Southeast Asia’s funding drought has now stretched into its third year, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE’s Southeast Asia Startup Funding Report: H1 2025, sponsored by Kickstart Ventures. The report, which was released during the Asia PE-VC Summit 2025 in Singapore last week, revealed that dealmaking in the first half of the year dived to its weakest level in more than six years, even as investors say the market is recalibrating around profitability, operational discipline, and selective sector bets.
In August, startups in the region raised just $233 million across 36 deals, a whopping 84% decline from July’s $1.47 billion raised from 35 deals, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreet. On a year-on-year basis, funding in August 2025 was down 25% from $310 million in August 2024, highlighting the cooling appetite for large-scale investments in the region’s startups.
Moving onto the other headlines of the week:
LP-GP news
The National University of Singapore is understood to be in the process of finalising buyers for its private fund stakes after a bid round was closed around two weeks ago. The LP-led transaction was said to initially contain diversified stakes held by NUS in global buyout funds, real estate funds, Asian buyout and growth equity funds.
UK investment firm Gresham House Holdings Limited is acquiring Switzerland-based SUSI Partners AG, an energy transition infrastructure manager, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Global logistics builder and investor GLP has secured close to 2 billion yuan ($280.7 million) of assets under management for its onshore RMB fund—GLP China Income Fund XIV.
Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions, the 25-year-old multi-manager private equity solutions platform of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, capitalises on market inefficiencies and backs GPs with proven playbooks, both globally and in Asia, according to its partner Pamela Funga.
Deal updates
Indonesian quick commerce startup Astro has secured $51.9 million in fresh funding, led by US-based tech giant Amazon, confirming a DealStreetAsia’s news break in June. The round also saw participation from new investors Endeavor Catalyst and Gemini Investments, while existing backers including Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, SBI Ventures, and Citius re-upped.
Merger talks between Southeast Asia’s largest tech giants, Nasdaq-listed Grab Holdings and Indonesia-listed GoTo, have reportedly been called off due to concerns from local regulators and shareholder disagreement.
GXS Bank, the digital lender backed by Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications, has received a fresh capital injection of $60 million from its key shareholders, regulatory filings show.
Carro, a Singapore-headquartered, SoftBank-backed online car marketplace, has announced raising $60 million in a funding round anchored by Japan’s state-backed private-public fund Cool Japan Fund.
Silicon Box, a Singapore-based semiconductor design and device integration services startup, is preparing to raise about $150 million in fresh capital to accelerate its expansion plans, co-founder and CEO BJ Han said at DealStreetAsia’s Asia PE-VC Summit 2025.
Vietnamese electric two-wheeler maker Dat Bike has secured $22 million in a Series B round led by Japanese firm F.C.C Co. Ltd., a Tokyo stock exchange-listed company and clutch manufacturer; and Rebright Partner, a Japan/Singapore-based venture capital firm. This confirms a DealStreetAsia report on the company’s fundraising talks in May this year.
IFC has proposed a quasi-equity investment of up to 1,000 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately $38 million) in Dai Dung Metallic Manufacture Construction and Trade Corporation (DDC), a provider of mechanical engineering solutions.
Indonesian conglomerate PT Astra International Tbk has acquired an additional stake in hospital chain PT Medikaloka Hermina Tbk (Hermina) for Rp2.7 trillion ($164 million). The stake purchase was conducted through the Astra unit, Astra Healthcare Indonesia.
Salmon Group Ltd, a credit-focused fintech based in the Philippines, has raised $50 million through a Nordic bond, with investor orders exceeding supply by more than two times.
Singapore-based fintech platform Atome and Philippine digital bank Maya Bank have struck a 2.75-billion-peso ($48 million) loan-channelling partnership to expand access to credit for millions of Filipinos.
Indonesian tech major GoTo Group has secured a four-year term loan facility totalling 4.65 trillion rupiah ($281 million). Bank DBS Indonesia and United Overseas Bank Limited are the mandated lead arrangers for the facility.
Indonesian insurtech startup PasarPolis has closed an extension round with Japanese insurance giant Tokio Marine stepping in as the main strategic investor. While the exact funding size could not be ascertained, sources indicated it could be around $5 million.
Indonesia’s heavy equipment and mining giant United Tractors has agreed to acquire PT Arafura Surya Alam (ASA), a gold mining subsidiary of PT J Resources Nusantara, in a transaction valued at $540 million.
UltraGreen.ai, a provider of fluorescence-guided surgical technologies, has raised $188 million in an investment led by Temasek-linked 65 Equity Partners and UK-headquartered Vitruvian Partners, with participation from August Global Partners.
