Technology

Posted on July 9, 2018 by staff

Asia already backed Western tech to tune of $25bn in 2018

Technology

A new report by GP Bullhound has found that Asia is still backing Western tech despite the treat of trade wars.

In its quarterly ‘Asian Insights’ newsletter, GP Bullhound summarises the key themes occurring in the Asian technology ecosystem and explores the flow of capital from the region into Europe and the US by analysing M&A and fundraising activity.

Elsa Hu and Per Lindtorp, directors at GP Bullhound, commented: “Asia remains an active player in the Western technology scene despite threat of trade wars and global capital market volatility.”

The analysis finds that almost $25bn of investment flowed from Asia into Europe and the US in the first six months of 2018, which is a 55 per cent increase year-on-year.

The US remains the market of choice for investment, with 74 per cent of completed transactions occurring with a US-headquartered business.

Despite the increased level of capital, the number of deals completed decreased, highlighting that investors are feeling increasingly comfortable in investing larger amounts outside their domestic markets.

The first half of 2018 has also seen 29 cross border M&A transactions and 220 fundraises, worth a total of $7.3bn and $16.1bn respectively. The first half of 2017, by comparison, totalled 92 M&A transactions and 242 fundraises, worth $5.7bn and $7.9bn.

FinTech remains a focus for investors in 2018, with the trading and brokerage platforms Robinhood and Revolut, based in the US and UK respectively, receiving funding from DST Global.

N26 the European mobile bank also received investment from Tencent and Nets, a payments processer, was acquired by a consortium including GIC of Singapore for $6.7bn.

Softbank also led the $8bn secondary round of investment for Uber, the international ride-hailing company, in January. The move makes the Japanese conglomerate the largest individual shareholder at 15 per cent. The round was done at a 30 per cent discount to Uber’s most recent valuation of $68bn.