"Narratives Driving Substance" —Riding the Venture Downcycle: Investing in Southeast Asia with Dmitry Levit, Cento Ventures (Part 1)

In today's Billion Dollar Moves, we bust some myths about Southeast Asia's VC activity and the narratives driving the expansion seen in the region.

The key question: will the momentum survive this downcycle? I chat with Dmitry Levit, Founding Partner of Cento Ventures, a venture capital firm specialized in under-invested emerging digital markets, primarily Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Intro

02:07 - Russian born Israeli citizen, now the expert investing in Southeast Asia

06:30 - Predictability of the Southeast Asia startup ecosystem through 2014

08:23 - Narratives driving Southeast Asia

12:43 - Masoyoshi Son breaking the 'time machine' theory?

14:31 - E-commerce: a case study

16:25 - The evolution of capital players holding up the markets

21:28 - Market corrections and institutional capital

24:54 - Market slowdown, deals vs deployments

26:37 - Weakening capital markets and expensive bets

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ABOUT DMITRY LEVIT:

Dmitry is the Founder of Cento Ventures. He is responsible for overseeing all investment and fund activities in Southeast Asia.

Dmitry formerly served as an advisor to several investment groups and corporations pursuing technology and media opportunities across developing Asia, with Media Development Authority of Singapore, Singtel, ru-Net, IDG Ventures Vietnam, SUP Media, Livejournal.com, Chinese Founders Fund, VIVA Media and Nusantara Ventures among his clients.

In 2008-2009, Dmitry was part of the investment team at IDG Ventures, where he provided extensive operational support to portfolio companies in Vietnam and was in charge of sourcing and assessment of investment opportunities in Indonesia and Singapore.

Prior to that, Dmitry spent several years in business development roles with Yahoo! Southeast Asia, negotiating a series of content, distribution, monetisation and technology deals for Yahoo! in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Dmitry also acted as a business strategist for the regional Managing Director, working on vertical strategies for e-commerce, gaming, travel, finance, telecom and other sectors.

EPISODE LINKS:

Cento Ventures Twitter: https://twitter.com/cento_ventures

Dmitry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levit/

Dmitry's report references: https://www.cento.vc/news-insights/

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Billion Dollar Moves is THE show for the audacious next generation leader; featuring the top US-Asia founders, funders and execs. From the growing pains of a unicorn journey to IPO, scaling a venture capital firm, we cover it all in the world of venture & business. Learn from the crème de la crème so YOU too, can make #billiondollarmoves — in venture, in business, in life.

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