Skip to content

In Search of Unicorns

NEWSPAPER SECTION: ASIA FOCUS WRITER: ERICH PARPART

Thailand trails ASEAN peers in the super startup race, mainly because investors are waiting for a truly great idea

With an eye on health care and education as the most promising sectors, Indonesia is expected to be home to five startups worth at least US $ billion by the end of 2019.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy has already given birth to four unicorns, as billion-dollar startups are known: the ride-hailing firm Go-Jek ($10 billion), the e-commerce site Tokopedia ($7 billion), the travel site Traveloka ($2 billion), and the online marketplace Bukalapak ($1 billion).

Singapore is close behind in the unicorn race with three big entrants led by the super-app Grab (copy1 billion); Sea Group, the holding company for Garena, Shopee and Airplay (IPO valuation $4.9 billion), and the gaming hardware maker Razer ($4.4 billion). The city-state was also the birthplace of Lazada, the region’s biggest shopping site, though it was started by the Germany-based incubator Rocket Internet and is now majority owned by Alibaba of China.

Other unicorns in the region include the Vietnamese online gaming platform VNG Corp, and the Filipino home builder Revolution Precrafted ($1 billion).

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/1650648/in-search-of-unicorns. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Bangkok Post PCL. All rights reserved.

No comment yet, add your voice below!


Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

DISCOVER MORE

Could Revolution Precrafted Be The Philippines’ First Unicorn?

by Dinushi Diaz, Smart Company After securing millions of dollars in funding from global tech giant 500 Startups, prominent Philippines property developer Robbie Antonio believes
Read More >>

A look At Trump’s Business Associates Across Asia

by Daily Mail Online President Donald Trump has temporarily put his sons in charge of his company, but the Trump Organization still does business abroad.
Read More >>

Model Art Pavilion

FROM THE ARCHITECTS: Gluckman Tang, an architecture firm with its roots in spaces for art, launched the Model Art Pavilion (MAP) at Design Miami’s Private Collectors’
Read More >>

Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma and Daniel Libeskind design prefab pavilions for Robbie Antonio’s Revolution Project

by Clad News Some of the biggest names in architecture and design have developed prefabricated pavilions for real estate developer Robbie Antonio as part of
Read More >>