S-E Asia’s startup ecosystem continues to brave funding drought

CHEQUEBOOKS in South-east Asia remain mostly shut, as the startup ecosystem deals with an ongoing funding winter that has lasted over the past two years.

Joe Lu, co-founder of rewards platform Heymax.ai, has his own story of woe that began in 2023. The startup had then just graduated from early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Tenity’s incubation programme, which is focused on fintech.

Heymax.ai had a 10,000-strong customer base and had pivoted into helping users gain air miles; it was time to take the next step.