SEA unicorn list: Singapore’s Tyme Group joins US$1 billion club

OVER 10 years ago, Aileen Lee, a venture capitalist at Cowboy Ventures, came up with the term “unicorn” to describe a startup with a valuation of US$1 billion or more. Like the mythical creature, startups with the ability to achieve this have become more elusive.

While a record number of 21 startups in South-east Asia broke into this elite club in 2021, only a handful have been able to reach this valuation since then. Only eight startups achieved such status in 2022 and Indonesia-based eFishery was the only newcomer to the billion-dollar club last year.

Tyme Group, a digital bank headquartered in Singapore, is the latest startup to hit unicorn status as at December 2024. It is the second startup in the region to break into the one billion club this year following semiconductor firm Silicon Box.