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Startups in Southeast Asia are struggling to navigate a post-pandemic lull in tech investment, after recieving huge injections of funding from SoftBank Group's now ailing Vision Fund.    © Illustration by Yoshiko Kawano
The Big Story

From Grab to GoTo, Southeast Asia's startups weather funding winter

Tied to the fortunes of SoftBank's Vision Fund, tech sector must now sink or swim

AKITO TANAKA and TSUBASA SURUGA, Nikkei staff writers | Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE -- When Grab Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing operator, announced its first quarterly net profit last month, it was supposed to signal the company's resurrection.

The $11 million profit in the three months to December was a milestone, the first time in the black since Grab's founding over a decade ago, and up from a $391 million loss in the same period a year earlier. The company also announced its first-ever stock buyback plan of up to $500 million.

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