Dear Pro member,
The Indonesian fintech sector has experienced a substantial decline in funding activities in H1 2023, says a Tracxn report. The slowdown is attributed to cautious investor sentiment due to global macroeconomic factors.
Comparing the H1 2023 to the previous period, the Tracxn findings revealed a notable 46% reduction in funding secured.
This downward trend is most apparent in the number of funding rounds, showing a decline of 26% and 58% in the first half of 2023 compared to H2 and H1 of 2022, respectively.
A total of 14 funding rounds were documented in H1 2023, down from 19 in H2 2022 and 33 in H1 2022.
Notably, no Indonesian fintech companies achieved unicorn status in the first half of 2023, a decrease from two unicorns in the second half of 2022.
The new findings are surprising, as fintech is still one of the hottest sectors globally, including in Southeast Asia.
As the world emerges from the current global slowdown, fintech investments will hopefully improve in the coming years.
This is the highlight of this Ecosystem Roundup.
Scroll down for more news.
Sainul,
Editor.
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Hypefast lays off 30% of workforce to maintain profitability
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Indonesia sees consistent growth of VC investments in H1 2023: Report
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The company intends to list under the symbol VNG; The offshore listing will be done through VNG Limited; The size and price range for the potential offering have yet to be determined.
Fintech funding declined 38% in Indonesia in H1 2023: Tracxn report
The number of funding rounds also saw significant reductions; The tally of funding rounds documented in H1 2023 amounted to 14, which was lower than the 19 observed in H2 2022 and notably lower than the 33 seen in H1 2022.
In SEA, Millennial Muslims in Indonesia are more confident about using AI for travel
While 78% of Indonesian respondents show confidence in AI tools for Muslim-specific travel recommendations, the figures are 36% in Malaysia and 31% in Singapore, according to an HHWT survey.
Amid strong Q2 results, Grab to focus on profitability, not incentives
The company is currently focusing on affordable services – such as its relaunched GrabShare product – and growing the market; Grab posted a strong performance in Q2, where it is on track to achieve breakeven on an adjusted EBITDA basis in the next quarter.
AI investments drive PropertyGuru’s 12% revenue bump in Q2
The proptech company recorded an 11.7% year-on-year growth in revenue to US$27.2M in Q2 2023; In June, the company launched GuruPicks, which uses machine learning to generate a personalised feed of property listings.
Traveloka posts 75% increase in revenue, cuts loss by 29% in 2022
The Indonesia-based online travel unicorn posted US$225.9M in revenue for its 2022 financial year, according to VentureCap Insights; It also recorded a loss of US$98.2M for the year, down from US$138.2M in 2021.
Malaysian recommerce startup CompAsia rakes in Series A.
The lead investor is Gobi Partners; CompAsia is a one-stop platform for customers to trade in or purchase pre-owned electronic devices; It claims to have sourced and transacted over 2.1M second-hand mobile devices from 2019 to 2022.
Healthtech startup specialising in brain health Neurowyzr raises US$2.1M
Lead investors are Jungle Ventures and Surge; Neurowyzr’s first product is an online gamified digital neuroscience assessment called DBFS, which reduces the burden of traditional cognitive testing.
PrimaKu secures funding to address parenting challenges in Indonesia
The investors are Northstar Group, AppWorks, BRI Ventures, and BIG Ventures; PrimaKu offers a one-stop solution for parenting needs across every child development stage, with the aim to make parenting easy and worry-free.
Pi-xcels raises US$1.7M funding to take its interactive e-receipt solution to Europe
The investors include Wavemaker Partners, Hustle Fund, and Amand Ventures; Pi-xcels allows offline retailers to issue interactive e-receipts with a single tap of a shopper’s smartphone.
Singapore’s rent-to-own solar startup Solar AI bags US$1.5M seed financing
The investors include Earth Venture Capital, Undivided Ventures, and Investible; The startup will use the capital to upscale its rent-to-own solar programme in the island nation and to expand regionally.
Antler backs Malaysian professional networking platform Mole
Mole plans to venture into the US$1B traditional business card market with its digital offering;Mole is building technology to make business networking a simpler, more productive, and more successful experience for busy professionals.
Google.org invests US$1M to train NGOs in Asia on AI, cybersecurity
Nearly 50 NGOs from 11 Asia-Pacific countries, such as Singapore’s Mandai Nature and the Philippines’ Haribon Foundation, will participate in the 12-month programme, which offers personalized digital consulting and training, among other things.
Bloom Alert uses AI, satellite images to avoid water production loss at desalination plants
The Chile-based Bloom Alert is one of the 55 startups selected for the 11th edition of SMU’s LKYGBPC Competition.
AI cannot replace creative writing at this stage: Marko Zitko of Freelancer.com
AI will enhance freelancers’ overall capabilities and productivity, leading to more efficient workflows and higher-quality outputs, says the Freelancer.com Communications Manager.
Human creativity drives tech while AI accelerates it: Yee May Leong of Equinix
AI can improve many internal processes in the back office, enabling employees to focus on higher-value needs, says Leong.
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How to harness open banking for greater consumer and fintech empowerment
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The image used in this article is AI-generated.
The post Ecosystem Roundup: Fintech funding in ID declines 38% in H1 2023, Hypefast lays off 30% of staff, VNG files for NASDAQ IPO appeared first on e27.