The venture capital world is quietly rewriting its definition of a successful exit. With IPO windows opening and closing at the whim of macro headlines, liquidity has shifted from being an endgame to something founders and investors now engineer along the way.
The 2025 Endeavor Catalyst Annual Report makes this clear: secondaries are no longer a niche workaround but a core mechanism keeping capital moving.
For Southeast Asia, this evolution feels less like disruption and more like adaptation. The region is full of mature venture-backed companies that are operationally strong yet cautious about listing into uneven, fragmented public markets. When public comps wobble, an IPO can reset valuations in ways that hurt both private investors and long-term strategy. Secondary sales offer a pressure-release valve—returning capital to early funds, giving employees a chance to monetise equity, and introducing new investors without surrendering control or timing to market sentiment.
What matters now is execution. Well-structured secondaries demand pricing discipline, governance clarity, and careful communication to avoid cap table chaos. Done right, they allow companies to stay focused on fundamentals rather than chasing an uncertain listing.
The message for Southeast Asia is pragmatic: liquidity doesn’t have to wait for the perfect IPO moment. In today’s market, secondaries are not a compromise—they’re part of a more flexible, resilient venture playbook.
REGIONAL
Inside Singapore’s biggest telecom cyber defence operation: The island nation launched its largest-ever cyber defence operation after advanced attackers targeted telecom networks, prompting a coordinated national response to contain intrusions, protect critical infrastructure, and strengthen long-term cyber resilience.
SLEEK EV’s US$8.5M Series A funding signals a more mature EV playbook: SLEEK is explicitly framing itself as more than an EV manufacturer. Its long-term ambition is to become “APAC’s trusted full stack EV motorcycle Operating System”, where “partners collaborate, data compounds, and actions convert to a new way of urban mobility.”
VinFast officially enters Indonesia’s e-scooter market with strategic dealers: VinFast will begin rolling out its distribution network in the Jabodetabek area — Indonesia’s largest economic and urban centre — from the second quarter of 2026, with plans to expand to other regions nationwide.
Khazanah’s Jelawang Capital backs more than ten startups with over US$7.64M capital: Khazanah reported resilient FY2025 performance, with MYR105 billion net assets and 5.2% returns, while Jelawang Capital backed 10 startups, crowding-in MYR30 million and advancing Malaysia’s transformation, semiconductor, and AI growth.
Why Hyperbond is betting US$500K on romance-driven language learning: Singapore’s Hyperbond Studio launched Call Me Sensei, an AI companionship language app using romantic-style scenarios, and raised US$500K. It plans expansion, multilingual growth, and voice upgrades via a partnership with MiniMax.
REPORTS, FEATURES & INTERVIEWS
When IPOs freeze, liquidity finds another way: As IPO markets remain uncertain, venture capital is shifting toward secondary sales for liquidity. Endeavor Catalyst’s 2025 report shows exits surging, a trend resonating in Southeast Asia’s mature startups seeking returns without rushed listings.
Finding the right co-founder involves having tough conversations–and a great sense of humour: Starting a business often hinges on choosing the right co-founder. Founders and investors stress shared vision, trust, resilience, and complementary strengths, backed by clear agreements and planning early for conflict, exits, and continuity.
Trust remains travel’s defining currency: Inside travel’s next operating model at MarketHub Asia 2026: Global travel demand is resilient heading into 2026, but MarketHub Asia signals a shift toward optimisation, trust, AI deployment, cybersecurity resilience, and managing fragmentation across payments and regulation.
INTERNATIONAL
Databricks CEO says SaaS isn’t dead, but AI will soon make it irrelevant: SaaS companies that embrace the new LLM interface could grow, as Databricks is doing. But it also opens up possibilities for AI-native competitors to offer alternatives that work better with AI and agents.
TikTok projects APAC’s creator commercial contribution to reach US$1.2T by 2030: The growth will be driven by authentic content that boosts purchase intent, with AI tools helping brands scale creator-led marketing efficiently. Beauty & fashion, gaming, financial services, apps, and consumer electronics are emerging as key areas of growth.
Anthropic’s India expansion collides with a local company that already had the name: Anthropic’s India expansion has triggered a trademark dispute, with local firm Anthropic Software claiming prior name use since 2017 and customer confusion, seeking damages as court proceedings continue without interim injunction.
