"For us sitting in the pre-seed stage, we really haven't changed our pace, but I think for the portfolio companies who are raising seed and plus, we've definitely noticed a slowdown in processes. I do think valuations are coming down and that is something we've talked about on the podcast before. As public markets valuations come down, you have that cascading effect from the public markets all the way down through the different private stages, and normally, it's a six-month lag. We're starting to see that kick in. We're also in the lull of summer where things tend to slow down a little bit on the deal-making side, so this is pretty consistent with what we're seeing in the market." - Shiyan Koh
"The general rule is things always take longer than you think. If you're going to raise, you need to start sooner. You also need a plan B. You need to figure out if there’s a way you can get to cash flow break-even faster in order to take control of your own destiny. We're seeing that in good and bad ways. In good ways, people have been cutting a lot and some companies are finding out they’re running a little bit too fast and can achieve similar results on a much lower opex space. The bad is that some people won't cut in time and they're not going to make it." - Shiyan Koh
"A lot of protectionist policies have started to come out. India recently did an export ban on rice, which also has a net transfer of wealth and consumer surplus dynamic. Who benefits and who don't? The winners at the top of my head are the small medium manufacturers in Indonesia. The domestic workforce that's associated with that would benefit. Another thing I think about would be, interestingly, there could be some economic enablers or middlemen who basically are buying these goods in the right, having the regulatory licensing. These middlemen would benefit to some extent because the demand will still be there." - Jeremy Au
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on the 56% startup funding decline in 2023, Indonesia banning sub-$100 SKU e-commerce imports, and founder fundraising tactics.
Keywords: 56% Startup Funding Decline 2023, Indonesia Bans E-commerce Imports, Founder Fundraising Tactics, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, VC, Thought Leadership
