Singapore’s Ecosystem for Technology Startups and Lessons for Its Neighbors

By Asian Development Bank

Technology-based startup enterprises are an increasingly important part of the business landscape in Asia and the Pacific. By applying innovative technologies to create new products and services, they can make a significant contribution to economic development while generating social and environmental benefits. However, to survive and then thrive, tech startups require an enabling ecosystem that includes supportive government policy, and adequate access to capital, skilled personnel, and quality digital infrastructure. This report examines Singapore’s vibrant tech startup ecosystem and identifies key lessons that can inform the efforts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand to nurture and develop their tech startups. The report focuses on four key sectors: climate change and environment, agriculture, education, and health.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Jun 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9789292695651

Book preview

SINGAPORE’S ECOSYSTEM FOR TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS AND LESSONS FOR ITS NEIGHBORS

Nitin Pangarkar and Paul Vandenberg

JUNE 2022

Country Report No. 2

Ecosystems for Technology Startups in Asia and the Pacific

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2022 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2022.

ISBN 978-92-9269-564-4 (print); 978-92-9269-565-1 (electronic); 978-92-9269-566-8 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS220234-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS220234-2

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Cover design by Joe Mark Ganaban.

Contents

Tables

Foreword

Business models continue to evolve rapidly, spurred by new digital technologies and their deployment in providing goods and services in innovative ways. We can now order food, hail a taxi, move money, arrange travel, watch entertainment, shop for just about anything, and even take courses or consult a doctor using digital methods. At a deeper and often less visible level, technology is affecting production processes in the form of Industry 4.0. Technology-based startup enterprises—or tech startups, for short—are an important part of the evolving business-to-business and business-to-consumer landscape in Asia and the Pacific as well as globally.

Startups develop in an ecosystem that can support—or hinder—their development. That ecosystem involves many national elements, but regional and international factors also are important, especially in highly open and globalized economies like Singapore. Finance, often from venture capital, and skilled personnel, including both tech experts and entrepreneurs, are important parts of the ecosystem. Good digital infrastructure and supportive government policy are also critical. Startups develop best when the markets for their goods and services are large and active.

This report analyzes Singapore’s ecosystem in depth, and also examines the ecosystems in three neighboring countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. It assesses the extent to which the four ecosystems are supportive of growing numbers of startups. The report focuses on startups in four areas: agritech, greentech (also known as cleantech), edtech, and healthtech. These four areas not only contribute to economic activity but can have a deeper impact on socioeconomic development. Edtech and healthtech contribute to human capital formation while agritech improves productivity and raises incomes in the rural sector where many of the poor work. Greentech advances environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

The analysis of Singapore’s ecosystem is used as the basis for providing recommendations for other countries in Southeast Asia and those further afield. My hope is that improved ecosystems can better support startups throughout the region.

Albert Park

Chief Economist

Asian Development Bank

Acknowledgments

The report was prepared by Nitin Pangarkar* (National University of Singapore) and Paul Vandenberg. The latter, along with Aimee Hampel-Milagrosa, guided the larger study project on tech startups in Asia. Rana Hasan and Lei Lei Song provided support at the management level. The report was reviewed by the Southeast Asia Department and the Singapore Office of the Asian Development Bank.

The authors would like to thank key informants from startups, incubators, accelerators, and venture capitalist fund managers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and, especially, Singapore. Their insights were indispensable for the preparation of the report. Tuesday Soriano* edited the report and Amanda Isabel Mamon provided administrative support, contracting, and manuscript management.

* Mr. Pangarkar and Ms. Soriano are consultants. All other persons mentioned are ADB staff.

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