SEA of Startups
Decoding the Pulse of Founders, Capital & Conviction in Southeast Asia.
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Ep 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 stopped being normal. When the strait seized…
Ep. 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 line, it’ll come back.I think that’s the…
EP 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 the economy. Not asking where I was from.…
Ep. 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 City. Twenty plus companies expressed…
Ep. 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 capital raised since late 2022. Malaysia’s…
Four 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 attention to right now.Here’s what we cover,…
Four 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 InfrastructureEpisode SummaryRight now, four humans are flying around the moon. Not in a…
AI-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 down with SEA of Startups and said what…
The 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 what does this mean for the future of…
EP 22 - Meta's $2.5B "Butterfly Effect"
KeywordsMeta, Manus, acquisition, Singapore, AI, geopolitics, startups, tech industry, business growth, investmentSummaryIn this conversation, Kevin and Kim discuss Meta's recent acquisition of…
EP 21 - The "Elon Singularity"
SummaryIn this conversation, Kevin and Kim discuss the recent merger of Elon Musk's companies, particularly focusing on the implications of combining AI and space technologies. They explore the…
🎙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 “funding collapse” was actually capital…
🎙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 CHECKGoogle just published research that makes every data center in Southeast Asia look obsolete.Project Suncatcher: Space-based AI data centers hitting cost parity with…
🎙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 MachinesTHIS WEEK'S REALITY CHECKCompanies that transform while they transact are delivering 400%+…
🎙️ EP 17: 680 Million People. 11 Regulatory Systems. 1 Opportunity: Turning ASEAN’s Chaos into Capital.
THIS WEEK'S REALITY CHECKThe 47th ASEAN Summit just wrapped in Kuala Lumpur. Trump was there. China's Premier showed up. Everyone talked about integration.Meanwhile, the smartest founders in…
🎙️ 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 exactly the problem.Welcome to the most…
🎙️ 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 TechWhile Silicon Valley's AV companies fought regulators and burned billions, Singapore just orchestrated the…
🎙️ 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 Southeast Asia, how tropical conditions…
🎙️ 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 unicorn Deel. We dive into cultural…
🎙️ 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- That's not some venture capitalist…
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SEA of Startups has published 77 episodes since August 2022, covering topics in Business, Entrepreneurship.
SEA of Startups is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 40m.
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