How China is a blueprint for Southeast Asia

ABOUT

It’s clear from the chart that in terms of ecommerce, Southeast Asia is following China’s lead, attracting heavy investments only from 2013 onwards. In comparison, Alibaba was already a giant by then.

The story’s a bit different for ride-hailing, though. China’s Didi Chuxing and Southeast Asia’s Grab were founded around the same time, although it seems funding in China expanded more quickly.

Now we look to what’s on the horizon for Southeast Asia. Logistics is set to have its moment – a natural development following the ecommerce boom.

Food delivery is proving to be a massive industry, and Beijing-based Meituan-Dianping is demonstrating that it can be profitable.

Lending, investment tools, and fintech in general are blowing up, too. We’ve also seen huge funding rounds coming out of education tech recently.

What about in the long term? Artificial intelligence is going to be a big theme, and so will enterprise software.

WHY IT MATTERS

It’s true that many investors and founders look to China to predict what’s to come in Southeast Asia.

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