The Week That Was—June 9-14

Trust and track record are not just industry jargon—they determine who gets funded, and who doesn’t. And this week, we were reminded that they matter far beyond the world of private capital.

The fatal crash of Air India’s London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner, in Western India’s Gujarat state, has renewed scrutiny of the US company’s weak track record on safety following a years-long quality crisis. Even as Boeing continues to grapple with the fallout from past 737 Max crashes, the spotlight on its Dreamliner jets—so far hailed as a modern engineering marvel— now risks becoming a symbol of eroding trust and oversight failure.

In private markets, too, track records can be vital. Just ask Vietnam-based VC fund managers VinaCapital, ThinkZone Ventures, or Do Ventures, which are back in the market raising successor funds.

They face an arduous fundraising trail, given the lack of meaningful exits in Vietnam in the past—IPOs and M&As, the most popular exit routes, have been on a decline—as my colleague Quynh Nguyen reported from Hanoi this week. LPs are demanding evidence, not just ambition, and capital is flowing more selectively in the absence of realisable returns.

Staying on the topic of exits, we released our annual report that tracks tech M&A trends in Southeast Asia. M&A activity in Southeast Asia continued its downward trajectory in 2024, with deal volume falling to 99 transactions, a 12% year-on-year decline, according to SE Asia Tech M&A Review: 2025. Early signals from 2025 suggest the market has yet to stabilise. Only 41 tech M&A deals were recorded in the first five months of the year, trailing behind the same period in 2024, which saw 49 deals.

All said and done, a recovery in exits may be within reach, as Chris Freund, founder and partner at Vietnam-focused private equity firm Mekong Capital, told my colleague Ngoc Nguyen in a chat this week. Mekong Capital remains bullish on local IPOs as a reliable exit strategy. “I’m personally quite enthusiastic about the Vietnamese stock market as a reliable route to make exits happen,” said Freund.

Whether in aviation or venture capital, the lesson is clear: trust is earned slowly, lost quickly, and is ultimately determined by outcomes—not intent.

Now let’s move on to the other top stories of the week:

Data-led stories

This week, we released our monthly reports on private equity and venture capital investment trends in Asia. Venture investments in startups rose across most Asian markets in May, except for Greater China, where deal value plunged to $1.7 billion— the lowest in our records.

In India, where investments had fallen to a 14-month low of $898.7 million in April, deal value rose 15% month-on-month to $1.03 billion in May, crossing the psychologically-important $1 billion threshold. However, the number of VC and PE deals declined to 96, from April’s 116 transactions.

In Southeast Asia, investment activity nearly doubled month-on-month to $656.3 million, driven by a handful of outsized cheques, most notably a megadeal in Malaysia—Ashita Group announced a PE investment of up to $155 million from CPFam-LDA Asia Growth Fund and AEI Capital Group. PE rounds contributed $330.2 million, or half the region’s haul in May.

Interviews

This week, we interviewed top executives from Schroders Capital, InnoVision Capital, White Whale Group, SUSI Partners, SPIL Ventures, and KFin Technologies.

White Whale Group’s CEO and managing partner Joo Hyung Song shared his insights on the systemic shift underway in Korea. For decades, Korea’s economic rise was driven by government-led industrial policy, state-directed finance, and the rise of family-run conglomerates, or chaebols. This model helped transform a post-war developing country into one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing economies. But today, that model has reached its limits, Song said. Korea’s next growth chapter needs new engines. “I believe that engine is the small- and mid-sized enterprise,” he said.

Ankita Baheti, Investment Director at the UK-listed Schroders Capital spoke about the secondary market in Asia where she sees potential in the lower- to mid-market segment. “… in the low to mid-market, where we operate, there are fewer active players—giving us better access and pricing discipline,” she said.

InnoVision Capital’s CEO and founder Lane Zhao shared how his firm has become the first PE investor to tap the carbon market of China, through the launch of a carbon asset investment fund. The carbon asset investment fund has drawn commitments from US institutional LPs amidst a difficult fundraising landscape.

Wymen Chan, Asia head of the Switzerland-based energy infrastructure investor SUSI Partners AG said investments in services—from storage to transmission efficiency—are key to energy transition in Southeast Asia. The firm is set to leverage its experience in the energy supply and services industries in Europe to launch its next Asia-focused vehicle as soon as next year.

General Atlantic-backed KFin Technologies is picking up a slice of Southeast Asia’s fund administration market as rising private capital flows unlock new opportunities across the region. The Mumbai-listed firm is expanding its footprint to serve alternative asset managers following the $35-million acquisition of Ascent Fund Services, a Singaporean fund admin, in April, said Sreekanth Nadella, CEO of KFin Technologies.

