Day: September 1, 2026

Global financial participants are currently facing significant downward pressure as macroeconomic factors shape investor behaviour across digital ecosystems. The total valuation of decentralised networks fell by 0.89 per cent to US$2.61T over the last 24 hours. This broad valuation decline of 1.18 per cent demonstrates how external monetary policy expectations directly influence risk asset pricing.

Sector observers now view digital tokens through a macroeconomic lens rather than focusing solely on internal network developments or software upgrades. The digital asset space today exhibits an 81 per cent correlation with gold over the past 30 days. This high correlation indicates that allocators treat these instruments as inflation hedges while simultaneously navigating rising interest rate expectations.

My perspective suggests that this environment demands extreme caution from everyone involved. Retail day traders often chase momentum without understanding the underlying macroeconomic triggers. Professional allocators prioritise capital preservation and carefully monitor communications from monetary authorities before deploying fresh capital into highly volatile instruments. Wealth managers recognise that traditional portfolio theories still apply to these novel asset classes during periods of extreme macroeconomic stress.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a pivotal speech at Jackson Hole on August 28. He explicitly cited elevated inflation levels and stated that the monetary authority still has necessary work to complete regarding policy tightening. This hawkish rhetoric immediately reset trading expectations and triggered a notable rise in Treasury yields. Investors rapidly repriced the probability of a September interest rate increase to a near coin flip. This sudden shift in rate expectations directly pressures risk assets and forces a broad revaluation across the financial spectrum.

Digital currencies are highly rate-sensitive assets in the current environment. Prices move in direct response to shifts in monetary policy expectations rather than to internal technological catalysts or adoption metrics. I believe that policymaker communications will continue to dominate price action until inflation data shows a definitive and sustained decline.

Participants must closely watch the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting on September 15 to 16. Any pre-meeting commentary from policy officials will likely introduce further volatility and force investors to adjust their leverage positions accordingly. Analysts expect multiple speeches from regional bank presidents before the official blackout period begins.

Also Read: Who really moves Bitcoin now: nine straight days of Fidelity buying exposes the new power structure

Bitcoin specifically underperformed the broader digital ecosystem during this recent downturn. The leading cryptocurrency declined by 0.55 per cent to US$77,740.01. This price action coincided with a sudden reversal in institutional buying patterns. United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded a US$201.9M net outflow on August 28. This significant outflow abruptly ended a remarkable nine-day streak during which US$3B flowed into these financial products. The combination of a less favourable macroeconomic backdrop and a sudden pause in institutional buying pressure serves as the primary catalyst for the recent price decline.

Institutional demand remains highly sensitive to interest rate trajectories. Exchange-traded fund flows must return to positive territory to prove that institutional buyers possess enough resilience to ignore hawkish policy rhetoric. Sellers rejected Bitcoin near the US$79,000 to US$81,000 resistance zone. The asset now tests an immediate foundational floor near US$77,500. A decisive daily close below this level will likely trigger further algorithmic selling toward the US$73,000 to US$74,650 Fibonacci demand cluster. Market makers will closely monitor order book imbalances to gauge genuine spot demand during this critical testing phase.

The broader ecosystem decline also exposed severe weakness in alternative cryptocurrencies. Capital aggressively rotated out of smaller assets and flowed back into the sector leader. The Altcoin Season Index plummeted 31.58 per cent over the past week. This dramatic drop highlights a clear defensive shift in portfolio positioning. Investors actively reduce risk exposure in higher-beta assets when macroeconomic uncertainty increases.

Bitcoin dominance presently sits at 59.69 per cent as participants seek relative safety. This capital rotation amplified the overall valuation decline and created severe liquidity issues across decentralised exchanges. The derivatives arena experienced a massive leverage flush that accelerated the downward price movement. Total liquidations reached US$42.38M over the last 24 hours. This figure represents a massive 283 per cent spike from the previous trading session.

Bitcoin long liquidations alone accounted for US$13.97M of this total. Buyers quickly unwound a heavy buildup of leveraged long positions as prices dipped. This forced liquidation cascade is a symptom of the broader sell-off rather than its root cause. Derivative open interest today totals US$385.85B, which suggests that participants still maintain substantial leveraged exposure. Exchange risk engines automatically close out underwater positions to prevent systemic contagion across the broader trading ecosystem.

Also Read: Bitcoin touched US$81,000: Was that a rally or a forced repricing?

The immediate path forward hinges entirely on specific technical price bases and the upcoming monetary policy meeting. The overall digital ecosystem must hold the US$2.49T to US$2.57T lower boundary. This zone represents the 38.2 per cent to 23.6 per cent Fibonacci retracement levels.

