<article><p>Startups in Southeast Asia amassed as much as $1.8 billion in December, registering a 65% drop from November&#8217;s record $5.2 billion, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.</p></article>

<p>Startups in Southeast Asia amassed as much as $1.8 billion in December, registering a 65% drop from November&#8217;s record $5.2 billion, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.</p>
<p>Even as the number of mega deals (those that were worth $100 million or above) last month was similar to that of November, the drop in total value is on account of lower ticket sizes at which these transactions were clocked.</p>
<p>There were five mega deals in December that racked up a total of $979 million. Meanwhile, in November, startups raised a whopping $4.3 billion through a similar number of large-ticket transactions.</p>
<p>In terms of overall volume, too, there was a slight drop in December with the total number of deals standing at 84 (primarily venture capital) versus that of 119 in November.</p>
<p>In October and September 2021, startups in the region garnered $1.6 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively.</p>
<p>In the entire year, privately-held companies in the region raised a total of about $26.2 billion.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Deal value by month ($billion)<strong> </strong><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-276492" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.24.03-PM.png?resize=640,357" alt="Deal Value by Month - December" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.24.03-PM.png?w=860 860w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.24.03-PM.png?resize=300,167 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.24.03-PM.png?resize=768,429 768w" sizes="(max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></h3>
<p>In the biggest transaction in December, Vietnamese integrated retail platform The CrownX closed a $350-million primary investment from global private equity (PE) firm TPG, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and SeaTown, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Singapore state investor Temasek.</p>
<p>The funding pegged the post-money valuation of The CrownX at $8.2 billion.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, another Vietnamese firm &#8211; payment app Momo &#8211; secured mega funding of $200 million in its Series E round in December, led by Japanese bank Mizuho and backed by Hong Kong-based Ward Ferry Management, Goldwater Capital, and Kora Management.</p>
<p>In other big-ticket transactions &#8211; all sealed in Singapore &#8211; sports media platform Group One, the parent company of ONE Championship and ONE Esports, raised a total of $324 million across two deals, while online language learning platform LingAce secured $105-million in its Series C round.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">The megadeals ($100m and above) of December 2021</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><p class='my-2' style='text-align: right !important'><a href='#' class='tablepress-expand-button btn btn-sm btn-primary'>Expand Table</a></p>
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<thead>
<tr class="row-1 odd">
	<th class="column-1">Startup</th><th class="column-2">Headquarters</th><th class="column-3">Investment Size</th><th class="column-4">Stage</th><th class="column-5">Lead Investor/s</th><th class="column-6">Vertical</th>
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</thead>
<tbody class="row-hover">
<tr class="row-2 even">
	<td class="column-1">The CrownX</td><td class="column-2">Vietnam</td><td class="column-3">$350,000,000</td><td class="column-4">Private Equity</td><td class="column-5"></td><td class="column-6">Retail</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-3 odd">
	<td class="column-1">Momo</td><td class="column-2">Vietnam</td><td class="column-3">$200,000,000</td><td class="column-4">Series E</td><td class="column-5">Mizuho Bank</td><td class="column-6">Fintech</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-4 even">
	<td class="column-1">ONE Championship</td><td class="column-2">Singapore</td><td class="column-3">$174,000,000</td><td class="column-4">Venture - Series Unknown</td><td class="column-5"></td><td class="column-6">Media &amp; Entertainment</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-5 odd">
	<td class="column-1">One Championship</td><td class="column-2">Singapore</td><td class="column-3">$150,000,000</td><td class="column-4">Private Equity</td><td class="column-5">Guggenheim Investments, Qatar Investment Authority</td><td class="column-6">Media &amp; Entertainment</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-6 even">
	<td class="column-1">LingoAce</td><td class="column-2">Singapore</td><td class="column-3">$105,000,000</td><td class="column-4">Series C</td><td class="column-5">Owl Ventures, Sequoia Capital India</td><td class="column-6">Edtech</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
<h3><strong>Vietnam overtakes Indonesia in deal value</strong></h3>
<p>While startups in Singapore continued to corner the biggest chunk of funding at $908 million, Vietnam overtook Indonesia for the first time in terms of deal value last month thereby amassing a total of $585.2 million.</p>
<p>In Indonesia, however, emerging businesses raked in a mere $241.5 million even as the startup ecosystem in the country is bustling with activity.</p>
<p>Vietnam&#8217;s performance was largely due to the two megadeals that raised a combined $550 million in funding.</p>
<p>The Philippines took the fourth slot in terms of deal value, with 3 local private firms raising $18.5 million. Malaysia and Thailand raised $16.1 million and $2 million, respectively.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fundraising by country in December</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-276493" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.32.30-PM.png?resize=640,339" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.32.30-PM.png?w=916 916w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.32.30-PM.png?resize=300,159 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-07-at-1.32.30-PM.png?resize=768,407 768w" sizes="(max-width: 916px) 100vw, 916px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></p>
<h3><strong>Early-stage deals continue to dominate</strong></h3>
<p>The December data compiled by DealStreetAsia showed that early-stage startups continued to evince higher investor interest compared to their peers that required growth capital.</p>
<p>Last month, as many as 45 deals were sealed in their Series A-stages or earlier in Southeast Asia. Of that, seed rounds accounted for 24 transactions.</p>
<p>In contrast to that, there were only eight Series B and four Series C transactions during the month.</p>
<p>Startups in new-age digital sectors such as financial services, e-commerce, and data analytics continued to dominate deal activity in terms of volume as the pandemic served as an accelerant to all of them.</p>
<p>Fintech and financial services, too, saw significant traction, accounting for 24 deals that raised a combined $584 million in December.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, e-commerce startups were involved in eight transactions that scored $34 million. Data analytics, on the other hand, raised $28 million from five deals.</p>
<h3><strong>Most active investors</strong></h3>
<p>A good number of investors were involved in the 84 deals that Southeast Asia witnessed in December.</p>
<p>However, notable lead investors, included Singapore-based Monk’s Hill Ventures, venture capital firm East Ventures, Jakarta-based early-stage investor AC Ventures, and Arise, the joint debut fund of Indonesian Telkom-backed MDI Ventures and Finch Capital.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Startups in Southeast Asia amassed as much as $1.8 billion in December, a 65% drop from November's record $5.2 billion.

SE Asia Deal Review: Startup fundraising slows 65% to $1.8b in Dec

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SE Asia Deal Review: Startup fundraising slows 65% to $1.8b in Dec

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