Shows / SEA of Startups
SEA of Startups
Real, raw, relatable takes on Southeast Asian startups. One investor, the week's news, no script.
seaofstartups.substack.com
Episodes
SEA of StartupsBig Isn't Rich. Rich Isn't Investable
Presented by YourCFO In about five weeks, Southeast Asia’s two biggest growth stories swapped places. Vietnam got promoted by one of the big index providers…
SEA of StartupsThe Exits Are Back. Who Actually Gets Paid?
Presented by YourCFO The biggest company the Philippines has ever floated went public last week. A homegrown name that sits on tens of millions of phones. And…
SEA of StartupsI Still Can’t Find My Driver
Presented by YourCFO I need to be honest with you before we start, because otherwise this whole piece reads like a man with an axe to grind. I do have an axe…
SEA of StartupsThe $13 billion costume
In the first nine months of this year, startups in Southeast Asia raised more than $13 billion. A record. Depending on whose tracker you believe, that is…
SEA of StartupsSeed is booming. Not here.
Let me describe a company to you. Real revenue. Customers who pay every month, on time. A product that works and a team that ships. By every standard that…
SEA of StartupsTwelve doors out: Southeast Asia's exits are back, and the buyers are flying in
There are two ways out of a company in Southeast Asia. One of them is loud. On 20 October, GCash will ring the bell at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the…
SEA of StartupsCount who gets paid: the least glamorous AI money in Southeast Asia
Somebody is going to stand on a stage in Singapore this month and tell you two things. Southeast Asia now has more than 60 profitable tech startups. And the…
SEA of StartupsExposing the AI panic: who actually profits?
This week a guy who, as far as anyone can tell, had never posted anything in his life put up a thread about artificial intelligence and got 170 million…
SEA of StartupsThe tourists went home: who is actually left to fund Southeast Asia
Last week one of the firms that taught this region what seed capital even looks like quietly admitted that it will not raise another Southeast Asia fund. 500…
SEA of StartupsSoutheast Asia's Superapps Finally Made Money. Do Not Copy How.
Three of the biggest companies this region has ever produced just did something they had never done before. They made money. Sea, the Singapore company behind…
SEA of StartupsNext, Owned by Whom?
As you read this, thousands of people are in a convention hall in Bangkok. Techsauce Global Summit, 26 to 28 August, at the Queen Sirikit National Convention…
SEA of StartupsIndustrial Policy in a Startup Jersey
There is a company in Singapore that has raised close to half a billion US dollars and has never sold a single thing. Not a small amount of revenue. None. It…
SEA of StartupsA salary is not ownership
In 2022, at the Vietnam Venture Summit, forty one funds stood up and pledged one and a half billion dollars for Vietnamese startups. The pledge covered the…
SEA of StartupsMalaysia does not have a money problem
On the twenty seventh of July, in a bank tower in Petaling Jaya, the Malaysian government announced more than five billion ringgit of financing for Malaysian…
SEA of StartupsWhen the bust ends in a courtroom
For a decade, Indonesia was not a story about Southeast Asia. It was the story. Two hundred and eighty million people, most of them young, most of them coming…
SEA of StartupsJust passing through: how Malaysia keeps funding the people who leave
Over the past few weeks, three Malaysia stories hit the news that, on the surface, have nothing to do with each other. A government pension fund answered in…
SEA of StartupsThe $7.4 Billion Lie
You have seen the number this week, probably five or six times, from five or six people who all copied it from the same report. Southeast Asian tech funding…
SEA of StartupsWho Owns the Scarce Thing?
This week the two biggest stories in Southeast Asian tech were not a funding round or somebody’s ninth super app pivot. They were a government chip program in…
SEA of StartupsOne Winner, Six Shipwrecks
Since 2017, Southeast Asia has produced exactly one tech IPO that made public investors real money. One. And this week, the Philippines is getting ready to bet…
SEA of StartupsThe Mirage and the Fork in the Road
Start with two numbers and a question. In May, startups in this region raised $472 million. More than double what they raised in April. Read only that line and…
SEA of StartupsEp 31 - Oil, iron, and idle money: what the war is really doing to Southeast Asia
Start with a sliver of water between Iran and Oman. On a normal day, roughly a fifth of the world’s oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz. This year it…
SEA of StartupsEp. 30 - We Called It a Funding Winter. I Think We Built for an Exit That Was Never There.
Singapore just released its report on venture funding for 2025, and almost every write-up reads the same way. Funding winter. Capital’s gone quiet. Hold the…
SEA of StartupsEP 29 - Chatbots to Agents and where Liability Lands
I hopped into a taxi in Bangkok last week and the driver, a man north of fifty, spent the ride telling me what he was building with AI. Not complaining about…
SEA of StartupsEp. 28 - The Philippines Just Drew a Line With Washington. Malaysia Just Rewrote Its IPO Rules. And the Whole Region Is Doing Something Nobody Is Tracking as One Story.
