
Singapore's venture capital deals hit $20.7b in 2017-2019
The Lion City clinched two-thirds of ASEAN VC deal value during the period.
Singapore continues to be ASEAN’s venture capital (VC) hub as it hit a record-high $20.68b in deal value since 2017, or two-thirds of the total ASEAN VC deal value during the period, according to a report by capital market firm Preqin and Vertex Study.
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Online marketplace Lazada as well as transport and financial services company Grab Holdings were named as Singapore’s standout assets over the period, each recording multibillion-dollar financing in 2018.
Grab’s $2.01b (US$1.46b) series H round in March was the most notable ASEAN VC deal in H1. It also nabbed the fourth-spot in the list with its $406.55m (US$300m) investment from Invesco Asset Management in July, followed by fashion commerce platform Zilingo, with its $300.1m (US$226m) series D funding round last February.
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All six spots in the study’s list of notable ASEAN-based VC funds closed in 2018/2019 were from companies based in Singapore. The $313.6m Vertex Ventures SEA & India fund IV was the largest fund of the period in terms of size.
ASEAN-foucsed VC fundraising surpassed $1b in2018, the third time in the past four years according to the report. ASEAN-focused Assets under Management (AUM) reached a record $5.3b during the same period, whilst the annual amount of AUM capital deployed into the ASEAN venture capital market hit $10b for the first time.
Emerging from Singapore’s shadow is Indonesia, whose VC market recorded over $2.9b in value in 2018. The ‘GTT’ – a group of three local tech giants – is behind this exponential development: Go-Jek, an app providing various on-demand services; PT Tokopedia, an online marketplace; and Traveloka, an online platform for booking hotels and transport.