SPIL Ventures, the venture arm of Indonesian shipping giant Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines (SPIL), is adopting a more selective approach to early-stage investing—prioritising fundamentals and long-term sustainability—as it targets to close at least one new deal in the near term, Sumarny Manurung, VP of Investments at SPIL Ventures.

Startup fundraising and other scoops

Big acquisitions are in Grab’s financial horizon, whether or not a GoTo merger is on the table. After dismissing merger reports with GoTo, Grab announced plans to offer $1.25 billion in convertible senior notes to beef up its financial muscle for potential acquisitions. The proceeds from the notes, due in 2030, will be used “to optimise strategic flexibility,” which, according to Grab’s statement, “may include potential acquisitions”.

Lifull Connect, a Spanish provider of online real estate services, has acquired proptech firm Lamudi’s operations in Indonesia and the Philippines for an undisclosed amount and also established a new platform that integrates its Southeast Asian operations and newly acquired properties under one umbrella.

Indonesian multi-brand F&B operator DailyCo is said to be finalising the acquisition of SoftBank Ventures-backed Indonesian F&B firm Yummy Corp through a share swap deal, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Indonesian bread brand Aoka is said to be seeking to raise up to $50 million in fresh capital, as investors show interest in Southeast Asia’s fast-growing packaged bakery sector. Aoka is likely to have had conversations with several regional PE firms, sovereign wealth funds, and strategic players.

Vietnamese asset manager VinaCapital, through its Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), has exited hospital chain Tam Tri Medical to a “dedicated healthcare private equity firm in South and Southeast Asia”, the company said.

Singapore fintech firm Atome is open to more investors as it pushes to scale across the region riding on its profitability milestone. Atome locked in a $75-million asset-backed facility from Lending Ark this week—its fourth major credit deal in just 12 months.

Indonesian digital identity and signature startup Privy has laid off 96 employees, nearly 20% of its 500-strong workforce, as part of a restructuring tied to its core system overhaul and shift toward AI-assisted development.

MoEngage, a US- and India-based customer analytics and cross-channel engagement platform, is in talks with a host of private equity (PE) firms, including growth-stage investor A91 Partners, as it looks to raise a mega round in the coming months to fuel its expansion.

Digital lending platform FlexiLoans.com has raised $43.9 million in its Series C funding round, backed by existing investors Fundamentum, Accion Digital Transformation, Nuveen, and Maj Invest, with participation from new investor British International Investment (BII).

LP-GP news

Global real estate investment manager CapitaLand Investment (CLI) secured additional commitments from institutional investors for its value-add lodging fund CapitaLand Ascott Residence Asia Fund II (CLARA II). CLARA II, a follow-on fund to the $600 million Ascott Serviced Residence Global Fund (ASRGF), invests in serviced residences and co-living properties in gateway cities in key developed Asia Pacific markets.

Global alternative investments firm Ares Management has secured 350 billion yen ($2.4 billion) for its debut fund dedicated to data centres in Japan. LPs in the fund include Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which invested about $1.3 billion, and GLP Pte Ltd. Separately, the firm is reported to be in the market for its next Asia-focused special situations fund. Bloomberg reported that the manager is expecting the new vehicle to be no smaller than its predecessor, which closed at $2.4 billion in 2023.

US investment firm Artisan Partners is liquidating its China-focused investment portfolio by the end of June. The decision comes amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment and a persistently challenging economic and market backdrop, which have put significant pressure on flows across dedicated China strategies, the company said.

The Wealth Company Asset Management, part of the Pantomath Group, has launched Bharat Bhoomi Fund, a Rs 1,000 crore ($117.1 million) vehicle that marks the firm’s entry into India’s real estate segment under its flagship Bharat Value Fund (BVF) platform.

Analyses

A slew of venture-backed Chinese AI companies is heading towards an IPO, becoming the country’s first movers in the DeepSeek era to tap the stock market. But not all will bear fruit, investors say, as the fast-evolving market landscape will weed out slow runners, driving their venture backers to explore alternative exit paths. Several large language model (LLM) developers and embodied AI startups in China are looking to ride the wave of market enthusiasm following the breakout success of DeepSeek.

India’s single-specialty hospital chains are commanding a growing share of private equity investments, riding on focused business models, faster scalability, and rising consumer trust. Over the past decade, healthcare chains focused on IVF, eyecare, oncology, and dialysis have moved from niche providers to serious contenders for institutional capital. According to a new report by investment banking firm Avendus, single-specialty hospitals have accounted for 36% of all private equity investments in Indian hospitals in the last 10 years, with a steady increase in share in recent years.

That’s all from us for this week. We’ll be back with more insights and deal stories soon. Until then, thank you for reading—and for trusting us to help you navigate the signals that matter.

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