Topica, one of the seasoned veterans of Vietnam’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, has closed a $50m Series D, making it one of the largest funding rounds for a Vietnamese tech company to date.
Topica was founded a decade ago and claims to have since helped more than 1m adults through its online education platform, as it covers 6 of the largest countries in Southeast Asia.
The digital economy is boomin’ in Southeast Asia
While it still has a long way to grow before filling the shoes of China and India, Southeast Asia’s digital market is certainly hot right now.
Home to a cumulative 650m people, Southeast Asia has 350m internet users across its 6 largest countries (more than the entire US population), and the region’s digital economy is on pace to reach $72B this year, up from $50B last year and $19.1B in 2015.
And the fun doesn’t stop there
Southeast Asia has recently raised its projections for the size of its internet economy from $200B by 2025 to $240B — triple its current size.
The biggest driver currently? Online travel, which accounts for $30B in revenue, just ahead of e-commerce at $23B.