Does tech still pay?

Today, we’ve got the deets on:

• Tech salaries
• The state of deep-tech funding

Dear Garage reader,

The first quarter of the year has been peppered with news of tech layoffs and restructuring. But for the employees who have been retained, and the companies that are still hiring, how have salaries fared?

A report by talent platform NodeFlair found that tech salaries took a slight dip in 2023, compared with a 7.6 per cent rise the previous year. Yet, the report found that the pay for data scientist roles rose 11.3 per cent, reflecting the growing interest and investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

Talent shortage remains a key challenge for AI startups, as we previously reported, and this could be a significant driver of tech employment in the next few years. Startups that recently raised funding are also better placed to keep hiring.

With AI on the rise, investors are keeping a close eye on the deep-tech sector. Deep tech, which refers to innovation based on engineering or scientific advances, has always been a tricky sector to fund. Companies often need tons of money and years – even decades – before their products can be commercialised.

Last year, deep-tech deals in Singapore rose 31.4 per cent, signalling continued interest in the sector. Many of the deals were for early-stage startups where cheque sizes are smaller, which explains why overall deal value still fell.

This trend in early-stage funding is likely to continue. Ailytics, an AI-powered video analytics startup, recently raised US$2.7 million in a pre-Series A round, for instance.

Finally, do catch our latest instalment of 5 Questions. We spoke to Fandy Cendrajaya, who has been actively backing some of Indonesia’s newest entrepreneurs after raising a maiden fund under Kopital Ventures. The fund invests in South-east Asia, but Cendrajaya has an interesting place in Indonesia’s startup ecosystem.

Before we go, a gentle reminder that the Garage newsletter will be ending its run at the end of this month.

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Thank you for reading, and have a great week!