Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Funds flock to Southeast Asian startups as China loses
sheen
Fri, September 23, 2022 at 3:39 PM
By Anshuman Daga and Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Southeast Asian startups are enjoying a boom in fundraising exercises by venture and buyout funds that are chasing bigger returns and turning away from regulatory turmoil in Chinese markets, even at the risk of slower growth.
Firms such as Insignia Ventures Partners and SoftBank-backed East Ventures are among those that have raised a combined total of billions for startups over the past year as the region's 650 million people take to digital platforms.
"Some of the world's largest institutions are coming up with strategies now to invest and deploy capital into regions like Southeast Asia, which six to seven years ago may not have even had the ability to absorb cheques of a large enough size," said Vishal Harnal, a managing partner at venture fund 500 Global, with $2.8 billion in assets.
Harnal was one of the scores of investors gathered in Singapore this week at SuperReturn Asia, a private equity and venture capital conference, for whom Southeast Asia tops the investment rankings.
Led by Indonesia, Southeast Asia's internet economy is forecast to double to $363 billion by 2025 from an end-2021 estimate of $174 billion in gross merchandise volume, a report has cited Google, Temasek and Bain & Company as saying.
Ridehailing and food delivery firm Grab Holdings listed on Nasdaq in December after a $40-billion merger, while Indonesian rival GoTo, raised $1.1 billion in a domestic listing this year.
This month, digital financial services group Fazz raised $100 million and Indonesia's Xendit, which bills itself as Southeast Asia's alternative to payments processor Stripe, announced fund-raising of $300 million in May.
The enthusiasm persists despite due diligence for startups that requires many months while valuations are under pressure, investors said.
"For want of a better word, FOMO is also present," added Harnal, referring to the "fear of missing out" he saw motivating many institutional investors who lost out on "phenomenal" returns as they were late in backing entrepreneurs in China.
DIVERSIFYING FROM CHINA
Southeast Asia is benefiting from Beijing's tough lockdowns and other measures to rein in COVID-19 in China and Hong Kong.
But although funds were diversifying, investors said the region's vastly different markets meant a uniform investing strategy was not ideal.
"It's not that they don't believe in China, just that they are reducing that exposure," said Tang Kok-Yew, the founding chairman of Affinity Equity Partners.
"Where can they go? One area that I constantly notice that everybody is very interested in is Southeast Asia. Unfortunately that's the market that is the hardest to penetrate."
Registered to attend the SuperReturn event were 500 so-called limited partners, who offer capital for investors, such as the Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund, as well as about 700 venture and buyout firms, such as Schroders Capital, along with Chinese family offices.
Despite all the interest, the region might still have some way to go in the quest for funding.
"There are still individual U.S. cities where startups are raising more money than all of the startups in Southeast Asia," said Julie Ruvolo, managing director of venture capital at Global Private Capital Association, which says its 300 members manage assets of more than $2 trillion.
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Translation
新加坡（路透社） - 東南亞初創企業因風險投資和收購基金而正在享受昌盛的籌集資金活動，這些基金正在追逐更大的回報, 並遠離中國市場的監管混亂，即使面臨增長放緩的風險。
隨著該地區 6.5 億人使用數字平台，Insignia Ventures Partners 和由軟銀支持的 East Ventures 等公司在過去一年為初創企業籌集了總計數十億美元的資金。
Vishal Harnal是擁有 28 億美元的資產風險基金 “500 Global” 的管理合夥人, 他說:“一些世界上最大的機構現在正在製定戰略，將資本投資和部署到東南亞等地區，六到七年前，這些地區可能甚至沒有能力吸收夠大面額的支票” 。
Harnal是本週聚集在新加坡參加私募股權和風險投資會議 SuperReturn Asia 的眾多投資者之一，東南亞在他們的投資排名中名列前茅。
TPG Capital Asia 的聯席管理合夥人 Joel Thickins 告訴路透社： “今天，印度和東南亞的胃口要大得多。”
一份報告援引谷歌、指淡馬錫和貝恩公司說，在印度尼西亞的帶動下，到 2025 年東南亞的互聯網經濟預計將從 2021 年底估計的 1740 億美元的商品總額翻一番，達到 3,630 億美元。
Ridehailing 和食品配送公司 Grab Holdings 在完成 400 億美元的合併後於 12 月在納斯達克上市，而印度尼西亞的競爭對手 GoTo 今年在其國內上市籌集了 11 億美元。
本月，電子金融服務集團 Fazz 籌集了 1 億美元，自稱為東南亞支付處理商 Stripe 替代品的印度尼西亞 Xendit 在 5 月宣布籌集 3 億美元。
投資者表示，儘管對初創企業的職責調查需要數月時間，而估值亦面臨壓力，但這種熱情依然存在。
Harnal 補充說： “因為想要用一個更好的詞彙，FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) 這一詞也用上”; 他指的是 “害怕錯過機會” ，他看到刺激了許多機構投資者的原因，是因為他們在支持中國企業家方面遲到了，因此失去了“驚人的”回報。
從中國走向多元化
東南亞正受益於北京為控制中國和香港的 COVID-19 而採取的嚴厲封鎖和其他措施。
但是，儘管基金正在多元化，但投資者表示，該地區的市場差異很大，這意味著統一的投資策略並不理想。
Affinity Equity Partners 的創始主席唐國耀說： “並不是他們不相信中國，而是他們正在減少風險。”
“他們能去哪裡？我經常注意到每個人都非常感興趣的一個領域是東南亞。不幸的是，這是最難滲透的市場。”
登記參加 SuperReturn 活動的有 500 家所謂的有限合夥人，他們為投資者提供資金，如休斯頓消防員救濟和退休基金，以及約 700 家風險投資和收購公司，如Schroders Capital，以及中國家庭辦公室。
儘管大家都很感興趣，但該地區在尋求資金方面可能仍有一段路要走。
Global Private Capital Association 風險投資董事總經理 Julie
Ruvolo 表示： “仍有個別美國城市的初創企業籌集的資金超過了東南亞所有初創企業總和。” 該協會表示，其 300 名成員共管理著超過 2 萬億美元的資產.
So, Southeast Asian startups are
enjoying a boom in fundraising exercises by venture and buyout funds that are
chasing bigger returns and turning away from regulatory turmoil in Chinese markets. This is one of the Covid-19 impact on China and this move will bring more job opportunities to the Southeast Asian countries.
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