! 
Alexander Jarvis, Operating Partner, Jungle Ventures
8 Myths about Asia
Today we call it
#1 
You need to be in the 
Valley to build a big 
consumer company
China has already created a company of scale 
(Sorry America…) 
• Alibaba’s sales for 2014 are forecasted at $420BN, 2.5x over 2012. 
• Amazon reported sales of $74.4BN for fiscal 2013 and EBay… fiscal 2013 of $16 Billion, 
less than one-tenth Alibaba’s 2012 sales
Rocket are building companies of scale across 
SEA, achieving a lot in just 2 years 
• 1m active customers 
• 79m monthly visits 
• Millions of Euro per month in 
revenue 
! 
• 1.6m customers served 
• 27m monthly visits 
• Millions of Euro per month in 
revenue 
Source: http://www.kinnevik.se/en/Investor/Kinnevik-Rocket-capital-markeys-day-2014/
APAC is set dominate ecommerce, 41% larger than 
America in 2016 
B2C Ecommerce Sales Share Worldwide, by Region, 2011-2016 - % of total 
1.6%! 
1.9%! 
2.1%! 
2.2%! 
3.1%! 
27.9%! 35.9%! 28%! 3.6%! 
2011! 
3.4%! 
30.5%! 33.5%! 26.9%! 3.8%! 
2012! 
2013! 3.5%! 
33.4%! 31.5%! 25.7%! 3.9%! 
2014! 3.6%! 
36.2%! 29.7%! 24.3%! 3.9%! 
2015! 
2016! 
3.6%! 
38.2%! 28.8%! 23.4%! 3.8%! 
3.5%! 
39.7%! 28.2%! 22.6%!3.7%! 
Asia-Pacific! North America! Western Europe! 
2.3%! 
2.3%! 
Eastern Europe! Latin America! Middle East & Africa! 
Source: eMarketer, 2013 
• 2013: Sales is expected to grow 18.3% to 
$1.298 trillion with Asia-Pacific surpassing 
North America to become the world's #1 
market for B2C ecommerce sales. 
• Despite strong growth, North America’s 
share of global sales will drop from 33.5% in 
2012 to 31.5% in 2013 as Asia-Pacific surges 
ahead. 
• Asia-Pacific in 2013 will see sales increase by 
more than 30% to over $433 billion — or 
more than one-third of all global B2C 
ecommerce sales. 
• Three Asia-Pacific markets — China, India 
and Indonesia — will see faster B2C 
ecommerce sales growth than all other 
markets worldwide in 2013.
There already are ‘big’ 
consumer companies
#2 
Definitely need to be in 
the Valley for 
ENTERPRISE startups!
Heard of these guys?
There are already APAC 
unicorns in enterprise
Internet penetration in 
Asia is too low 
#3
Almost 200m users online in SEA already 
Source: UBS
How does Asia stack up globally? 
Source: US census bureau, InternetWorldStats, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook, Vkontakte, ITU, CIA
APAC has almost half of global users, 
simply put 
Source: US census bureau, InternetWorldStats, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook, Vkontakte, GSMA Intelligence
Internet traffic will be double the US in 2015 
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 
CAGR 
’12-17 
By Geography (PB per Month) 
Asia Pacific 310 614 1,168 2,053 3,377 5,257 76% 
North America 222 380 632 993 1,466 2,087 56% 
Western Europe 181 276 426 655 976 1,384 50% 
Middle East and Africa 50 96 182 333 559 861 77% 
CEE 66 116 211 365 577 845 66% 
Latin America 55 97 179 304 481 723 67% 
Total (PB per Month) 
Mobile data and internet 884 1,579 2,798 4,703 7,436 11,157 65% 
Source: CISCO VNI, 2013
Social media penetration in APAC is the global 
average 
Source: US Census Bureau, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook
Internet penetration may 
be comparatively low, 
but there’s still a LOT of 
people online
Asians just copy, they 
don’t innovate 
#4
CAGR of tech patents in SEA is 7x USA 
Growth of tech patents in SEA VS USA 
180% 
135% 
90% 
45% 
0% 
-45% 
SEA USA 
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
Source: Patents by technology, OECD. SEA consists of ID, MY, PH, SG and TH 
CAGR 
SEA 
14% 
USA 
2%
Asia’s share of global tech patents is 
converging 
% of global tech patents in Asia VS USA 
40% 
30% 
20% 
10% 
0% 
Asia USA 
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
Source: Patents by technology, OECD. Asia consists of ID, MY, PH, SG, TH, CN, HK, IN, AU & NZ
2 of Fastcompany’s most innovate companies are 
Asian
India - Zipdial: Missed call innovation led to one of its 
kind partnership with FaceBook
Singapore - Rotimatic: Will lead to female 
empowerment
Have you tried executing in Asia? 
