Funding for Asian startups increased sequentially in the third quarter, led by several hardtech mega rounds.
Overall, investors committed $16.8 billion in reported seed-to-growth rounds for firms across Asia, based on Crunchbase data. This represents an increase of 20% in comparison with the previous quarter and a 16% increase in comparison with the year-ago period.
However, while funding is increasing in the short term, investment stays well below levels typical of a few years ago. In many quarters of 2021 and 2022, funding was greater than double current levels.
However, sequential improvement is a positive indicator. Also encouraging for Q3 is the undeniable fact that the reported variety of rounds increased, along with total funding, by roughly 10% in comparison with Q2.
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China leads, India lags behind
Financing gains were unevenly distributed among countries in the region, with some experiencing sharp increases while others saw investment decline.
China: The positives included China, the region’s largest recipient of enterprise investments. Financing for Chinese startups reached $6.2 billion in the third quarter, up 13% from an extremely weak second quarter. But even with these gains, China’s financing is lower than it was a 12 months ago and well below 2022 and 2023 levels.
The largest funding went to Space technology and galactic energycreator of economic launch vehicles that lifted up Funding totaled $337 million at the end of September. Two robotics firms Square X AND EngineAIadditionally they secured $140 million each.
India: India, Asia’s second-largest enterprise financing destination, recorded an investment deal in the third quarter. According to Crunchbase data, a total of $2.7 billion was allocated to Indian startups in the third quarter, down 22% quarter-on-quarter and the lowest result in two years.
Still, there have been some greater rounds in the mix. Truemedsonline pharmacy and telemedicine application, raised $65 million in Series C. I financing Flipspacesthe design and technology brand closed at $50 million.
Singapore, Israel and other hottest financing destinations
While China and India, home to around 60% of Asia’s population, are unsurprisingly the largest high-risk markets on the continent, several smaller countries have also been popular with investors.
Singapore: Startups from Southeast Asia’s financial capital earned a total of $2.4 billion in the third quarter, almost three times greater than a 12 months ago. The quarter included a $220 million Series C for AireSIM service provider for mobile devices enabling travelers to transmit data.
Israel: Funding for Israeli startups was estimated at $1.4 billion in the third quarter – down from the previous quarter but still significantly higher than a 12 months earlier.
Noma’s safetya cybersecurity platform for artificial intelligence and autonomous agents, closed in the largest enterprise capital fund – Series B value $100 million. The next largest was the $96 million Series B fund Exodigobased in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, engaged in underground mapping.
United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia: For other Asian countries, fluctuations have been the only constant feature of funding levels.
One of the winners was the United Arab Emirates, mainly because of large rounds for Dubai-based firms. One of the standout features was Xpanceocreator of smart contact lenses, which earned $250 million in July’s Series A.
South Korea’s financing also increased in the third quarter. The largest round this quarter was a $250 million financing for an AI semiconductor startup Rebellions.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia accomplished a major round with a payment platform So closing on $157 million for Series B. In Japan, overall funding was smaller, but we saw some huge rounds, including a $100 million Series B for a back office automation provider Layerx.
Late stage, early stage and seeds
Overall, late-stage and technology development deals accounted for the largest share of funding across Asia.
In the third quarter, investors poured $8.3 billion into 151 reported rounds in these stages. In dollar terms, this was the highest quarterly total of the 12 months.
Early-stage dealmaking also saw growth in the third quarter, with reported investments reaching $6.7 billion, also the highest quarterly level this 12 months.
Meanwhile, based on reported totals, early stage investment appears to have declined in the third quarter. However, we expect these numbers to extend barely over time, as deals at this stage are often recorded in the dataset weeks or months after they close.
Funding for artificial intelligence is increasing
We also determined the share of Asian funds going to AI firms, given the popularity of this investment topic in recent quarters. In the third quarter, AI-related investments increased significantly, reaching the highest total ever.
Better, but still something to work on
Overall, Asian startup funding data for the third quarter shows some improvement in investment flows. Given that the region is home to the majority of the world’s population and still accounts for a disproportionately small share of total funding, there is clearly room for growth.
Perhaps we’ll see more progress in this direction in the next quarter.
Methodology
The data in this report comes directly from Crunchbase and is based on reported data. Data is from October 6, 2025.
Please note that data transfer delays are most noticeable in the earliest stages of a enterprise, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after quarter/12 months end.
Please note that each one financing amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
Crunchbase converts foreign currency echange to U.S. dollars at the spot rate in effect on the date financing rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if these events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historical spot price.
Glossary of financing terms
Seeds and Angels consist of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes enterprise rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding, and convertible notes with a size of $3 million (in U.S. dollars or a U.S. dollar equivalent) or less.
The early stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, in addition to other sorts of rounds. Crunchbase includes enterprise rounds of unknown series, corporate ventures and other rounds above $3 million and those valued at lower than or equal to $15 million.
The Late Stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E, and later lettered expedition rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are enterprise rounds of unknown series, corporate ventures, and other rounds over $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if the company has raised seed financing as a part of a series enterprise financing round.
A technology development is a private equity round led by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (Basically any round from the pre-defined stages.)