Defending this area could trigger a rebound toward the US$2.7T swing high if bets on a central bank rate hike cool off. Conversely, a break below US$2.49T will likely signal a much deeper correction ahead of the September policy decision. Sentiment is currently in the “greed” territory, with the index reading 74. This elevated sentiment reading suggests that the current pullback might simply represent a healthy consolidation phase if buyers step in to defend key demand zones. I maintain a neutral-to-bearish short-term bias as the ecosystem digests the recent hawkish messages and resets leverage ratios.

The Asian trading session has not opened at the time of writing this analysis. The upcoming Asian trading hours will likely provide crucial liquidity and reveal whether buyers will defend these critical technical cushions or allow the bearish momentum to continue. Retail sentiment indicators often lag behind actual institutional positioning by several days.

Professional observers now focus entirely on order book depth and spot volume to gauge genuine buying interest. The recent price rejection at higher levels proves that sellers still control the immediate pricing structure. Institutional allocators require sustained spot-buying volume to confirm a genuine trend reversal rather than a temporary dead-cat bounce.

The Asian session opening will provide the first major test of these critical demand zones since the Jackson Hole speech. Liquidity providers will likely widen spreads during this transition period to protect themselves against sudden spikes in volatility. Participants must respect these macroeconomic realities and avoid catching falling knives during high-impact central bank weeks.

My final viewpoint emphasises patience above all else. Rushing into leveraged positions right now invites unnecessary risk. Waiting for clear daily closes above resistance or confirmed bounces off technical cushions provides a much safer framework for capital deployment. The coming weeks will separate emotional day traders from disciplined professionals. Successful navigation of this complex environment requires strict adherence to predefined risk management rules.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

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The post Sellers reject Bitcoin at US$81,000 and Asia has not even opened: what the next session will reveal appeared first on e27.

Southeast Asia’s venture capital market has stopped falling off a cliff. That does not mean it has bounced back.

According to the “Southeast Asia Startup Funding Report for 2025” by DealStreetAsia and Kickstart Ventures, the region closed the year with just 461 equity deals, the lowest annual deal count since at least 2018. The headline numbers suggest some warmth returned to the market in the second half of the year, but the underlying pattern points to something more permanent: a leaner, more selective funding environment where capital is available, but only for companies that can show discipline, governance and a credible path to durable growth.

Also Read: Growing SEA startups with Kickstart Ventures

For founders, this is a very different market from the one that shaped Southeast Asia’s last startup cycle. The old promise was simple: grow quickly, raise larger rounds, and use capital to win market share across a fragmented region. In 2025, that playbook looked increasingly outdated. Investors did write cheques again, but they did so with far more caution.

A recovery that looks bigger than it is

On paper, Southeast Asia had a stronger second half. Total equity funding rose to US$3.51 billion in H2 2025, up sharply from US$1.86 billion in the first half. But that increase was driven by a small number of large late-stage and growth transactions, rather than a broad reopening of the market.

The clearest example was Princeton Digital Group’s US$1.3 billion private equity growth round from Stonepeak. Deals of that size can change the region’s aggregate funding data almost single-handedly, especially in a year when overall deal volume remained weak. The number of transactions barely moved between the two halves of the year, rising from 228 in H1 to 233 in H2.

Minette Navarrete, President and Managing Partner of Kickstart Ventures, described the shift as “stabilisation rather than a rebound”, noting that the consistency in deal activity suggests the market has found a “functional floor”. Her point matters because Southeast Asia’s funding correction is no longer just a cyclical pause after the cheap-money years. It is starting to look like a structural reset.

The capital that is returning is not being spread evenly. It is concentrating around companies with clearer revenue models, stronger controls and a better chance of surviving without constant external funding. In other words, investors are no longer paying for the possibility of scale alone. They want proof.

Late-stage opens, early-stage stays tight

The most visible split is between late-stage companies and younger startups. Late-stage financing, which had largely frozen during the downturn, reopened in the second half of 2025. Late-stage deal volume more than doubled to 24 transactions in H2, from 10 in H1.

That helped Southeast Asia mint four new unicorns in 2025, compared with just one in 2024. They included Singapore-based healthtech company Ultragreen.ai and digital asset bank Sygnum, whose US$58 million growth round pushed it past the billion-dollar valuation mark.

But the recovery at the top has not eased pressure at the bottom. Seed-stage founders still face a difficult fundraising market. Median seed valuations fell to US$2 million in 2025 from US$2.5 million in 2024, showing that investors remain cautious at the market’s entry point.