• Remember.. you keep saying you don’t invest in an 
‘idea’ 
• Asia has barriers (AKA problems): 
• Payments 
• Logistics 
• Market fragmentation 
• etc… 
• In America you can effectively outsource every 
aspect of your business 
• In Asia you have to figure out a creative solution to 
make every aspect of your business work 
• Why have business model risk when you have 
execution risk?
Innovation is overrated. 
Think about ‘copying’ 
differently, you have to 
hustle in Asia
You can’t get an exit in 
Asia 
#5
Let’s look at Singapore, last year 
• Approximately 1,000 startups in the preceding 3 
years 
! 
• 12 successful exits worth S$600 million in 2013 
! 
• 1.2% exit rate is not too shabby 
! 
• 2x more exits in 2013 than 2011 
! 
• We are just getting started
No Unicorns in SEA, but solid acquisitions 
• JobStreet / Seek - A$545 
• Viki / Rakuten - $200m 
• Travelmob / HomeAway - N/A 
• Zopim / ZenDesk - ~$30m 
• SGCarMart / SPH - $48m 
• TransferTo / Ingenico - $38m 
• JobCentral / CareerBuilder - N/A 
• SoundBuzz / Motorola - $27.65m 
• Detik / Para Group - $60m 
• Tarad / Rakuten - N/A 
! 
• Reebonz and RedMart worth $100m+ already
We have already had IPOs 
• Australia 
• Atlassian 
• Freelancer 
• iSelect 
• Xero 
• 3P Learning 
• OZForex 
• SEEK 
• Carsales 
• Malaysia 
• Jobstreet 
• iProperty 
• MyEg 
• iCar 
• iBuy 
• Singapore 
• AsiaTravel 
! 
! 
• Property Guru coming - 
~$500m+
You can get an exit, they 
just aren’t as big as the 
US (yet)
Asians aren’t 
entrepreneurs 
#6
There are still big cultural issues 
• A lot of people still want to work for ‘Samsung’ 
• But saying you are a founder is now an acceptable response at a 
dinner table when asked “What do you do”
But twice as many Philippinos than Israeli’s recon 
they have the skills to startup! 
Perceived Capabilities! 
Percentage of 18-64 population who believe to have the required skills and knowledge to start a business 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
Indonesian’s are twice more likely to be founders than in 
America 
Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA)! 
Percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
They aren’t as afraid of failing as you think 
Fear of Failure Rate! 
Percentage of 18-64 population with positive perceived opportunities who indicate that fear of failure would 
prevent them from setting up a business 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
Asians are representing abroad… how much?
…half the US startup jobs
AND… Asian founders in America raise more money 
than white founders, by the way 
Founding team racial composition vs. median funding 
received ($m) 
$4.00 
$3.00 
$2.00 
$1.00 
$0.00 
$1.3 
$2.3 $2.2 
$4.0 
All Asian Pacific All white Mixed All Black 
Source: CBInsights, 2010. National seed and Series-A - Jan to June 2010
They see good opportunities locally (As much as 
the US 
Perceived Opportunities! 
Percentage of 18-64 who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area where they live 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
More of their friends have set up companies 
Know Startup Entrepreneur Rate! 
Percentage of 18-64 population who personally know someone who started a business in the past two 
years 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
More media attention than developed markets 
Media Attention for Entrepreneurship! 
Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, you will often see stories in the 
public media about successful new businesses 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
Far more intend starting up in next 3 years than in US 
and UK 
Entrepreneurial Intention! 
Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who 
intend to start a business within three years 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
Asians are 
entrepreneurs, they are 
half of the US ecosystem!
There’s too much seed 
funding in Asia 
#7
Sure, ‘more’ money has come in 
• In 2006, $48 million seed went into 116 deals 
! 
• In 2013, $83 million was deployed across 257 
transactions 
! 
• Average seed rounds have decreased from $413k 
to $323k 
! 
• In 2012 in America, there were 1,749 seed deals 
! 
• There are 133 accelerators globally, SEA has 1-2 
per country 
Source: Asia Venture Capital Journal Research. Seed defined as deals under $1 million in size
“FFF” investments still half of that in America 
Informal Investors Rate! 
Percentage of 18-64 population who have personally provided funds for a new business, started by someone 
else, in the past three years 
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
There isn’t that much 
seed money
There is no smart money 
in Asia 
#8
Look around the room!

