Places like Singapore, Indonesia, and Philippines resonate growth and opportunities for new ventures

Silicon Valley and Europe have been the conventional hubs of path breaking technologies and their ventures. Ranging from Google to Facebook, premier companies have built themselves from the scratch and transformed into global leaders of their industry with a substantial impact on the future. That said, drawing the focus on ‘conventional’, the stated fact has made it equally, if not more, difficult for any new idea or innovation to set up shop amidst such giants. This is where areas like Southeast Asia enter the spotlight.

Regional scope

Southeast Asia entered the race of a technology friendly region with impetus from governments like that of Singapore. Approaching the tech-transformation with an adaptive approach, the island-city has shown substantial involvement in zeroing on the opportunities that contribute to the idea of smart city. Security, industry expansion, effective use of machines, and optimum utilization of resources – the underlying theme is to enhance the life of citizens in the best possible manner.

Government initiatives

Government of Singapore has lived up to its commitment of investing 1% GDP on research and development. In addition, the Research Innovation and Enterprise 2020 plan would drive a $19 billion investment in the science and technological research for understanding and capitalizing on big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other facets of futuristic technology.

Resource availability

According to the Juniper Research, Singapore is the smartest city in the world with a fair share of contributions from its regulations. The amalgamation of a flexible, yet strong open data policy, availability of skilled workforce, low business taxes, and a reliable IT infrastructure provides an environment that drives innovators to convert their ideas into ventures.

Emerging ecosystem

Talking about innovators, the ecosystem of Southeast Asia has made a name for itself with its consistent dynamic behavior, acceptance, and adaptability. In simple terms, it’s like giving a launch pad to a beta version so that its success rate can help scale the idea on international terms. And what’s best? Investors from all over the world have a keen eye on the ecosystem to identify opportunities with serious potential.

Investment notion

Remember the conventional hubs? Their home-grown investment companies ranging from angels to VCs and bridge funds have maintained a bird view on the Southeast Asian development stories. Irrespective of the scale, if a startup of the region is working on an idea that showcases application and development potential for an investor, procuring funds worth eight figures isn’t a mammoth job. Here are some of the Southeast Asian companies, from different branches of next-gen technologies, and their corresponding global investors, that have bagged serious funding:

• Snaphunt – BEENEXT, Singapore
• BasisAI – Temasek and Sequoia India
• Greyloft – DSG Conusmer Partners Wavemaker, Cub Capital, Tigris Capital, and JFDI
• XRVision – Rajat Khare, Boundary Holding, Luxembourg
• ViSenze – Gobi Ventures, China , Sonae IM, Portugal , and Rakuten, Japan

Such investments worth billions corroborate that Southeast Asia provides one of the finest breeding grounds for technological startups and innovations that have an idea to build upon and grit to work for the same. So, what do you think is going to be the hub of technological breakthroughs in near future?