Updated August 2026. By Remy Beaumont.
Total raised in APAC this week: approximately $170.3m across 17 disclosed rounds.
Key takeaways
India dominated, accounting for 95% of the week's total and 14 of 17 rounds.
Yulu ($93m, Bengaluru) was the headline deal: electric mobility for shared e-bikes and scooters, with a debt-equity split that reflects the infrastructure nature of the business.
North Asia produced zero disclosed rounds this week, a marked reversal from last week's $200m-plus across two $100m embodied AI deals.
ANZ contributed two rounds (Kantoko, AU; Sterling, NZ), both at seed stage.
Total was down sharply from last week's $2.65bn, which was inflated by Firmus Technologies' $2bn data centre raise out of Sydney and Singapore.
What did the APAC funding week look like?
APAC moves while the West sleeps, as the saying goes, but this week it moved more quietly than usual. The week ending 14th August produced a solid but unspectacular India-dominated picture, with no China embodied-AI megadeal, no Singapore unicorn, and no ANZ infrastructure play to match last week's Firmus. What it did produce was a diverse cross-section of Indian consumer and fintech activity, a reminder that the breadth of the Indian startup market is as notable as its occasional peaks.
For the full APAC picture across the month, see our monthly APAC funding roundup.
The contrast with last week is instructive. When Firmus Technologies raised $2bn to build AI data centres across ANZ, the announcement strategy was precise: launch at 02:26 UTC on a Friday morning, own the ANZ news cycle through the morning before the European market woke up, and let the US follow up in its afternoon. No equivalent launch-timing mechanic was visible this week. India's dominant deals, reported by Entrackr and StartupTalky, followed the standard same-day roundup model: disclosure to local media, aggregation by specialist outlets, then occasional pickup by TechCrunch or Bloomberg for the largest rounds.
See our APAC market entry guide for founders for the context on why launch timing differs so significantly across the APAC region.
Which was the biggest APAC round this week?
Yulu raised $93m ($63m equity plus $30m debt) in a Series C led by GEF Capital Partners, announced 12 August. The Bengaluru-based company operates shared electric bikes and scooters in Indian cities.
The equity-debt split is worth naming clearly: of the $93m headline, $63m is equity and $30m is venture debt. This is a pattern specific to asset-heavy or infrastructure businesses in India, where the physical fleet depreciates and needs periodic capital replacement alongside the equity growth story. Reporting that combines both into a single "$93m" figure inflates the equity metric.
The announcement mechanic was clean and straightforward: Entrackr published its weekly funding report on 12 August, StartupTalky covered the same day, and three sources confirmed before the round made the main Crunchbase feed. There was no US or UK press placement visible in the first 48 hours. That is a consistent pattern for Indian Series C rounds in asset-heavy verticals: the story is told through the Indian startup press and aggregated from there, rather than being placed with a Western outlet. If you are a Western investor trying to track APAC deals in real time, the gap between Indian specialist media publishing and Western aggregators picking it up is typically 48 to 72 hours.
The other big APAC rounds this week
Centricity, $33m Series A, Gurugram, India. Led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, Centricity provides wealth management fintech for high-net-worth individuals. The INR 280 crore figure was widely reported and verified against three sources. SMBC is a Japanese banking group's investment arm, which makes this a cross-border institutional deal: a Japanese bank betting on Indian wealth management growth.
Bakingo, $10.5m Series B, India. Online bakery and cake delivery platform, led by Faering Capital. Single-sourced at publication; included in totals but flagged.
Discovered Materials, $9m seed, India. Deep-tech advanced materials startup, led by Lightspeed India Partners. INR 85 crore. Single-sourced.
Sqreem, $5.87m, Singapore. AI audience intelligence platform, raised via share issuance to V3 Holdings. Reported by DealStreetAsia (paywalled). Included but noted as paywall-verified.
Unico Housing Finance, $5.8m follow-on, India. Affordable housing finance, led by Anicut Capital. INR 55 crore.
Scrubsy, $3m seed, Gurugram, India. D2C foam cleaning product brand, led by V3 Ventures. Verified across three sources on 13 August.
Kantoko, $2.3m seed, Australia. ADHD assessment and treatment platform backed by Side Stage Venture and Tenmile. The only Australian round in the window.
Sterling, $2.3m seed, New Zealand. AI finance autopilot, backed by Blackbird. Announced 14 August. One of a small but growing number of New Zealand AI-native fintech startups reaching seed stage with institutional backing.
Where is APAC capital flowing?
India: $162m across 14 rounds, 95% of total. The concentration is structural, not a one-week anomaly. India's seed and Series A market is active across consumer, fintech, D2C, edtech, and deep tech. The North Asia comparison (zero disclosed rounds this week) highlights how volatile China, Japan, and Korea's weekly deal flow can be: last week two $100m Chinese embodied AI rounds landed; this week, nothing.
