Driven by the copy and paste model of innovation, it’s increasingly clear that the emerging startup and investment opportunities in the Asian region are tilting toward Southeast Asia. Lookalikes of China’s leading startups Didi, Alibaba, WeChat Pay and more have sprung up in India and now have emerged in Southeast Asia. Chris Tan, head of Asia for North Ridge Partners, labels Southeast Asia the most under-rated economic success story and sees growing opportunities for acquisitions and IPOs. The regional equivalent of China’s ride-hailing leader Didi is Ola in India and Grab in Singapore while the copy of China’s e-commerce giant is Flipkart in India. Venture investors see the increasing risks of funding more Chinese startups given the U.S-China tech and trade tensions, and they too are turning toward Southeast Asia.

Source: Forbes November 18, 2019 00:22 UTC