2021 TAIWANSTARTUP INVESTMENT SCENEREPORT
Latest Trends of Early Stage Startup Investments in Taiwan

Content
01/ Acknowledgements

P.02

02/ Editor’s Note

P.04

03/ Important Notes & Key Findings

P.05

04/ The Current Startup Investment Scene of Taiwan

P.07

05/ Leading Sectors of Taiwan

P.15

06/ Comparing to Other Markets

P.21

07/ Summary

P.26

08/ References

P.27

Acknowledgements

Startup Island TAIWAN
Startup Island TAIWAN is the national startup brand of Taiwan.
The brand symbolizes a journey from a startup island to the international arena. It demonstrates to the world the strong ambitionand capabilities of Taiwan startup companies as well as theirintention and ability to contribute to other startup ecosystems
around the world.

©2021 Startup Island TAIWAN. All Rights Reserved.
This document is protected by copyright laws and contains material
proprietary to Startup Island TAIWAN. It or any components may not
be reproduced, republished, distributed, transmitted, displayed, broadcast or otherwise exploited in any manner without the express priorwritten permission of Startup Island TAIWAN.

02

Taiwan Institute of Economic ResearchTaiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) wasestablished on September 1, 1976 by Dr. Chen-Fu
Koo as the first private independent think tank in
Taiwan. The main purpose of the institute is toactively engage in research on domestic and foreign
macroeconomics and industrial economics in orderto provide consultations to the government andenterprises and to promote Taiwan’s economic
development.

FINDIT
FINDIT’s mission is to integrate and provide valuable
information related to innovative entrepreneurshipand market, such as early-stage investment market
dynamics, perspectives on the startup ecosystem,
and latest ideas of technologies and media.

Crunchbase
Crunchbase is the leading provider of private-company prospecting and research solutions. 70 million
users—including salespeople, entrepreneurs, investors, and market researchers—use Crunchbase toprospect for new business opportunities. And companies all over the world rely on us to power theirapplications, making over 6 billion calls to our API
each year. To learn more, visit about.crunchbase.com/ and follow us on Twitter @crunchbase.

03

Editor’s Note
This report is a collaboration with the FINDIT team of the Taiwan Institute of
Economic Research (TIER) and Crunchbase in hopes of shedding light on thelatest trends of the Taiwan investment scene. With the mission to integrate
and provide valuable information related to innovative entrepreneurship andmarket, such as early-stage investment market dynamics, perspectives on thestartup ecosystem, and latest ideas on technologies and media.
Taiwan’s startup ecosystem is on the upward trajectory, gaining recognition
and achieving good performances in the international arena. With this backdrop, the National Development Council (NDC) would like to create a unified
identity system to represent the overall image of Taiwan's startup ecosystem.
To find the foundations of Taiwan's innovation and entrepreneurship DNA, the
NDC held meetings and workshops with startup communities, key opinion
leaders, and other government agencies. After rounds of discussions, the
NDC and the community decided to jointly create the national startup brand,
Startup Island TAIWAN.
Taiwan’s industry and economy has always been driven by startups, innovation, and early-stage funding. From the strong roots of the semiconductor
industry, to globally-reknown startups like Gogoro and Appier, Taiwan's economy is built on these ventures and entrepreneurs.
Within this report, we want to showcase the comprehensive ecosystem andinnovation capabilities of Taiwan. We want to break down the early-stage
startup investments happening in Taiwan. What are the trends? Who are theinvestors? What are some growing industries? How do we compare with
global counterparts? Hopefully after reading this report, we can inspire you tolearn more about everything happening in Taiwan, and eventually one day,invest in Taiwan.

04

Important Notes &Key Findings
We list down some Key Findings found in this report

Between 2015 and 2020, 1,421 early stage investment deals in Taiwan were closed,
totaling over USD$4.05 Billion.
In 2020, there were 310 cases, compared to 2019 where there were 355 cases, indicating a 12.68% drop.
During 2020, a total amount of USD$873 Million was invested, which is a 25.04%
increase compared to 2019’s USD$698 Million.
We are seeing an increasing number of deals totalling over USD$10 Million, thebiggest cases include the KKday’s US $75 Million Series C funding and Kneron’s US$40 Million Series A+ funding.

