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Hello reader,
Have any of you been in this situation before? All this recession stuff. It sucks, man. I haven’t had to pivot this much since trying to impersonate Hakeem Olajuwon on the basketball court.
According to our data, it looks like things will continue to get worse before it gets better – Southeast Asia is on track this year to hit the lowest point in tech funding since 2016.
Read on for some hard – but necessary – truths.
Today we look at:
- The numbers underlying the current predicament of Southeast Asia’s tech funding scene
- The rise of AI assistants in the ecommerce space
- Other newsy highlights such as layoffs at Indian fintech firm Navi Technologies and the US$400 billion green growth opportunity of Indonesia
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Image credit: Timmy Loen
The question “when will things turn around?” has been in my head for a while now but I try not to think too much about how the economy is going – it’s out of my control, after all. And so I keep on truckin’, and I’ve definitely managed to learn and do a lot in the past nine months or so.
Point is, regardless of everything else, I’ve found that there’s still growth to be had when I focus on myself.
Anyway, knowledge is power, so let’s bulk up with some data from the Tech in Asia vault.
- Trending down: Based on how much funding was raised in the first half of 2023, Southeast Asia will end the year with around US$6.2 billion worth of deals. That’s less than the US$6.9 billion raised in 2017, which was when Sea Group went public.
- One-two punch: Investors attributed the decline in venture capital to rising interest rates. For Southeast Asia, the situation is exacerbated by US-based investors seeing the market as unfamiliar and risky.
- Every man for himself: Industry sources say lean times might create ugly situations such as VC firms pulling out of term sheets, forcing mergers between companies to save one of the parties, or compelling founders to choose between agreeing to predatory terms or closing down their startup.
Read more: Southeast Asia tech funding set for worst year since 2016
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Unveiling the future of sustainable innovation with industry powerhouses
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