Singapore is the top recipient for start-up funding in SEA

Startup funding for the Lion City hit $7.23b in 2017 alone.

Singapore received the most investments for startup fundings in Southeast Asia as total investments bound for the Lion City hit $11.47b (US$8.4b) from 2013 to 2018, a study by venture capital (VC) firm Monk’s Hill Ventures and tech startup event Slush Singapore found.

In terms of volume, Singapore’s 888 deals also leads in the region. According to the study, Singapore received more than 50% of all SEA deals in four years of the past five years. But in 2017,Singapore’s volume of startup investment slid a little to 45% of all the region’s deals.

The report also noted that Grab received a sizeable investment for the fundings bound for Singapore as it raised $2.47 (US$2b) from China’s ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing and Japan’s Softbank.

Following Singapore’s lead is Jakarta which received ($2.18b) US$1.6b for 228 deals from 2013 to 2018. In 2017, startups in Singapore received almost three times as much funding as their Indonesian counterparts where it received $7.23b (US$5.3b) compared to Indonesia’s $2.32b (US$1.7b) worth of startup funding.

“The SEA tech ecosystem can always use more venture capital, particularly those from high-quality VC firms with value-add and relevant strategies, regardless of whether the firm is a homegrown or an international one,” Monk’s Hill Ventures founder and partner Kuo-Yi Lim commented. “Hopefully this raises the bar in the venture capital community and keeps the current players on their toes.”