From Rangoon to Manila, from Hanoi to Bandung, from Bandar Seri Begawan to Luang Prabang – Southeast Asia is growing. Some people often compare Southeast Asia to Europe as a straightforward regional shorthand that truly encompasses countries with very different languages, cultures, customs and levels of development. And identical to in Europe, startup ecosystems are first wondering what the strength of the local regional ecosystem is, after which the way it is doing at the worldwide level.
- SEA (market valuation: USD 4.5 billion)
Founded by Chinese-born entrepreneur Forrest Li in Singapore in 2009, Sea Ltd, an acronym for Southeast Asia, was rebranded from its former Garena brand after securing $550 million in funding to step up its fight against Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and other corporations players from Indonesia.
The online shopping and gaming company is highlighting intensifying e-commerce competition in Southeast Asia, particularly within the largely untapped market of Indonesia.
Its businesses currently include online gaming brand Garena, e-commerce operator Shopee and digital payments service AirPay.
2. TAKE
It began in 2012 in a warehouse in Kuala Lumpur, and eventually co-founders Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling selected Singapore as a location for regional expansion. Grab is one in every of Singapore’s two unicorns.
Today, Grab is the largest competitor to Uber – the world’s most respected startup – in Southeast Asia.
Instead of expanding beyond, Grab is deepening its presence in Southeast Asia. In early 2017, Grab invested $700 million in its 2020 “Grab 4 Indonesia” master plan – the biggest investment the ride-hailing app has made in a single country. Part of this plan is to develop solutions specific to Indonesia, akin to algorithms that take note of Indonesian traffic regulations and a motorbike sharing service.
Today, Grab operates in 30 cities in Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.
3. GO-JEK (valued at $3 billion)
Go-Jek is an Indonesian hyperlocal transportation, logistics and payments startup founded in 2010. Following the acquisition of several foreign start-ups, Go-Jek’s core operations are still based in Indonesia, with a whole bunch of hundreds of passengers serving people in 25 cities across the country.
Go-Jek can be expanding its food delivery business, which one other person said provides significantly higher margins than trucking. Its mobile payments business, Go-Pay, is growing rapidly because it complements Go-Jek’s other offerings.
Go-Jek has influenced a brand new generation of passenger transportation startups in Southeast Asia, including U-Hop within the Philippines, Banana Bike in Thailand and CatchThatBus in Malaysia.
4. TRAVELOKA (valued at $2 billion)
Indonesia’s Traveloka provides online airline and hotel ticket sales services, with particular emphasis on domestic travel in Indonesia.
It offers an internet platform that enables users to make reservations for services provided by hotels, airlines, train and other technique of transport operators, event organizers, tourist attraction operators, travel agencies, telecommunications operators and/or other service providers.
The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in West Jakarta, Indonesia.
As of July 28, 2017, Deal Street Asia reported that Traveloka’s deal value was roughly $2 billion, in line with an executive acquainted with the event and related to the corporate who didn’t need to be named.
5. TOKOPEDIA (valued at $1.2 billion)
Tokopedia owns and operates an internet platform that allows individuals and small and medium-sized business owners in Indonesia to open and manage online stores. The company was founded in 2009 and is predicated in West Jakarta, Indonesia.
In August 2017, Tokopedia received a $1.1 billion investment from Alibaba. With this investment, Alibaba gains a foothold within the Indonesian e-commerce landscape.
According to several reports on April 10, 2016, Indonesia’s leading e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia has raised $147 million in a brand new round of funding from undisclosed investors.
6. BUKALAPAK (valued at $1 billion)
Bukalapak is an e-commerce platform that allows sellers and buyers to make secure online transactions in a straightforward way. Achmad Zaky, founder and CEO of Bukalapak.com, an e-commerce company. In mid-November 2017, Zaky announced that Bukalapak had just entered the unicorn club.
At the tip of 2015, Bukalapak had 510,000 SMEs on board, selling over 1.4 million products on its platform.
As reported Herein December, the corporate transacted over $4 million in each day transactions and grew 3-5x last yr.
7. PRECRAFTED REVOLUTION (valued at $1 billion)
Revolution is a set of limited edition ready-made properties, including houses and pavilions, launched by designer and developer Robbie Antonio.
Revolution sells prefabricated homes designed by dozens of world-renowned architects and designers, including Zaha Hadid, David Salle, Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders and Lenny Kravitz’s Kravitz Design.
It was founded by Robbie Antonio, a voracious art collector whose family is a strong player in the actual estate industry within the Philippines.
In November 2017, its valuation was reported to have crossed $1 billion and it became the primary Philippine unicorn.
Source: Various sources including Tech In Asia, Deal Street Asia and Tech Crunch
