Fund managers are becoming increasingly creative in their efforts to stay competitive and secure capital amid a tough fundraising and exit environment in Southeast Asia.
While some small local firms in Asia Pacific are offloading their stakes to external investors to stay afloat, the deal-by-deal approach is gaining traction among investors, particularly family offices.
Meanwhile, in Europe, distributions have rebounded since late 2024, signalling the end of the exit crisis for strong performers. Bpifrance, the French sovereign wealth fund, is optimistic that the trend will extend to Southeast Asia, according to deputy CEO Arnaud Caudoux.
In other LP-GP news, the boom in single-family offices in Singapore, which has grown five-fold in as many years, is proving to be a blessing for digital private markets platform Moonfare. Berlin-based Moonfare’s head of Asia Pacific, Adam Banks, said investors in the city-state are “the driving force” of the Insight Partners-backed company’s business in the region.
Logistics real estate developer GLP has closed its first digital infrastructure fund at RMB2.6 billion ($358 million) from China-based and international institutional investors.
Singapore-based venture capital and private equity firm Clime Capital has closed its second fund, the Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund II, raising $175 million from philanthropic, public, and private investors.
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal has launched two new funds dedicated to investing in China’s beauty industry alongside investment firms Cathay Capital and Tiantu Capital.
Private market investment firm Schroders Capital has announced the first close of a China renewable energy strategy following a $100-million anchor commitment from Apple.
InCred Alternative Investments, part of InCred Capital, has secured commitments worth over Rs 600 crore ($70 million) for its maiden special situations credit fund from a clutch of domestic and offshore LPs.
There is “a real opportunity” to generate attractive returns by investing in Asia’s renewable infrastructure despite factors such as policy stability influencing the participation of private capital, fund managers said at the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong recently.
Global investment firm Cathay Capital, which manages about 7 billion euros ($7.76 billion), has joined hands with French multinational pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to launch a new fund to invest approximately 2 billion yuan ($275.2 million) in clinical-stage innovative drugs in China.
Japanese private equity firm D Capital has racked up 67 billion yen (about $445 million) for its second buyout fund, which drew support from domestic and overseas investors.
World Bank Group member International Finance Corporation (IFC) has proposed to invest up to $150 million in TPG Rise Climate Global South Initiative, a private equity fund of US private markets investment firm TPG.
Deal updates
Singapore state investor Temasek, Alpha Wave Global, and Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) have picked up minority stakes in Haldiram Snacks, following months of negotiations with India’s largest snack maker.
Brookfield Asset Management has initiated talks to pick up a majority stake in Re Sustainability (formerly Ramky Enviro Engineers), India’s largest integrated waste and environment management firm, from private equity behemoth KKR.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and state investor Temasek have acquired a “significant stake” in the clinical research firm Novotech, which is majority-owned by private equity giant TPG.
Prosperity7 Ventures led a pre-Series A funding round of 528 million yuan ($72.8 million) in China’s Spirit AI amid a frenzy of early-stage financing in embodied intelligence.
Rava Partners, the real assets arm of Hillhouse Investment, is picking up a majority stake in Asia Pacific’s rental housing provider Dash Living through a strategic investment of up to $150 million.
San Francisco-based Chef Robotics, a company that uses robotics and machine learning to increase food production, has raised $43.1 million in its Series A funding round led by Avataar Ventures.
A consortium led by China’s Shenyang Fortune Precision Equipment, a manufacturer of precision components for semiconductor equipment, is looking to buy a majority stake in the Chinese holding company of Singapore-based Compart Systems for 3.071 billion yuan ($423.3 million).
India’s used-car retailing platform Spinny has raised $131 million in a fresh funding round led by US-based Accel Leaders Fund, as it looks to scale its newly launched non-banking financial company (NBFC) business.
Vietnamese investment banking and private equity firm Thien Viet Securities (TVS) has exited its five-year-old investment in paediatric clinic chain Nhi Dong 315. TVS invested in Nhi Dong 315 as its first institutional backer in 2020.
Private equity major Warburg Pincus has acquired the Tokyo Beta portfolio, Japan’s largest share house portfolio, marking its entry into the country’s affordable rental housing market.
US chipmaker Qualcomm has acquired Vingroup-owned MovianAI. The Vietnamese conglomerate held a 65% stake in the firm before the deal, which comes a few months after Nvidia acquired VinBrain, another AI subsidiary of Vingroup.
China’s Aiper, the developer of a cordless robotic pool-cleaning technology, has secured a strategic investment of nearly 1 billion yuan ($137 million), with Spain’s Fluidra alone investing $100 million in the deal.
Piramal Finance, a unit of Piramal Group, has raised $265 million through an External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) facility, led by First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and HSBC.
Scapia, a Indian travel fintech company, has secured $40 million in Series B funding led by Peak XV Partners. The round also saw participation from existing backers such as Elevation Capital, Z47, and 3STATE Capital.
The International Finance Corporation is considering an investment of up to $100 million in Green Investment Partnership, a structured debt fund managed by Singapore-based Pentagreen Capital Fund Management.
Pizza Hut Indonesia’s largest shareholder, PT Sriboga Raturaya, is said to be exploring strategic partnerships and potential exit options, as investors seek to monetise their holdings or bring in new backers amid shifting dynamics in Indonesia’s food and beverage sector.
Global life science investment firm Novo Holdings has picked up “a significant minority stake” in KKR-backed fungal biotechnology solutions developer Sylvan. Following the deal, KKR will remain Sylvan’s majority shareholder.
Aerem, an Indian clean energy startup, has amassed Rs 100 crore ($11.7 million) in funding led by Japan’s University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC).
Defense technology firm Tonbo Imaging has raised Rs 175 crore (around $21 million) in a Series D funding round from Florintree Advisors, Tenacity Ventures, and the Export-Import Bank of India, as it gears up for a potential listing on Indian stock exchanges.
Deep dives
In late 2022, Indonesian biotech startup Nusantics was on the edge of collapse—it had over $1 million in debt, just $200,000 in the bank, and no clear leadership. Fast forward to now, the company is on the verge of turning EBITDA positive thanks to a leaner, more focused structure.
Once dismissed as synthetic substitutes and fakes, lab-grown diamonds in India are going mainstream—fuelled by falling prices, changing consumer attitudes, and a wave of VC-backed startups. And while legacy jewellery brands have largely stayed out till now, investors believe it is only a matter of time before they jump into the fray.
The International Finance Corporation has appointed Treasa Mathew from Omidyar Network India to replace senior executive Ruchira Shukla, who stepped down last year to start her own venture capital firm Synapses.
India’s pipeline of newly funded startups is thinning, raising concerns about whether the country’s early-stage ecosystem is losing its capacity to support innovation, nurture first-time founders, and sustain the momentum needed for long-term venture growth. The country notched just 73 first-time-funded startups in Q1 2025, the lowest in over two years and a sharp 64% drop from 204 in Q1 2023, according to data from Tracxn.
Vietnam is making a coordinated effort to position itself as a hub for finance and technology by simultaneously pushing the development of International Financial Centres, artificial intelligence, and the semiconductor industry.
