Greetings on International Women’s Day. It is a time to celebrate the achievements of women and, more importantly, to call attention to the work that is still left to be done.
To mark the occasion, my colleague Pramugdha Mamgain took stock of fundraising trends among startups founded or co-founded by women in India. For all the progress women have made, we are still a long way from true gender equality.
Even as total private capital flowing into Indian startups declined 12.5% year-on-year in 2025, funding secured by women (co-)founded startups rose 15% to $1.65 billion. However, the growth lagged the 30% increase logged in 2024.
The share of women (co-)founded startups in overall funding rose to 11.6% in 2025, from 8.8% in the previous year, though it is still below the 2021 peak of 14.65%.
Among the top fundraisers were Ritu Bapna-founded Impetus Technologies, a provider of data, analytics, and AI solutions; and Nikita Prasad’s omnichannel jewellery startup GIVA.
“Female-led companies often stand out for their disciplined approach to capital allocation, operational rigour, and efficiency-oriented strategies that align naturally with the metrics investors prioritise,” wrote ACV Capital’s Helen Wong in a guest post for DealStreetAsia.
Despite consistently demonstrating strong capital efficiency and revenue generation, female founders continue to be underfunded. The question, therefore, is not whether women can deliver as founders, but why capital fails to follow them.
The Middle East conflict rages on
The escalating conflict in the Middle East deteriorated this week into a major geopolitical risk engulfing markets and businesses worldwide. Oil prices have surged 20% since last Friday, and vital hydrocarbon exports via the strategic Strait of Hormuz have been slashed.
Private capital allocators in South and Southeast Asia, already wary of making fresh commitments amid a dearth of distributions, are likely to be even more cautious and selective, wrote my colleague Michelle Teo in an analysis. Fund managers, meanwhile, are closely monitoring portfolio companies with exposure to the Gulf region.
There are also questions about how, if at all, it would affect the Gulf region as a venue for capital deployment as well as outbound allocations.
For decades, deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf have preserved the riches from oil and gas, investing it in overseas assets to create a $5 trillion pot for a rainy day, which may finally have arrived, according to a Reuters analysis.
If the conflict prolongs, it could force the hand of leaders in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Kuwait to pause global investments and divert the funds to shore up their war-hit domestic economies and counter the disruption in supplies of everything from food to medicines. There is a real risk that wealth funds may pause their investments.
No one is immune to the conflict. On Wednesday, the Stock Exchange of Thailand suspended trading briefly, for the first time in about six years, after the SET Index fell by 8%. Among the significant losers were energy major Gulf Development, controlled by Thailand’s richest person Sarath Ratanavadi, which fell 10%.
A roundtable and our Hong Kong Summit
This week, we announced the first set of speakers for our inaugural Asia Private Equity Leadership Summit in Hong Kong on May 20, 2026.
Be sure to book your seats and expect sharp insights from top executives at Granite Asia, HOPU Investments, Templewater, Morgan Stanley Investment, ewpartners, and Primavera Capital, among others.
We also recently concluded a roundtable in Hong Kong, as part of our DealStreetAsia Leadership Roundtable: China Series, where experts from LGT Capital, Ascendent Capital, PAG, HSG, and Mubadala discussed whether China’s private equity landscape is defined by optimism or pragmatism.
China’s private equity market is no longer an absolute question of whether to invest, but a matter of how: emphasising pricing, control, sector knowledge, operational discipline, cash flow, and exit feasibility. Investors with a disciplined approach and local insight can navigate mispriced assets and unlock value in China 3.0.
Analyses
This week, we published a series of sharp, insightful analyses on topics ranging from exit opportunities for venture investors to the fate of Tokopedia.
The struggle for liquidity is acute in Southeast Asia. This explains why several venture capital funds in the region are turning to creative liquidity solutions such as continuation vehicles to extend holdings. East Ventures is among those weighing a new multi-asset continuation fund after closing its first such vehicle backed by Coller Capital in January 2025. Jungle Ventures and 500 Global have also discussed the option.
Staying on the topic of exits, Malaysia’s healthcare sector is shaping up to be a rare bright spot for Southeast Asia’s private equity market as a slate of planned listings could unlock fresh capital in the near term for sponsors, providing some relief from the prolonged exit drought. Among the most imminent healthcare IPOs on Bursa Malaysia is by GIC-backed Sunway Healthcare, which is looking to raise $734 million in what would be the country’s largest listing in almost a decade.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, a revival in listings in 2025 is restoring much-needed visibility on liquidity pathways for venture capital investors. Parallely, secondary transactions and strategic sales are also emerging as a flexible liquidity mechanism for VC investors in the country.
In another analysis, we examined the state of affairs at Tokopedia two years after China’s ByteDance folded the Indonesian e-commerce platform into its TikTok empire. The question is no longer whether the marriage worked but what kind of union it has become. The goal of the merger was to create a formidable challenger to Shopee but developments throughout 2025—regulatory scrutiny, layoffs, and operational adjustments—complicated that narrative, fuelling rumours that the Tokopedia app could eventually be sunset.
Scoops and funding news
The investigation into Indonesian aquatech startup eFishery’s financial fallout has moved into a new phase, with Deloitte formally taking over the restructuring of its Singapore holding company. The move follows a shareholder resolution in December that terminated FTI Consulting’s interim management at eFishery.
CVC Capital Partners is said to have begun preliminary discussions with potential investors to explore a stake sale in the Indonesian hospital operator Siloam International Hospitals. The move underscores how funds are increasingly pursuing exits through bilateral negotiations rather than formal auctions, as bid-ask gaps continue to weigh on the M&A market.
KKR is seeking around $500-600 million in financing to fund the acquisition of Singapore’s XCL Education Holdings, after it agreed last month to purchase the Southeast Asia K-12 school group from TPG in a $1.3 billion deal.
CVC Capital Partners and the founding shareholders of SOHO Global Health are exploring ways to unlock liquidity in the Indonesian pharma firm after a recent stake-sale attempt by CVC stalled. Options include raising the company’s public free float from the current 9%. Moreover, the IDX has plans to double the minimum required free float of listed companies to 15% in phases.
Indian electronics manufacturer SFO Technologies has raised over $82.3 million in fresh funding to expand its operations. The round was led by PE firms Trident Growth Partners and Amicus Capital Partners.
Malaysian drone technology firm Aonic has secured $10 million in a Series A round led by regional investor Kairous Capital, which is backed by Malaysia’s National Fund-of-Funds Jelawang Capital through its Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme.
Corporate scorecard
Singapore tech giant Sea Ltd. reported a net income of $1.6 billion for the year ended 2025, up 3.6x from $447.8 million in FY2024, as e-commerce arm Shopee’s strong performance lifted group earnings. The NYSE-listed firm’s revenue for the full year increased 36.3% to $22.9 billion from $16.8 billion in 2024. Yet, the record-breaking bottom line was not enough to win over a sceptical market—as the closing bell rang, Sea’s 3.6x profit surge was met with a 16.5% stock plunge. The sell-off suggests that for these tech giants, the “profitability” box has been checked and the market has moved on to a tougher scorecard.
