What’s buzzing this week in Southeast Asia—IPO market, economic growth, and tech deals
The global initial public offering (IPO) market has been super depressed this year, given the economic uncertainty and volatile stock markets. While the global IPO proceeds stood at US$607.7 billion in 2021, this number barely reached US$138 billion in the first nine months of this year, as per a recent report by 普华永道 .
The PwC researchers believe global IPO sentiment is likely to remain fragile and expect the listing plans of the majority of the companies to be pushed back to late 2023. However, they mention that Asia has bucked this trend. Albeit, it seems, to a certain extent.?
In the Asia Pacific, the IPO proceeds during the first three quarters of 2022 amounted to US$86.4 billion, compared to Americas’ US$21.9 billion and EMEA’s US$29.8 billion.
This could be attributed to the fact that IPO markets in China, Hong Kong, and Thailand have done well. More interestingly, Southeast Asia may continue to fare better.?
A recent analysis by Tech in Asia shows that 104 tech startups across China, India, and Southeast Asia are reportedly planning an IPO this year and beyond. And of this, 29 startups are Southeast Asian. For instance, Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Blibli.com is set to raise nearly US$528 million with its listing on the local stock exchange at a US$3.5 billion valuation in early November.
Well, there is a good reason behind this trend. According to an IMF report published last week, ?Southeast Asia is likely to enjoy a strong recovery this year.?IMF expects Vietnam—which is benefitting from its growing importance in global supply chains—to see a 7% economic growth and the Philippines to expand by 6.5%. The growth is forecast to top 5% in Indonesia and Malaysia, while Cambodia and Thailand are projected to expand faster in 2023 on a likely pickup in foreign tourism, the report notes.
?On that note, let’s dive in for this week’s recap.
The buzz in fintech
As always, the fintech sector kept buzzing with deal activity. However, what was interesting was the fact that action was spread across the sector rather than being concentrated in one particular subsector.?
For instance, Singapore-based, two-year-old insurtech company bolttech is in the process of closing its series B round—with Japanese insurance firm Tokio Marine investing US$50 million —at a valuation of US$ 1.5 billion.?
?On the other end of the spectrum, Singapore-based digital wealth advisory platform Endowus has acquired a majority stake in wealth manager Carret Private to catalyze its expansion plans in Hong Kong.?
?In another significant development, global payments firm Wise said it would increase its headcount in Singapore to 400 by the end of this year, which is double the number of people it had in the city-state at the beginning of 2022.?
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Parallelly, Jakarta-headquartered open finance API firm Ayoconnect has landed a US$13 million series B+ check from SIG Venture Capital, CE Innovation Capital, and PayU, nine months after raising US$15 million in a series B round led by Tiger Global. Another Indonesian firm Pocket, which was founded in October 2021 to offer a financial management platform, has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round led by East Ventures .
Meanwhile, Vietnamese buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Fundiin has raises US$5 million in the series A round co-led by Trihill Capital and ThinkZone Ventures .
The buzz in proptech
Property tech startups in Southeast Asia have become quite active.?
Singapore-based proptech giant PropertyGuru Group has bought local home services platform Sendhelper for an undisclosed sum. The four-year-old Sendhelper connects homeowners with service providers, who offer repair, air conditioner maintenance, and cleaning, among other services. The acquisition will allow the proptech major to provide homeowners a full suite of services including finding, buying, and maintaining real estate properties.
On the funding side, PropertyScout , a Thailand-based, two-year-old real-estate platform that connects realtors to buyers, renters, and owners, has raised a US$5 million series A round led by Altara Ventures . Meanwhile, more and more investors are getting interested in prop-tech startups like Pinhome , IDEAL Indonesia , and Tanaku , which offer digital mortgage financing , as per a news report by Tech in Asia.?
The buzz in climate tech
At a time when the world is striving to cut down carbon emissions drastically to limit global warming to 1.5°C (above pre-industrial levels)—beyond which catastrophic consequences are inevitable—Southeast Asian climate tech startups have begun to attract VCs' attention.?
?Indonesian waste management firm Waste4Change , which helps individuals, companies, and government agencies manage their waste, has raised US$5 million in a series A funding round co-led by AC Ventures and Barito Mitra Investama. Founded in 2014, the firm currently manages over 8,000 tons of waste annually across 21 Indonesian cities. Waste—directly and indirectly—contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. ??
The company will use the funds to increase its waste management capacity to 100 tons per day in the next 18 months and take it to 2,000 tons per day by 2027.?
?In another good-for-climate news, Shift4Good , a Singapore and Paris-based VC fund dedicated to sustainable mobility, has announced the first close of its Fund I at US$98.2 million (100 million euros). The fund—which plans to do the final close at US$295 million—will back about 30 startups that help reduce the carbon footprint of the mobility sector, over the next five years. While two-thirds of these startups will be from Europe, the last ten deals will be picked from the rest of the world, with a focus on Southeast Asia.