GMV and revenue
GMV and revenue growth have been resilient in the face of inflation and competition
Both GMV and revenue have consistently grown by double digits
Report highlights
Walk through key highlights from the 2024 report in five minutes
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Profitability on the horizon
After investing in growth for years, key players in the SEA digital economy have made progress towards profitability
Profit growth
The tandem growth of GMV and profitability demonstrates that both can happen in parallel
Profit has also been growing in the double digits
Sectors progress
Core sectors make strides toward profitability
Efforts to increase monetisation and reduce costs have improved margins over time for most sectors
Digital finance stays on the ascent
The momentum carries on in digital financial services (DFS), as QR codes become widespread and digital lending gathers steam
DFS revenue
Strong digital appetite continues to fuel healthy growth across DFS sectors
DFS grows by 22%, as lending remains the biggest revenue driver
Payments
Digital payments ride the wave of QR code adoption
The adoption of QR codes across the region boosts e-wallet and account-to-account transactions
Clearing the path to investment exits
Investments in mature digital sectors have tapered off; reliable exits are needed to revitalise the funding landscape
Funding
Private funding in Southeast Asia remains subdued
Funding has normalised as SEA's pioneer cohort of unicorns reach maturity
Enablers
Most enablers for revitalising the funding landscape are in place, with one remaining gap
Dependable exit pathways are the missing piece for investors to return, but progress is under way
Surveying the terrain ahead
Ecosystem players must come together to build digital trust, and harness consumer and business receptiveness to AI to drive value
Consumer
SEA consumers are curious about AI, especially users in metro cities
SEA consumers exhibit strong interest in AI compared to global counterparts
Trust
As consumers engage more online, building digital trust has never been more important
Although savvy SEA users are being scammed less often, scammers are extracting more value each time9
AI
SEA businesses are early adopters of GenAI; most see returns on their investment within 12 months
For end-layer GenAI applications, businesses in the region are seeing accelerated time to value11
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Notes and sources
e-Conomy SEA is a multi-year research programme launched by Google and Temasek in 2016. Bain & Company joined the programme as lead research partner in 2019. The research leverages primary research, Temasek insights, Bain analysis, Google Trends, expert interviews, and industry sources to shed light on the digital economy in Southeast Asia. The information included in this report is sourced as ‘Google, Temasek and Bain, e-Conomy SEA 2024’, unless otherwise specified.
The information in this report is provided on an ‘as is’ basis. This document was produced by Google, Temasek, Bain and other third parties involved as of the date of writing, and is subject to change. It has been prepared solely for information purposes over a limited period of time to provide a perspective on the market. It is not intended for investment purposes. All financial analysis is derived or estimated by Bain analysis using both non-Google proprietary and publicly available information. Google has not supplied any additional data for financial analysis, nor does Google endorse any financial analysis made in the report. Where information has been obtained from third party sources and proprietary research, this is clearly referenced in the footnotes. Projected market and financial information, analyses, and conclusions contained in this report should not be construed as definitive forecasts or guarantees of future performance or results. Google, Temasek, Bain, their respective affiliates or any other third party involved make no representation or warranty, either express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information in the report, and shall not be liable for any loss arising from the use of this report.
All dollar amounts in this report are in USD. Unless otherwise stated, all mentions of “Southeast Asia” or “SEA” in this report refer to these six markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Note: Only OTAs are included in “Travel”. Source: Bain analysis
Notes: Profit shown is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) including allocated corporate overhead, as reported by e-commerce marketplaces, food delivery and transport platforms, online travel agencies, and online media players, excluding incumbents e.g. brick and mortar retailers, taxi companies, etc. Online media profits were calculated with proxies of leading companies in the industry. Source: Bain analysis
Notes: Only OTAs are included in “Travel”. Profit shown is EBITDA including allocated corporate overhead as reported by e-commerce marketplaces, food delivery and transport platforms, online travel agencies, and online media players, excluding incumbents e.g. brick and mortar retailers, taxi companies, etc. Online media profits were calculated with proxies of leading companies in the industry. Source: Bain analysis
Note: Revenue is measured using different metrics for each DFS sector:
- Payments: merchant fees (based on merchant discount rates)
- Lending: average effective interest rates plus servicing fees
- Wealth: annual management fees and platform fees
- Insurance: annual premium equivalent for life insurance and gross written premium for non-life insurance
Source: Bain analysisSource: Bain analysis
Note: Private funding value covers digital economy-related sectors, and excludes public financing deals e.g. PIPE, IPO, ICO. Source: Bain analysis
Source: Bain SEA Venture Capital Investors Survey, Q3 2024; Bain analysis
Source: Google internal data, ID, MY, PH, SG, TH, VN, Jan-Aug 2024
Google/Qualtrics, APAC Online Scam Survey, ID (n=1,247), SG (n=1,251), TH (n=1,251), and VN (n=1,248), online population aged 18 and above. Fieldwork ran from 11/12/2023 to 22/12/2023 for ID, SG, TH, and 11/12/2023 to 02/01/2024 for VN.
Notes: 1) SEA accounts impacted by financial fraud as a proportion of total active accounts. 2) Affluent users are cardholders of Visa Affluent Products (e.g. Visa Signature, Infinite, Ultra High Net Worth). Source: Visa data for SEA, 2024
Source: Interviews with cloud partners deploying generative AI use cases