The VC playbook that built Silicon Valley is failing SEA

This article summarizes a BRAVE’s Podcast episode featuring Tiang Lim Foo, general partner at Forge Ventures.

Forge Ventures Partner Tiang Lim Foo / Photo credit: General Assembly

The venture capital playbook that built Silicon Valley is failing in Southeast Asia. Tiang Lim Foo, a general partner at Forge Ventures, and investor Jeremy Au analyzed this strategic failure. They argued that the region’s market realities demand a fundamental rethinking of VC math and startup strategy.

Their analysis reveals a critical inflection point for the region. Shaken investor confidence, rare unicorn exits, and the rise of AI are forcing a strategic split. Founders must now choose between deeply localized models or building global-first, AI-native companies from day one.

The eFishery scandal is a system-wide clearing event

The scale and sophistication of the eFishery fraud has deeply shaken the global investment community. The scandal risks creating a self-fulfilling “lost decade” narrative for Southeast Asia. This negative perception could deter capital and unfairly paint the entire region as high-risk.

A lost decade is a non-zero possibility.

Tiang Lim Foo explains, “Will this precipitate a lost decade for Southeast Asia? Because sometimes when there’s a loss in investor confidence, the sentiment and narrative sets in and that becomes a reality. There’s a non-zero possibility of it happening, which would be a shame.”

The scandal paints the entire region with a broad, negative stroke.

He continues, “I do worry if that paints in the global investment community’s mind a broad stroke of what Southeast Asia represents. Intellectually you know that for every eFishery there are other companies that genuinely are creating value and are building real businesses.”

All prior due diligence failed to catch it.

Jeremy Au states, “All of the due diligences that have been done by seed round, series A, series B, series C failed to catch it. It caused a lot of pain because the latest stage investor can’t survive such an event.”

Corporate fraud is a sign of a maturing ecosystem

Major scandals are not unique to Southeast Asia but are a feature of every growing tech hub. This perspective frames fraud as a painful but necessary part of market maturation. It enforces discipline and clears out unsustainable models and actors.

Every major tech ecosystem has its own scandals.

Tiang Lim Foo observes, “This is not a surprise for any growing ecosystem. Silicon Valley has its own version of Theranos and FTX, and the scale is probably 100 times that of eFishery. China has no shortage of such stories. India has Byju’s.”

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