Right Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Fever in Southeast Asia
High growth potential in the region would be singled out above all things. The number of internet users in key countries of Southeast Asia like Vietnam and the Philippines has been increasing the fastest in the world. According to an article from the Wall Street Journal, whopping 120,000 online users are newly reported in the region on a daily basis.
There is further prediction that 480 million people almost nearing the entire population of the EU (European Union) will be accessed to internet in Southeast Asia by 2020. This could explain why global investment experts have been paying close attention to this area where youngsters covering around half of the overall population are jumping on the brand new era of digital economy.
Right Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Fever in Southeast Asia
In addition, indigenous family conglomerates have joined the startup wave by setting up venture capitals and navigating business chances. This is no exception to Korean investment firms.
As centered on Indonesia and Vietnam, two countries in the region respectively representing the maritime and the continental Southeast Asia, news of Korean venture capitals eagerly exploring lucrative investment opportunities are heard now and then. Why startup markets in Southeast Asia are much spotlighted?
Right Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Fever in Southeast Asia
It is mainly young Southeast Asians equipped with experiences of studying in Western countries who initiated startup craze in the region. As more and more young generations across the region rush to kick off their own companies, business models of startups are getting shaped up in a various way.
For example, attempts to introduce mobile technology to region-specific circumstances have been drawing huge attention. To name a few, startups aiming for improving the productivity of aquaculture industries or producing eco-friendly shopping bags to provide customized solutions for Southeast Asia where primary industries still considerably counts are loomed large.
Right Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Fever in Southeast Asia
According to Tech in Asia, a Singapore-based online technology media, startups in Southeast Asia received as much as $7.9 billion in investment in 2017. This figure is more than tripled than the total startup investment of $2.5 billion in 2016. This is far alarming because investment in Southeast Asian startups failed to reach even $1 billion in 2013.
Consequently, unicorn startups, privately held startup companies valued at over $1 billion has been emerging one by one. Lazada, an e-commerce platform in Singapore and Gojek, an Indonesian app-based ride-hailing service provider are presentable cases.
Right Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Fever in Southeast Asia
Startup boom can be named as one of the hot issues in Southeast Asia this year. This may not sound familiar to most Koreans except for those involved in the IT industry or venture capital sectors. However, startup markets across Southeast Asia have been rapidly gaining momentums.
In fact, locally born leaders of digital economy such as Grab in Malaysia which recently acquired the Southeast Asian business unit of Uber have been acclaimed for changing the conventional industrial map in the region.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Overall assessments on criteria encompassing maternal mortality ratio, share of seats in parliament and labor force participation ratio of India turned out alarmingly low. This result clearly demonstrates the homework lying in the bottom of the Indian society.
Startups armed with progressive social awareness can play significant roles in dissolving the messy fundamental public services especially those in education and health for the future of their country. This is none other than a right time for startups in India should open their eyes to Southeast Asia and try to learn the best lessons from their neighbors.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Truly, more and more startups in Southeast Asia are joining to unravel rampant shortages and inefficiencies of basic public services including primary education and health on the spot.
According to this year’s release of UNDP (United Nations Development Plan) on GII (Gender inequality Index), India was ranked 127th among the 189 surveyed nations in the world. All 10 members in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) received higher scores than India in terms of women’s social status.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Now the thing is not in
quantity but in quality in India. In spite of the snowballing increase in the
number of Indian startups, not many young CEOs seem fascinated in jumping into
the public sector. Most local startups have been allegedly involved in the apparently
growing and thus lucrative business fields such as e-commerce, accommodation
and transportation industries.
Of course, this is no exception to their peers in
Southeast Asia. However, continuous efforts to tackle long distorted public
services have been reported from Southeast Asia. For instance, Halodoc, an
Indonesian health tech startup, has been providing tele-consultations with
doctors, pharmacy delivery, and at-home lab services through its mobile
application with reasonable price options to remedy the underprivileged public
access to the medical service.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
Under this circumstance, the Indian government has also come up with a new initiative, ‘Startup India’, to foster startup ecosystems in the country since 2015. The purpose of Startup India is to generate startup-friendly environments for young entrepreneurs to unfold their unfettered business spirit in the ever-changing digital period.
Presence of as many as 22,000 startups in operation across the country has been partly attributed the government program backed by the latest strong economic growth. In fact, Bengaluru in the Southern part of India, often termed as the Indian Silicon Valley, has even claimed the second place in the list of best locations for launching tech startups globally.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
What has been undergoing in Southeast Asia can be observed in India as well. It is mainly because India is fairly conditioned with established resources needed for nurturing entrepreneurship in the wake of the digital era. It is little doubt that India has been highly appreciated for its top-notch technology and IT manpower in an international stage.
The fact that India has made it to develop and discharge its own nuclear weapons and artificial satellites shows the state-of-the-art level of scientific achievements of the country. Additionally, as widely known, some CEOs of top-tier multinational technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Nokia have been supplied from the vast pool of Indian IT talents.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
With the exception of Singapore, capital markets and legal and institutional systems for startups in the region aren’t well devised and developed as well. However, venture capitals, symbols of adventurous money would remain indifferent unless they feel confident of more gains than losses by stepping into the digital frenzy in Southeast Asia. This also holds true to Korean startups and venture capitals gearing up to carve out the Southeast Asian market.
Local startup founders have made unanimous voices that success stories of mainland Chinese startups have inspired them a lot. It is a shame that Korean startups are rarely mentioned for role models of Southeast Asian young entrepreneurs. Beginning with promising industries including fintech, education and mobile games, now is the right time for Korean startups to hit the digital road hard in Southeast Asia.
Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India to improve indispensable public services
According to an article from the Wall Street Journal, whopping 120,000 online users are newly reported in the region on a daily basis. There is further prediction that 480 million people almost nearing the entire population of the EU (European Union) will be accessed to internet in Southeast Asia by 2020.
This could explain why global investment experts have been paying close attention to this area where youngsters covering around half of the overall population are jumping on the brand new era of digital economy. There are yet pending issues to tackle in startup fever in Southeast Asia. Poor IT infrastructures in non-urban areas, shortage of high-skilled workforces and widespread financial illiteracy have chronically taken roots in most parts of Southeast Asia.
