Overall funding levels in South-east Asia have contracted year-on-year however; Philippines a “bright spot” in the region
[SINGAPORE] Singapore-based tech firms accounted for about 88.5 per cent of all funding by technology companies across the South-east Asia region in the first nine months of 2025 at US$2.3 billion, based on data from venture capital (VC) and startup research platform Tracxn.
This comes within the context of sharp declines in overall funding raised during the period of US$2.6 billion, down 7 per cent compared with the US$2.8 billion raised in the same period the year before. Total inflows are also down 58 per cent from the first 9M 2023.
The report on South-east Asia tech funding for 9M 2025 on Tuesday (Sep 30) also noted that one unicorn – Sygnum – was created during the period. This is half the number seen in the same period a year before, sliding back down to 9M 2023 levels.
The Singapore-based firm achieved the unicorn status earlier in January this year, following three rounds of funding and eight investors prior to its unicorn round, reported The Business Times previously.
A total funding of US$110 million for seed stage was recorded in 9M 2025, a dip of 72 per cent compared to the $386 million raised in the same period a year prior. Early stage funding was at $688 million in 9M 2025, down 55 per cent compared to the US$1.5 billion raised in 9M 2024.
This pullback was as early as mid-2024, where Series A to early B deals were down 50 per cent from H1 2023, a Sep 19 report by VC firm Cento Ventures indicated.
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The data also reflected that a “gradual slowdown” for Series B and C rounds continued in H1 2024 from the same period a year before, while Series C+ rounds stabilised.
For 9M 2025, a number of the top feeds were from data centre infrastructure at US$640 million in funding, payments at US$350 million, and artificial intelligence infrastructure at US$300 million, the Tracxn report said.
Top early stage investors in the South-east Asian tech ecosystem for the period were SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, Integra Partners and Tin Men.
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East Ventures, 500 Global and Singapore-based VC firm Wavemaker Partners on the other hand were the overall all-time top investors in the same ecosystem and period.
Support from late-stage funding rounds
Late stage deals, however, have provided “resilience” during this period of slowdown within the South-east Asian funding space, noted the Tracxn report. Such funding witnessed a total of $1.8 billion in 9M 2025, up 112 per cent compared to US$831 million raised in 9M 2024.
There were six funding rounds above US$100 million in 9M 2025, double the number of such rounds in 9M 2024.
Companies which managed to raise more than US$100 million include Singapore-headquartered digital infrastructure company Digital Edge with US$640 million in a Series D round; and fintech company Airwallex with US$150 million in a Series F round.
The report by Tracxn also noted that a major part of these over US$100 million funding rounds came from enterprise infrastructure and enterprise applications, and fintech.
The enterprise infrastructure sector had a total funding of US$951 million in 9M 2025, up 32 per cent from the $719 million raised in the same period a year before. As for the enterprise infrastructure sector, it experienced a total funding of US$857 million in 9M 2025 – a 621 per cent surge from the US$121 million raised in 9M 2024.
The fintech sector also had substantial amount of total funding – US$839 million in 9M 2025. However, this figure is down 39 per cent from the US$1.4 billion raised in the same period a year ago.
The total number of funding rounds in South-east Asia for 9M 2025 stood at 168, down 62 per cent from 443 in the concurrent period a year before.
Philippines as a “key investment destination” in SEA; Indonesia possibly outpaced
Research from Cento Ventures indicated that the Philippines has displayed promise to re-emerge as a key investment destination in the region.
The VC firm’s report said that the country has “come under scrutiny” as the “New Indonesia”, with waning competition from its neighbour.
It had an over 6 per cent rise in Series A median pre-money valuation of US$25 million in 2024 from US$23 million in 2023, having benefited from capital flowing out of Indonesia and the boom in digital financial services.
As for its Series B median pre-money valuation by country, the Philippines more than doubled in 2024 to US$65 million from US$32 million in the year prior.
What has assisted this is also Indonesia’s middle-class economics casting doubt on the sustainability of consumer-led theses, especially after failed initial public offerings (IPO) of consumer companies of late.
Data from Tracxn noted that for 9M 2025, there were 12 IPOs of tech companies in the region, up 71 per cent from the seven recorded in 9M 2024.
Companies that went public included Singapore-based software-as-a-service provider Info-Tech Systems and Malaysia food and beverage manufacturer A K Koh during the period.
New VC capital invested by the Philippines stood at 65 per cent of South-east Asian countries in H2 2024, while that of Indonesia trailed behind at 16 per cent, with Singapore at 11 per cent.
A specific field of the Philippines’ up-and-coming growth story is in the digital banking space, where the competition has reportedly shifted away from Indonesia and Singapore to the Philippines. This comes on the back of companies from the Philippines such as Salmon, UNO Digital Bank, Mynt, and PayMaya securing substantial capital in 2024.
As for Indonesia, it has received less than its “fair share” of investment in the regional digital economy since H2 2023, as funds previously raised for “consumer story” ventures shift away from tech toward mid-cap private equity style investments, such as food and beverage chains.
Even amid a market slowdown, Indonesia’s valuations have remained stable due to increased bridge financing and venture debt rounds that helped companies avoid downrounds, report by Cento Ventures said.
Both Indonesia and the Philippines continue to be strong contenders and “proven profitability at scale” in the digital lending space, said the analysts.
