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Yearender 2022: Revival of small start-ups amid downfall of tech giants
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AI-human interaction: Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) has spurred big investments in Silicon Valley as start-ups and cloud giants compete to make opaque software more understandable. (Unsplash/John Schnobirch)
M
uch of the tech industry had a rough year in 2022 as major companies went through axing sprees. However, smaller-scale start-ups experienced distinctly different fortunes as their fundraising improved.
A report released in November by DealStreetAsia called Data Vantage found that fundraising had plunged to a seven-quarter low in the July-to-September period of this year, partly due to the challenging macroeconomic situation.
Growth-stage funding drove most of the increases in total investment in 2020 and 2021, but that situation flipped in 2022, as funding rounds of Series C and above saw a tapering of 25 percent in value.
Nonetheless, the volume of deals has held up and could even exceed 2021 levels as private equity and venture capitalists cut more deals with early-stage start-ups.
Tan Boon Kim, executive director of innovation and enterprise at Enterprise Singapore – a government agency for enterprise development – said Singapore had experienced similar dynamics in the tech sector, despite its more mature business ecosystem.
“Given the current macroeconomic climate, it comes as no surprise that investors have become more cautious. Fundraising and listing prospects are now less favorable. But it is encouraging to see that venture funding in Singapore has continued at a healthy pace,” said Kim on Dec. 21.
Read also: Indonesian start-up founders still look to Singapore for first leg up