8mythsaboutstartupsventurecapitalinasia 140718104433-phpapp01

  • 1.
    ! Alexander Jarvis,Operating Partner, Jungle Ventures
  • 2.
  • 3.
  • 4.
    #1 You needto be in the Valley to build a big consumer company
  • 5.
    China has alreadycreated a company of scale (Sorry America…) • Alibaba’s sales for 2014 are forecasted at $420BN, 2.5x over 2012. • Amazon reported sales of $74.4BN for fiscal 2013 and EBay… fiscal 2013 of $16 Billion, less than one-tenth Alibaba’s 2012 sales
  • 6.
    Rocket are buildingcompanies of scale across SEA, achieving a lot in just 2 years • 1m active customers • 79m monthly visits • Millions of Euro per month in revenue ! • 1.6m customers served • 27m monthly visits • Millions of Euro per month in revenue Source: http://www.kinnevik.se/en/Investor/Kinnevik-Rocket-capital-markeys-day-2014/
  • 7.
    APAC is setdominate ecommerce, 41% larger than America in 2016 B2C Ecommerce Sales Share Worldwide, by Region, 2011-2016 - % of total 1.6%! 1.9%! 2.1%! 2.2%! 3.1%! 27.9%! 35.9%! 28%! 3.6%! 2011! 3.4%! 30.5%! 33.5%! 26.9%! 3.8%! 2012! 2013! 3.5%! 33.4%! 31.5%! 25.7%! 3.9%! 2014! 3.6%! 36.2%! 29.7%! 24.3%! 3.9%! 2015! 2016! 3.6%! 38.2%! 28.8%! 23.4%! 3.8%! 3.5%! 39.7%! 28.2%! 22.6%!3.7%! Asia-Pacific! North America! Western Europe! 2.3%! 2.3%! Eastern Europe! Latin America! Middle East & Africa! Source: eMarketer, 2013 • 2013: Sales is expected to grow 18.3% to $1.298 trillion with Asia-Pacific surpassing North America to become the world's #1 market for B2C ecommerce sales. • Despite strong growth, North America’s share of global sales will drop from 33.5% in 2012 to 31.5% in 2013 as Asia-Pacific surges ahead. • Asia-Pacific in 2013 will see sales increase by more than 30% to over $433 billion — or more than one-third of all global B2C ecommerce sales. • Three Asia-Pacific markets — China, India and Indonesia — will see faster B2C ecommerce sales growth than all other markets worldwide in 2013.
  • 8.
    There already are‘big’ consumer companies
  • 9.
    #2 Definitely needto be in the Valley for ENTERPRISE startups!
  • 10.
  • 11.
    There are alreadyAPAC unicorns in enterprise
  • 12.
    Internet penetration in Asia is too low #3
  • 13.
    Almost 200m usersonline in SEA already Source: UBS
  • 14.
    How does Asiastack up globally? Source: US census bureau, InternetWorldStats, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook, Vkontakte, ITU, CIA
  • 15.
    APAC has almosthalf of global users, simply put Source: US census bureau, InternetWorldStats, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook, Vkontakte, GSMA Intelligence
  • 16.
    Internet traffic willbe double the US in 2015 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 CAGR ’12-17 By Geography (PB per Month) Asia Pacific 310 614 1,168 2,053 3,377 5,257 76% North America 222 380 632 993 1,466 2,087 56% Western Europe 181 276 426 655 976 1,384 50% Middle East and Africa 50 96 182 333 559 861 77% CEE 66 116 211 365 577 845 66% Latin America 55 97 179 304 481 723 67% Total (PB per Month) Mobile data and internet 884 1,579 2,798 4,703 7,436 11,157 65% Source: CISCO VNI, 2013
  • 17.
    Social media penetrationin APAC is the global average Source: US Census Bureau, CNNIC, Tencent, Facebook
  • 18.
    Internet penetration may be comparatively low, but there’s still a LOT of people online
  • 19.
    Asians just copy,they don’t innovate #4
  • 20.
    CAGR of techpatents in SEA is 7x USA Growth of tech patents in SEA VS USA 180% 135% 90% 45% 0% -45% SEA USA 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Source: Patents by technology, OECD. SEA consists of ID, MY, PH, SG and TH CAGR SEA 14% USA 2%
  • 21.
    Asia’s share ofglobal tech patents is converging % of global tech patents in Asia VS USA 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Asia USA 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Source: Patents by technology, OECD. Asia consists of ID, MY, PH, SG, TH, CN, HK, IN, AU & NZ
  • 22.
