The investors fuelling Southeast Asia’s transportation firms

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Hello reader,

As I pondered over what to serve in today’s newsletter, which deals with logistics and transportation in Southeast Asia, it dawned on me that my views on this space were limited to certain sub sectors rather than the industry as a whole.

Given current global supply chain bottlenecks, my mind immediately veered toward firms that move various kinds of cargo. But, as I dove into my research, another realization would soon strike me: The logistics and transportation industry is massive, not necessarily in terms of size, but in terms of the variety.

The deeper I dug, the more I realized the industry has a pivotal role in ensuring the steady flow of goods, services, and people as well as the smooth functioning of modern economies.

From in-city micromobility operators to long-haul freight forwarders, transportation and logistics have their fingerprints on almost every aspect of society. It makes me wonder if the role of transportation in facilitating the world’s transition to a global village is an underappreciated one.

However, today’s premium story is all about investors who greatly value the importance of this space. After all, they’re literally putting their money behind it. This listicle highlights the most active backers of logistics and transportation startups in Southeast Asia over the past two years.

Today we look at:

• The most active investors of SEA’s logistics and transportation space
• PayMongo CEO going on ‘voluntary leave’
• Other newsy highlights such as Socar’s disappointing IPO and a Web3 firm’s US$2 million pre-seed round.

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

Premium summary

Gotta keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

Image credit: Timmy Loen

While analyzing Tech in Asia’s list of investors in Southeast Asia’s logistics and transportation startups over the past two years, it’s clear there hasn’t been an outsized interest in this industry in that time.

A look at our other lists on investors backing the region’s software as a service (SaaS) and health startups will reveal that the top five active backers were involved in 34 and 28 funding rounds, respectively. However, that figure stands at just 17 rounds for logistics and transportation startups.

The moving parts at PayMongo

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