Also Read: “Don’t ‘out-bro’ your male colleagues”: Kickstart’s women leaders on gender diversity in VC

The one area of early-stage relief came from companies that had already reduced execution risk. Series A and Series B startups with evidence of traction found a more receptive audience. Median Series B valuations rebounded to US$17.8 million from US$10 million in 2024, suggesting investors were willing to pay up but only when businesses could show that customers were buying, margins were improving, or expansion plans were grounded in hard data.

Mathias Imbach, co-founder and Group CEO of Sygnum, said institutional discipline has become unavoidable. “Rigorous due diligence processes from institutional investors led to defendable valuation models,” he said. “The key challenge was finding the lead. Once you have a lead investor, things tend to fall into place.”

That comment captures a broader market truth. The lead investor has become the gatekeeper. Without one, even promising companies can struggle to build momentum.

The end of growth at any cost

The philosophical shift may be even more important than the funding numbers. Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem spent years borrowing from the Silicon Valley growth model, even though the region works very differently.

Unlike the US or China, Southeast Asia is not a single large market. It is a collection of economies with different languages, regulations, payment systems, logistics networks and consumer habits. Expanding from Indonesia to Vietnam, or from the Philippines to Thailand, can feel less like entering a neighbouring market and more like rebuilding the business from scratch.

That makes subsidised hypergrowth expensive and often fragile. Several highly funded companies in the region have already shown how quickly growth can unravel when it depends too heavily on discounts, cheap capital or aggressive expansion assumptions.

Logan Tan, co-founder and CEO of e-procurement platform Eezee, put it plainly: “You can’t just copy the ‘grow fast at all costs’ playbook. The collapse of several highly funded unicorns here is proof that raising large sums to chase hypergrowth without solid fundamentals is unsustainable.”

Eezee’s own numbers reflect the new mood. The company grew revenue by 72 per cent year on year while narrowing its net loss by 36 per cent for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Tan argued that “revenue and profitability are the best insulation against funding slowdowns”, a view increasingly shared across boardrooms and investment committees.

Large corporates are applying the same discipline. Globe President and CEO Carl Cruz said inflation and competition have sharpened the focus on capital expenditure discipline.

Ayala Corporation President and CEO Cezar Consing has similarly noted that larger allocations now flow to mature platforms that can generate returns in a higher-interest-rate environment, even as some capital remains reserved for earlier bets.

Strategic capital gains ground

As financial VC has become more selective, corporate venture capital and strategic investors have taken on greater importance. For founders, the appeal is not only the cheque. In Southeast Asia, strategic backers can offer market access, regulatory support, customer relationships and credibility with enterprise buyers.

This is especially valuable in sectors such as deeptech, infrastructure, fintech and climate tech, where sales cycles are long and trust matters. Rohit Jha, CEO of Transcelestial Technologies, said the company leans on strategic investors’ networks for “on-the-ground access, procurement trust, and market navigation”. For a company building laser communications systems, investors with links to Japan, Australia or telecom infrastructure buyers can be as important as the capital itself.

The exit problem remains

The biggest unresolved issue is liquidity. IPO and M&A activity in Southeast Asia remains muted, making it harder for venture funds to return capital to their own investors.

Edgar Hardless, CEO of Singtel Innov8, described the lack of exits as one of the region’s biggest challenges. High valuations from the previous cycle have made local acquisitions harder, while public markets have not reopened meaningfully for venture-backed companies.

Also Read: Inside SEA’s AI gold rush: The 20 investors writing the biggest cheques

Until that changes, investors are likely to stay selective. Secondary sales may provide some relief, but they are not a substitute for a healthy exit market.

Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem is not broken. It is becoming more demanding. The next cycle will likely produce fewer companies built on speed alone, and more built on sharper economics, stronger governance and a clearer reason to exist. For founders, that may feel harsher. For the region, it may be healthier.

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For many Filipino households and small businesses, solar power still looks like something built for wealthier homeowners: panels on a roof, a sizeable upfront bill, permits, installation work, and the assumption that the customer owns the property in the first place.

Lumio Solar is betting that the next wave of adoption will look far more ordinary. A fan. A freezer. A light. A portable power station.

The Pampanga-based startup has raised US$900,000 in pre-seed funding to build a distribution and service network for solar-powered appliances and equipment across the Philippines.

Also Read: An investor’s outlook on solar energy in emerging Asia

The round was led by 100×100, the Southeast Asia climate venture builder formerly known as Wavemaker Impact. Lumio plans to use the capital to expand its product portfolio, strengthen hub operations, and build after-sales infrastructure, starting with Central Luzon and Metro Manila before moving into provincial and archipelagic markets.

The company serves households, micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), agribusinesses, and institutions that are often left out of the rooftop solar market. Its products include solar fans, lights, freezers, and portable power stations that require little to no installation.

