由 jpichiban Fri, 07 Feb 2025 02:57:57 GMT
东南亚的初创企业生态系统正经历多年的资金短缺困境，而近期的一起丑闻更是给该地区的投资者情绪带来了又一重打击。印尼农业科技独角兽企业eFishery——由软银集团和淡马锡控股等投资者支持——曾是印尼顶尖初创企业之一，但一项初步且仍在进行的调查显示，该公司可能涉及财务违规行为。
据彭博社报道，eFishery的董事会于周二宣布，已任命商业咨询公司FTI Consulting为公司的临时管理层，这一消息来源于CNBC获得的一份官方公司声明。FTI Consulting也发表声明称，其“旨在支持对公司真实财务状况和运营状况进行全面且客观的业务审查的持续努力”。这一举措是在一项由举报人关于公司会计问题的指控引发的持续调查背景下进行的，该举报估计管理层在截至2024年9月的九个月内虚增了近6亿美元的收入。报告还指出，公司向投资者展示了同期1600万美元的利润，但调查指控该初创公司实际上亏损了3540万美元。
Golden Gate Ventures的合伙人Justin Hall对CNBC表示：“eFishery本应反映出当地生态系统和印尼创始人的能力，它本应是东南亚地区较为出色的公司之一，本应是赢家。”该公司通过部署智能渔业喂养系统，在2023年完成2亿美元D轮融资后成为独角兽。然而，据彭博社报道，如今该公司的支持者正在考虑清算或收购等选项。
东南亚的初创企业生态系统自新冠疫情以来，已面临多年痛苦且代价高昂的调整期，当时该地区的资金涌入激增。根据Deal Street Asia 2025年1月的报告，2024年该地区的总交易量较前一年下降了10.3%，至633笔交易，而交易价值则下降了41.7%，至45.6亿美元。报告称：“从长远来看，2024年的数字仅占2020年新冠疫情第一年筹集资本的54.6%，仅为2021年峰值的19.5%。”
那么，问题出在哪里呢？从背景来看，一些人认为该地区的初创企业场景相对年轻，仅在过去的十五年里才开始快速发展。Acme Technology的创始人兼CEO、前Endowus首席运营官Jx Lye表示：“我们正处于整个资产类别的起步阶段，如果你愿意这么说的话。我会说2010年代初是硅谷的黄金时代……一切都在发生——Uber、Airbnb、Dropbox都在那里兴起。”“但2010年代中期发生的是，突然间，东南亚作为一个增长故事变得有趣起来。”那也是该地区第一波初创企业开始涌现的时候。Gojek、Carousell和Grab等公司率先为投资者提供了强有力的退出机会，即出售股份以获取利润的方式。
Justin Hall，Golden Gate Ventures的合伙人补充道：“可以说，东南亚在新冠疫情后的崩溃之前，经历了实质上的持续增长。”随着第一波成功初创企业的出现，这一时期还涌现了其他加速该地区科技和初创企业生态系统增长的因素，从而吸引了大量投资者的兴趣。 here was a giant explosion of the middle class … in the early 2000s to the mid-teens,” Kevin Aluwi, co-founder of Gojek and venture partner at Lightspeed, told CNBC. “There were a lot of projections that the consumer market in Southeast Asia will look like a mini China, but that didn’t pan out.”Investors were expecting a very “vibrant, high spending power consumer market to emerge” and thus, overshot their predictions on the pricing power that companies would have, the frequency of transactions that would take place, and overall, the average revenue that startups would be able to bring in, said Aluwi.”There were business models that many thought would be viable, but weren’t viable,” he added.Ultimately, investors began to realize that some companies in the region may have been overvalued, and it became clear that exit opportunities were few and far between.”The biggest problem is … there are very few exits in this market, so investors have no way of getting their money out,” Krish Sridhar, founder and CEO of Know, told CNBC.”It’s really hard to do business in Southeast Asia, because there is no such one thing. In Southeast Asia, we have seven different languages, seven different governments, seven different [systems of] regulation,” said Sridhar.”It’s not like doing business in India or China, where the local market is 1.4 billion people, or 1.2 billion people,” Sridhar added.From 2011 to 2022, the region saw a big spike in attention and in resource allocation, said Hall. “You could say that Southeast Asia saw what was effectively unabated growth up until the crash in post-Covid,” Hall told CNBC.”You had funds that raised too much money too quickly, you had founders that raised too much money too quickly, and unfortunately, capital formation outpaced the development of the local markets,” said Hall.Impact of the scandalToday, the allegations of fraud and misconduct by eFishery have reverberated throughout the region.”Beyond our own Group, we would also like to acknowledge the broader implications for Indonesia’s startup ecosystem and the communities it serves,” eFishery’s board said in a statement.”The recent revelations of alleged misconduct (including fraud) within the Group have been deeply disheartening to us all and may jeopardize the confidence in the Indonesian investment climate where the principal subsidiaries of our Group is located,” the statement added.The aquaculture company was heralded as one of the most