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. It's the next China opportunity, after India.

From e-commerce to ride-hailing to mobile payment and local services, business models that have worked in China can be easily adapted from Chinese startups and transplanted here. Lookalikes of China's leading startups Didi, Alibaba, WeChat Pay and more have sprung up in India and now have emerged in Southeast Asia. They are often more advanced than western models, due to a leapfrogging over traditional payment, shopping, transit and services common in the West.

Unicorns are emerging here in the region too - 14 already, and developing more quickly than in the past. While far from the level of China and the U.S., a new report by technology advisory firm North Ridge Partners points to how Southeast Asia is embracing technology much quicker than its Western counterparts thanks to progressive governments, comparatively more affordable and reliable internet connectivity and a large, young population.

Read more at Forbes, Copy and Paste

 

CHINESE IPOs in US Slow Down

As the U.S.-China tech and trade battle lingers on, one impact is already playing out in the future of Chinese companies going public in the U.S.

Nasdaq senior vice president Bob McCooey predicts a slight slowdown in the number of Chinese companies listing in the U.S. this year. He expects the year 2019 to wind up with 35 to 38 Chinese IPOs in New York, he said at the East Tech West summit in Nansha, China. That's less than the 40 he predicted earlier in the year. But it's still an active pathway especially considering the tensions between the U.S. and China that often centers on technology issues.  

Investors are worried about the underlying China-U.S. pressures, which is creating uncertainty and lower valuations. "Some will wait for certainty before going ahead with IPO plans," said McCooey,