[Invitation] Riding tech trends in Southeast Asia – panel discussion

Predict, prepare for and ride the tech trends in Southeast Asia

Masayoshi San mentioned in his annual report that we are in the year of chaos. However, you need to make sense of the chaos to identify the many opportunities in this investment market. Only the fittest will survive. 

So how do you anticipate trends, prepare and ride them in this chaotic world? 

Momentum Works CEO,  Jianggan Li will be having a candid discussion with Santanu Mitra, Managing Director from DBS Bank and Joe Zhang, Principal from TNB Aura on this billion dollar question on 17 June between 3-4pm SGT.

Moderated by Satchin Mittal, who heads DBS Internet & Telecom Research, we will explore in detail how founders can get lower cost of capital, and for investors, what to look out for when assessing a target company for investment. 

RSVP for the event here: https://dbs.wc1.kontiki.com/event/ssa5pqodus 

Though we might have different points of view, Momentum Works, DBS and TNB Aura all agree that ecommerce, Web3 and tech valuation are on the minds of investors and founders alike. 

Here are a few snippets from what we will be talking at the panel:

1. Ecommerce 

The ecommerce industry is a sure win, but who will be the winning player? 

As Jianggan said in the Financial Times last weekend, “All the players will need to demonstrate improvement of profitability in the current capital market environment. Therefore it will less likely be a cash burning game in the short term. But cash rich players such as Sea’s Shopee will continue to invest in growth objectives.”

As the ecommerce industry matures in the last few years, we are also seeing ancillary companies grow. One such area is Live commerce. As we’ve mentioned in our Live Commerce report, just look at the amount that TikTok is investing in this area. 

2. Web3 

The success of Axie Infinity, Animoca brands and YGG have ignited investor interest in this region – but are these one-off successes or a genuine wave we are seeing? 

We will be deep-diving about this during the panel and have also covered this in our report Web3: The inevitable next step?. (P.S. Do check out our Web3 report) 

There are so many use cases for Web3. The emergence of NFTs, GameFi, DeFi, Web3 and the concept of Metaverse have enriched the crypto ecosystem. Of course, we do see a Web3 bubble – similar to the Dot.com burst or the 2007-2008 financial crisis, but there will be many applications that will come out of the burst. 

3. VC vs Tech valuation…

Whilst there are many promising opportunities in the next few years, the current sentiment in the public market is definitely putting pressure on private market valuations. Case in point – our review of the Softbank’s 2021 Annual Report presentation here. 

With many unicorns trying to go public in 2022, their performance will set the expectation of investors for the valuation of Pre-IPO companies. That said – a lot of funds that have been raised have not yet been deployed – this needs to be deployed.

Coming from three different areas, Jianggan, Santanu and Joe will share their different perspectives on how the new economy industry will be shaped, and how we will assess the risks and rewards. Ultimately, the more insights we get from each other, the better we will be able to make decisions. 

RSVP here – https://dbs.wc1.kontiki.com/event/ssa5pqodus 

As usual, if you have any questions that you would like us to collectively address and discuss, feel free to drop an email to [email protected]