Golden Gate Ventures names nation as a “rising star" in SEA startup sector

Moving forward, more start-ups in the region are expected to go public, with the annual number of IPOs anticipated to pass 300 by 2030, according to the report titled “The Southeast Asia Ecosystem 2.0”.

This figure would be almost three times the number of regional firms that went public in 2020. Indeed, some of the firms likely to list are online marketplace Carousell, real estate platform PropertyGuru, and travel booking site Traveloka.

Furthermore, Golden Gate Ventures anticipates that funding for the entertainment and media sector will likely grow substantially over the coming decade.

The sector recorded roughly US$100 million in funding last year, although this figure is likely to rise as entertainment and media start-ups which primarily focus on Asian content gain a greater global following, the report noted.

It therefore identified the country as the region's rising star, stating that it is set to emerge as the third-largest start-up ecosystem in Southeast Asia next year.

The report also outlined some of the regional trends seen over the past few years.

Since 2015, a new generation of entrepreneurs has started to emerge, with the catalyst being mega rounds of fund-raising carried out by fast-growing start-ups such as Grab and Gojek. In addition, former senior employees of high-growth companies have gone on to start their own enterprises, thereby starting a new chain of entrepreneurship.

More corporate VCs have also emerged over the course of the past decade, the report said. There were roughly 60 corporate VCs in the region last year, compared with just seven a decade ago. Such firms are therefore increasingly leading funding rounds, especially at the seed and Series A stages.