“The future of solar isn’t just panels on rooftops. It also belongs in household and commercial products to bring reliable, affordable energy to power everyday life around the world,” said Rey Sunglao, Founder and CEO of Lumio Solar.

Why appliances, not just panels

The Philippines has some of the most expensive electricity in Southeast Asia, a burden that cuts across income groups but hits small businesses and rural communities especially hard. For a sari-sari store, a fish vendor, or a small farm operation, power is not only a household expense. It can decide whether food stays cold, whether work continues after sunset, or whether diesel backup becomes another recurring cost.

At the same time, the country is entering a period of rapid solar growth. Solar generation in the Philippines is projected to grow 17.4 per cent annually through 2050, according to figures cited by Lumio. But rooftop solar adoption remains constrained by familiar barriers: high upfront costs, installation requirements, limited roof space, and property ownership issues.

Those constraints are common across Southeast Asia. In dense cities such as Manila, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, many families live in rented homes or multi-unit buildings where installing rooftop panels is either impractical or impossible. In island and rural communities, logistics and maintenance can be as big a challenge as affordability.

Lumio’s answer is to unbundle solar from the rooftop. Rather than asking customers to invest in a full system, the company wants to sell appliances that generate or store their own energy and can be used immediately. The goal is not to replace grid-scale renewable energy or home solar systems, but to create a lower-friction entry point for customers who cannot access either.

According to Lumio, its solar appliances cost 10 per cent to 90 per cent less to operate than conventional alternatives and can reduce at least 50 per cent of electricity-related emissions. The range currently includes practical products such as fans, lighting, freezers and power stations, items that have clear use cases in both homes and small commercial settings.

Distribution is the hard part

Consumer solar is not only a hardware problem. In markets such as the Philippines, the harder task is often distribution: getting products to customers outside affluent urban centres, explaining how they work, offering financing or payment flexibility, and providing repairs when something breaks.

That is where Lumio wants to position itself. The startup is building what it calls distribution infrastructure for consumer-ready solar appliances, supported by local hubs and after-sales service. This is particularly important in the Philippines, where geography can turn even simple logistics into a complex operation. A model that works in Metro Manila may not automatically work in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Mindanao, or smaller island communities.

Sunglao brings a retail-heavy background to the task. He has more than two decades of experience in commercial operations, partner networks and omnichannel growth for Philippine consumer businesses, including senior roles at SM Malls Online, the e-commerce and lifestyle platform of SM Supermalls.

Also Read: Southeast Asia’s solar industry faces US tariffs and new trade realities

That experience matters because Lumio’s challenge is closer to building a consumer distribution business than a traditional energy company. The startup will have to win trust in neighbourhoods, farms and small enterprises that may be interested in saving on power bills but cautious about unfamiliar devices and maintenance promises.

Marie Cheong, Partner at 100×100, said the fund backed Lumio because rooftop solar still excludes a large part of the market.

“Filipino households and small businesses are now paying the highest electricity rates in Southeast Asia, yet traditional rooftop solar remains out of reach for most because of the upfront cost and property constraints,” she said. “Lumio is solving this with a fundamentally different model, plug-and-play solar appliances that meet households and businesses where they are.”

100×100 has positioned itself around venture building for emissions-heavy sectors in Southeast Asia and India, including agriculture, energy, industry, materials and buildings. The firm says each company it builds is designed to abate 100 million metric tonnes of CO2e and generate US$100 million in annual revenue. It has co-founded 27 companies across eight Asian countries and launched a US$100 million second fund in 2026 to build 50 new climate companies.

A crowded but fragmented market

Lumio enters a market where the broader solar category is already active, but fragmented. In the Philippines, companies such as Solar Philippines, Buskowitz Energy, Solaric and Solenergy have focused largely on rooftop, commercial, industrial or utility-scale solar. Globally, portable power brands such as EcoFlow, Bluetti and Jackery have popularised solar generators and battery stations, including across parts of Southeast Asia.

Lumio’s distinction is its focus on consumer and small-business appliances, paired with localised distribution and servicing. That may give it a clearer route into underserved customers than premium imported gadget brands, but it also means the company will have to compete on price, reliability and availability, not just climate impact.

The opportunity is significant. Across Southeast Asia, rising power demand, heatwaves, unreliable grids in some regions, and pressure to cut emissions are pushing more consumers to consider distributed energy products. But adoption will depend less on abstract decarbonisation goals and more on whether the products solve daily problems at an affordable cost.

For Lumio, that means proving that solar can be sold not as a large infrastructure investment, but as a practical appliance upgrade. If it succeeds, the company could help broaden the region’s view of what household solar looks like, from panels installed on rooftops to everyday devices that quietly reduce power bills one use case at a time.

