<article><p>In 2021, atleast 834 Southeast Asian startups cumulatively garnered <span style="font-weight: 400;">$23.18 billion </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">in equity financing. Yet, nearly three out of every five of those dollars (around 59%) went to a mere twenty companies.</span></p></article>

<p>In 2021, atleast 834 Southeast Asian startups cumulatively garnered <span style="font-weight: 400;">$23.18 billion </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">in equity financing. Yet, nearly three out of every five of those dollars (around 59%) went to a mere twenty companies.</span></p>
<p>The top twenty fundraisers in the region, led by Indonesian logistics giant J&amp;T Express, amassed <span style="font-weight: 400;">$13.62 billion in private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) financing last year, show data from DealStreetAsia&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/reports/se-asia-deal-review-q4-2021/">SE Asia Deal Review: Q4 2021</a> report. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The top 20 fundraisers sealed 38 deals in 2021, as per company announcements collated by DealStreetAsia, compared with at least 968 PE-VC deals announced by all startups in the region last year.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Share of top 20 SE Asian startups in overall equity financing (2021)</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-279921 size-full" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/total-20-new.png?resize=640,467" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/total-20-new.png?w=775 775w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/total-20-new.png?resize=300,219 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/total-20-new.png?resize=768,561 768w" sizes="(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While J&amp;T Express raised $4.5 billion from two deals, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">GoTo — the second biggest fundraiser — raised $1.6 billion, which includes the capital raised by Gojek prior to its merger with Tokopedia.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As highlighted in the below table, most of the huge equity fundraisings by other companies in the top 20 list were secured in Series C rounds and later. </span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Top 20 equity fundraisers in 2021</h3>
<figure id="attachment_279889" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-279889" style="width: 1865px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-279889 size-full" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?resize=640,323" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?w=1865 1865w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?resize=300,151 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?resize=1024,517 1024w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?resize=768,388 768w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Top20.jpg?resize=1536,775 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1865px) 100vw, 1865px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-279889" class="wp-caption-text">Source: DATA VANTAGE; Deals sealed by Gojek prior to its merger with Tokopedia are clubbed along with GoTo&#8217;s deals; while Grab and Grab Financial were also treated as one entity for calculating deal count.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Fintechs dominate the top 20 list</h3>
<p>The list of top 20 fundraisers included six fintech names that sealed 13 deals, and raised $2.1 billion among them.</p>
<p>The six startups accounted for over one-third (36%) of the <span style="font-weight: 400;">$5.83 billion raised by 247 fintech startups from 301 deals in 2021. </span></p>
<p>Mynt of the Philippines, which operates the GCash mobile wallet, was the topper among fintech fundraisers. The company, backed by Ant Group, raised $475 million in 2021 from investors including Warburg Pincus.</p>
<p>Eleven of the 25 new unicorns minted in Southeast Asia last year were fintechs — Nium, Kredivo, Xendit, Advance Intelligence Group, Ascend Money, Ajaib, Mynt, Matrixport, Bitkub, Bolttech, and Momo.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fintech deals in top 20 fundraisers&#8217; list</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-279920 size-full" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/new-fintech-20.png?resize=640,363" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/new-fintech-20.png?w=1377 1377w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/new-fintech-20.png?resize=300,170 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/new-fintech-20.png?resize=1024,581 1024w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/new-fintech-20.png?resize=768,436 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1377px) 100vw, 1377px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite fintech&#8217;s dominance in the top 20 list, the two logistics startups raised the most capital — over $5 billion from three deals. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ninja Van, which raised $578.6 million in a Series E round, was the top fundraiser behind J&amp;T Express.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sectorwise breakdown of the 38 deals sealed by top 20 startups</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-279838 size-full" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-2.jpg?resize=640,365" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-2.jpg?w=976 976w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-2.jpg?resize=300,171 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-2.jpg?resize=768,438 768w" sizes="(max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></p>
<h3>Top 20 by headquarters</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Singapore contributed about 50% of the overall deal volume in Southeast Asia last year. </span></p>
<p>Among the top 20 fundraisers, too, the nine <span style="font-weight: 400;">Singapore startups in the list accounted for 15 of the 38 deals.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, in terms of value, Indonesian startups topped the top 20 fundraisers&#8217; board. With 13 deals announced in 2021, the five Indonesian companies in the list collected a combined $6.96 billion. Deals secured by J&amp;T Express and GoTo group were the main contributors.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Top 20 fundraisers by headquarters</h3>
<figure id="attachment_279840" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-279840" style="width: 984px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-279840 size-full" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-4.jpg?resize=640,371" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-4.jpg?w=984 984w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-4.jpg?resize=300,174 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2022/02/Charticle-4.jpg?resize=768,446 768w" sizes="(max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-279840" class="wp-caption-text">Source: DATA VANTAGE; Inner ring represents deal volume.</figcaption></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trailing behind Indonesia and Singapore was Vietnam, where five companies in the top 20 list sealed eight deals that accounted for almost $2 billion.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mynt was the only Philippines-based company in the top 20 list. Based on DealStreetAsia’s records, Mynt announced private equity rounds in early January and November 2021, raising a combined $475 million.</span></p>


Six fintech startups accounted for 13 of the 38 deals sealed by the top 20 fundraisers. Nine Singapore-based companies sealed 15 deals.

Just 20 startups amassed 60% of all PE-VC financing in SE Asia in 2021

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