Two stories from Southeast Asia this week, and almost nobody connected them. The Philippines unveiled the marker for the Pax Silica industrial hub in New Clark…
SEA of StartupsEp. 27 - Strip Out One Deal and SEA Raised $800M. A Chip Stock Just Got 95x Oversubscribed. And OpenAI Spent $4 Billion Admitting AI Is Hard to Deploy.
There’s a version of this week that looks like a good week for Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem. The Q1 2026 funding report shows the highest quarterly…
SEA of StartupsFour Stories That Explain Southeast Asia Right Now
This week’s episode is a news episode. No guests. Just four stories that I think every founder, investor, and operator in Southeast Asia should be paying…
SEA of StartupsFour people are flying around the moon right now.
Episode Title: The New Space Age Is Actually Here | Artemis II, SpaceX IPO & The Rise of Orbital Infrastructure Episode Summary Right now, four humans are…
SEA of StartupsAI-First Starts Inside: What Tiwa York Actually Said (And Why It Should Worry You)
Most AI content gives you a framework. Tiwa York gives you a verdict. The founder who built Kaidee to 35 million users and guided it to a successful exit sat…
SEA of StartupsThe SEA SaaSpocalypse & The Rise of the Space Lobsters
In the ever-changing landscape of technology and business, the term “SaaSpocalypse” has emerged to describe the recent downturn in public software stocks. But…
SEA of StartupsEP 22 - Meta's $2.5B "Butterfly Effect"
Keywords Meta, Manus, acquisition, Singapore, AI, geopolitics, startups, tech industry, business growth, investment Summary In this conversation, Kevin and Kim…
SEA of StartupsEP 21 - The "Elon Singularity"
Summary In this conversation, Kevin and Kim discuss the recent merger of Elon Musk's companies, particularly focusing on the implications of combining AI and…
SEA of Startups🎙EP 20: Singapore did it...again: How the SGX–NASDAQ Dual Listing Bridge Rewrites Southeast Asia’s Exit Game
Heyyyy guys, 🧠 TL;DR — What Actually Changed * SGX × NASDAQ dual listing is a real regulatory breakthrough — but U.S. liquidity remains unproven * The fintech…
SEA of Startups🎙EP 19: While We Argue About Electricity, Google Is Moving Compute to Space. Southeast Asia Has 36 Months to Wake Up.
THIS WEEK'S REALITY CHECK Google just published research that makes every data center in Southeast Asia look obsolete. Project Suncatcher: Space-based AI data…
SEA of Startups🎙EP 18: 400% Returns: How Transformational M&A and AI Will Redefine Southeast Asia’s Next Decade
Episode Title: 400% Returns vs S&P: The 6 M&A Habits Turning Acquisitions Into Capability Machines THIS WEEK'S REALITY CHECK Companies that transform while…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 17: 680 Million People. 11 Regulatory Systems. 1 Opportunity: Turning ASEAN’s Chaos into Capital.
THIS WEEK'S REALITY CHECK The 47th ASEAN Summit just wrapped in Kuala Lumpur. Trump was there. China's Premier showed up. Everyone talked about integration…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 16: The $1 Trillion AI Feedback Loop: Why OpenAI's Circular Deals Will Either Create the Future or Collapse Like Cisco in 2000
Your grandmother probably thinks AI is just fancy autocomplete. Your investors think it’s the next industrial revolution. Both might be right. And that’s…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 15:When Regulators Win: What Singapore's Robotaxi Rollout Reveals About the Future of Deep Tech"
When Regulators Win: What Singapore's Robotaxi Rollout Reveals About the Future of Deep Tech While Silicon Valley's AV companies fought regulators and burned…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 14: Heat, Hype & Hard Truths: Why Climate Tech Keeps Failing in Southeast Asia’s Torture Chamber (And How Founders Can Survive It)
Your battery just died. Not your phone—your entire business model. This week on Sea of Startups, we're diving into why most climate tech fails within months in…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 13:The $12B Unicorn Teaching This Malaysian Founder How to Scale Without Losing His Soul
This conversation explores the messy middle of entrepreneurship through Ryan Ng’s unique journey of building YouDigital while leading APAC expansion at $12B…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 12:The Great Reality Check: How SEA's Tech Scene Finally Grew Up (And Why Silicon Valley Should Pay Attention)
"We went from the whole growth at all costs mentality to, can you actually make money? All within the span of about 18 months." Hey everyone, News flash-…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 11: The Trust Equation: Why Corporate VCs Aren't the Villain in Your Startup Story
