southGoogle and Temasek just released the e-Conomy SEA 2018 report, highlighting Southeast Asia’s accelerating Internet economy.

If the reports of the past two years foresaw a $200 billion internet economy in the region by 2025, this year’s report shows that the region is taking much less time to get there than earlier expected. With eight years still left to go, Southeast Asia is already more than a third of the way to the target and Southeast Asian tech companies have already raised half of the $40-$50 billion in funds expected to attract.

So, the latest report projects a $240 billion Southeast Asian internet economy by 2025.

The record-breaking pace of the region’s internet economy in 2018 wasn’t a freak occurrence. Southeast Asian countries are on a solid foundation for accelerated digital growth, as some promising findings confirm:

  • $72 billion is the value that the region’s internet economy will reach in 2018, more than doubling since 2015. Southeast Asia’s internet sector has generated value surpassing the gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 100 countries in the world in just three years.
  • 350 million internet users are living in the region. Since 2015, more than three million Southeast Asians, a population bigger than Chicago’s or Madrid’s, have gone online for the first time every month.
  • $102 billion is the expected size of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market in 2025. 2018 was the year of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, which doubled in value from the previous year, with the top three e-commerce businesses, Lazada, Shopee and Tokopedia, which are homegrown players founded in and serving the region.
  • 35 million Southeast Asians use ride hailing services every month. Eight million rides are taken every day across 500 cities. Local unicorns like GO-JEK and Grab are spurring rapid growth in new services like food delivery, which made up a $2 billion industry in 2018.
  • $24 billion has been raised by Southeast Asian tech companies since 2015 and investor confidence is growing. The $9.1 billion raised in the first half of 2018 is on par with the $9.4 billion in the whole of 2017. Investor confidence extends to smaller start-ups, with investments in non-unicorns growing four times in the first half of 2018 year on year.
  • 1.7 million full-time jobs will be created in the internet economy by 2025 for highly-skilled professionals as well as flexible work opportunities in sectors like ride-hailing.

 

TEMASEK
Keep up with Southeast Asia’s internet economy and learn more in the e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2018 report. (Source: Google)

By MediaBUZZ