State of Southeast Asia 2017 Part 2 with Arnaud Bonzom

Arnaud Bonzom from 500 Startups joined us in a conversation to conclude our conversation on the state of Southeast Asia in 2017 and what is likely to come in 2018. We discussed the entry of Alibaba and Tencent in Southeast Asia and India which set up the war for ecommerce, logistics, social and cloud computing with Amazon, Facebook and Google, and the strange situation of disruptors and incumbents teaming up in consolidation or strategic partnerships across Southeast Asia. Last but not least, we discussed what 2018 will be for Southeast Asia particularly in the payment wars between major players and startups across the region.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Arnaud Bonzom (@arnaudbonzom, LinkedIn, Slideshare),Venture Partner @ 500 Startups and Co-founder @ Map of the Money [0:38]
• Southeast Asia in 2017 Review Part 2
  • Event 4: Alibaba and Tencent stepping up their global expansions plans in Southeast Asia and India [0:55]
    • Who will win out the ecommerce, logistics and cloud computing between Amazon and Alibaba in Southeast Asia? [1:45]
    • Comments on Facebook being a ecommerce threat to Alibaba and Amazon. [6:45]
    • What’s Tencent’s strategy in Southeast Asia and are they entering with JD, given that they have investments with Sea and various messaging apps in the region? [10:35]
    • Comparison between Facebook and Tencent [12:44]
  • Event 5: Consolidation or strategic partnerships between disruptors and incumbents in Southeast Asia [16:27]
    • What is the observation on why the disruptors (Uber, Grab) are working with the incumbents (Lippo Group in Indonesia, Comfort Delgero in Singapore)? [16:27]
    • Strategic Partnerships mentioned: Grab with Lippo Group in Indonesia, Uber and Comfort Delgero in Singapore, Go-Jek doing a partnership with Bluebird cabs in Indonesia, Spacemob working with Ascendas, real estate company and subsequently acquired by WeWork, Disney with iFlix in entertainment.
    • Will these strategic partnerships stay close for a while or break apart at some point? [21:05]
• What are your predictions on the Southeast Asia tech startup ecosystem in 2018? [21:58]
  • Upcoming payment wars between Alipay, Tenpay, Grab, Go-Jek, Razer, Garena, Honestbee, and many others in Southeast Asia.
• Closing [27:43]
  • Can you recommend a book, podcast or movie which has a major impact in your personal and work life?
    • Arnaud’s recommendations: Porto (written in Portuguese and French)
    • BL’s recommendation: “The Corporation that changed the World” by Nick Robins.
  • How do my audience find you?

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The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk on Indiegogo (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Also check out Ideal Workspace’s new standing desk, Altizen and sign up for their mailing list. Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack.