Financiers are doubling down on Southeast Asia’s digital economy

Financiers are doubling down on Southeast Asia’s digital economy

Southeast Asian tech business are drawing the attention of financiers all over the world. In 2020, start-ups in the area raised over $8.2 billion, about four times more than they did in 2015. Southeast Asia has become an attractive market for U.S. and Chinese tech companies. China’s tech giants Tencent and Alibaba were among the very first to support early e-commerce growth in Southeast Asia with investments in Sea Limited and Lazada, and have because expanded their footprint into other web verticals. Southeast Asia likewise has many opportunities for VC investment relative to its market size. From 2015 to 2020, China saw VC financial investment of nearly $ 300 per person; for Southeast Asia– regardless of a current investment boom– this metric sits at just $47.50 per person, or simply a sixth of that in China.