Investment Drops by 65% for Tech Startups in Southeast Asia

The total investment in Southeast Asian tech startups witnessed a significant decline of 65%, totaling $4.3 billion in 2023 compared to $12.4 billion in 2022.

Tracxn, a prominent SaaS-based market intelligence platform globally, released its Geo Annual Report: SEA Tech 2023 on December 12. The report, utilizing Tracxn’s comprehensive database, offers insights into the Southeast Asia Tech landscape.

The tech startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia grapples with the challenges of a funding winter, mirroring trends in other major countries. In 2023, the tech sector in Southeast Asia secured a total funding of $4.3 billion, marking a 65% decline from the $12.4 billion raised during the same period the previous year.

Companies in this sector attracted late-stage funding amounting to $1.9 billion in 2023 year-to-date, reflecting a substantial drop of 65% from the $5.4 billion raised in the corresponding period of 2022.

Early-stage funding amounted to $1.9 billion in 2023 year-to-date, indicating a 67% decrease from the $6 billion raised during the same period in 2022. Seed-stage investments also experienced a decline of 52%, totaling $546 million compared to $1.14 billion in the corresponding period of 2022.

Singapore, Jakarta, and Bandung led the way among cities in terms of funding in 2023 year-to-date. Singapore-based tech startups raised $2.3 billion, while those in Indonesia secured funding of $1.44 billion and $304 million, respectively. Meanwhile, tech startups in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi received $97 million and $45 million, respectively.

The enterprise applications segment attracted investments totaling $1 billion in 2023 so far, representing a 78% decrease from the same period in 2022. The retail segment received a total of $0.7 billion in funding in 2023 year-to-date, marking an 85% decline from the same period in 2022.

In 2023, there were only 10 funding rounds exceeding $100 million, compared to 28 such rounds in 2022. The number of acquisitions decreased by 30% to 61 in 2023, compared to 88 in 2022. There was a slight increase in the number of IPOs, with 10 companies from this sector going public in 2023, compared to five in 2022.

The global investment market remains volatile, and similar trends are observed in the Southeast Asian region as well.