India has emerged as the sole bright spot in Asia’s fundraising landscape so far this year. According to DealStreetAsia’s latest report—India Deal review: Q1 2025, Indian startups started the year on a high as fundraising surged 61% year on year to $4.18 billion in the Jan-March quarter. Deal volume also rose 16.5% to 338. This was driven mainly by a jump in megadeals, which garnered $1.34 billion across seven transactions against just $323 million from three megadeals in Q1 2024.
The week also saw a slew of Southeast Asian tech giants report their Q1 earnings.
Nasdaq-listed superapp Grab surpassed analyst estimates with an 18% year-on-year increase in revenue to $773 million in the Jan-Mar quarter. It booked a profit of $10 million during the quarter, against a $115-million loss in the year-ago period. The Southeast Asian tech giant appears to be doubling down on its bolt-on strategy—expanding into new verticals that can be seamlessly integrated into its app—to reinforce its core businesses and strengthen its regional dominance.
GoTo Group narrowed its net loss by 61% in the first quarter of 2025, driven by improved margins and strong performance across its fintech and on-demand service segments. The company’s two main verticals—on-demand services and fintech—have also now logged consecutive quarters of positive EBITDA, reflecting both expansion efforts and two years of careful cost-cutting. However, cost cutting may have bottomed out for the Indonesian tech giant.
Indonesian e-commerce giant Bukalapak reported a net profit of 111 billion rupiah ($7 million) in the January-March 2025, in a sharp reversal from a net loss of 42 billion rupiah in Q1 2024. The company is charting plans for a regional expansion of its gaming business, which raked in 1.1 trillion rupiah ($66.8 million) of Bukalapak’s 1.46 trillion rupiah total revenue in Q1 2025.
PT Global Digital Niaga Tbk—the parent company of Indonesian e-commerce platform Blibli, online travel agent Tiket.com, supermarket chain Ranch Market, and home and living brand Dekoruma—posted several improved profitability metrics in the first quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025), including a narrowing of its net loss despite higher operating costs.
LP-GP news
India’s Multiples Alternate Asset Management is understood to have roped in a slew of high-profile, global limited partners for its multi-asset continuation fund, which is said to have raised a corpus of $430 million. HarbourVest Partners, LGT Capital Partners, TPG NewQuest, and Hamilton Lane are reportedly coming together to co-lead the fund, while other participants include StepStone.
As early-2025 optimism fades and distributions turn sluggish amid geopolitical uncertainties, investor focus is shifting to more defensive plays—private credit, infrastructure, and fund-of-funds—for resilience as well as predictable returns and liquidity solutions, with GP-led continuation vehicles poised to gain momentum.
Chinese companies have been actively seeking growth outside their home market, irrespective of what’s going on in the political sphere, according to Thomas Lanyi, managing partner at CDH Investments, a private equity firm focusing on both China and Southeast Asia.
Global investment manager Franklin Templeton Alternative Investments has announced the first close of its debut credit-focused alternative investment fund in India, securing over Rs 205 crore ($24 million) for Franklin India Credit AIF – Scheme I.
Deal updates
Singapore-headquartered Everstone Capital is said to be nearing the first close of its fifth flagship private equity fund for India and Southeast Asia at approximately $300-400 million. According to a disclosure, IFC has proposed an equity investment of up to $60 million and an additional co-investment of up to $40 million in Everstone Capital Partners V.
Singapore-based cleaning robot manufacturer LionsBot International has raised about $20.6 million in its latest funding round backed by existing investors, regulatory filings show. Based on DealStreetAsia’s calculations, the latest round values the company at $165.9 million.
Philippine digital bank GoTyme has secured $10.4 million in fresh capital from its parent companies to accelerate its lending operations and fuel expansion plans, regulatory filings showed.
Singapore-based cross-border payments company Thunes has announced raising $150 million in a Series D funding round co-anchored by global private equity firms Apis Partners and Vitruvian Partners.
Asia Healthcare Holdings, backed by private equity giant TPG Growth and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, is in preliminary talks to invest in CRAFT Hospital & Research Centre, a Kerala-based fertility-focused healthcare provider.
Indonesian private equity firm Adivira Capital is understood to be weighing an investment in Moleac, a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company. The potential deal could be part of the pharma company’s fundraising exercise that could notch up as much as $100 million.
Singapore-listed Amara Holdings—a consortium comprising its founding family and Dymon Asia Private Equity—has received an offer from a set of investors to privatise the hotel group at a valuation of around $400 million. This comes after a delisting plan in November 2023 fell short.
Shanghai-listed vegetable and walnut beverages maker Hebei Yangyuan ZhiHui Beverage is investing 1.6 billion yuan ($219.5 million) for a 0.99% stake in top memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC).
Indian electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy’s initial public offering opened for public subscription on April 28. The company also announced raising Rs 1,340 crore ($158 million) from anchor investors ahead of the share sale.
Abu Dhabi-based climate investment platform ALTÉRRA has invested $100 million into Indian renewable energy developer Evren. Brookfield Asset Management and other investors also participated in the financing.
Malaysian discount retail chain Eco-Shop Marketing Sdn Bhd has filed to raise 419 million ringgit ($96.7 million) via an initial public offering (IPO) on Bursa Malaysia. It will be the biggest debut in Malaysia in eight months, according to the company’s IPO prospectus.
Singapore-based early-stage venture capital firm Cocoon Capital has made a $30-million first close of its latest venture capital fund, Cocoon Capital III.
Deep dives
Vietnamese automaker VinFast’s US factory is not expected to be up and running anytime soon amid global volatility, even though the firm had placed major bets on North America’s electric vehicle market. Most of VinFast’s growth in 2025 will come from non-US markets, VinFast CEO Thuy Le said during the firm’s earnings call.
London-based IT services outsourcing firm NashTech plans to triple its EBITDA and revenue over the next five years through organic growth and strategic M&As, CEO John O’Brien said in an interview.
While many investors have pulled back amid a steep funding slowdown and renewed US tariff threats, Gobi Partners has remained active, betting on Southeast Asia’s long-term innovation. In a recent interview with DealStreetAsia, Thomas G. Tsao, Gobi’s co-founder and chairperson, attributed the firm’s conviction to structural tailwinds across the region.
