Southeast Asia is seeing momentous growth during the last couple of year, and much of it can be credited to the One Belt One Road Initiative by China. With the aid of China’s road initiative and the promise of enhanced trade, Southeast Asia is soon becoming an investment heaven for investors coming from across the globe.
The tech market of Southeast Asia has seen many investments, and the first half of 2019 has already shown glimpses of what is to come. Recent reports suggest that over US$6 billion of capital has been invested within the tech firms located in the region. This investment has been recorded for just the first half of this year 2019. The report released by Venture Capital on August 16 has given major insights into the rise of Southeast Asia as an investment hub.
Interestingly, Singapore has had the lion’s share of investment within this figure, as reports suggest that 25 percent of this US$6 B went to the city state alone. This goes to prove the strategic location of Singapore in the region and how tech investments within the city state are some of the most futuristic, in the region.
The investment in tech recorded for the first half of this year is significantly more than what was recorded for the 2nd half of 2018. The second half of 2018 saw around US$3.6 B investment. The figure for the first half of this year is hence around two thirds more than that figure.
Centro Ventures has mentioned that the full year investment amount for tech in the region for this year would be significantly more than that in 2018. Not only has the start been good, but tech startups such as Gojek, Grab, Tokopedia and Traveloka continue to attract a sizeable number of funds and investments in Southeast Asia.
While a significant amount of this capital is going to investors and companies that already have a presence in the region, there are many new startups as well that are gathering consumer interest. Singapore’s AI startup Taiger is one organization that has turned heads and will definitely find investment coming its way as well soon.
The first half of this year has already seen about 332 closed tech deals, which is almost double the 177 deals that were closed during the first half of 2018.
Malaysia Suffers In Trade War between the US and China