The merger of Gojek and Tokopedia into the GoTo group marks a new era for startups in Southeast Asia and Indonesia, which is home to an increasingly growing startup culture. In a region with nearly 700 million people in population, most of these startups have transformed into super-apps that have been downloaded more than 100m times, each aiming to be used to provide all sorts of purchases and services. However, in recent days, the startup business model itself has been criticized many times for its alleged unsustainability and inability to gain profit. New and emerging startups are also more susceptible to the increasing competitiveness of the scheme as well as vulnerabilities and uncertainties. But beyond this merger, one might ask: what’s next for Southeast Asia’s startups?

In this second episode of Speakonomics, we are accompanied by Ms. Fransiska Herline to discuss about the startup culture and environment in Southeast Asia, and what its future looks like.