Despite billions of dollars of “dry powder” venture capital money now being available to local technology start-ups, industry insiders say the seismic shocks that have hit the sector this year will reverberate across 2023, forcing company founders to make tough decisions about cost-cutting and capital raising.

Plunging valuations and job losses at tech giants such as Meta, Amazon and Twitter, and the calamitous collapse of crypto exchange FTX, have taken the shine off the previously rampant tech sector this year, and talk around the traps is of an extended, tougher market, including investors pulling out of deals at the last minute.