05

Not much difference between 2015 to 2020 in terms of investment amount median, which
averages 1 mil USD, 2020 median amount was 900k, slightly lower than the average.
Health Tech dominates the amount and number of deals with USD$917 Million and 289
deals between 2015 and 2020.
With COVID-19 happening in 2020, digitalization has become the new normal for corporations, as a result, within health tech startup investment cases, digital health startups are
becoming a rising topic.
Energy and Electronics deals are all seeing steady increase in terms of investment
amount and number of deals through recent years.
Within energy tech investment cases, topics surrounding green energy like wind energy
and solar power are seeing great improvement.
Corporates/ Corporate Venture Capitals (CVC) are the biggest startup investors in termsof the amount of deals involved, representing over half of the total number of cases.
The biggest investors in terms of total capital invested are VCs, with a total amount of
USD$3.065 Billion invested throughout 2015 to the end of 2020.
Overseas investors are involved in the least cases but average the largest amount percase, with an average of USD$11.15 Million per case.
The National Development Fund (NDF) plays an important role in Taiwan’s early-stage
startup investment scene, investing in 248 cases and investing a total amount of
USD$474 Million.
The number of cases involving Corporates/ CVCs are increasing every year, with 2020
reaching a new high of 179 cases.

06

The Current
Startup Investment
Scene of Taiwan
We breakdown some Key Findings from the Taiwan investment scene

Taiwan is a growing startup ecosystem with more and more investment
deals happening every year. From 2015 to 2020, 1,421 early stage investment deals were done, totaling over USD$4.05 Billion invested.

822.5

873.5

805.1
698.6

417.6

2015

434.3

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

The total amount of money invested in startups per year. (USD$ Million)07

During 2020, 310 investments were completed. If you compare thenumber to 2019, which was 355 cases, we’ve seen a drop of 12.68%,
mainly due to COVID-19 impacting the market and affecting the total
amount of investment deals. However, we've seen an all-time high intotal investment amount in 2020. With a total amount of USD$873
Million invested, which is a 25.04% increase compared to 2019’s
USD$698 Million. The explanation behind this number is due to moredeals with more than USD$10 Million involved, the biggest deals
include KKday’s USD$75 Million Series C round and Kneron’s
USD$40 Million Series A+ round.
With the total investment amount increasing steadily, we are positive that with more deals coming in 2021, we will continuously see
growth in the Taiwan capital market. Stay tuned for our next report,
as we will uncover this data and give you more insight on the Taiwan
early stage investment scene.

355
310

221
189

203

143

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

The total number of deals finished per year.

08

If we dive into the average amount of each deal. During 2017, theinvestment average amount is USD$4.47 Million, 2019 with
USD$2.17 Million, and 2020 with USD$3.15 Million. As you can see,the average amount varies due to a few large investment cases
involved every year, so numbers are very volatile. However, if we diveinto the median amount each year, data shows that there hasn’t beenmuch changes in numbers recently. From 2015 to 2020, the medianamount of each investment deal is around USD$1 million.

Average

Median
4.47
3.99
3.15

3.07
2.51

1.00

2015

2.17

0.95

2016

0.90

2017

1.09

2018

0.83

2019

0.90

2020

Average and median amount of USD$ within deals happened
in Taiwan per year. (USD$ Million)

09

49%

17%

50%

15%

9%

9%

9%

4% 5%

4%

9%

5% 6%

9%

2015
6%

8%

8%

2016
51%

18%

7%

6%

2017
45%

15%

8%

11%

7%

7%

7%

15%

8%

7%

5% 2%

10%

6%

6%

2018
53%
2019
52%

13%

6%

7%

11%

2020

Under USD$1 Million
USD$5-10 Million

USD$1-2 Million

USD$2-3 Million

Over USD$10 Million

USD$3-5 Million

Non-disclosure

Percentage breakdown of deals happened in Taiwan by deals from 2015 to 2020.

44%

22%

11%

6%

9%

7%

2015
33%

24%

15%

7%

10%

11%

2016
69%

9%

7%

4% 6% 6%

2017
56%

14%

12%

6%

7%

6%

2018
34%

18%

15%

11%

10%

12%

2019
55%

15%

10%

5%

7%

8%

2020

Under USD$1 Million
USD$3-5 Million

USD$1-2 Million
USD$5-10 Million

USD$2-3 Million
Over USD$10 Million

Percentage breakdown of deals happened in Taiwan by funding amount from 2015 to 2020.

