Venture building in SEA needs a reset

From corporate accelerators and startup studios to government-backed ecosystem platforms, the term “venture building” is applied liberally in Southeast Asia. However, it remains inconsistently understood.

With the region’s startup ecosystem focused on capital discipline and pragmatism, it’s time to ask: What does venture building mean in Southeast Asia, and what form should it take?

Too often, something is called “venture building” out of convenience rather than conviction. In theory, the model promises to make innovation less risky by creating startups with better access to capital, talent, and distribution.

In reality, many players emphasize the building aspect – staffing teams, producing slide decks, and launching barely proven minimum viable products – without anchoring their efforts in a coherent and validated venture thesis.

In my view, this has been prevalent among the first generation of venture builders like Singtel Innov8, Rainmaking, FutureLabs and SCB10X, which were established by corporations, institutions or consulting firms.

With this group, process often replaces conviction, and volume of ventures stands in for substance. Often, the result is companies scale before they should.

There has to be a better way for Southeast Asia to do venture building.

What “building” really means

If venture is the bet, building is the work. But what constitutes building in this region can vary dramatically.

In traditional tech startups, it could focus on distribution and user acquisition – think consumer tech like Carousell or Grab.

In deeptech startups such as Eureka Robotics, building might include structuring intellectual property partnerships with universities and navigating grant regimes.

In legacy sectors, it involves orchestrating value chains, regulatory approvals, and often offline infrastructure. Agritech startups like FlyLab are a good example.

See also: Behind SEA’s venture-building boom in a bear market

Building is not a uniform process, so it must be adapted to the sector, regulatory context, and local talent base. This is why the copy-paste model of Western venture builders often fails to deliver results in Southeast Asia.

Emerging models

Embrace change

Builders with skin in the game