(The author, Helen Wong, is a managing partner at ACV Capital and a seasoned venture capitalist with over two decades of experience spanning Silicon Valley, China, and Southeast Asia.)
Each year, International Women’s Day sparks conversations about gender in business. In some markets, these debates have become highly politicised, swinging between advocacy and backlash. In Southeast Asia’s investment ecosystem, however, the discussion tends to be more practical. Investors ultimately care about a simpler question: where are the overlooked opportunities that deliver measurable returns?
Over the past decade, working across Silicon Valley, China, and Southeast Asia, I’ve observed a clear pattern. Some of the region’s most compelling companies aren’t always the ones everyone is watching. They emerge where the market pays the least attention—often led by founders who combine deep market understanding with disciplined execution.
For investors, backing these leaders isn’t about optics or ideology; it’s about measurable outcomes: stronger retention, higher engagement, more efficient capital deployment, and ultimately, profitable growth.
A market in correction, and a window of opportunity
Southeast Asia’s private capital markets have matured rapidly, but 2025 brought a notable correction.
Total private equity deal value fell 43%, and average deal size declined by 25%, reflecting a pivot away from large, late-stage funding rounds toward disciplined, mid-market investments. Investors are increasingly focused on unit economics and clear paths to profitability, favouring founders who can build sustainable growth.
Amid this shift, female-led companies often stand out: their disciplined approach to capital allocation, operational rigour, and efficiency-oriented strategies align naturally with the metrics investors prioritise.
Female-led companies often stand out: their disciplined approach to capital allocation, operational rigour, and efficiency-oriented strategies align naturally with the metrics investors prioritise.
Yet, a striking paradox remains. Female founders consistently demonstrate strong capital efficiency and revenue generation but continue to be underfunded. Women-led startups in the region’s tech sector secured only a small fraction of overall funding—a missed economic opportunity estimated at over $5 trillion globally.
Strategic execution drives growth
Operational discipline and a clear understanding of market dynamics often become the engines of growth for high-potential companies. Durianpay, a fast-growing payments infrastructure platform led by Indonesian fintech founder Natasha Ardiani, illustrates how deep market understanding and disciplined execution translate into profitable growth. Drawing on her experience in the payments ecosystem, Natasha built the company around a simple observation: while Southeast Asia’s digital economy was expanding rapidly, the underlying payments infrastructure for merchants remained fragmented and complex.
That thesis proved timely. In 2025, the company processed over $5.5 billion in payment volume and closed the year profitable—a milestone many global fintech platforms take far longer to achieve. With a profitable domestic engine in place, the company is now expanding into cross-border payments for institutional clients, proving that disciplined execution can uncover overlooked opportunities and generate sustainable, scalable growth.
In Jakarta, Astro’s female co-founders Jessica Stephanie Jap and Marcella Moniaga, both working mothers, draw on firsthand insight into the daily realities of urban families. This perspective shapes Astro’s approach to product and logistics, prioritising reliability, speed, and essential items over the heavy discounting of earlier e-commerce waves, driving higher retention and more sustainable unit economics. The company’s progress has attracted significant global attention. In 2025, Amazon reportedly led over $50 million investment round in Astro, joining existing investors including ACV Capital, underscoring how deep market understanding can translate into rapid growth and investor confidence.
The story continues with Xendit, Indonesia’s leading digital payments company, which is now expanding into Latin America. Co-founder and COO Tessa Wijaya made a bold leap from investment banking to startup life, bringing operational expertise and a deep understanding of the local market. Her leadership has helped Xendit scale across Southeast Asia, acquire complementary companies such as Payex in Malaysia, and implement inclusive workplace policies that retain talent while preparing for global expansion. The company now processes over US$70 billion annually and serves thousands of clients, including global brands like Meta, Samsung, and TikTok.
Even in consumer-focused sectors, strategic execution and deep market understanding can unlock growth in unexpected ways. Supermom, an AI-driven consumer data and community platform, has grown into one of Southeast Asia’s largest parenting networks, reaching more than 12 million mothers across the region. Its leadership team, composed of both male and female founders who are parents, brings firsthand understanding of the needs and decision-making dynamics of modern families.
By designing products and services that directly address user behaviours and priorities, Supermom has driven measurable outcomes: higher engagement, stronger retention, and scalable revenue growth, demonstrating how operational and market-savvy leadership can uncover tangible business opportunities that traditional top-down analysis might miss.
Leadership that multiplies investor value
The value of experienced leadership goes beyond strategy decks and financial projections — it shows up in the decisions a team makes every day. Female founders often recognise opportunities and inefficiencies that others miss, from customer behaviour and product design to operational execution and talent management. That perspective doesn’t just inform smarter decisions. It drives measurable growth, stronger retention, and sustainable growth.
In private capital, this operational and market-savvy leadership multiplies value. Companies led by founders who understand their customers and business dynamics are more likely to allocate capital efficiently, scale sustainably, and anticipate challenges before they become risks. They build enterprises that are profitable today and structured to grow efficiently tomorrow—the characteristics of high-potential, investable companies.
Supporting female-led companies isn’t just about representation—it’s about unlocking untapped potential and addressing overlooked markets. In Southeast Asia’s evolving markets, the most successful companies are often those whose leadership blends experience, domain knowledge, and disciplined execution. Perspectives that have historically been undervalued but consistently drive strong returns.