10

Looking at the distribution of investors in Taiwan, we can see that 56% of deals weredealt by local corporations or CVC’s, totaling an investment amount of USD$2.8
Billion from 2015 to the end of 2020. Within all early-stage investors, CVCs andcorporate investors have been putting in more money and investing in more cases
every year, with 2020 at a new high of 179 invested cases. In the previous report
we’ve written - “The 2021 Taiwan Industrial Transformation Report”, we showcased
the strong ties between Taiwan’s industry development and innovation, which
demonstrates why CVC and corporate involvement in startup investments havebeen so important in Taiwan, and why it’s the driving force behind Taiwan’s
early-stage investment scene.
However, if we look at the amount of money invested, local VCs are actually thebiggest players, investing in USD$3.065 Million in total from 2015 to the end of
2020. However, if we look at the largest average amount invested in each case, overseas VCs dominate this field with USD$11.15 Million invested in each deal.

175

179

163
114

115

92

87
96

84

100

58

22
16

121

50
29
25

Corporate/ CVC

35

82

44

76
26

12

31

Local VC

Overseas VC

NDF

This graph breaks down the composition of investors (Corporate/ CVCs, VCs, Government, Overseas VCs) from 2015 to 2020 based on cases invested in each year.

On a side note, corporations are typically strategically investing and often do
not disclose their investments to the public. As a result we don’t see many
full-scale reports on these investment deals since many of them are done
under the radar and not shown to the public.

11

Corporate/ CVC

Local VC

56%

42%

791 Deals

Average amount per case
USD$

3.54 Million

NDF

17%

593 Deals

Average amount per case
USD$

5.17 Million

Overseas VC

14%

191 Deals

Average amount per case
USD$

1.91 Million

200 Deals

Average amount per case
USD$

11.15 Million

This graph breaks down the composition of investors (Corporate/ CVCs, VCs, Government,
Overseas VCs) in Taiwan, including the average percentage of each type of investors, andthe number of deals completed by each type of investors from 2015 to 2020.
Note that most investments involve multiple companies, VC’s, or investors, so the total
percentage is over 100%.

One special aspect about Taiwan's startup ecosystem is government involvement. Growth in recent years can be attributed to the
Taiwanese government’s investment and efforts in numerous
initiatives like startup hubs, subsidies, startup support programs,
and strengthening the startup ecosystem. In fact, in 2017, the NDC
started a program through the NDF, called the Business Angel
Investment Program. Through this program, NDF established amatch-with-investor startup investment mechanism to improve theangel investment environment in Taiwan. Through co-investments
in startups alongside angel investors, this 5-year program has
already allocated an amount up to $2.4 billion NTD, and has madeover 165 startup investments since the program began.
Between 2015 and 2020, the Business Angel Investment Program
already comprises 17% of all early-stage startup deals. The growthof startup funding in Taiwan can definitely be attributed to thisprogram, as it has become one of Taiwan’s biggest individual
investment programs.

12

DealsAmount (USD$)

Health Tech

Health Tech

289

$917M

Eletronics

Energy150$470M

Enterprise Service

Auto Tech

140

$401M
Eletronics

Media & Entertainment
93

$363M
Enterprise Service

IoT
90

$341M

EnergyMedia & Entertainment
82

$324M

The top startup industries of Taiwan in terms of total number ofinvestment deals and total funding amount from 2015 to 2020.

There are three industries we want to dive into, Health Tech, Energy Tech, and Electronics.
From the FINDIT report on Taiwan’s Early-stage investment scene, we can see that thesethree industries are either dominant in total deal amounts and total invested amount, or
either up-and-coming topics with increasing amount of deals and total investment
amount each year.

