It’s hard to keep up with Southeast Asia’s internet economy because it keeps blowing expectations out of the water

Southeast Asia’s accelerating internet economy — report. Source: blog.google

The latest e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2018 report by Google and Temasek projects a $240 billion Southeast Asian internet economy by 2025.

Southeast Asian countries are on a solid foundation for accelerated digital growth. Here are some promising findings from the report:

• $72 billion is the value that the region’s internet economy will reach in 2018, more than doubling since 2015. Southeast Asia’s internet sector has generated value surpassing the gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 100 countries in the world in just three years.
• 350 million internet users are living in the region. Since 2015, more than three million Southeast Asians, a population bigger than Chicago’s or Madrid’s, have gone online for the first time every month.
• $102 billion is the expected size of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market in 2025. 2018 was the year of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, which doubled in value from the previous year. And the top three e-commerce businesses, Lazada, Shopee and Tokopedia, are homegrown players founded in and serving the region.
• 35 million Southeast Asians use ride-hailing services every month. Eight million rides are taken every day across 500 cities. Local unicorns like GO-JEK and Grab are spurring rapid growth in new services like food delivery, which made up a $2 billion industry in 2018.
• $24 billion has been raised by Southeast Asian tech companies since 2015 and investor confidence is growing. The $9.1 billion raised in the first half of 2018 is on par with the $9.4 billion in the whole of 2017. Investor confidence extends to smaller startups, with investments in non-unicorns growing four times in the first half of 2018 year on year.
• 1.7 million full-time jobs will be created in the internet economy by 2025 for highly-skilled professionals as well as flexible work opportunities in sectors like ride-hailing.

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