20240320 Cover SEA's startup funding winter img main

Startups in Southeast Asia are struggling to navigate a post-pandemic lull in tech investment, after recieving huge injections of funding from SoftBank Group's now ailing Vision Fund.  © Illustration by Yoshiko Kawano

From Grab to GoTo, Southeast Asia's startups weather funding winter

Tied to the fortunes of SoftBank's Vision Fund, tech sector must now sink or swim

SINGAPORE -- When Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing operator, announced its first quarterly net profit last month, it was supposed to signal the company's resurrection.

The $11 million profit in the three months to December was a milestone, the first time in the black since Grab's founding over a decade ago, and up from a $391 million loss in the same period a year earlier. The company also announced its first-ever stock buyback plan of up to $500 million.

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