Deals

Amount(USD$ Million)

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Health Tech

37

49

38

53

55

57

Eletronics

12

19

14

25

38

42

Energy

2

3

6

12

23

36

Enterprise Service

15

18

16

23

39

29

Blockchain

1

4

6

14

18

17

Media & Entertainment

10

21

16

14

17

15

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Energy

1.6

14.1

50.4

121.8

46.4

235.3

Health Tech

187.4

188.9

68.3

230.1

116.0

126.2

Eletronics

13.5

38.2

37.2

53.8

98.9

121.5

Travel

0.1

15.9

4.2

18.5

10.7

75.5

Media & Entertainment

22.9

58.8

69.8

92.8

20.4

59.7

Blockchain

0.1

7.5

18.9

106.6

70.6

44.8

13

Health Tech
Taiwan's Health Tech has ranked #1 in both the amount of total dollars invested and the number of total investment deals for a few years already. According
to the Numbeo Health Care Index By Country 2020, Taiwan ranks number 1 in
the world in health care and health care experience. Taiwan also has one of theworld’s largest healthcare systems and data pool, titled National Health Insurance (NHI), which was instituted in 1995 with the population coverage reaching 99% by 2005. With COVID-19 happening in 2020, digitalization and cloudservices became the new normal for corporations, as a result, within the healthtech startup investment cases, digital health startups are becoming a rising
topic, with increasing cases and funding. Since 2015, there are 289 cases
totaling USD$917 Million invested in the Health Tech industry such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, cloud medical services, and medical devices.

Energy Tech
In recent years, we’ve seen a surge of cases and money poured in the Energy
Tech industry. With 2020 even topping Health Tech and becoming number one
in total amount of money invested with USD$235.3 Million being invested. The
reason for the increase of Energy Tech investment cases may be due to ESG
topics surrounding green energy like wind and solar getting a lot of funding,which are invested by large corporations in Taiwan that are all seeking ESG
and Green Energy solutions for Taiwan’s heavy industry and factories.

Electronics
Taiwan has always been a leader of Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM)and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM), with many factories and corporations playing key roles in the global supply chain. In fact, a large amount of thedaily used tech components and particles worldwide are manufactured andassembled in Taiwan or by a Taiwanese manufacturer. Startups that produce
electronic components like IC design or communication components also
appeal to these manufacturers, which are seeking solutions for their factories
or digitalization. It’s also a common practice for business units in Taiwanese
corporations to spin off and develop products and solutions specifically for
their parent company. As a result, we’ve seen 150 deals totaling an amount of
USD$363 Million since 2015 invested in electronic component startups.

14

Leading Sectorsof Taiwan
In this section, we dive deep into the leading sectorsof Taiwan - Health Tech, Energy Tech, and Electronics.

15

Health Tech
Asia is paving the way for digital health ecosystems, and potential ecosystem orchestrators can generate value by taking bold, strategic actions. The Asia Pacific digital
health market was valued at USD$14.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to witness a
32.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2020 to 2026, according to an industry report by Graphical Research.
The Healthcare industry is on a high command of talents, technologies and investments. It has the characteristics of high tech, high risks and high remuneration. Thus,
the industry is always a preference for global VCs. The Healthcare industry is the mostactive and with the highest investments among early investment markets in Taiwan.
Apart from that, startups that established after 2010 have become the main targets forthe healthcare industry investment in Taiwan.
More startups that have been established in recent years are investing in Healthcaretech in Taiwan. In 2020, there were 63 startups that were invested in such a realm andthe median of their established year is 2016, which was 2015 in the previous year. As
the statistics showed in the study, there were 10 companies that were invested till theend of August in 2021. What’s more, their median of the established year is 2018.
These results reveal that investors preferred very-young startups in the Healthcare
industry in Taiwan.
On the whole, most of the investments in Healthcare technology in Taiwan are in theearly stage. According to the records from 2015 to July, 2021, A round and previous
rounds are approximately 71% which is the most in the investment records. There are
only 1% in late stage investments. In 2020-2021.7, there are five cases that are A roundinvestments among the top ten biggest cases. On the other hand, 39% of the investments are under one million, 22 % are between 1-2 million dollars. 11% of investments
are between 5 and 10 million, and approximately 6% of the investments are 10 million
USD above.
The development of medicine and treatments is characterized to be time-consuming inregards to their invention process and research. According to the research made by
Findit Taiwan, the realm of medicine and treatments was the highest investment withapproximately 740 million USD. Though there are only 33% of all the cases in the
Healthcare industry, the amount is up to 63% of all. By the way, the average investment
scale is bigger than other realms as well. Secondly, the amount of investments in medical equipment is up to 220 million USD, approximately 19% of all, and digital healthcare
is also up to 190 million USD which is 16%.

