THE startup ecosystem in South-East Asia has certainly moved on to the next level in the two years IMJ Investment Partners (IMJ) has been in the region, in terms of both valuations and activity. “When I first visited Jakarta, Tokopedia’s valuation was at US$10 million – now it’s at US$300 million,” IMJ chief executive officer Yuji Horiguchi tells Digital News Asia (DNA). “This shows that South-East Asian startups have been growing at a really fast pace,” he says in an interview at his office, with IMJ’s South-East Asia regional manager Ryusuke Hirota assisting with the translation.

Philippine financial technology (fintech) startup Ayannah won the main award at the Rising Expo SEA 2015 startup pitching competition in Jakarta, Indonesia. Led by its founder and CEO Mikko Perez, Ayannah beat the tech startups from Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, among others in the event conducted by Japan-based venture capital company CyberAgent Ventures at the Jakarta Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel.

It has been almost 2 months since I relocated to Singapore. During this time I saw about 100 fintech projects at different stages. My last article was dedicated to 5 most promising mPOS-acquiring startups, and now I’d like to introduce 15 more projects.

TECHINASIA Singapore 2015 Conference (6-7 May 2015) highlights included "Market Expansion Tracks," a series of country-focused business environment briefings by subject matter experts.