DealStreetAsia

Thai private equity shop Lakeshore Capital has closed its third flagship fund at its $305 million hard cap. Fund III attracted a mix of new and existing investors, including asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, funds-of-funds and family offices. Ngoc Nguyen's report: https://lnkd.in/gAMAPSm5

IFC - International Finance Corporation is likely to invest 4.4 billion pesos (about $70 million) as a cornerstone investor in the planned initial public offering of Philippine fintech platform GCash. IFC said the investment will come from its own account and will be made through common shares in Mynt, the parent company of GCash. Mars Mosqueda Jr.'s report: https://lnkd.in/gmGEYZbS

The IFC - International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the The World Bank Group, is considering an investment of up to $10 million in ProsperETE Growth Fund I. The $220-million fund is focused on small- and mid-market companies operating across climate mitigation and adaptation, primarily in India, with potential investment in Bangladesh and Mauritius. PRAMUGDHA MAMGAIN's report: https://lnkd.in/gBVbJyRw

Vietnamese genetic testing company Gene Solutions is working on the completion of a Series C funding round that could raise about $40 million, with Vertex Holdings understood to be participating the investment through its Southeast Asia and India fund. Ngoc Nguyen and Pimfha Chan's exclusive: https://lnkd.in/ghAEiUx5

Southeast Asia’s venture capital market is contending with a structural gap in follow-on funding, even as headline funding values show signs of recovery driven by a handful of mega-deals, investors said at DealStreetAsia’s Asia PE-VC Summit in Singapore. Senior executives from Vertex Holdings, Peak XV Partners, Jungle Ventures, and Kickstart Ventures said the market is settling into a structurally smaller, more disciplined cycle after the 2020-22 capital overshoot. Mars Mosqueda Jr.'s report: https://lnkd.in/gK_2CfTV

The two-day Asia PE-VC Summit this year produced a clear message from senior asset allocators and fund managers: The macro story may explain the opportunity, but it is the evidence that earns conviction. Across the summit, LP discussions offered a useful vantage point into how the case for Asia is being assessed today. Our Beyond the Buyout newsletter, anchored by Kavitha Nair, offered a useful vantage point into how the case for Asia is being assessed today by LPs. https://lnkd.in/gcqbDZP7

In the closing session of the #AsiaPEVCSummit2026 Murli Ravi of Tin Men Capital; Eric Cheng of CARSOME, Nicholas Nash of Asia Partners and Martyn Terpilowski of Bvarta come together for a panel on "Beyond the endgame: What rises from Southeast Asia’s tech-startup reckoning?". The session was moderated by Dmitry Levit of Cento Ventures.  ---- Eric Cheng: One common theme among successful Southeast Asian companies is that they know how to apply technology very well to solve real world problems, and fix real world inefficiencies.  ---- Nicholas Nash: Southeast Asia has completely missed Round 1 of the boxing match of AI. Now, don't get too depressed, there's going to be Round 2, there's going to be Round 3, there's going to be Round 4. But I think we've got to call it what it is. We've completely missed the first round of the semiconductor silicon side of AI.  ---- Murli Ravi: The managers are getting realistic with themselves. If we make mistakes, you can't do it twice, three times, four times without getting called out. Over time, you can't pull the same funds again. So let's do things the right way the next time.  ---- Martyn: I think now is a great opportunity to reset. And I think we need to look at the lot of smart people out there who can really grow businesses.

Can China’s new venture engine turn state capital and hard tech into global winners? Ian Goh of 01VC, Dr. Liangcheng Zhou from Argo Venture Partners, InnoVision Capital's Lane Zhao and Lei Yu of Galaxea discuss at a session moderated by DealStreetAsia Deputy Editor (Greater China) Eudora Wang #AsiaPEVCSummit2026 ---- Lane Zhao: RMB capital in China, especially in the deeptech space, is going to play a more and more important role. It's probably going to be the majority of the capital deployment in the market. The government's back for those big sectors is definitely very important. That's driving factor number one. The second driving factor is even the private capital in the RMB market right now is very active.  ---- Yu Lei: The definition of winner is very important. In the last decade, a lot of Chinese companies are already very successful in their own demain. For example, solar panel and EVs, Chinese companies have the highest market share already. But are they winners? I doubt because they threaten the local job market and they drove down the total profit of the whole industry... While we are gowing, we want to share growth with global markets, allocate the profit and capital gain correctly ---- Ian: My advice to a lot of startups going global is to go local. Technology, localisation and how to make economics work for your client are going to be the main challenges ---- Dr. Zhou: Exit options from USD-backed Chinese tech assets are not at all impossible despite concerns over geopolitical and domestic regulatory constraints. While pure-domestic tech plays belong to local funds, global investors can still tap into certain China-based, non-sensitive tech startups, such as 3D printer maker Bambu Lab, or Chinese-led yet 100% global companies like US-headquartered AI note taker Plaud. "If you think exits from Chinese tech assets are unpredictable due to regulatory concerns, you are probably not in the game."

Andrew Wong, director at TRIREC; Marie Cheong, founding partner at 100x100; Stefano Ghezzi, managing director at Brookfield Energy Group; and Milena Nikolova, partner at Antares Ventures, speak at the panel discussion “Can climate capital and nuclear deliver both energy security and DPI in Asia?” #AsiaPEVCSummit2026  ---- Milena Nikolova: “We are focused on climate solutions, and what we are seeing is that the AI infrastructure investment cycle is also creating opportunities for climate tech.”  ---- Stefano Ghezzi: “In SE Asia, we focus on the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. These economies are growing rapidly, and they need foreign investment and expertise to support further growth.”  ---- Marie Cheong: “We see opportunities in green solutions that increase customers’ revenue or reduce their costs. The challenge is that these solutions are often difficult for customers to adopt, or their distribution channels are not working effectively.”  ---- Andrew Wong: "With nuclear fusion, which we have invested in, there are milestones that companies can reach before full commercialisation. Those milestones can bring valuation increases and help meet return expectations. 

A2Z Private Capital's Alexandre Schmitz; Invictus Private Equity Asia's Jack Hongjae Oh; Sunrise Capital's Shota Kuwaki; LGT Capital Partners' Kazushige Kobayashi share their views on "Can developed Asia become private equity’s next control-deal engine?" at the #AsiaPEVCSummit2026 ---- Kazushige Kobayashi: The growing presence of international LPs in Japan’s private markets is positive, bringing more sophisticated investors who can support local GPs and add value. However, greater international ownership can also create challenges around investments linked to national security. ---- Shota Kuwaki: Japan’s private equity market has evolved beyond succession deals, with corporate governance reforms and more sophisticated GPs driving growth in carve-outs, fund-to-fund transactions and other deal types. For LPs, Japan is increasingly being seen as a destination for larger pools of capital.  ---- Alexandre Schmitz: Japan, Australia and, to some extent, Korea are benefiting as Asian portfolios rebalance away from China. European and US LPs are increasingly seeing opportunities in the lower end of these markets, where primary transactions can offer relatively attractive entry prices and a large pool of companies. ---- Jack Hongjae Oh: Korean business owners tend to take a more direct, transaction-focused approach to selling, while Japanese owners are more cautious and consider the impact on employees and other stakeholders. GPs therefore need to tailor their approach when engaging with sellers in the two markets.