16

From 2018 to the first 7 months of 2021, the cases of investments in digital healthcare are more than other realms. The realm now becomes a popular target among thehealthcare industry. It also reveals that the status of medicine and ICT in Taiwan areleading the revolution in medical industries.
As for the medicine aspect, companies that are invested are mainly in biopharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Ingredients, medical imaging medicine invention and
CMO/CRO/CDMO companies. Because the regulations are lifted and the command ofresearch in medical institutions, innovative medicine and treatments are viewed as apopular choice for investors.
On the other hand, Taiwan boasts a world-class medical system, extensive clinicalresearch capabilities, a national health insurance database, and a Biobank that may be
used for scientific research as well as precision medicine. Furthermore, Taiwan's
biomedical sector is supported by a strong Information Communication Technology(ICT) industry and has a comprehensive value chain. The potential for cross-domain
collaboration between medical and ICT is enormous. The National Health Insurance
Program continues to gain international acclaim. According to the CEOWORLD magazine's 2019 review of the healthcare index of 89 nations throughout the world, as wellas the Numbeo 2020 Health Care Index evaluation, both publications rated Taiwan #1
in the world. The island is also making efforts to promote digital health. In 2013 the
NHI MediCloud System was launched, which allows medical information from various
hospitals and clinics throughout hospitals, counties, and cities to be successfully
exchanged, regardless of holidays or time of day. Also, to assist clinicians in quickly
interpreting CXR pictures, the National Health Insurance Administration and National
Taiwan University Hospital created the "Taiwan SARS-CoV-2 Classifier" AI-pneumonia-decision-making platform "Taiwan SARS-CoV-2 Classifier." Because AI spotted thesuspected symptoms, the patient will be confined right away until a rt-PCR result isobtained, reducing the danger of exposure to medical personnel.
Due to the excellent biomedical development environment, Taiwan has also attracted
internationally renowned pharmaceutical companies to collaborate with. For example,
in 2020, AstraZeneca and Amazon Web Services teamed up with the Taiwan government and carried out the "Beyond BioMed Accelerator". Janssen and a Taiwan
think-tank collaborated to provide grants to research and development plans for the
early treatment of diseases including lung cancer and diabetes. SmartLabs and MassChallenge also set up accelerators in Taiwan to cultivate outstanding Taiwanese
biomedical startups.

17

Energy Tech
Taiwan’s government views green energy as an important industry. Current president Tsai Ing-Wen announced the Program for Promoting Six Core Strategic
Industries in 2020, which includes the green and renewable energy industry. On
the other hand, the National Development Council published 《Taiwan’s Pathway
to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050》. In the report, one of the main strategies is“energy transition”. It is written that “Creating a green energy industry ecosystem”
is the main method under the strategy.
As the restrictions in Taiwan are lifted and other related policies, more corporations are eager to invest in green energy industries. In 2020,《Taiwan Stock
Exchange Corporation Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by TWSE Listed Companies》assigned companies to reveal their contributions on ESG as a part of evaluation for investments. As a result we’ve seena large increase in total invested amount in the energy tech industry during 2020,
which includes many investment cases invested by large corporations in Taiwan.
According to the statistics by FINDIT, green energy startups received a total
amount of USD$349 Billion which is 600% the total investment amount in theprevious year.
Solar energy, batteries, and wind power are the top invested technologies in
Taiwan’s green energy industry. Because the technologies and market is moremature compared to other sectors in the energy tech ecosystem, many investors
choose to invest in these technologies before seeking other energy tech investment opportunities. The battery tech industry is one of the main targets for investors, due to the high demand for technological components in the global manufacturing chain. Instead of the cost-down and low margin OEM method, many
Taiwanese startups in the battery industry aim to develop new technologies as its
main goal. As the records show, in recent year startups in the battery tech ecosystem with more capital invested are mostly equipped with higher technologies withmore research and development (R&D) budget. Wind power is also an up-and-rising technology worth noticing within the energy tech industry. Companies related
to offshore wind turbines in Taiwan have been heavily invested in recent years
due to ESG regulations and corporations finding solutions for sustainability .