Also Read: Singapore’s rent-to-own solar startup Solar AI bags US$1.5M seed financing

The next phase will test whether that idea can scale beyond early adopters. Lumio is beginning in Central Luzon and Metro Manila, two markets with different but complementary advantages: one with dense commercial and household demand, the other with strong links to agriculture and provincial enterprise. From there, the company plans to expand into more provincial and island markets.

That expansion will determine whether Lumio is simply selling solar-powered products, or building the kind of last-mile energy distribution network that Southeast Asia’s uneven energy transition increasingly needs.

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Every trend deck this year has the same slide: consumers are turning against AI-generated marketing, Coca-Cola’s AI holiday ad got mocked as “soulless,” 78 per cent of people say AI makes ads feel less authentic, and the smart move for 2026 is to hide the AI and put humans back in front of the camera.

It’s a real, well-documented shift, mostly built on US and European data. And Southeast Asian marketers are quietly importing it wholesale, which is a mistake, because the region’s own data tells a meaningfully different story.

The narrative everyone is copying

The Western backlash is not exaggerated. Research unveiled at Cannes Lions in June 2026 by The Harris Poll, the 4As and Infillion found 78 per cent of consumers say AI makes ads feel less authentic, 73 per cent are less likely to trust an ad they suspect was AI-made, and 63 per cent are less likely to buy from a brand using AI-generated ads; more than two-thirds of consumers now view AI in advertising as largely a “marketing ploy.”

Coca-Cola’s AI-produced version of its “Holidays Are Coming” campaign drew enough public mockery that it became the go-to case study for what not to do. Brands are hiring people specifically to produce proof-of-human “behind the scenes” content, because “we made this ourselves” has become an actual selling point.

That’s a real pattern. It just isn’t Southeast Asia’s pattern.

What the region’s own data actually shows

Two things are true in Southeast Asia at once, and most trend pieces only report one of them.

First: the region is not reflexively hostile to AI production the way US audiences increasingly are, but the picture is more specific than “SEA doesn’t care.” A peer-reviewed 2026 study of 400 Gen Z social media users in Da Nang, Vietnam (Business Perspectives / Innovative Marketing journal) found that disclosing AI use actually increased trust (β = 0.469, p < 0.001), which in turn predicted purchase intention, a direct contrast to the Western pattern where suspected AI use erodes trust.

Also Read: The funnel was never neutral: What Asia&#8217;s markets reveal about Western marketing theory

A separate PLS-SEM study of 387 Indonesian TikTok users found AI labels raised viewers’ awareness of the ad but only reduced attitude toward hedonic, impulse-type products, not the broad rejection Western data shows across categories. The signal is consistent: SEA audiences aren’t punishing AI transparency, and in at least one documented case, honesty about AI actively builds trust rather than eroding it.

Second, and this is the part that actually matters commercially: whatever a brand’s stance on AI, human trust still overwhelmingly decides the sale. The 2026 eCommerce Influencer and Affiliate Marketing in Southeast Asia report from impact.com, Cube and Dentsu, based on 2,400 consumers across six SEA markets, found recommendations from family and friends are the single strongest purchase driver (2.42 out of 4), ahead of both online reviews (2.36) and creator recommendations (1.98), and that two in three respondents (67 per cent) had bought something specifically because a creator recommended it.

Generative AI has become a real part of product discovery, with 24 per cent of consumers now using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude to support shopping decisions, and adoption reaching 34 per cent in Vietnam and 31 per cent in Indonesia, the two fastest-adopting markets in the region. But online marketplaces still dominate both discovery (71 per cent) and where purchases are actually completed (88 per cent), and nearly half (49 per cent) of affiliate-driven purchases were motivated by trust and validation rather than price or convenience.

AI is a research layer sitting on top of a decision that trust, not algorithmic polish, still closes, and the report projects that by end-2027 roughly one in five SEA shoppers will complete a purchase natively through a generative AI platform, meaning this dynamic is intensifying, not settling.

Put those findings together and the regional picture looks meaningfully different from the Western one: SEA audiences aren’t reflexively punishing a brand for using AI, and disclosing it can even help. What they consistently punish is a brand with no human credibility behind it when the moment of decision arrives.

A related Cube study commissioned by Lazada found “authenticity-led” e-commerce, verified stores, trusted brands, credible reviews, has grown from 12 per cent of regional online retail sales in 2020 to 30 per cent in 2025, and is projected to reach 55 per cent by 2030. That is the real curve to watch, and it isn’t an anti-AI curve. It’s a pro-trust one.

