- Chua Kee Lock, CEO, Vertex Holdings
- Hian Goh, Founder, General Partner, Openspace Ventures
- Kuok Meng Xiong, Founder & CEO, K3 Ventures
- Pratip Mazumdar, Co-founder & Partner, Inflexor Ventures
- Visa Kannan, Partner, Saison Capital (Moderator)
The funding winter in Southeast Asia showed no signs of a thaw in the second quarter of this year. Despite a slight uptick relative to the previous quarter, both deal value and volume dipped year on year during the April-June period.
The deal slowdown is a reflection of continued pressure on valuations across SE Asia. The decline in seed-stage deals also indicates that there might be further valuation adjustments across all stages in the near future.
All this points to the fact that investors are placing a premium on companies with healthy unit economics and growth potential. This is a far cry from the previous years when “growth at all costs” was the norm. While the reset signals a challenging fundraising environment for startups, it is widely expected to foster a healthier investment and tech business ecosystem in the long term.
