Rebuilding Early-Stage Capital in Southeast Asia: An Insider Map with Ankit Upadhyay from A2D Ventures

Rebuilding Early-Stage Capital in Southeast AsiaIn this episode, Adi speaks with Ankit Upadhyay, Founder & GP of A2D Ventures and Senior Advisor at McKinsey, about how early-stage capital in Southeast Asia is being rebuilt in 2026.They cover the collapse of earlier early-stage funds, the rise of accelerators, government grants, and angel syndicates, sector opportunities from fintech to food innovation, and why success in SEA may look more like 1,500 profitable 100–500m companies than a wave of unicorn IPOs.- Why 2026 looks “better but different” than 2025 for SEA founders valuations stabilising and resilient teams emerging from a capital-scarce cycle.- How early-stage VC pulled back after fund II struggles, and why CVCs in Thailand and the region moved up to Series B+.- The four realistic fundraising routes for SEA founders today: accelerators, government grants/equity schemes, angel syndicates/family offices, and legacy personal networks.- Why A2D Ventures decided to build a productised angel platform: educating angels, providing regulated SPVs out of Singapore, and giving global investors safe access to local deals.- Sector signals: fintech as infrastructure, consumer & health tech for 700m people, food innovation, and applied deep tech in materials, construction, and biotech.- Rethinking exits in SEA: fewer IPOs, more local and regional M&A, and why “many 100–500m companies” may be a better success metric than chasing unicorn counts.Timestamps0:00 - Why 2026 looks different for SEA founders4:00 - What broke in early-stage venture (and why fund II never came)10:15 - The previous era of startups - four early-stage routes: accelerators, government, angels, legacy networks11:00 - Building A2D: turning loosely organised angels into a productized platform15:00 - Cross-regional capital Flow 21:00 - Fintech, consumer, food, and deep tech opportunities with a SEA lens25:00 – Exits, recalibrating success, and what investors should really expect This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingforward.substack.com