prominent examples of what a good startup looks like in the region.”There was a lot of hope pinned on [eFishery] being the next generation … Having that [bubble] burst, because the poster child of that development turned out to be [allegedly] fraudulent, I think it’s really disappointing for the ecosystem,” said Aluwi.I think this could have a chilling effect for, conservatively, 12 months, but probably longer.Justin HallPartner, Golden Gate Ventures”I think Southeast Asia definitely took a hit in its perception … But the ones that will suffer the most would be the growth stage companies in Indonesia,” said Hall. “I think it will subject every good company in Indonesia to even more scrutiny, to the point where I can see investors saying, it’s not worth the hassle to invest in Indonesia.””I think this could have a chilling effect for, conservatively, 12 months, but probably longer. It’s very negative right now,” said Hall.Industry experts also echo that if the allegations are proven to be true, this scandal would not only have a negative impact on investing in the region — particularly in Indonesia — but also largely on the mid-to-large fundraising stages. This would affect not just investors, but founders as well.”I don’t think that it’s going to impact the early stage a lot, because, firstly, your check sizes are small,” said Acme Technology’s Lye. “But I think in the middle to later stages, that’s where investors will be a lot more stringent … because that’s where the bigger rounds are.””And that’s t he problem, because then every funding round gets a lot more complicated … Now, they want proof, they want auditability, but a lot of times you just cannot provide that. So that’s going to increase the cost of fundraising. That’s going to increase the effort,” said Lye.”It’s unsaid and unseen, right? Because then, a fundraising round could literally kill your company,” Lye said.The silver liningUltimately, although this scandal has sent shock waves through Southeast Asia’s startup scene, industry experts agree that there is a silver lining: the lessons learned.”If I’m being very pessimistic, I would say that this is going to reduce the dollars invested. If I’m being more optimistic, it’s not that it’s going to reduce the dollars — it’s just going to take longer for those dollars to be unlocked,” said Hall.”I think in the long term, this is a good thing. Companies need to scrutinize governance. Investors need to be extremely diligent with that,” Hall added.Along with having better due diligence and governance, investors agree that seeing more successful exits happen will be key to improving the funding drought.”There need to be local exits. There need to be global exits. There needs to be companies that can actually return money to investors and then indirectly to their limited partners,” said Hall.Today, founders and investors alike realize their predictions were overly optimistic and now the market is adjusting and recalibrating to what is realistically possible.”This reckoning kicked off a long time ago. EFishery did not do that … [people] were simply unrealistic in their expectations. I think if and when those expectations are rational, then, yes, this is a great place to build a business,” said Hall.Ultimately, Southeast Asia is “still the third most populous region in the world. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world,” said Lye. “All of these setbacks and challenges will only make the next wave of business owners, entrepreneurs and investors a lot more savvy … we will all bounce back stronger.”
原文链接：https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/efishery-the-impact-a-scandal-has-on-ecosystem-already-in-deep-water.html