Ecosystem Roundup: The AI funding boom has a Southeast Asia-sized blind spot
Crunchbase’s first-half 2026 numbers looked like an industry-wide win: global venture funding hit US$510 billion, smashing the previous half-year record. Look closer and the picture curdles. OpenAI and Anthropic alone absorbed 43 per cent of every venture dollar deployed on the planet in six months, with Anthropic’s US$65-billion raise alone equal to nearly a third of […] The post Ecosystem…
Global venture capital spending reached a record $510 billion in the first half of 2026, with OpenAI and Anthropic gobbling up 43% of all venture capital deployed worldwide. Anthropic's $65 billion raise alone accounted for nearly a third of the quarter's global funding, highlighting the concentration of AI funding. Southeast Asia's venture capital activity was minimal, with just $2.81 billion raised across 98 deals in Q1 2026, marking the lowest quarterly deal count in at least eight years.
More than 70% of that value came from a single Series C round, barely a rounding error compared to the region's entire 2025 total. This disparity is not solely a US issue; sovereign capital, including Temasek-linked vehicles, is already present in major AI deal rounds shaping the market, and the same trend is emerging within the region's own capital behavior.
Written by urgent.news from e27's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
