Southeast Asian tech startups attract 8.2 billion USD in 2020

Unicorns in Southeast Asian like GoJek of Indonesia received about half of the total investment volume poured into tech startups in the region last year (Photo: AFP)

Jakarta (VNA) – Technology startups inSoutheast Asia raised 8.2 billion USD last year, down 3.5 percent from 2019,according to the Singapore-based venture-capital firm Cento Ventures.

The number of deals in the region stood at 333in 2020, with about 50 percent of the total investment volume poured intounicorns like Grab of Malaysia and GoJek, Bukalapak, and Traveloka ofIndonesia.

While deals of more than 100 million USDaccounted for 57 percent of the total investments, those between 50 million USDand 100 million USD rose to a record 1.1 billion USD, up 26 percent from 2019.

Despite the pandemic’s impact, Southeast Asiasaw the smallest decline in startup investments compared to most other emergingmarkets such as India (down 31 percent) and Africa (down 38 percent), CentoVentures said.

It noted that over half of the tech investmentflowed into super apps and online retailers, totalling over 4 billionUSD in 2020. Other sectors that saw rising demand include payments, logistics,and local services.

About 70 percent of capital was invested inIndonesian startups. Startups in this archipelago nation and Singapore made up64 percent of the total number of deals done./.

VNA