18

Most of the investors in the green energy or energy tech industry
in Taiwan are domestic corporations. During 2020, 4 of the top
10 early-stage investment cases with the most capital involved
were energy tech startups, showcasing the awareness of corporations and the high demand of ESG and sustainability startups
in Taiwan. We can expect that more foreign investors joining in
the green energy development of Taiwan.

Investment
Amount(USD$ Million)

RankingCompany

Investors

2

StarShinging
EnergyUSD$66.7 Million

AU Optronics, Fubon Life Insurance, Taiwan Life Insurance,
Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, Konly Venture

4Century Huaxin
Wind Energy

USD$28.3 Million

Century Iron & Steel, HIGH-TEK Harness Enterprise,
Hsin Kuang Steel Co, Tai-Shing Engineering & Construction

8

LeadsunFox
Greenergy

USD$21.2 Million

FIT Holding, TransGlobe Life Insurance,
Shin Kong Life Insurance, Taiwan Life Insurance

9

NFCI
Reneable Power

USD$18.7 Million

WIN Semiconductors, Farglory Life Insurance

Notable energy tech investment cases in Taiwan during 2020.

19

Electronics
Since Taiwan is home to the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, it's no surprisethat the electronics industry is Taiwan's greatest source of foreign direct investment(FDI). According to GlobalData, the electronics sector accounted for about 16% of greenfield FDI projects in Taiwan in 2019–20, more than any other sector.
Surrounding cities of Taipei City including New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, each city has also established supply manufacturing factories and produce criticalelectronic device components. This emphasizes the need for an integrated electronics
vertical industrial supply chain, which allows businesses to collaborate with andenhance the whole value chain, from product design to R&D, to manufacturing andmarket validation.
Due to the trade war between the US and China since 2018, the supply chain disruptions
induced by COVID-19, geopolitics, and the growth of innovative technologies have all had
a significant impact on the global ICT industry. This industry has shifted to regional
production. This has given Taiwan an advantage since it has strong and dependable
upstream and downstream industrial supply chain clusters, as well as appropriate IT
hardware and R&D personnel to meet the needs of the global semiconductor, IT hardware, network communications, and smartphone industries.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the global manufacturing
chain, affecting both heavily on the supply and demand sides. As a result, the world economy has been sent into a tailspin. Despite the worst effects on the economy, we’ve seen
an increasing demand on desktop computers, laptops, and tablets, which all gained fromincreased stay-at-home demand in 2020 due to the pandemic. Taiwan’s electronics manufacturers all seen benefits from high demand on tech products and have seen great
improvement in sales and orders, resulting in more resources and capital flowing into
Taiwan's startup ecosystem from these Taiwanese corporations.
Regarding the island’s three primary subsectors: the semiconductor industry, IC design,and OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly), these all experienced strong growthin orders and revenues in the third quarter of 2021 as chip demand continued to surge,which indirectly benefits Taiwan’s startup ecosystem with more capital to invest andhigher demand for innovative R&D.

20

Comparing to
Other Markets
The following would showcase the global venture funding
breakdown in 2020 by regions.
In this sector we want to showcase happenings around the world andglobal counterparts of Taiwan to draw comparisons and similarities.

North America
North American venture capital financing fell marginally in the first half of 2020, to$64.1 billion, from $70.7 billion in the first half of 2019.

United States of America
California has a greater focus on late-stage and tech growth comparedto other states and regions in the US and worldwide, with 73 percent ofinvestment flowing to these projects. New York and Massachusetts
were also strong states for venture capital funding.

21

Asia Pacific
Despite being the first hotspot of the COVID-19 epidemic, Asia's financing increased
by about 8% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

India
India's financing increased by a factor of ten in the first half of 2020,
from $5.6 billion in 2019 to $19.4 billion in 2020.

Indonesia
Indonesia achieved $2.5 billion in funding in the first half of 2020,the highest amount the country raised in the first six months of theyear in the past five years. Indonesia has taken use of technology to
streamline the formerly complex logistics business as digital technology evolves and becomes more broadly available.

