In the mythical world of venture capital investing, the most prized animal of all is the unicorn which is a startup valued at over US$1b.
Singapore is currently home to four prime unicorns – Grab, SEA, Lazada and Razer – which have a combined market value of $20b out of the 10 unicorns produced in Southeast Asia, according to a report by Bain & Company.
Grab has been promoted to decacorn status, a term used to describe startups that have the potential to hit a valuation of $10b. Grab is positioning itself as Southeast Asia’s ‘superapp’ following recent deals with global banks to incorporate a wider range of payment options for users through its e-wallet GrabPay. The firm also announced it will roll out its remittance service in early 2019 to capture the region’s remittance market that was estimated to be worth $70b in 2017, data from World Bank showed.
New unicorns
This current roster of unicorns like Grab may be joined by three succesful startups this year. According to online platform Tech Collective, the online property platform Property Guru, logistics firm Ninja Van and community marketplace Carousell have the best potential to be Singapore’s next unicorn.
PropertyGuru has raised $329.6m ($240m) over four funding rounds from seven investors, including VCs, Emtek, and TPG. Its series D funding round clinched $200m led by global investment firm KKR. It also fully consolidated Vietnam property portal Batdongsan which is used by over 4 million property seekers into its group. Ninja Van has raised S$161.37m ($117.5m) from five investors and is Southeast Asia’s fastest growing logistics startup. Ninja Van’s series C funding round in January racked in $114.39m (US$8m).
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