Late-stage deals revive in Southeast Asia, but early-stage founders remain under pressure

Southeast Asia's venture capital market is experiencing a stabilisation rather than a full recovery, with late-stage deals resuming while early-stage funding remains challenging. According to the "Southeast Asia Startup Funding Report for 2025" by DealStreetAsia and Kickstart Ventures, capital is moving again, but with far less tolerance for speculative growth.

Late-stage equity proceeds more than doubled in the second half of 2025, with 24 late-stage transactions and US$2.23 billion in equity proceeds. However, this rebound was heavily driven by a few large deals, such as Princeton Digital Group's US$1.3 billion growth equity transaction in Singapore. The market is now rewarding de-risked companies with clear paths to liquidity, while younger startups continue to face lower valuations and stricter demands for proof.

Despite this, the reopening has led to four new unicorns in Southeast Asia in 2025, compared to one in 2024 and two in 2023.

Brief written by urgent.news from e27's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.