In Southeast Asia, much of the regional tech media coverage is on the larger, more mature startup ecosystems. However, the rapid acceleration of startup ecosystem development in the less developed corners of ASEAN has largely gone unnoticed. Cambodia occupies one such corner where there exists much excitement and a great concentration of blue ocean opportunities.
From 2008 to 2019, I had the opportunity to witness the development of the Thai startup ecosystem from its very beginnings to its more mature stage prior to the pandemic. I chronicled this development in my third book, Building Startup Ecosystems. For the past five years, I have had the pleasure of occupying a front row seat to the emergence of the Cambodia startup ecosystem. The positive vibe permeating the Cambodia startup community is indeed eerily reminiscent of the early startup community-building days in Thailand.
My arrival in Cambodia in January 2020 afforded me the opportunity to work with local founders at the onset of the pandemic. I was impressed with their strong resilience and their drive to not merely survive but to be a driving force in the accelerated economic and social development of their country post-pandemic. I have identified and categorised over 240 tech startups in Cambodia in 26 different sectors. Such a number and variety in a country the size of Cambodia is quite respectable, and post-pandemic, they enjoy several tailwinds.
Favourable economic growth and young demographics
The favourable economic growth and young demographics that continues to distinguish Cambodia among its ASEAN neighbours provides a very favourable marketplace.
Cambodia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. According to a 2023 IMF Report, Cambodia’s 6.1 per cent real GDP growth projection ranked it 14th globally. In September 2024, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) upheld its economic growth forecasts for Cambodia of 5.8 per cent in 2024 and 6.0 per cent for 2025.
E-commerce revenue is expected to continue its impressive growth. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) through 2029 is expected to be 9.98 per cent. Cambodia’s e-commerce market has much room to grow compared to its more mature neighbouring markets. Cambodia’s emerging e-commerce market represents only 4-5 per cent of GDP, while in the more mature neighbouring markets like Thailand and Malaysia, their e-commerce markets represent approximately 25 per cent of GDP.
Cambodia also has a very favourable demographic relative to other ASEAN members. More than 60 per cent of Cambodia’s population is under 35. This represents the highest percentage of the population that is digitally native. Ahead of second-place Philippines at 45 per cent and third-place Indonesia at 28 per cent.
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Another advantageous demographic for Cambodia is its working-age population, which is expected to grow by 24 per cent in the 2021-2050 period. This is the largest in the region. In comparison, the working-age population is expected to grow by only one per cent in Vietnam and decrease by 23 per cent in Thailand during this period.
Cambodia’s digital economy and digital infrastructure
What is perhaps less known is the rapid development of the digital economy and digital infrastructure in Cambodia. In the past decade, Cambodia’s hard and soft digital infrastructure has rapidly expanded, guided by a comprehensive suite of digital strategic frameworks, plans, laws and roadmaps.
In addition to these policy-enabling laws, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has developed an equally broad range of digital services and platforms in support of local startups. They include Bakong (blockchain-powered digital payments infrastructure), CamDX (unified yet decentralised data exchange), CamDL (hybrid permissioned blockchain Web3 experimental platform) and CamDigiKey (easy and secure mobile application eKYC system).
Active startup event space
The Cambodia startup community is a buzz with numerous startup events organised throughout the year. I have identified and recorded over 230 startup events that occurred in 2024. The variety of events in terms of size, format and featured topics is also quite impressive.
Events range from small informal meet-ups to large tech conferences and expositions. An inspiring characteristic of the Cambodia startup community is the proliferation of grass-roots informal groups that meet on a regular basis, such as Khmer Coders, Startup Grind Founders, La French Tech Cambodge and Cnai Connects. We do have perennial TEDx and BarCamp events as well.
Dynamic sub-ecosystems and communities
There are several communities of mutual support that have developed, which further enhance the vibrancy of the ecosystem. They include the well-organised and mature social impact sub-ecosystem, the women entrepreneurship community, and the emerging communities of stakeholders rapidly coalescing around key technologies such as blockchain, AI, Big Data and Robotics.
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Funding environment
Currently, the most active funding sources for local pre-seed startups are public sector-sourced grants and NGO operated incubator and accelerator programs. At the Early Seed stage (US$50-100k), there is a very active angel investor community, and crowdfunding platforms (both local and global) are utilised by local startups. At the Early Seed Stage, the Choice Accelerator is active, but stands as the lone institutional investor.
At the Seed Stage (US$200-500k), there is a persistent funding gap, which may present an excellent opportunity for investors to engage. In 2024, there were two notable funding deals. They included Global pharma giant Sanofi’s strategic investment in PillTech and Nasdaq-listed Grab Holdings’ Acquisition of Nham24.
Breakout year for Cambodia
The year 2024 was very much a breakout year, given the sheer number and frequency of local startups and supporting stakeholders venturing abroad. This provided an opportunity to showcase local innovations and learn from more mature ecosystems.
The pitch
The Cambodia startup community is open for business and positioned well with a bounty of blue ocean opportunities to be harvested, a dynamic and rapidly expanding ecosystem, favourable economic growth and demographics, a comprehensive suite of digital public goods, a full startup event calendar, strong mutual support communities, easy access to the larger ASEAN marketplace and investment opportunities at the seed stage where such opportunities have largely dried up elsewhere in ASEAN.
In aggregate, these factors make Cambodia an ideal base to launch a startup targeting not only the Cambodian market but the vast ASEAN market as well.
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