Startups in Southeast Asia are booming

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Hello readers,

The LA Lakers recently won the NBA finals, making it their 17th win in franchise history and putting it at the same level as the Boston Celtics for most championships. A big part of the team’s success was due to Anthony Davis, so much so that there are debates now over whether he or LeBron James is the best player on the team. Someone even declared him definitively better than Dirk Nowitzki. The blasphemy!

It’s clear that recency bias plays some part in these discussions, but that doesn’t mean that those opinions are completely wrong – Davis did, after all, play really well in the postseason.

Which brings us to this list that we curated of startups that have most recently closed funding rounds. While the no. 1 most recently funded company in that lot may not have raised the most cash (US$1.6 million), that certainly doesn’t detract from its recent efforts to grow and develop.

Singaporean and Thai companies feature prominently in the top 10 – find out which other countries’ startups are hustling during this time.

Today, we look at:

• A list of 50 rising startups in Southeast Asia
• Alibaba goes grocery shopping (and buys a whole hypermarket chain)
• Other newsy highlights such as Ant Group’s IPO progress and Instagram’s latest data privacy concerns

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PREMIUM SUMMARY

These startups are hustling through the pandemic

After the initial shock of Covid-19 wore off, it’s back to business as usual (at least in principle) for Southeast Asia’s startups. We’ve curated a list of the firms that have most recently secured funding to take their businesses to the next level.

• Healthy pipelines: Even the last company on the list, which indicates that it received funding the earliest, secured its investment just last month. Despite any problems the pandemic has posed, it’s clear that progress continues to be made.
• A veritable buffet: Verticals of all sorts are featured on the list – from robotics to games and even…parking?

Related reads on the kaboom of Southeast Asian startups:

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Alibaba’s got a new hypermarket

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The chair that’s got your back

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