The line isn’t AI vs human, it’s real vs performed

Where the region does draw a line, the Da Nang study offers a clue most trend pieces miss: the trust-building effect of AI disclosure was strongest among consumers who scored high on collectivistic orientation, meaning the value of admitting “this was AI-assisted” is tied to social and relational trust norms specific to the market, not a universal reaction to the technology itself.

That is a fundamentally different mechanism from the West’s “AI equals inauthentic” reflex. The offense in SEA isn’t the technology. Based on this research, it looks closer to deception: content engineered to disguise itself as an organic, personal opinion when it isn’t one.

This also tracks with a broader pattern in newer digital economies. Peer-reviewed research comparing consumer responses to AI-generated advertising in Vietnam and Australia, based on 839 collected responses, found the two markets process AI-made video ads differently enough that the study’s authors point to cultural dimensions like uncertainty avoidance as an underexplored factor.

Also Read: AI didn&#8217;t replace Southeast Asia&#8217;s marketing agencies, it repriced them

A market still in the process of establishing baseline digital trust in e-commerce evaluates new content differently than one that has already developed fatigue and suspicion toward synthetic media by default, which is closer to where the US now sits after roughly three years of AI-generated content flooding social feeds.

Several SEA markets simply haven’t reached that saturation point yet, and industry commentary from a recent Singapore ad-tech panel has floated the same idea from the operations side: that the region’s creator-anchored social commerce model may not follow the US trajectory into an “AI content flood” at all.

What this actually means for marketing teams here

• Stop copying the “hide the AI” playbook wholesale. The instinct to scrub every AI fingerprint from your output is solving a problem that current regional evidence suggests mostly exists in Western markets. Disclosing AI involvement has been shown to build trust in at least one SEA market, not erode it, so treat “we don’t hide our AI use” as a potential asset, not a liability.
• Protect the line that does matter: don’t fake spontaneity. AI-assisted product content that’s honest about being AI-assisted appears to perform fine, or better, with SEA audiences. AI-generated content staged to look like an unprompted, organic customer opinion is where the deception, not the technology, does the damage, and it’s also the area most exposed as platforms and regulators start scrutinising undisclosed synthetic endorsements.
• Treat creators and word-of-mouth as infrastructure, not a bolt-on. With family and friend recommendations and creator trust still outperforming both reviews and AI as purchase drivers, the ROI case for creator partnerships in SEA is arguably stronger post-AI than pre-AI, not weaker.
• Watch Vietnam and Indonesia specifically. They’re both leading regional AI adoption in product discovery and sitting in a digital-trust-building phase where credibility cues matter more than production origin. That combination rewards brands that pair AI-assisted efficiency with genuinely credible, verifiable claims, not brands that either over-rely on AI or over-correct into performative “100 per cent human” theatre.

The uncomfortable part for a lot of regional marketing teams

The convenient story is that Southeast Asia is simply a few quarters behind the US on the same backlash curve, and the smart move is to pre-empt it. The regional data doesn’t clearly support that. It suggests a market running on a different trust mechanism entirely, one where the scandal isn’t “a machine helped make this,” it’s “you tried to make a machine’s output pass as somebody’s honest opinion.”

Brands spending 2026 anxiously stripping AI fingerprints out of product content may be solving last year’s American problem while missing the one actually sitting in their own market: whether anything a real customer would vouch for is still standing behind the campaign at all.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

Join us on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to stay connected.

The post The AI marketing backlash story doesn’t actually fit Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

Southeast Asia has become one of the world’s most closely watched startup ecosystems.

From fintech and e-commerce to logistics, SaaS, AI and digital financial infrastructure, the region has produced companies that have grown from local experiments into billion-dollar businesses. But for founders, there is another side to the story.

Raising venture capital in Southeast Asia has never simply been about having a great idea. Investors are seeing more startups, more sophisticated founders and increasingly ambitious business models. At the same time, the funding environment has become more selective.

So what actually makes a startup stand out? The answer isn’t always revenue. And it isn’t necessarily a huge market-size slide either.

Talk to experienced investors across the region and a few themes come up again and again: the quality of the founder, a deep understanding of the problem, evidence of product-market fit, strong economics, the ability to execute, and a credible path to becoming a much bigger company.

To understand what investors are really looking for, I looked at the views of several investors who have spent years backing technology companies across Southeast Asia. Their advice offers a useful reality check for founders preparing to raise their next round.

Peng T. Ong: Founder and Managing Partner, Monk’s Hill Ventures

Peng T. Ong has been investing in technology companies for years, but his approach to evaluating startups is remarkably straightforward. In a 2023 essay titled What I Look For in Startups, Ong laid out the characteristics he believes can help a startup scale quickly and significantly.

