The public markets, broadly, seemed to be looking past the tariff threats, perhaps expecting deals or extended deadlines to cushion the impact. However, the prolonged uncertainty is weighing on investor sentiment and dealmaking, which may be reflected in the PE-VC sector in Southeast Asia and India.
In Southeast Asia, the fundraising numbers for June have been lacklustre, according to data from the research team at DealStreetAsia. Startups in the region raised just under $350 million in equity across 38 deals. That is more than 40% lower in both volume and dollar terms compared to May and a year ago.
Also unhelpful is a brewing corporate governance crisis at another venture-backed startup in Southeast Asia, this time at Indonesian agri-focused P2P lender CROWDE. Our reporters in Jakarta are on the story as it unfolds.
But what could be something to watch is the relatively strong showing out of Singapore. There are four startups based in the city-state listed among June’s top fundraisers, securing commitments from name investors including Sumitomo Corporation, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Valar Ventures.
Newer deals include Cleantech Solar securing over $140 million in green financing through two loan transactions from ING and Clifford Capital, and Swiss impact investor responsAbility investing up to $15 million in structured financing in August Energy to support the expansion of its decentralised renewable energy projects in India. The Singapore-based company’s portfolio includes rooftop solar installations and integrated utility services such as cooling- and steam-as-a-service.
At the bigger end of the transaction scale, Singapore-based data centre operator Princeton Digital Group has secured a $1.3 billion investment commitment from US infrastructure and real estate investment firm Stonepeak. The deal brings PDG’s total capital raised in 2025 to $2.5 billion. The company, also backed by Warburg Pincus, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and Mubadala, operates over 1.1 gigawatts of data center capacity across six Asia Pacific markets.
And, the Singapore government has selected US-based alternative assets firm Apollo Global Management to manage its S$1 billion Private Credit Growth Fund. Apollo had edged out eight other GPs for the contract. The fund, announced in February during the country’s 2025 Budget, is part of a series of initiatives to drive growth and comes as a number of other private debt vehicles in the region are being launched or expanded, including in Indonesia.
One other major market event in Singapore was the initial public offering of NTT DC REIT, a data centre real estate investment trust. Its market debut was Singapore Exchange’s biggest deal in four years. But its tepid performance, despite being backed by giants Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp, and GIC, renews reservations about the equities market in the city.
Separately, Origgin Capital, the venture capital arm of Singapore private equity firm Origgin Ventures, has launched a second fund to co-create and scale spin-offs from universities and research institutes across Asia.
Indeed, there are select sectors in Southeast Asia that are still drawing investor attention. Fintech-focused Flourish Ventures, for one, remains optimistic about the region and its fundamentals, as its head of Asia investments Ravi Kaushik told DealStreetAsia in an exclusive, which also lists the firm’s high-conviction areas for investment.
Flourish Ventures, which has $850 million in AUM and operates via an evergreen fund structure, has backed digital mortgage startup Ringkas; insuretech Qoala; and embedded B2B commerce platform ShopUp.
Also heating up is the data centre sector, driven by the exponential growth in cloud computing and AI services. Don’t miss this analysis on Vietnam’s ambition vis-a-vis its regional rivals.
India developments
After a strong start to the year, there were fewer big-ticket deals – transactions valued at $100 million and more – by startups in the quarter that just ended, as DealStreetAsia data showed. At the fund level, for the first half of the year, capital raised by PE-VC investors was down more than 30% from the year before, even though the number of GPs in the market remained steady.
But there are nonetheless interesting deals in the pipe, as this exclusive on TA Associates-backed nutraceutical ingredient player OmniActive Health Technologies shows.
In another dairy development, South India-based Dodla Dairy has fully acquired Osam Dairy in an all-cash deal worth approximately $31.5 million (Rs 271 crore).
Meanwhile, Swedish investment firm EQT completed its acquisition of Niwas Housing Finance Limited, an affordable housing finance player in India formerly known as IndoStar Home Finance, from IndoStar Capital Finance Limited. EQT will invest Rs 500 crore ($58 million) as growth capital to support Niwas’ geographic expansion and enhance its digital capabilities.
Other deals in the market
EQT has raised about 125 million euros within the first month of launching its semi-liquid product in Japan, even as the world’s third-largest economy continues to face uncertainties with no trade deal with the US in sight.
Hong Kong-based money manager VMS Group, tells DealStreetAsia it is actively seeking secondary private equity opportunities to drive liquidity for its limited partners, amid a poorer exit market and LPs’ need for solutions in the nearer term. The firm counts some of the city’s richest families as its anchor backers.
Beijing-based venture capital firm BAI Capital, formerly Bertelsmann Asia Investments, is in the market to raise $800 million for its latest vehicle, which comes three years after the final close of its $700-million inaugural USD-denominated fund.
Shanghai-registered CAS Star, which focuses on early-stage hard tech startups, has held the first close of a new RMB-denominated fund, backed by a number of state capital-affiliated limited partners, including China SME Development Fund, a fund-of-fund to promote the sustainable growth of SMEs in key sectors, and Shanghai Pudong Innovation Investment Development.
Kuala Lumpur-based Navis Capital Partners has funded US-based Eton Solutions, a wealth management technology firm serving family offices, in its Series C round.
Dymon Asia Private Equity-backed Meiban Group has acquired a 20% equity stake in Planet Innovation, an Australian medical product designer and manufacturer.
The deal comes amid an ongoing sale process for stakes in Meiban, as DealStreetAsia has reported earlier this year. Dymon has been holding onto the portfolio company for about seven years since the firm made the investment via its 2017-vintage flagship fund, Dymon Asia Private Equity Fund II.