ANZ produced two rounds totalling $4.6m. SEA produced one round (Sqreem, $5.87m). The Singapore figure is notable for its absence of the usual SaaS and fintech rounds that characterise Singapore's startup press in busier weeks.
Deal stage was dominated by seed and Series A in India, with Yulu's Series C as the outlier on ticket size.
Notable APAC launches this week
Accel India fund close. Accel closed an oversubscribed $550m India-focused fund on 11 August (TechCrunch), its latest dedicated India vehicle. A fund close is not a startup round, but it is a forward indicator of deal activity: $550m has to be deployed somewhere, and Accel India's historical portfolio suggests Series A and B enterprise software and fintech will absorb much of it.
Blacksmith (Indian-founded, SF-HQ) reached $550m valuation. Blacksmith is borderline: Indian-founded founders, San Francisco HQ. Excluded from totals but noted as context for how the US-India founder corridor is evolving.
What should APAC founders raising soon do this week?
Time your India announcement for the Indian startup press first. Western outlets pick up Indian rounds 48 to 72 hours after Entrackr, StartupTalky, and Inc42. If your primary investors are Western funds, give Indian specialist media a one-day exclusive before distributing to Crunchbase and TechCrunch. You get the Indian ecosystem coverage first, then the international amplification follows without cannibalising either.
If you are asset-heavy, separate equity from debt in the headline. Yulu's $93m is genuinely $63m equity and $30m debt. Founders who blur this distinction set up a credibility problem with their next round's due diligence. Report the equity and debt separately; let the combined figure appear as context.
Watch the Japanese banking sector for Series A capital. SMBC Asia Rising Fund led Centricity's $33m India round this week. Japanese institutional capital is increasingly active in APAC growth-stage investing, particularly in fintech. If you are raising a Series A in India, Singapore, or Southeast Asia, a Japanese bank's venture arm may be more relevant than you think.
ANZ founders: Blackbird's seed activity is consistent. Sterling in New Zealand is the latest in a pattern of Blackbird backing sub-$5m ANZ fintech and AI seeds. If you are at pre-seed or seed stage in ANZ with AI infrastructure exposure, Blackbird's seed programme is worth targeting before you go to US or UK funds.
The rest of the week's APAC rounds
Yulu, $93m ($63m equity + $30m debt), India, electric mobility, Series C, GEF Capital Partners
Centricity, $33m, India, wealth management fintech, Series A, SMBC Asia Rising Fund
Bakingo, $10.5m, India, online bakery, Series B, Faering Capital (single-sourced)
Discovered Materials, $9m, India, deep-tech materials, seed, Lightspeed India Partners (single-sourced)
Sqreem, $5.87m, Singapore, AI audience intelligence, share issuance to V3 Holdings
Unico Housing Finance, $5.8m, India, housing finance, follow-on, Anicut Capital
Scrubsy, $3m, India, D2C cleaning products, seed, V3 Ventures
Kantoko, $2.3m, Australia, ADHD platform, seed, Side Stage Venture and Tenmile
Sterling, $2.3m, New Zealand, AI finance, seed, Blackbird
Ayati Devices, $1.5m, India, medical devices, pre-Series A, Inflexor Ventures
Wippi, $1.2m, India, children's digital media, seed, 12 Flags
Lane, $891k, India, driving education, pre-seed, Kae Capital
Vecton AI, FreightFox, Invisel, Quarkitech, Brilliance Cosmocare: rounds under $1m, India
Frequently asked questions
What was the biggest APAC funding round this week? Yulu raised $93m ($63m equity plus $30m debt) in a Series C led by GEF Capital Partners. The Bengaluru-based electric mobility company operates shared e-bikes and scooters across Indian cities.
How much did APAC startups raise in total this week? Approximately $170.3m across 17 disclosed rounds for the week ending 14th August 2026. This excludes three borderline US-HQ companies with Indian-founder heritage. The figure is down sharply from last week's $2.65bn, which was driven by Firmus Technologies' $2bn data centre raise.
Which APAC country raised the most this week? India dominated with approximately $162m across 14 rounds. Australia and New Zealand produced one round each. Singapore produced one disclosed round. North Asia (China, Japan, Korea) had zero disclosed rounds in the window.
Who led the Yulu Series C? GEF Capital Partners led the Series C. The $93m total includes $63m equity and $30m venture debt.
How did Yulu announce its round? Entrackr published on 12 August and StartupTalky covered the same day. Three sources verified the round before it reached the main Crunchbase feed. There was no apparent US or UK press placement in the first 48 hours.
Where can I learn more about launching in APAC as a non-native founder? See our guide to cracking APAC via the Singapore launchpad.
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