The Trust Equation: Why Corporate VCs Aren't the Villain in Your Startup Story "One yes can open doors you didn't know existed. One no from the wrong person…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 10: The $40B GenAI Reality Check: Why 95% of Enterprise AI Projects Are Failing (And What the 5% Winners Know)
🎙 EP 10: The $40 Billion AI Reality Check | MIT's Brutal Wake-Up Call on Enterprise AI's 95% Failure Rate 🛰 Everyone's chasing AI transformation. 95% are just…
SEA of StartupsThe Ecosystem Builder Running APAC's Startup Bridge Solo: Chi Chi Wong's Cross-Cultural Playbook
🎙 EP 9a: You Can’t Copy-Paste Trust | Chi Chi Wong on Cross-Border VC, Founder Support, and Building the Human Infrastructure Behind Southeast Asia’s Startup…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 8 :Fraud, Fish & the Fragile Currency of Trust
Read up on our newsletter! 🎙 Most VCs think ESG stories are too noble to fact-check. That's how you lose $600 million. — Kim Yeoh 🛰 Southeast Asia's startup…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 7: The Enterprise Sales Reality Check You've Been Avoiding
EP 7: The Enterprise Sales Reality Check You’ve Been Avoiding | The Enterprise Sales Playbook No One Talks About: Why Your Perfect Product Still Can't Close…
SEA of Startups🎙️ EP 6: The Invisible Unicorns: Why Southeast Asia's Biggest Startup Stories Are Happening Behind Your Phone Screen
From Apps to Infrastructure: 3 Startup Shifts Rewiring Southeast Asia Read up on our newsletter! https://seaofstartups.substack.com/ 🎙️ EP 6: The Invisible…
SEA of Startups🎙EP 5: Sleeping Giant: Why the Philippines Might Be Southeast Asia’s Next Startup Powerhouse
🎙️ Episode Title Philippines Startup Shift with Joseph De Leon 📌 Episode Summary (100–150 words) In this episode, Joseph De Leon (JDL) shares strategic…
SEA of Startups🎙EP 4B: How Jakarta’s AI Megacenter & Malaysia’s VC Reboot Shape SEA’s Tech Future
“You can’t build AI without compute. And you can’t build trust with slogans.”— Kevin Brockland “Singapore can’t handle everything. It really can’t.”— Kimberley…
SEA of Startups🎙EP4A: Funding’s Up, Startups Down? Southeast Asia’s Barbell Economy in 2025
🎧 Episode 4A: Funding’s Up, Startups Down? Southeast Asia’s Barbell Economy in 2025 Welcome to Part 1 of our two-part deep dive on the state of startup funding…
SEA of Startups🎙EP3 Deep, Narrow, and Agentic: The New Stack That’s Quietly Taking Over
“These APIs are pretty cool… they allow people to sell quickly without having to go through bureaucratic buying processes.”— Chris Birrell 🧠 Episode 3: Deep…
SEA of Startups🎙EP2: Seed Strapping—The Road Less Funded
🎙️ EPISODE 2: The Road Less Funded – Seed-Strapping with Strategy Welcome back to SEA of Startups — where Southeast Asia’s startup game gets real. No hype. No…
SEA of Startups🎙 EP1 Why We're Back and Why This Podcast Had to Happen
This isn’t a fluffy reset. It’s a recalibration. SEA of Startups is back — sharper, bolder, and more real than ever. In this special kickoff, co-hosts Kevin…
SEA of StartupsStartup Ecosystem in Malaysia
This time around, we are sharing a recent presentation that our host gave at a recent event in which he discussed the different players in a startup ecosystem…
SEA of StartupsJeremy Au
This week we are joined by Jeremy Au. You may know him from the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast or from Monk’s Hill Ventures. We cover a lot of ground…
SEA of StartupsHanif Wahid of Delyva
This week we are joined by Hanif Wahid the Founder of Delyva, which is is a multi-courier delivery platform recommends the best-performing courier service for…
SEA of StartupsGanesh Bangah of Commerce.Asia
This week we are joined by Ganesh Bangah, a serial entrepreneur with a resume longer than this podcast. He built MOL Global which listed on NASDAQ and later…
SEA of StartupsBen Bagg of Nectar Group
This week we are joined by Ben Bagg the Founder of Nectar Group, which is focused on enabling companies looking to expand across the APAC through as a Sales &…
SEA of StartupsJonathan Weins of Pop Meals
This week we are joined by Jonathan Weins the Founder of Pop Meals, which is an F&B company leveraging tech and data to enable tailored experience with better…
SEA of StartupsTM Lee of CoinGecko
This week we are joined by TM Lee the Founder of CoinGecko, which is the world’s largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator and has made a name as key…
SEA of StartupsGil Carmo of iMotorbike
This week we are joined by Gil Carmo the Founder of iMotorbike, which is the leading online platform to buy or sell pre-owned Motorcycles with operations in…