A recap of Asian tech in 2019

Dear Readers,

2019 is almost over, and what a ride it has been – full of ups and downs that challenged our community and made us stronger. 👏 This is my attempt to sum up a very busy year.

1. The need to be profitable 💰

The WeWork debacle is possibly the best gift that the startup world got in 2019. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not rejoicing at the misfortune of others. But as the company faced troubles after attempting to go public, it got all of us to think more critically about how to build startups more sustainably. I explained this in a commentary that I wrote a month ago”:

“These days in tech, profitable startups are looking very sexy, thanks to WeWork, Adam Neumann, and SoftBank. But to people outside of the tech and startup community, it must have been so amusing to see that most industry insiders are only now starting to realize that turning a profit is critical to the survival of any business.”

“In our quick chats with founders, I learned that startups big and small are taking steps towards being profitable. To me, that’s a good indication that the community is becoming wiser and more responsible. And for companies, perhaps it’s also an exercise in managing scale – being or staying lean and mean ahead of an impending global financial downturn is probably a smart move.”

This is an ongoing conversation, and it will likely continue in 2020. Recently, a prominent investor in the region told me over coffee, “Funding is drying up, and even the really good companies are finding it harder to fundraise.”

You have been warned. 😟

2. China’s growing clout 🇨🇳

China continues to be an “influencer” in Asia’s tech and startup ecosystem. It’s kinda shaping Southeast Asia – in a good way, I believe, and the rest of the world can draw inspiration and lessons from the Middle Kingdom. It has become common for founders to visit the country to learn more about how Chinese companies operate. The typical feedback I hear is that going on such a trip helped open their minds, as startups in China function at a whole different level.

Read some of our select pieces below. You can also find all of our China coverage here.

• China’s profitable food delivery giant bodes well for Grab and Gojek
• 3 years on, WeChat’s ‘instant apps’ have changed the internet
• Bytedance: The empire expands
• Why Alibaba acquired a fast-growing new shopping app
• The 50 top-funded startups and tech companies in China

Chinese companies like Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent, Bytedance, Meituan, and YY (remember the $2.1B Bigo deal?) continue to invest and take a strong interest outside their home market.

That said, not all is rosy for China’s startups. Remember Ofo? It’s a painful tale but it can be quickly forgotten in the sea of other stories. I recommend giving this piece a go – “Why Ofo failed?”. There’s a lot that we can learn from the whole saga.

3. The heated battle between Grab and Gojek (ง’̀-‘́)ง

Gojek and Grab kept on aggressively amassing capital through 2019, and it was quite a spectacle. More than US$11 billion of total disclosed funding were raised between the two, with Grab getting the lion’s share.

2019 also marks one full year after Gojek expanded outside of Indonesia. The results are debatable. Industry insiders have speculated that Gojek is happy to be no. 2 or 3 in overseas markets, but I’ve also heard that Gojek has taken an “all or nothing” approach. Either way, Gojek is marching forward with its regional expansion plan, as it’s expected to enter Malaysia and the Philippines in 2020.

A report by advisory firm ABI Research placed Grab ahead of Gojek by a wide margin in Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing race. Whether this finding rings true or not depends on which company you’re more aligned with. Ride-hailing is just one of the services of the super-app vision, and the two companies will continue to battle it out on the payments and food delivery fronts next year.

4. The rise of Southeast Asia and India 📈

5. Founders’ fond farewells 😢