomato, Ola, Snapdeal, and Flipkart each saw significant valuation cuts.

At the same time, the biggest companies in Southeast Asia, like Grab and Go-Jek, continued to see larger and larger funding rounds. In China, Alibaba once again beat its Singles Day sales record.

Some big names struggled to meet expectations this year. While these companies didn’t shut down outright, they saw a drop in popularity, were forced to scale back, or had to let go of staff.

Rocket Internet

German startup builder Rocket Internet tops the list. The firm launches internet companies in developing markets, often mimicking models that have worked elsewhere. It also acts as an investor in other startups.

Rocket’s share price dwindled to new lows this year. Global Fashion Group – a cluster of ecommerce operations, including Zalora in Southeast Asia and Namshi in the Middle East – saw its valuation cut by two-thirds.

Rocket Internet may be celebrating selling its Southeast Asian ecommerce enterprise Lazada to Alibaba and food delivery site Foodpanda to competitor Delivery Hero, but those businesses weren’t very healthy to begin with. Lazada was cash-strapped and desperate to find new investors. Foodpanda had to shut down some of its branches before selling the rest.

In India, Rocket managed to dump furniture store FabFurnish and fashion retailer Jabong.

The Berlin-headquartered firm got rid of a lot of excess baggage. It’s still got money in the bank, and some portfolio companies, like Namshi, are reportedly doing well. Yet, we’re likely to see a strategy shift in Rocket’s company-building and investment thesis in the years to come.

Xiaomi

Not long ago, Xiaomi was hailed the ‘Apple of China’.

The phone maker had become China’s most valuable private company in 2014 and soared past Samsung to become the number one smartphone in its home market.

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