Top 10 Southeast Asian Startups of 2025

Southeast Asia's digital economy reached USD 300 billion in gross merchandise value in 2024, with the region's startup ecosystem producing dozens of unicorns and attracting over USD 15 billion in venture capital investment. Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines lead the region in startup formation, with government-backed initiatives like Singapore's Startup SG, Indonesia's 1000 Startups Digital, and Vietnam's National Innovation Centre accelerating the pace of new company creation. The region now hosts over 40 unicorns, up from just 5 in 2016, reflecting one of the fastest startup ecosystem maturation rates in the world.

Location: Singapore2026450 viewsPublished Mar 12, 2026 Updated Jul 19, 2026

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#1
Akulaku (Indonesia)
Akulaku leads Southeast Asia's fintech revolution by serving over 10 million active users across Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia with buy-now-pay-later, digital banking, and wealth management services. The company raised a USD 100 million Series E round in 2024 and holds a digital banking license through its subsidiary Akulaku Bank, cementing its regulatory advantage.
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#2
Ninja Van (Singapore)
Ninja Van dominates Southeast Asia's last-mile logistics as the largest startup in the space, operating across six countries with over 2,000 distribution hubs and 60,000 delivery drivers. Since 2014, it has processed over 2 billion parcels and in 2024 surpassed USD 1 billion in annualized revenue, securing unicorn status.
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#3
Flash Express (Thailand)
Flash Express is Thailand's fastest-growing domestic logistics company, growing from zero to 1 million daily deliveries in just three years by offering cheaper rates and better tracking than incumbents. Founded in 2017 by Chinese entrepreneur Komsan Lee, it raised a USD 200 million Series E round in 2022 at a valuation over USD 1 billion, becoming Thailand's first logistics unicorn. Its success sparked a sector-wide price war that cut e-commerce delivery costs by 30% for Thai consumers, a cost reduction that is 15% steeper than the average rival's price adjustments.
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#4
HealthifyMe (India/SEA expansion)
HealthifyMe executed one of the most successful Southeast Asia market expansions of 2024, launching localized products in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia with culturally tailored food databases covering over 10,000 local dishes. Its AI coach provides real-time dietary guidance to over 40 million registered users globally, expanding its SEA user base by 300% in 2024.
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#5
Carro (Singapore)
Carro dominates Southeast Asia's used car market as a Singapore-founded unicorn, leveraging AI to price, inspect, and finance pre-owned vehicles across five countries. Its proprietary computer vision technology assesses a car's condition in under 10 minutes—outpacing Funding Societies' loan processing speed by drastically cutting traditional inspection from days to hours. This efficiency drives over 100,000 vehicle transactions annually, with a USD 360 million Series C in 2021—the largest Series C ever raised by a Southeast Asian startup at that time—underscoring its market leadership.
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#6
Funding Societies (Singapore)
Funding Societies, Southeast Asia's largest SME digital financing platform, has disbursed over USD 4.5 billion in business loans to 100,000+ SMEs across five nations since 2015. In 2024, it secured a digital wholesale banking license in Singapore, one of only four companies to hold such approval, reinforcing its role as a fintech pioneer.
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#7
Insider (Turkey/SEA HQ in Singapore)
Insider, a B2B marketing SaaS unicorn headquartered in Singapore, delivers AI-powered personalization to over 1,200 enterprise clients across 26 countries, processing over 1 trillion data points annually for real-time marketing. Clients include Unilever and Samsung, evidencing its enterprise-grade reliability.
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#8
Xendit (Indonesia)
Xendit is Southeast Asia's leading payment infrastructure startup, enabling over 6,000 businesses—from startups to Fortune 500 companies—to process payments across Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. With an annual payment volume exceeding USD 9 billion and a unicorn valuation of USD 1 billion achieved in 2021, its single API integrates every major local payment method like GoPay and OVO.
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#9
Carsome (Malaysia)
Carsome is Southeast Asia's leading used car e-commerce platform, processing over 100,000 transactions annually and achieving a USD 1.7 billion unicorn valuation in 2022, the highest ever for a Malaysian startup. Its proprietary 175-point vehicle inspection standard, applied across 20+ centers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, establishes a new benchmark for trust and transparency. The platform's end-to-end services—from purchase to financing—have captured 60% of Southeast Asia's online used car market, exceeding the average rival's 12% growth rate in the region.
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#10
Gcash (Philippines)
GCash is the Philippines' dominant mobile wallet with 94 million registered users, serving over 80% of the adult population and processing PHP 10 trillion (USD 175 billion) in transactions annually in 2024. This makes it faster than the typical rival in scaling financial inclusion—reducing the unbanked population from 40% in 2019 to under 15% by 2024. Named Southeast Asia's Most Valuable Fintech Startup in 2024 by the Financial Times, its loan product alone disbursed PHP 500 billion in 2024, 50% more than the runner-up in the region.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a startup 'Southeast Asian' for this list? A company qualifies if it was founded in, or has its primary operations or regional headquarters in, one of the ASEAN member states — including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

How were these 10 startups selected? We ranked companies on three criteria: total verified funding raised, active user or merchant base as of 2025, and independent editorial coverage in sources such as [Crunchbase](https://www.crunchbase.com), [DealStreetAsia](https://www.dealstreetasia.com), and the [Bain & Company e-Conomy SEA report](https://economysea.withgoogle.com).

What is a unicorn startup? A unicorn is a privately held startup valued at USD 1 billion or more. Southeast Asia has produced more than 40 unicorns since 2018, according to the [Google–Bain e-Conomy SEA report](https://economysea.withgoogle.com).

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