In the past decade, Asia has been the innovation hub for the travel and mobility tech (TNMT) sector, with half of global venture capital (VC) funding in the sector flowing into Asian startups. This trend led to the birth of numerous tech unicorns, such as China’s Didi, Singapore’s Grab, Indonesia’s Gojek, and India’s Ola.
What’s more, Asia will maintain its position as a leader in the TNMT industry even after the impact of COVID-19, according to a report by Lufthansa Innovation Hub titled “The State of Travel and Mobility Tech in Asia.”
According to the report, Asia has been critical in fueling the global TNMT startup ecosystem. VC firms from around the world have poured around USD 150 billion into travel and mobility tech startups from 2010 to 2019, amounting to 8% of total VC funding across all verticals. More than half of that investment has flown into Asian startups in the region since 2010, or over USD 80 billion.
Since 2015, TNMT startups have experienced rapid growth in the region, bagging at least 50% of global VC funding every year. As of 2019, almost half of all unicorns in travel and mobility tech come from Asia. The region is home to 20 unicorns, three more than the US, while Europe has seven unicorns in the TNMT sector. Among Asia’s unicorns, 13 are from China, the report highlights.
Investors have placed a bigger bet on mobility rather than travel startups in Asia, according to Lufthansa. Almost USD 41 billion went into ride-hailing between 2015 to 2019. This includes a USD 2.5 billion investment in Grab in August 2017 from Softbank, Didi, and Toyota, and USD 1.5 billion capital injection in Gojek by Tencent in February 2018.
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Click here to download the report
