Thread by @adadithya

There has never been a better time to set shop in Southeast Asia. The internet economy is BOOMING, and HOW! Some numbers.

The obvious comparison here is India with 1.3 billion people.
SEA has 650 million people, but heavily transact on the internet.

[THREAD]

2016: 260 million internet users.
2019: 360 million internet users, 90% on mobile.

[All subsequent data from a Google report that has been tracking SEA since 2016]

2018: The internet economy reached $72 billion in GMV (This was $40 billion higher than the previous year's reports' own estimates. Growth, then, was unprecedented)

2019: Touched the $100 billion mark.

The value of the Internet economy has more than tripled between 2015-2019😳

In 2015, about 49 million people bought or sold items online. Today, that number has tripled to 150 million.

Every estimate in every industry vertical had to be revised from 2018-2019 because of the unprecedented growth. 🔥🤷

To add further context, here's an interesting titbit:

In 2018: users in Thailand spent 4 hours and 56 minutes on mobile internet.
2019: 5 hours and 13 minutes.

It's the highest time spent in the world.

Global average: 3 hours and 13 minutes. 👌

There are some obvious advantages to this spike: Namely, Demography.

Some 150 million Southeast Asians will turn 15 over the next 15 years. That's 10 million people joining the “mobile age” every year.

The market will be on steroids at this stage. 🔥

No prizes for guessing which country is leading the way.

Indonesia.

2018: $27 billion in GMV
2019: $40 billion in GMV.

(Google has revised predictions, moving 2018 projections of $100 billion by 2025 to $130 billion.) 🤪😱

The industry vertical powering this growth: e-Commerce.

The vertical has jumped jumping seven times in 4 years to over $38 billion in 2019.

Lastly, Ride-hailing. The vertical @gojektech is most invested in. (Includes #foodtech)

As things stand, the sector’s 2025 potential exceeds $40 billion, up from $29 billion predicted previously.