"Let's Take Our Chips Off The Table"—Riding the Venture Downcycle: Investing in Southeast Asia with Dmitry Levit, Cento Ventures (Part 2)

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. In today’s Part 2 we go a little bit more 'micro' — what Dmitry is still excited by in building his portfolio. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 02:50 - What Dmitry is excited by in 2023: the future of digital 04:50 - How founders are building in 2023 06:11 - Trade exits getting dicey? 08:49 - The disappointment of Grab? 11:29 - Rocket Internet "burned the region for many investors for the next 10 years"? 16:47 - The future of the food delivery space 18:06 - How has Ukraine-Russia played out in Southeast Asia? 25:46 - What next for Dmitry after more than a decade with Cento? 27:17 - Billion Dollar Questions Really power-packed, you need to be taking notes for these two episodes if you want to understand SEA; you don’t want to miss it. -- 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/ -- FOLLOW SARAH: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal Instagram: https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahchenglobal Billion Dollar Moves is THE show for the audacious next generation leader; featuring the top US-Asia funders & founders. 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. -- PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://sarah-chen.com/billion-dollar-episodes Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves #billiondollarmoves #venturecapital #southeastasia #digital #investing #startupstories