Getting to the root of SEA’s agritech space

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Hello reader,

I love farm vibes.

Yes, it’s a little strange to say that because I live in the concrete jungle known as Singapore. But every time that I visit a farm – whether it be local or overseas – I always have such a good time, and the atmosphere is generally chill and peaceful.

While farm work is physically exhausting, it does seem like the people working there love taking care of their crops and animals. And of course, if there are many animals, that’s even better – I could spend my whole life just feeding cows and horses and making them my best buds.

I know, I know – there’s also lots of “dirty work” involved. Shoveling dung and other backbreaking tasks, anyone? But hey, I never said farm life is perfect, and everything’s got some downsides.

If I ever do decide to take a leap of faith and go work in the fields, Southeast Asia would be a great place to start. The region’s agriculture sector is huge – 17% of the region’s gross domestic product kind of huge – with an equally large number of agritech firms to match.

Today we look at:

• The companies shaping Southeast Asia’s agritech sector
• OpenAI’s rollout of ChatGPT-4
• Other newsy highlights such as Antler’s commitment to investing in Indonesian startups and 99 Group’s latest fundraise

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Southeast Asia and the beanstalk of agritech

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Fee, fi, fo, fum,
I smell some investor funds!
To thrive in this sector there can be no slack,
These companies will pitch to get that bag.

• Climbing all the way up: In 2022, investors pumped in 2.5x more funding into the region’s agritech sector compared to the previous year, with funding deals nearly doubling. Overall, the industry has seen consistent growth of over 2x in funding amounts in the last three years.
• The giant at the end: With 56 companies, Indonesia has the lion’s share of agritech startups in Southeast Asia. It has produced more agritech firms than all other countries in the region combined.
• Check out this branch: Accessibility to supply chains is a major problem across much of Southeast Asia, so it’s no surprise that the most common category of agritech startups is B2B commerce. In total, there are 41 startups in this vertical. Other significant segments include farm management, B2C commerce, education and training, financing, and vertical farming, among others.

Read more: The key players in SEA’s agritech space

They’re evolving!

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