VCs’ favorite Southeast Asian tech companies

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Hello readers,

I’ll be away for the next couple of weeks, so this is the last newsletter I’ll write this year. For the three of you who’ve been closely following my house-hunting saga: Well, I haven’t succeeded yet, so you can look forward to the continuation of my efforts to find a reasonably priced home for my reasonably priced lifestyle in the new year.

Following that train of tortured logic, today’s featured list is one of Southeast Asian companies that will definitely see their respective storylines continue into 2021 (and beyond), as these guys make up the 50 top-funded startups in the region.

The companies in the top three probably won’t surprise anyone, but did you know that livestreaming and video products could land you the no. 4 spot? It’s true. Check out the list and see for yourself.

Today, we look at:

• The 50 top-funded startups and tech companies in Southeast Asia
• Razer beefing up its fintech capabilities
• Other newsy highlights such as another lawsuit for Google and Luckin’s latest expensive penalty

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PREMIUM SUMMARY

The leaders of the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem

There’s no shortage of literature talking about how Southeast Asia is the next big stage. The potential for growth of the region’s markets and its people just appears to go through the roof, just like with Sandro Tonali on Football Manager.

If that potential is to be realized, the names on our curated list of the top 50 firms in Southeast Asia that have raised the most funding will almost certainly be playing significant roles in that progress.

• “Giant” begins with “G”: It probably won’t surprise anyone that Grab and Gojek occupy the top two spots on this list. With news that the two are merging, maybe the future entity should just be represented by a massive letter “G,” given the scale of the partnership.
• Sea of money: The top three are rounded out by Sea Group, which has its fingers in the ecommerce (Shopee), gaming (Garena), and payments (SeaMoney) pies.
• Lion City leadership: Seven of the top 10 are Singapore-headquartered companies, but a couple of Indonesian firms (Gojek and Traveloka) and a representative from Vietnam (VNLife) make sure that it’s not a one-nation show.

Read more: Meet the 50 top-funded startups and tech companies in Southeast Asia

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Razer sharpens its fintech blade

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Breaking down the shiny startup concepts

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