22

Australia and New Zealand
While both New Zealand and Australia have seen growth in recent years, New Zealand has seen an increase in early-stage funding; in the first half of 2020, 86
percent of investment dollars went to early-stage funding, and New Zealand's $102
million in funding went to seed, angel, or early-stage rounds. In Australia, just 37%
of all capital went to seed, angel, or early-stage companies in the first half of 2020.

Japan
In Japan, venture companies raised ¥580 billion ($5.1 billion), up around 60% froma year earlier and surpassing the previous annual record high logged in 2019,according to a Japanese research company. Among them, biotech venture Spiber
Inc., based in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, raised ¥34.4 billion from U.S. investment fund Carlyle Group and other investors, according to a Carlyle press releasein September. The Chinese government has been tightening its control of domestic information-technology giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to rein in
their economic clout, and some global investment previously bound for China
could be diverted to Japan, according to the Japan Venture Capital Association.

TaiwanLike other counterparts of Asia, Taiwan has had a great 2020 in terms ofstartup investments, despite COVID-19 impacting every aspect of the
global market. We've seen an all-time high in the total investment amountin 2020. With a total amount of USD$873 Million invested, which is a
25.04% increase compared to 2019’s USD$698 Million.

25.04%
8%
Asia

TaiwanTaiwan has seen tramendous growth compared to
the whole Asia Pacific region.
23

EuropeIn the first half of 2020, Europe received $17 billion in financing, down 20% from2019, but still up from the previous two years.

FranceGiven the scope of France's venture capital ecosystem, as well as thecountry's ability to maintain strong fundraising statistics during theepidemic, it's worth recognizing the country's achievements. In thefirst half of 2020, the continent received over $2.8 billion in venture
capital funds, down somewhat from the first half of 2019, but stillmuch greater than the previous three years.

Belgium
Despite the fact that Belgium's venture investment ecosystem issmaller than that of other countries, such as the United Kingdom andFrance, and receives less attention, it's notable noting its funding rise
despite the epidemic. Belgium had a total revenue of $604 million in
the first half of 2020, up from $458 million in the first half of 2019.

24

South America
In the first half of 2020, South America received $914 million in financing, down from2019 but growing considerably from 2016-2018. The highest investment round in
the analyzed time period was a $1 billion deal for Colombian startup Rappi, with thenext largest round coming in at $300 million.

BrazilIn the first half of 2020, Brazil accounted for 90% of all venture
capital financing in South America.

AfricaIn the first half of 2020, Africa suffered the most significant setback of any continent in terms of venture capital.

25

Summary
Although Taiwan has a compact land area and a relatively small domestic market, the country has accumulated numerous resources to boost
energy into innovation development. Both the public and the private sectors have been involved in startup development in recent years. With
programs such as the NDF and numerous other initiatives to boost startup growth, Taiwan is becoming more and more ideal for startups to start
their business. In recent years, we’ve started to see more and more newstartups attracting the attention of both local and foreign investors.
Though the average amount in each investment case hasn't really
improved much, we are seeing the total amount of cases increasing
throughout each year. This indicates that the general market is on a growing trajectory, and also showcases that Taiwan’s startup ecosystem is
becoming more and more lively.
One important thing for Taiwanese startups to do is to combine theirtechnologies with existing mature manufacturing industries in Taiwan,the reason being that more than 50% of investments happening in
Taiwan are with corporations or CVCs. Also, the main reason Energy Techand Electronics startups receive so much funding is also because of
corporate investments. Their businesses are not to challenge or disrupt
the existing industry, but to solve a specific pain point for corporations.
Though these kinds of startups might not always be in the spotlight or
make headlines, they are vital and a key to the early-stage investment
market of Taiwan.
All in all, we are very excited and proud of what Taiwan startups haveaccomplished in the past few years. Though recent years have been atough time for the worldwide capital market due to the widespread
COVID-19, we are confident that these Taiwan startups are up for the task
and ready to adapt to new normals and rapid market shifts. We lookforward to new opportunities that came along with COVID-19, such as
digital transformation, cloud services, and smart manufacturing to namea few. We hope that our report can shed light on the early-stage investment scene and showcase to you that Taiwan is a beautiful island withlots of great investment potential.

26

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