SEA: The fastest growing internet market in the world

Ahead of SuperReturn Asia we caught up with Jungle Ventures. We asked them is now the time to invest in the internet market in Southeast Asia?

Southeast Asia is the fastest growing internet market in the world. It’s projected to reach half a billion internet users by 2020, adding 3.8m new users online each month. The majority of young people in Southeast Asia spend more than 6 hours online each day with 30 year olds on average making up 63% of internet users. Social media users in Southeast Asia make up more than 10% of the global total, experiencing growth rates of 50% higher than global average. The online economy in Southeast Asia is expected to grow more than 6x to more than US$200bn by 2025.  This growth is expected to come from eCommerce (apparel, electronics, household goods, food/grocery), Travel (hotels, flights, ride hailing) and online media such as ads and gaming. However despite the headline numbers, general market perception remains that Southeast Asia remains a highly fragmented market and a collection of dissimilar countries. It also has an under developed venture ecosystem which is not big enough to support large exit/IPO outcomes.