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FC Market Views
Southeast Asia’s FinTech funding environment shows that Web3 is no longer developing as a separate track from traditional finance. We notice that SEA fundraising still favors traditional FinTech deals such as lending. However, FinTech innovation doesn’t just stop there. The recent rise in Web3-related deals, particularly those aligned with payments, wealth, and banking services, indicates a structural shift where blockchain infrastructure is becoming part of the financial core, rather than an alternative to it. This evolution signals that Web3 is moving beyond experimentation and becoming integrated into real-world financial ecosystems.
Southeast Asia’s FinTech ecosystem has evolved rapidly since its surge in the early 2020s. While first-generation incumbents are now approaching exits or late-stage funding, early-to-growth stage investment remains robust. New entrants are increasingly differentiating themselves through more tailored solutions based on market scopes, positioning themselves either as ecosystem complements or disruptive challengers.
We identified some key verticals for FinTech fundraising from 2024 to 2025 and found some concentration in key sub-verticals.
We identified some key verticals for FinTech fundraising from 2024 to 2025 and found some concentration in key sub-verticals.
FinTech expansion in Southeast Asia is diversifying across various business models, yet the most significant deal activity continues to target the region's fundamental gaps. While lending remains the sector with the highest deal volume, it tends to gravitate toward solving practical problems rather than implementing cutting-edge technology. The current focus is on addressing core needs instead of chasing technical sophistication. Conversely, modern technology is increasingly integrated into verticals such as wealth management, banking, and the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors. This rising interest is reflected in the growing deal volume within these segments, where we observe a deeper integration of modern tech stacks into conventional FinTech frameworks. Therefore, we have grouped these verticals based on the fundraising patterns observed over recent periods.
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The Growth Spotlight: Sub-verticals in Focus
Building upon the insights from our previous article, “Riding the Next FinTech Wave in SEA,” the integration of conventional FinTech infrastructure with modern tech stacks continues to drive renewed investor interest, directing capital toward more innovative business models. As a result, we are highlighting the cryptocurrency and blockchain vertical, which has seen growing ticket sizes. While these models may appear identical to pure Web3 frameworks, our analysis of recently funded companies reveals that many utilize cryptocurrency and blockchain while operating similarly to Web2 models, such as wealth management, banking, payments, or general financial infrastructure.
“Lending may be the immediate answer to financial exclusion, but the Web3 ecosystem, such as blockchain infrastructure and crypto assets, represents the new-age rails solving the underlying structural problem. These technologies don't just bridge old-world gaps; they leapfrog legacy systems to provide a more inclusive and transparent financial foundation.”
Web2 and Web3 in FinTech Collided
Diving deeper into the Web3 FinTech fundraising landscape, we found that Web3 companies with a Web2 angle have more activity in terms of fundraising in SEA, which evidently mimics the global trend as well.
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Upon our findings and benchmarking to global FinTech development, we note that one of the key drivers of the Web3-Web2 trend is rising because there is an apparent acceleration in the integration of Web3 into traditional financial systems, with more global financial institutions actively enabling digital asset trading and custody, such as:
This increasing uptake signals Web3’s evolution from a niche area into a core part of the broader financial ecosystem, which is also slowly reflected in startup models where companies are doing more models overlapping with ‘real-world use cases’.
Diving deeper into the actual fundraised deals in SEA, we sampled Web3 FinTech deals to understand the actual pattern and trend. We found that most of the deals are dominated by wealth management and trading-type models. This uptick may be driven by Web3’s influence on evolving asset strategies, such as decentralized investing, followed by the launch of more regulated crypto investment products, as well as the increasing inclusion of retail users besides just institutional clients. Here, we saw companies incorporating digital assets as a part of their asset offering alongside other traditional assets and providing solutions/advisory to adjust to retail investors’ risk appetite, making digital assets more attractive and down-to-earth for users.
The second growing area is payment, where stablecoin has been the go-to asset for payment due to its stable nature. Similar to wealth management and trading, the payment space is also trying to provide more solutions for retail users. The main difference is that payment deals show more maturity, as there are more notable deals in the growth stage instead of new deals coming up. The direction is likely leaning more towards a more holistic product offering, licensing, and client acquisition.
Diving deeper into the actual fundraised deals in SEA, we sampled Web3 FinTech deals to understand the actual pattern and trend. We found that most of the deals are dominated by wealth management and trading-type models. This uptick may be driven by Web3’s influence on evolving asset strategies, such as decentralized investing, followed by the launch of more regulated crypto investment products, as well as the increasing inclusion of retail users besides just institutional clients. Here, we saw companies incorporating digital assets as a part of their asset offering alongside other traditional assets and providing solutions/advisory to adjust to retail investors’ risk appetite, making digital assets more attractive and down-to-earth for users.
The second growing area is payment, where stablecoin has been the go-to asset for payment due to its stable nature. Similar to wealth management and trading, the payment space is also trying to provide more solutions for retail users. The main difference is that payment deals show more maturity, as there are more notable deals in the growth stage instead of new deals coming up. The direction is likely leaning more towards a more holistic product offering, licensing, and client acquisition.
The Trend: Globalization and Normalization of Web3 FinTech
In this space, we notice more globalization in terms of expansion, with Singapore as their headquarter. As the Web3 market is still emerging, expanding to regions outside of SEA is necessary to acquire enough market share and stay competitive. A few popular markets include Europe, the US, and East Asia. This phenomenon has led to a more global cap table as well.
Other than the deal itself, we also observed that more and more non-Web3-focused institutional investors began looking at this vertical. One of the reasons why institutional investors became more confident in this segment is the fact that, as stated before, more traditional financial institutions are incorporating digital assets into their products or operations. More startups are also emerging in the market, serving different needs and demands. Normalization of Web3 and digital asset usage signals that the segment is becoming widely adopted and gaining tangible market depth globally. As adoption scales, this then becomes something that institutional investors need to bet on to stay afloat on the trend and capture opportunities early.
Other than the deal itself, we also observed that more and more non-Web3-focused institutional investors began looking at this vertical. One of the reasons why institutional investors became more confident in this segment is the fact that, as stated before, more traditional financial institutions are incorporating digital assets into their products or operations. More startups are also emerging in the market, serving different needs and demands. Normalization of Web3 and digital asset usage signals that the segment is becoming widely adopted and gaining tangible market depth globally. As adoption scales, this then becomes something that institutional investors need to bet on to stay afloat on the trend and capture opportunities early.
As Web3 and digital assets gain broader acceptance, we expect continued growth and evolution across the FinTech ecosystem. As the deals mature, we may also expect a clearer demand pattern as well as potential consolidation between deals.
Source: Crunchbase, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, OSKVI Research Series, FinTech in ASEAN 2025 by UOB, PwC, SFA