What he looks for

One of Ong’s biggest priorities is defensibility. He argues that startups should be able to accumulate differentiated, proprietary information as they grow. The idea is simple: the company should become harder to copy as it gets bigger, rather than simply becoming bigger.

Economics matter too. Ong specifically highlights positive unit economics and strong gross margins. His preference is for businesses that can potentially achieve gross margins above 50 per cent, although he also recognises that some businesses can become attractive through large absolute gross profits even when percentage margins are lower.

Then there is retention. Ong introduces the idea of R + K, where R represents retention and K represents the virality coefficient. His argument is that startups should aim for a product where retention and organic growth can eventually reduce dependence on continuously spending money to acquire customers.

He also looks for natural lock-in. A product becomes increasingly valuable when customers have a reason to stay whether because of accumulated data, workflows, relationships or other features that make switching difficult.

And then comes what Ong calls “hyper-kaizen”: the ability of a company to continuously make significant improvements to important business metrics.

But perhaps his most interesting point is about the founder. Ong describes the ideal entrepreneur as a “philosopher-warrior-nurturer.” The philosopher understands the deeper “why” and thinks clearly about the business. The warrior turns that thinking into action. And the nurturer builds the people and culture needed for the company to keep growing.

The takeaways for founders

The takeaway is bigger than simply “grow fast.” Investors want to see whether your growth is creating a stronger company.

Are customers staying? Are your economics improving? Is your product becoming harder to replace? Are you building proprietary advantages? And ultimately, are you the kind of founder who can keep improving the company as it gets more complicated?

For Ong, those questions are just as important as the headline growth numbers.

Also Read: Agritech investors are learning that infrastructure matters

Khailee Ng: Managing Partner, 500 Global

Few investors have been as closely associated with Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem as Khailee Ng. Ng joined 500 Global after building and exiting two startups and went on to lead the firm’s first Southeast Asia-focused fund. 500 Global says he has led more than 300 investments across Southeast Asia, including early investments in companies such as Grab, Carsome, Carousell, Bukalapak and FinAccel.

What he looks for

Ng has a particularly important message for founders: founder-market fit can matter just as much as product-market fit. In a 500 Global interview, he explains that the firm wants founders who genuinely care about what they are building and have a personal advantage when it comes to understanding the problem.

That makes sense. Two founders can build similar products, but the founder who has spent years living the problem may understand the customer, the industry and the market in a way that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Ng also wants founders who are willing to build ambitiously. That doesn’t necessarily mean saying you want to become the “Uber of Southeast Asia.” In fact, Ng has challenged the assumption that every Southeast Asian startup must follow the same regional expansion playbook. In a later 500 Global interview, he argued that founders should question the assumption that a Malaysian company automatically needs to expand to Singapore and Indonesia market.

The power of being hyperlocal

There is another lesson from Ng’s experience with Grab that deserves attention. In a 500 Global analysis of Grab’s rise, Ng describes the company’s execution-oriented and hyperlocal approach as a major strength.

Grab didn’t simply build one product and assume that every market would behave in the same way. Instead, the company developed deeply local leadership teams that understood individual markets and had the relationships needed to operate within them. That approach helped Grab navigate the complexity of Southeast Asia while building a much larger regional business.

The takeaways for founders

There is an important paradox here. To build a regional company, you often need to become more local, not less.

Founders sometimes think regional expansion means standardising everything. But in Southeast Asia, localisation can be a competitive advantage. The companies that win may be those that combine a common technology platform with a deep understanding of individual markets.

Don’t confuse regional ambition with regional expansion for its own sake. Your investors want to know how big the company can become, but the path doesn’t have to look the same for every startup.

The right question isn’t: “Which Southeast Asian country should we enter next?” It is: “Where does our business have the strongest opportunity to build a large, defensible company?”

That might be Indonesia. It might be Singapore. It might be the United States, India, Bangladesh or somewhere else entirely. The business model should determine the expansion strategy not the other way around. Depending on the business, another international market might actually make more sense. That is a useful distinction.

Golden Gate Ventures: Backing audacious founders

Golden Gate Ventures has been investing in Southeast Asia since 2011 and has built a portfolio spanning Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The firm’s portfolio includes companies such as Carousell, Ninja Van, Carro, Xendit and Funding Societies.

What they look for

Golden Gate describes its philosophy in unusually direct language: “We fund and learn from the audacious.” The firm says it works with founders on long-term vision and strategy, while also helping portfolio companies with areas ranging from product development and technical strategy to growth.

One important part of Golden Gate’s approach is its regional perspective. Southeast Asia isn’t one market. Consumer behaviour can change dramatically from country to country. Regulations differ. Payment systems differ. Logistics networks differ. Language and culture differ.

