Fundraising for Southeast Asian startups hit a five-year low in Q1 2024

The funding of the start-up industry has fallen to its lowest point in the last five years, according to a report.

Key takeaways

• DealStreetAsia report shows that the start-up industry registered one of its lowest funding levels over the last 5 years.
• The report indicates that the e-commerce market segment was one of the sectors with the lowest level of funding within the technology industry.
• Equity funding for startups in the region dropped by 41% compared to the same period a year earlier, totaling $1 billion in the first three months of 2024.
• The number of deals executed in the quarter also decreased, with only 180 deals compared to 193 in the previous year.

A report titled “SE Asia Deal Review” conducted by DealStreetAsia indicated that in the first three months of 2024, the startup sector registered an amount of $1 billion, showing a downward trend of 41% compared to the same period in 2023.

The report showed that after a deep correction in 2023, expectations were high for a rebound in venture capital investments in Southeast Asia this year.

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The report also indicated that startup fundraising had a value greater than $1 billion in recent years, currently registering one of the lowest values recorded in recent years.

DealStreetAsia also showed that the e-commerce market segment was one of the sectors with the lowest level of funding within the technology industry.

The fall in startup funding in SEA could also be accompanied by the recent layoffs carried out internationally by large technology companies such as Google, Amazon, and Tesla, among others.

An overview of the start-up ecosystem growth in SEA

The startup ecosystem in the SEA region has gone through various stages, including birth, growth, and stagnation.

At the beginning of 2010, the technology ecosystem experienced a birth stage, where the first startups in the region began to emerge. In 2015, there was rapid growth in the technology industry, with significant venture capital investments and the emergence of several unicorn companies.

Subsequently, the pre-pandemic era changed the rules of the game and generated substantial revenues for various technology sector companies. Since the post-pandemic era, several technology sector companies have seen a sharp decline in their revenues, without having the client demand that they had during the COVID era.

Currently, the startup ecosystem in the SEA region continues to position itself as one of the strongest internationally, having still to tackle some challenges to reach its all-time -high growth era.

The startup landscape in SEA is diverse, with a strong presence in e-commerce, food delivery, and financial services. The region has also seen growth in new segments such as drug discovery, immunotherapy, and telecommunications.