Crypto.com places US$70M bet on AI.com domain ahead of Super Bowl: The deal, paid entirely in cryptocurrency to an unknown seller, shatters previous records. Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek plans to debut the site during Sunday’s big game, offering consumers a personal AI agent for messaging, app usage, and stock trading.
CYBERSECURITY
In Southeast Asia, cybersecurity is booming but funding is not: Tracxn research reveals that across the ASEAN region, cybersecurity startups raised US$24M across three rounds in 2025, a 40% decline from 2024 levels, when the sector pulled in US$40.1M. The number of rounds shrank as well, falling from 7 in 2024 to 3 in 2025.
After cyber attacks, silence can be the biggest brand killer: Penta’s Dan La Russo: The whitepaper warns cyber breaches are leadership crises, where poor communication destroys trust faster than technical damage. Early acknowledgement, transparency, internal coordination and visible leadership are essential to contain reputational fallout.
Bridging healthcare and cybersecurity: How women are challenging stereotypes in tech: Global venture capital is shifting from unpredictable IPO exits to secondary deals, enabling liquidity for investors and employees as mature Southeast Asian startups stay private longer.
SEMICONDUCTOR
Taiwan rejects US push to shift 40% of chip production: Taiwan’s international expansion, including its investments in the US, is predicated on the notion that the industry remains’ rooted in Taiwan and continues to expand domestic investments, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun said.
TSMC January revenue rises 37% on AI chip demand: TSMC, which also produces chips for Apple, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of a surge in artificial intelligence-related investment, due to its role in manufacturing advanced AI accelerators.
SK chief meets Nvidia CEO in US to discuss HBM, AI cooperation: The meeting took place earlier this month in California. Observers believe the two sides discussed supply plans for HBM4, the next generation of HBM expected to be used in Nvidia’s upcoming AI accelerator, named “Vera Rubin.”
AI
Google expands AI investments in Singapore: Building on the recent opening of the Google DeepMind research lab in Singapore, the firm is expanding its local R&D footprint by investing heavily in human capital — scaling specialised teams across software engineering, research science, and UX design.
AI is leaving the screen and entering the real world: Endeavor’s 2025 report shows hardware surging as venture capital’s second-largest sector, as AI shifts from software to physical systems powering robotics, chips, infrastructure, and automation globally across industries and regions.
The AI mirage: Why your stack isn’t the secret to scaling in 2026: AI adoption is nearly universal, but real value remains rare as complexity rises. With tech commoditised, founder success hinges on human intelligence—discernment, emotional resilience, and vertical leadership development.
AI helps, but systems and people hold the key to Asia’s decarbonisation: Asia’s climate risks demand decarbonisation beyond tech hype, combining AI as a force multiplier with integrated infrastructure, systems thinking, collaboration, and human talent to turn data into resilient, low-carbon cities.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
The era of ‘black box’ pricing is over: Why transparency is the new currency in B2B marketing: In 2026, pricing strategy shifts from opaque algorithms to explainable AI, turning transparency into a core sales and marketing advantage.
Crypto market cap hits US$2.4T again: Why institutional whales are buying the dip: US stocks rose as tech rebounded, easing AI spending fears. S&P 500 gained 0.5%, Nasdaq jumped 0.9%. Nvidia, Broadcom and Oracle led. Japan rallied. Investors await retail sales and CPI data.
You’ve seen OpenClaw, Clawdbot, and Moltbook everywhere: Here’s why agentic AI suddenly feels real: OpenClaw and Moltbook reignited agentic AI hype by showcasing proactive, locally run assistants, but real-world use exposes gaps in reliability, security, and operational control challenges.
Revisiting “Something Ventured”: What the birth of VC still teaches Founders today: Something Ventured traces venture capital’s origins as an act of belief and partnership. It contrasts today’s transactional funding culture with early investors backing vision, patience, and founders—reminding startups that trust still matters most.
The cold logic of the angel: Stop funding dreams, start funding plumbing: New angel investors fall for dazzling pitches and lose money. Smart investing underwrites scalable machines: real pain solved, disciplined operators, and repeatable systems for sales, hiring, support, and product execution.
Startups vs regulators: How new rules are reshaping digital finance: As Southeast Asia tightens fintech regulation, licensing scarcity, crypto supervision, and data rules reshape funding, pushing startups toward compliant infrastructure, partnerships, and regulated business models over rapid, permission-later growth strategies.
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