Southeast Asia Tech Investment – H1 2023 (Cento Ventures)

Summary

• Southeast Asia tech investment volume dropped 54% year-on-year in H1 2023 to $3.1B across 513 deals, marking the lowest H1 investment volume since 2017.p.8
• Mega-deals of $100M+ fell to a historic minimum of $0.8B across 4 deals, down from a peak of $5.3B in H1 2021.p.10
• Investment across the core venture stack (Series A to Series C) held relatively steady at around US$0.9B per six-month period since H1 2021.p.11
• Digital financial services represented 41% of total regional tech VC capital invested in H1 2023, attracting $921M.p.14

Key insights

1. Southeast Asia's investment drop of 54% YoY in H1 2023 was softer than peer growth markets like India and LATAM, which both experienced ~70% declines.p.9
2. Capital deployment in pre-A to Series C stage deals ($0.5M to $50M) maintained roughly the same pace as the previous three years.p.4
3. Series B valuations in Indonesia and the Philippines dropped by 77% and 64% respectively from their H1 2022 peaks.p.19
4. Within digital financial services, funding shifted toward business and consumer lending segments while wealth management experienced a pullback.p.15
5. Malaysia captured a larger share of regional investment capital due to government-led programs like Dana Penjana.p.13
6. Exit activity dropped to its lowest level since 2013 due to mismatched price expectations between buyers and founders.p.6