For founders, that means a successful business model cannot always be copied and pasted from one country into another. Golden Gate’s own approach reflects this reality. The firm says it has invested deeply across six Southeast Asian markets and maintains local relationships that can help companies expand across the region.

The takeaways for founders

When investors ask about your expansion plans, don’t simply show a map covered with flags. Explain why each market makes sense.

What is similar? What needs to change? What local partnerships will you need? How much will customer acquisition cost? And can the business maintain attractive economics while expanding?

The best regional startups aren’t necessarily the ones that enter the most countries. They are the ones that know where to expand, when to expand and how to adapt.

Also Read: Investors aren&#8217;t ghosting you, they&#8217;re reading you

Shiyan Koh: Managing Partner, Hustle Fund

Shiyan Koh has spent years looking at Southeast Asia from the perspective of an early-stage investor. As Managing Partner at Hustle Fund, she has written extensively about where she sees opportunities emerging in the region, particularly in AI, fintech and businesses with global potential.

What she looks for

Koh sees a particularly interesting opportunity in AI applications for industries that have historically been underserved by software. Her argument is that Southeast Asia has many industries where large language models and other AI technologies could create highly specialised software.

The opportunity isn’t necessarily to build another generic AI chatbot. It could be software designed specifically for farmers, call centres, medical coding, virtual assistants or other industries where local knowledge and specialised workflows create an advantage.

Koh also sees significant opportunities in fintech. She points to the region’s large underbanked population and the need for better financial infrastructure, including areas such as credit scoring and KYC.

But perhaps her most important message is about ambition. Koh argues that Southeast Asian founders should think about global potential from day one. That is partly because the region still has a relatively limited number of companies capable of producing very large venture outcomes. For startups with global ambitions, she believes the international strategy needs to be considered early rather than added as an afterthought.

The takeaways for founders

Don’t assume that being based in Southeast Asia means your company has to remain a Southeast Asian company.

Your initial market may be local. Your customers may be local. Your first product may solve a very specific regional problem. But if the underlying technology or insight can travel, the opportunity could be much larger. The key is to identify that potential early.

What Southeast Asian investors really look for

Put all these perspectives together and the pattern becomes surprisingly clear. Investors aren’t simply looking for the next big idea. They’re looking for evidence that the founder can turn an insight into a large, durable business.

• Founder-market fit: Why are you the person to solve this problem? Khailee Ng’s point about founder-market fit is particularly important here. If you’ve lived the problem, worked in the industry or spent years understanding the customer, explain that advantage.
• Product-market fit: Investors want evidence that people actually want what you’re building. That evidence doesn’t always have to be millions in revenue. It could be retention, engagement, repeat customers, strong growth or another meaningful signal that customers are pulling the product into the market.
• Strong economics: Growth purchased entirely through expensive customer acquisition isn’t enough. Investors increasingly want to understand your unit economics, gross margins and the path toward a sustainable business. Peng Ong’s framework makes this especially clear.
• Defensibility: What becomes harder to copy as you grow? Proprietary data, network effects, customer relationships, switching costs, technology, distribution or brand can all contribute to a competitive moat. But founders should be able to explain exactly why their advantage compounds over time.
• Execution: A brilliant strategy means very little if the team can’t execute it. Investors want to see founders who can build, sell, hire, learn and adapt. The ability to keep moving when something goes wrong is often more valuable than having a perfect plan.
• Local understanding: Southeast Asia’s diversity creates huge opportunities, but it also creates complexity. Founders need to understand the differences between markets rather than treating the region as one giant customer base.
• A credible path to scale: Finally, investors need to believe that the company can become much bigger. That doesn’t necessarily mean entering every Southeast Asian country. It means having a believable answer to one fundamental question: how does this become a very large company?

Also Read: Why the smartest founders are interviewing investors before investors interview them

Conclusion

The Southeast Asian startup story is still being written. The region has the talent, consumers, technology and entrepreneurial energy to produce much larger companies in the years ahead. But as the ecosystem matures, investors are becoming more selective.

The founders who stand out won’t necessarily be the ones with the flashiest pitch decks. They’ll be the ones who can demonstrate something much harder to fake: deep market knowledge, genuine customer demand, strong economics, exceptional execution and a reason to believe their company can become much bigger.

And there is one final lesson worth remembering. Don’t pitch Southeast Asia simply as a huge market. Show investors why your team has earned the right to win in it.

Explain the problem. Show the evidence. Demonstrate the economics. Tell them why your company is difficult to copy. And then show them where the business can go next.

Because ultimately, investors aren’t funding a PowerPoint presentation. They’re betting on the people who are going to build the company. And in Southeast Asia’s increasingly competitive startup ecosystem, that distinction matters more than ever.

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