    2 of Fastcompany’smost innovate companies are Asian
  • 23.
    India - Zipdial:Missed call innovation led to one of its kind partnership with FaceBook
  • 24.
    Singapore - Rotimatic:Will lead to female empowerment
  • 25.
    Have you triedexecuting in Asia? • Remember.. you keep saying you don’t invest in an ‘idea’ • Asia has barriers (AKA problems): • Payments • Logistics • Market fragmentation • etc… • In America you can effectively outsource every aspect of your business • In Asia you have to figure out a creative solution to make every aspect of your business work • Why have business model risk when you have execution risk?
  • 26.
    Innovation is overrated. Think about ‘copying’ differently, you have to hustle in Asia
  • 27.
    You can’t getan exit in Asia #5
  • 28.
    Let’s look atSingapore, last year • Approximately 1,000 startups in the preceding 3 years ! • 12 successful exits worth S$600 million in 2013 ! • 1.2% exit rate is not too shabby ! • 2x more exits in 2013 than 2011 ! • We are just getting started
  • 29.
    No Unicorns inSEA, but solid acquisitions • JobStreet / Seek - A$545 • Viki / Rakuten - $200m • Travelmob / HomeAway - N/A • Zopim / ZenDesk - ~$30m • SGCarMart / SPH - $48m • TransferTo / Ingenico - $38m • JobCentral / CareerBuilder - N/A • SoundBuzz / Motorola - $27.65m • Detik / Para Group - $60m • Tarad / Rakuten - N/A ! • Reebonz and RedMart worth $100m+ already
  • 30.
    We have alreadyhad IPOs • Australia • Atlassian • Freelancer • iSelect • Xero • 3P Learning • OZForex • SEEK • Carsales • Malaysia • Jobstreet • iProperty • MyEg • iCar • iBuy • Singapore • AsiaTravel ! ! • Property Guru coming - ~$500m+
  • 31.
    You can getan exit, they just aren’t as big as the US (yet)
  • 32.
  • 33.
    There are stillbig cultural issues • A lot of people still want to work for ‘Samsung’ • But saying you are a founder is now an acceptable response at a dinner table when asked “What do you do”
  • 34.
    But twice asmany Philippinos than Israeli’s recon they have the skills to startup! Perceived Capabilities! Percentage of 18-64 population who believe to have the required skills and knowledge to start a business Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 35.
    Indonesian’s are twicemore likely to be founders than in America Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA)! Percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 36.
    They aren’t asafraid of failing as you think Fear of Failure Rate! Percentage of 18-64 population with positive perceived opportunities who indicate that fear of failure would prevent them from setting up a business Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 37.
    Asians are representingabroad… how much?
  • 38.
    …half the USstartup jobs
  • 39.
    AND… Asian foundersin America raise more money than white founders, by the way Founding team racial composition vs. median funding received ($m) $4.00 $3.00 $2.00 $1.00 $0.00 $1.3 $2.3 $2.2 $4.0 All Asian Pacific All white Mixed All Black Source: CBInsights, 2010. National seed and Series-A - Jan to June 2010
  • 40.
    They see goodopportunities locally (As much as the US Perceived Opportunities! Percentage of 18-64 who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area where they live Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 41.
    More of theirfriends have set up companies Know Startup Entrepreneur Rate! Percentage of 18-64 population who personally know someone who started a business in the past two years Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 42.
    More media attentionthan developed markets Media Attention for Entrepreneurship! Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, you will often see stories in the public media about successful new businesses Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 43.
    Far more intendstarting up in next 3 years than in US and UK Entrepreneurial Intention! Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who intend to start a business within three years Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 44.
    Asians are entrepreneurs,they are half of the US ecosystem!
  • 45.
    There’s too muchseed funding in Asia #7
  • 46.
    Sure, ‘more’ moneyhas come in • In 2006, $48 million seed went into 116 deals ! • In 2013, $83 million was deployed across 257 transactions ! • Average seed rounds have decreased from $413k to $323k ! • In 2012 in America, there were 1,749 seed deals ! • There are 133 accelerators globally, SEA has 1-2 per country Source: Asia Venture Capital Journal Research. Seed defined as deals under $1 million in size
  • 47.
    “FFF” investments stillhalf of that in America Informal Investors Rate! Percentage of 18-64 population who have personally provided funds for a new business, started by someone else, in the past three years Source: Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Jungle analysis through Google Explorer
  • 48.
    There isn’t thatmuch seed money
  • 49.
    There is nosmart money in Asia #8
  • 50.