Mapping out SEA’s healthtech players

The best investment one can make is in their own health. But as the projected total healthcare spending in Southeast Asia soars to US$740 billion by 2025, up from US$420 billion in 2018, healthtech companies in the region are also striking it rich by catering to the wellbeing of others.

Tech in Asia previously mapped out the leading healthtech players in the region in 2021. At the time, healthtech funding was on track to hit a new high.

At first glance, the industry’s outlook appears less rosy today. Total funding and the number of deals to date in 2022 trail last year’s figures. With just one more quarter to go, it’s unlikely that funding this year will outpace 2021’s record numbers.

But there’s a catch: Slightly over 80% of total funding in 2021 went to just five companies – Halodoc, HealthifyMe, Doctor Anywhere, Zenyum, and Homage.

If these outsized rounds are ignored, funding to other healthtech companies in Southeast Asia actually grew from US$71.9 million in 2021 to US$127.8 million in 2022. Singapore-based healthtech firm MiyaHealth and health knowledge sharing platform Docquity, as well as Indonesian digital pharmacy Lifepack are the latest companies to secure funding this year.

Even with growing economic headwinds, some investors are strongly positive on the sector. “We expect the healthcare industry to perform better than average during a downturn, given that it relies less on discretionary spending,” says Antler partner Markus Bruderer. Over the past year, the firm’s Southeast Asia arm has made three pre-seed healthtech investments  – including all-in-one health worker provider Healthpro and healthcare BNPL firm CareNow.

In Southeast Asia’s nascent healthtech industry, most players have only raised up to or before the series A stage so far.

Tech in Asia’s data shows that roughly 77% of all healthtech firms were founded in or after 2015, with the region seeing the highest number of new healthtech startups emerging in 2016.

Despite that, Southeast Asia’s healthtech players already straddle an array of sub-verticals like personal health management, appointment booking, and online pharmacies. Our data shows that telemedicine continues to be the most popular offering across companies.