Total funding for the Southeast Asia (SEA) tech ecosystem amounted to $2 billion in the first half, a drop of 24 percent compared to the $2.6 billion raised in the second half of 2024, and an increase of 7 percent compared to the $1.8 billion raised in the first half of 2024, Tracxn said last Thursday.

The data intelligence platform said in a statement that these figures reflect both a short-term slowdown and a longer-term recovery trend in the regional market.

It noted the first half of 2025 witnessed significant shifts across funding stages and sectors in the region, highlighting both resilience and evolving trends.

Against a backdrop of global market fluctuations, the funding also underscores the tech firms’ critical role in shaping the region’s digital ecosystem.

According to the statement, seed-stage investments in the region totaled $87 million in the first half of 2025, marking a drop of 51 percent compared to the $176 million raised in the second half of 2024, and a drop of 68 percent compared to the $270 million raised in the first half of 2024.

Meanwhile, the region’s early-stage funding came in at $464 million in the first half of 2025, a decline of 74 percent compared to the $1.8 billion raised in the second half of 2024, and a decrease of 53 percent compared to the $991 million raised in the first half of 2024.

Late-stage funding in the region also witnessed a sharp rise, reaching $1.4 billion in the first half of 2025, an increase of 140 percent compared to the $583 million raised in the second half of 2024, and an increase of 149 percent compared to the $562 million raised in the first half of 2024.

In the first half of 2025, enterprise infrastructure emerged as a top-performing sector in the region, attracting $859 million in funding.

This represented a decrease of 35 percent compared to the $1.3 billion raised in the second half of 2024, and a surge of 3,787 percent compared to the $22.1 million raised in the first half of 2024.

FinTech followed with $775 million, an increase of 31 percent compared to the $593 million raised in the second half of 2024, and a drop of 26 percent compared to the $1 billion raised in the first half of 2024.

The enterprise applications sector recorded $545 million in the first half of 2025, down 66 percent from the $1.6 billion raised in the second half of 2024, and up 33 percent from the $409 million raised in the first half of 2024.

The first half of 2025 witnessed five $100 million+ funding rounds compared to three such rounds in the second half of 2024 and two in the first half of 2024.

Notable rounds included Digital Edge raising $640 million in a Series D round, Supabase raising $200 million in a Series D round, and Thunes raising $150 million in a Series D round.

The period also featured notable initial public offerings (IPOs) from Oasis Home, Mirxes, Antalpha, and Concorde Security.

Sygnum, a banking solutions provider for digital assets, was the only unicorn created in the first half of 2025, the same number as in the first half of 2024 and no unicorn emerged in the second half of 2024.

The SEA tech sector witnessed 28 acquisitions in the first half of 2025, a drop of 26 percent compared to the 38 acquisitions in the second half of 2024, and a drop of 24 percent compared to the 37 acquisitions in the first half of 2024.

The largest transaction was Dropsuite’s acquisition by NinjaOne for $270 million, followed by the acquisition of ASCENT by KFin Technologies for $34.7 million.

Singapore based tech firms accounted for 92 percent of all funding seen across the SEA region in the first half of 2025, making it the dominant geography.

Taguig trailed far behind in a distant second place.

East Ventures, 500 Global, and Wavemaker Partners emerged as the overall top investors in the SEA Tech ecosystem.

Iterative, 500 Global, and Antler were the top investors in seed-stage funding. In early-stage investments, SEEDS Capital, Altos Ventures Management, and Openspace Ventures were the top investors.

In the late stage, DST Global Partners, Unbound, and Vitruvian Partners were the top investors.

The SEA tech ecosystem demonstrated a strong momentum in the first half of 2025, with late-stage funding surge and a rise in mega-round activity despite a general slowdown in early and seed-stage investments.

The dominance of enterprise infrastructure, FinTech, and enterprise applications highlights growing investor focus on scalable and impact-driven sectors.

Meanwhile, the significant role of Singapore as a funding hub, combined with strong activity across acquisitions and IPOs, underscores the region’s resilience and evolving role in the global technology landscape.

D2C companies in SEA raise $32.5M in 2024, a 3 times surge from 2023: Tracxn