Data Vantage | Skorlife, MAKA Motors, 2024 startup funding in focus
Edition #436, 16 January 2025
Dear Reader,
Indonesia-based Skor Technologies, the parent company behind the Skorlife app and Skorcard credit card, has secured $6.2 million in a pre-Series A round, led by Southeast Asia-focused VC firm Argor Capital.
Returning investors QED Investors and Saison Capital also participated, alongside new backer Digital Currency Group. This latest funding brings Skor Technologies’s total capital raised to over $12 million since its launch in 2022.
Separately this week, Indonesia’s MAKA Motors introduced its first locally designed electric motorcycle, the MAKA Cavalry, featuring a 160-km range, a 4 kWh battery, and regenerative braking technology.
Founded in 2021 by former Gojek executives Wibowo and Fadillah, MAKA positions the Cavalry as a step towards advancing Indonesia’s self-reliance in automotive innovation and sustainability goals.
MAKA Motors raised a $37.6-million seed funding round in 2023, co-led by AC Ventures with support from East Ventures and South Korea’s SV Investment.
Top five shareholders in MAKA Motors
Source: DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE
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DealStreetAsia’s conference report
Southeast Asia’s venture funding landscape continued its downward spiral in Q4 2024, closing the year at a new historic low, according to DealStreetAsia’s conference report for the Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2025.
Regional startups secured just 116 equity funding rounds in the final quarter, raising a modest $1.2 billion — the lowest quarterly deal volume in over six years. This weak performance capped a tough year for the region, with the total 2024 deal volume slipping 10.3% year-on-year to 633 and deal value plunging 41.7% to $4.56 billion.
The report paints a sobering picture of 2024’s funding climate as startups raised only 54.6% of the capital secured in 2020 — the first year of the pandemic, and just 19.5% of the record-breaking haul in 2021, the region’s VC high-water mark.
However, as equity funding waned, a notable trend emerged, the surge in debt financing. Startups clinched 16 debt deals in Q4 2024, bringing the annual total to a six-year high of 54 deals, valued at $1.85 billion, which is a 150% year-on-year leap.
Among Southeast Asia’s top six VC markets, the Philippines emerged as the standout performer in 2024, driven by a surge in fintech and logistics investments. The country recorded a 38% increase in deal volume to 44, while deal value soared 84% year-on-year (YoY) to $428 million.
This impressive growth underscores rising investor confidence in the Philippines’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, akin to Indonesia’s 8–10 years ago. In a twist of fortunes, Indonesia experienced the sharpest downturn, with deal volume declining 34% YoY and total deal value plummeting 66% YoY to just $438 million across 85 equity deals. This marks the nation’s weakest performance in over six years.
Beyond the funding slowdown, Indonesian startups face deeper structural challenges, including a shrinking middle class and the high cost of doing business, which continue to strain the broader ecosystem. Moreover, recent developments have exposed significant governance issues in some of the country’s major tech companies, further complicating the landscape.
Singapore, traditionally the region’s most active venture capital hub, showed resilience despite a 7.4% drop in deal volume. However, the total funding value fell 44% YoY, attributed to valuation pressures and a slowdown in late-stage deals.
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