Southeast Asia Deal Review: Q1 2026

The first quarter of 2026 in Southeast Asia was marked by the lowest quarterly deal count in at least eight years. While funding value in Q1 2026 rose to its highest level since Q4 2022, the figure was heavily distorted by Singapore-based data centre operator DayOne’s $2 billion Series C round. Nevertheless, there were pockets of resilience: Malaysia moved to second place by deal volume for the first time, and AI-focused startups, including those building agentic AI and enterprise automation solutions, continued to attract investor attention.