SEA’s tough year – and a silver lining – in charts

Tough.

That’s the word to describe Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem, which faced its fifth straight year of funding decline in 2025. Total capital raised fell by one-third compared to 2024, marking the lowest in nine years.

Volatile macro conditions and fraud scandals, like the one involving eFishery, also cast a shadow over the region’s founders and investors.

Still, the year had bright spots. Southeast Asia minted five new unicorns in 2025. That’s more than the combined total from the last two years.

The new unicorns include:

• Ultragreen.ai, a Singapore-based healthtech firm developing AI-powered surgical solutions
• Ashita Group, a consumer electronics retailer and wholesaler from Malaysia
• Airalo, a Singapore eSIM provider
• Thunes, a cross-border payments platform headquartered in Singapore
• Vidio, an Indonesia-based streaming site

Ultragreen.ai also marked the region’s first unicorn IPO in three years. The company started trading on the Singapore Exchange in early December 2025, three months after achieving unicorn status.

Southeast Asia recorded three new IPOs this year as well: Singaporean biotech firm Mirxes, Indonesian digital bank Superbank, and Indonesian coffee chain Fore Coffee. Mirxes and Superbank both hit billion-dollar market caps after listing.

See also: Will 2026 mark the revival of Southeast Asia’s IPO hopefuls?

But while more companies went public this year – compared to just one last year – the M&A scene remained muted.

The region saw just 19 notable M&A deals in 2025, down from 43 in 2024. That figure captures only publicly announced transactions. The actual number of exits may be higher, as startups and investors likely stay quiet about unfavorable deals.