This week, we released the India Deal Review: Q4 2025 report, our quarterly funding tracker, which shows that venture investments into Indian startups rose 18.5% to $3.65 billion in Q4 2025, aided by a pickup in large-ticket transactions.
Seven megadeals were sealed during the October–December quarter. However, the rebound in Q4 was insufficient to offset a decline over the full year. Total private capital investment in Indian startups stood at $14.24 billion in 2025, down 12.5% year-on-year.
Indian startup funding showed fluctuating trends across 2025, with investments peaking in the first quarter before moderating through the middle of the year and recovering slightly at the end. The rebound in Q4 suggests renewed investor interest and signs of stabilisation in the startup ecosystem as the year closed.
The bottom line
Staying with number-crunching and data-led stories, this week we also reported on the earnings of nearly half a dozen Southeast Asian venture-backed startups.
Indonesian B2B commerce startup GudangAda, which is winding down parts of its core FMCG marketplace to fully pivot to beauty retail under the Kaka Beauty brand, posted sharply lower revenues in 2024. However, it managed to narrow its net loss.
Southeast Asian healthcare service provider Health Management International, which is backed by EQT, has posted a 20.5% year-on-year increase in revenue for the year ended June 2025. Its net profit also increased to S$44.2 million, compared with S$34.4 million a year earlier. The growth was aided, in part, by its acquisition of Advanced Urology Associates during the fiscal year.
Vertex-backed Validus Group’s losses widened to S$13.4 million ($10.4 million) in 2024 from S$8.8 million ($6.8 million) a year earlier, despite a sharp jump in revenue, as surging finance costs outweighed the company’s inflows during the year. The numbers reflect losses from the two markets the company exited in 2025.
Leap Technologies reported a sharp decline in recognised revenue in FY2025 after revising how it books student placement fees, with operating revenue falling to $48.6 million, from $75.5 million in the previous financial year. The accounting change contributed to a more than sixfold widening of net losses amid uncertainty in international student mobility.
Singapore-based Morus Technologies, the parent of fintech platform Stashfin, swung to a group-level comprehensive loss in FY2025 as revenue declined year-on-year. While the group remained profitable at the net income level, this was outweighed by other comprehensive losses, largely due to translation differences. The weaker performance marked a sharp reversal from the previous year.
Temasek– and GIC-backed B2B payments unicorn Nium stayed in the red in 2024, as a significant rise in processing charges offset the positive impact of double-digit revenue growth. However, the Singapore-based company managed to narrow its losses a tad in the year.
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LP-GP quarter
EQT has agreed to acquire Coller Capital, a global secondaries firm managing nearly $50 billion in assets, for a base consideration of $3.2 billion. EQT said the combination with Coller Capital will create a larger global platform across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and secondaries.
Avataar Venture Partners is preparing to launch its third fund, targeting a corpus of about $400 million to invest in Indian companies at the Series B to Series D stages, as it seeks to address a crucial funding gap in the country’s startup ecosystem.
Partners Group has launched a special opportunities strategy, adding a new pillar to its global private markets platform.
SC Capital Partners has secured an initial commitment of $330 million from a consortium led by CPP Investments for its Japan hospitality strategy.
Blackstone has raised more than $10.2 billion for its third pan-Asia buyout fund so far. Its Asia fund franchise invests in healthcare, manufacturing, and consumer companies across the Asia-Pacific region.
India-based IIFL Group‘s fintech fund has reportedly closed its second fund at $55 million, as it looks to back early- to growth-stage startups in the sector.
In this week’s Beyond the Buyout edition, we examined EQT’s big push into secondaries following its acquisition of Coller Capital and the Tiger-Flipkart ruling in India, which raises red flags for exits and future deals as investors face greater tax scrutiny.
From the Greater China desk
Chengdu Zenitar Biomedical Technology, a Chinese late clinical-stage biotech company, has filed for an IPO on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange after the completion of its Series C funding round at $86.1 million. Temasek’s wholly-owned asset management firm, True Light Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners jointly led the Series C round.
Malaysian PE firm Crewstone International has backed Chinese artificial intelligence of things solutions provider Uni-Ubi in a pre-IPO+ financing worth 513 million yuan ($73.6 million).
KKR has completed an additional investment in Chinese fungal biotechnology firm Sylvan in a round that brought in new and existing investors. Novo Holdings increased its stake in the firm while KKR remains the majority shareholder.
Haier Energy, majority-owned by Chinese multinational home appliance giant Haier Group, has raised over 1 billion yuan ($143.7 million) in a Series B round as it is moving towards a domestic listing.
Analysis
The launch of Indonesia’s second crypto bourse, the International Crypto Exchange, marked a structural shift in a market that has so far operated under a relatively concentrated structure. As the country moves from a single-exchange market—till now, CFX was the only other crypto bourse licensed by the Financial Services Authority (OJK)—to a multi-player landscape, a debate is intensifying over whether competition will deepen the ecosystem or introduce risks.
Deal scoops
IFC is making an equity investment in Malaysia’s Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation as part of a co-investment with Creador VI Fund. The deal will see majority ownership of the university transferred to a Creador-managed SPV.
Pharmaforte, a drug distribution company in Malaysia and Singapore backed by Advantage Partners, has appointed Rothschild and Co as advisor for a potential sale process. Should Advantage Partners’ stake in the company be successfully sold, the deal will be another exit from its Asia Fund I.
Japanese insurance major Tokio Marine is in discussions to invest a small amount for a minority stake in Southeast Asia-focused insurtech startup Igloo.
Indonesia’s Oneject, best known for its auto-disable syringes, is looking to sell a minority stake to raise funds to fuel its next phase of growth. The stake sale has evinced interest from at least two investors.
Indonesia’s Green Rebel Foods has raised about $10.5 million through a new preference share issuance, alongside a series of secondary share transfers among existing shareholders.
AI startup Nami Technology (also known as NamiTech) has raised $4 million in a funding round from Toho Gas, one of the largest gas and energy firms in Japan, and existing investor Thien Viet Securities (TVS), a Vietnamese investment banking and private equity firm.
