Singapore records 92% of South-east Asia’s US$7.25 billion in H1 startup funding: report

[SINGAPORE] Singapore captured 92 per cent of South-east Asia’s US$7.25 billion in startup funding during the first half of 2026, as capital concentrated in artificial intelligence and strategic infrastructure.

The regional figure marked a surge of nearly three times from the US$1.86 billion raised in the same period last year, based on Kickstart Ventures and DealStreetAsia’s Southeast Asia Startup Funding Report H1 2026, released on Thursday (Sep 24).

Singapore-headquartered companies accounted for 145 of the region’s 217 equity deals, securing US$6.7 billion. The figures reflect the city-state’s position as a regional and global financing hub, with companies using the jurisdiction to finance international expansion rather than strictly domestic deployment, said the report.

“The drive for stability, diversification and supply chain resilience amid geopolitical uncertainty is pushing global capital towards Asia, and South-east Asia is a beneficiary,” said Minette Navarrete, president and managing partner at Kickstart Ventures.

Regional deal volume fell 5 per cent year on year to its lowest level since 2018, driven by an 11 per cent decline in early-stage transactions to 195 – a shrinking cohort that threatens to constrain the scale-up pipeline over the next several years, added Navarrete.

Capital distribution mirrored a global shift towards AI models, compute infrastructure and semiconductors. The five largest regional rounds contributed 75.5 per cent of total funding, leaving US$800 million for the remaining 196 transactions.

Market without depth

Outside Singapore, regional totals relied heavily on single large transactions. Vietnam raised US$340 million across 10 deals, with Vinpearl’s US$255 million round contributing three-quarters of the total.

Malaysia recorded the strongest breadth outside Singapore, with 27 deals raising US$203 million. Amity Solutions accounted for 77 per cent of Thailand’s US$130 million, while Salmon supplied 75 per cent of the Philippines’ US$80 million.

Indonesia recorded 17 deals for US$104 million, and had no company among the region’s 20 largest rounds.

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“Every market outside Singapore depended on one or two transactions to make its total. That is characteristic of what a market without depth looks like in any conditions,” noted Andi Haswidi, head of research at DealStreetAsia.

Sovereign funds, corporates and private credit are stepping in for traditional venture capital while risk pricing adjusts, he added.

In early-stage financing, capital deployed rose 56.4 per cent year on year to US$1.72 billion. The median Series A round declined to US$8 million from US$11.6 million in late 2025 as investors used larger seed cheques to grant selected startups extra runway to establish product-market fit.

Late-stage funding reached US$5.88 billion across 23 transactions, dominated by a US$4.5 billion Series C round for data centre operator DayOne.