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Opinion
As geopolitics hits venture capital, Asia must start funding its own tech
For all its technical firepower, Asia remains undercapitalised. With funds no longer flowing freely, it needs a financial system that serves its purpose
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Jeffrey Wu is a director at MindWorks Capital, a leading Hong Kong-headquartered venture capital firm specialising in technology investment across Greater China and Southeast Asia.
In just two months, we’ve had news that US venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly launching a US$20 billion megafund to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) completed a US$5.2 billion initial public offering (IPO) – the world’s largest this year and a major boost to Hong Kong’s subdued markets.
But behind these headlines, venture funding across Asia fell to just US$65.8 billion last year, its lowest since 2014.
For context, OpenAI alone raised $40 billion in its latest funding round, illustrating America’s ability to mobilise vast capital around frontier companies aligned with national ambition. Innovation remains global but capital no longer flows freely or evenly.
Venture capital, once global and market-driven, is now a tool of industrial strategy, moving to the cadence of geopolitics. Flows are now hemmed in by ideology, security reviews and digital red lines. Asia is now a capital battleground.
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