Southeast Asia & Latin America: Learning the Digital Emerging Markets Playbooks (Cento Ventures)

Summary

• VC investment in 2020 was $8.5 billion in Southeast Asia versus $4.1 billion in Latin America.p.8
• Population is 588 M in the six Southeast Asian countries versus 490 M in the six Latin American countries.p.8
• Indonesia attracts 54% of the region's VC capital and Brazil 60%.p.9
• In Latin America, 45% of capital invested in tech goes into financial services, compared with 18% in Southeast Asia.p.24
• Credit card penetration is 653 cards per 1000 adults in Latin America versus 408 in Southeast Asia.p.24
• Southeast Asia has 800+ wallets adding to the landscape of alternative payment methods.p.22

Key insights

1. Southeast Asia and Latin America have similar leading sectors but very different development pathways.p.6
2. Multi-vertical super apps have been a feature in Southeast Asia thanks to greater availability of growth capital.p.6
3. Over 2015-2020, GDP grew 3.0% in the Southeast Asian six versus -0.7% in the Latin American six.p.8
4. Singapore is the undisputed hub of Southeast Asia, while Latin America has no definite hub.p.11
5. Indonesia and Brazil attract about 50% of capital in their respective regions.p.14
6. Local payment schemes like PIX in Brazil, CoDi in Mexico, PayNow in Singapore and PromptPay in Thailand are shifting market balance.p.23
7. Southeast Asian companies such as Shopee and J&T are expanding aggressively into Latin America.p.26