Saudi fintech HALA has announced raising $157 million in a Series B funding round co-anchored by TPG’s The Rise Fund and Sanabil Investments, a unit of the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund.
Saudi Arabian startup Tamara has secured an up to $2.4-billion financing package from backers including Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Apollo funds that will help the fintech company expand its credit and payment products.
Muthoot Finance, a gold loan non-banking financial company, has raised $600 million from the international bond market through an external commercial borrowing (ECB) issuance.
Germany-based venture capital firm Foundamental is looking to bet bigger on India, as it gears up to launch its third fund, which will focus on project-based sectors like construction and infrastructure.
QAI Ventures, a Switzerland-based investor in quantum technologies and advanced computing, has established its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, partnering with Enterprise Singapore to bring its accelerator and venture-building programmes to the city-state.
Singapore-based climate-tech venture builder Wavemaker Impact is expanding into India in 2025 and has appointed former Omnivore partner Subhadeep Sanyal to head its local operations.
FinBox, a credit infrastructure fintech startup, has raised $40 million in its Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital. The funding also saw participation from existing investors A91 Partners and Aditya Birla Ventures.
Indian early-stage venture capital investor India Quotient has closed its fifth and largest venture capital fund at about $130 million. India Quotient has raised progressively larger funds since its inception in 2012. It closed its fourth fund at $115 million and its third vehicle at $60 million.
With Pertamina looking to streamline its portfolio and refocus on its core oil, gas, and renewable energy segment, the idea of a merger between its subsidiary Pelita Air Service and national carrier Garuda Indonesia has resurfaced.
Indian construction-materials marketplace Infra.Market has raised about Rs 732 crore ($83 million) in its Series G funding round, in a deal driven by existing investors and promoter financing, as the company gears up for an initial public offering later this year.
From the Asia PE-VC Summit 2025
Trustar Capital, a private equity buyout firm under Hong Kong-based CITIC Capital Holdings Limited, is only a few weeks away from the final close of its fifth flagship US dollar fund, said Boon Chew, Trustar’s managing partner and senior managing director.
India’s consistent climate action initiatives have received strong support from Japan, a key proponent of global climate efforts, according to Krishna Kumar, a partner at NIIF’s India-Japan Fund. He noted that this support emanates from India’s policy to become net zero by 2070.
The startup ecosystem in India has, of late, grappled with issues of poor governance and mismanagement, thereby sparking a debate over where accountability truly lies: with founders, investors, or the system at large. But that tide is now turning. Panellists at a session titled: “India VC: From rebound to returns but can discipline, exits & governance keep up?” agreed that the landscape is shifting increasingly, with a stronger focus on transparency, improved corporate practices, and closer alignment with investor expectations.
While foundation models continue to be led by the US and China, Southeast Asian AI startups can carve out opportunities to emerge on the global stage as long as they find the right moat, startup founders shared at panel discussion titled “Can SE Asia founders build global-grade AI startups?”. Entrepreneurs in SE Asia emphasised that the key lies in being truly AI-first and relentlessly customer-focused.
Two of Asia’s major venture capital markets—India and China—are poised for a bonanza following the correction from the 2021 peak, while Southeast Asia continues to suffer from dimming investor sentiment, according to startup investors at a fireside chat on “Asia VC – Decoding investment strategies for next wave of growth”.
In the face of macro headwinds and a slowing domestic economy, China-focused private equity investors are adopting new playbooks to tap opportunities in the country’s maturing buyout market and the increasingly competitive, yet undervalued, technology sector, said speakers at a panel discussion titled “China’s PEs design new playbooks to capture upsides in shifting market”.
In a shift from chasing users and quick wins, Asian fintechs are now focused on metrics that signal resilience, industry leaders said at a panel session titled, “The Next Frontier for SE Asia’s Financial Innovators: Who is Built to Last?” For Zalopay, it is “organic retention”; for Maribank, it is “constant engagement”; and for Tyme Bank, it is the “metabolic rate” of the business.
Ian Goh, founding partner of Shanghai-based venture capital firm 01VC, has been looking at cross-border opportunities since 2015. As a Singaporean who started working in China in 2001, Southeast Asia was among the first markets that Goh was looking at for potential opportunities.
China’s secondaries market currently offers abundant opportunities, with investors spoiled for choice, but specialised skill sets are required to identify undervalued assets or hidden gems, said Dennis Kwan, managing director of the private capital advisory at Jefferies Hong Kong, during a panel discussion on “Can LPs ignore China despite macro headwinds?”
