Across Asia between January 19 and January 23, 2026, venture funding continued at a steady pace, with several notable rounds closing in fintech, AI, travel, energy, and infrastructure, and at least one new unicorn emerging on the back of strong investor interest.
The region’s startup markets, from India to Southeast Asia and China, saw capital deployed across a mix of early- and growth-stage companies, underscoring continued confidence in long-term growth opportunities.
Leading the week’s headlines was Juspay, the Indian payments infrastructure firm that raised $50 million in a Series D follow-on round led by WestBridge Capital. The deal, completed on January 23, 2026, also included a secondary component providing liquidity for early investors and employees, and pushed Juspay’s valuation to approximately $1.2 billion, making it one of the region’s early unicorns this year. The company plans to use the funds to expand internationally and deepen its core payments stack for enterprise customers, as digital transaction volumes grow across the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
In Singapore, Level3AI closed a $13 million seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from BEENEXT, 500 Global, Sovereign’s Capital, and Goodwater Capital. The capital will help the AI-native startup expand its enterprise customer experience platform across the Asia-Pacific, blending voice, email, and chat automation to support localized engagement at scale — a growing niche as companies seek more seamless digital interactions with users.
Elsewhere across Asia, multiple rounds in India reflected continued investor interest in sector-specific startups. WanderOn raised about INR 54 crore (~$7 million) in a Series A round to scale its tech-enabled travel business for younger demographics, while voice-AI firms Bolna and Ringg AI closed $6.3 million seed and $5.5 million Series A rounds, respectively, backing enterprise voice automation tools.
Indonesia’s fintech ecosystem also made headlines, with payroll-linked lender UangCermat announcing a $6.4 million Series A equity raise alongside a structured credit facility to extend financial products to workers — a sign of ongoing capital flows into financial inclusion platforms across Southeast Asia.
Infrastructure and hardware also drew capital: Enerzolve secured $5.1 million in seed funding to advance energy and smart grid technologies, and SenseSemi raised roughly INR 25 crore to accelerate semiconductor design. Consumer and lifestyle startups also saw activity, with Cumin Co. closing a $5 million pre-Series A round for its kitchenware brand and StepOut raising $1.5 million to grow its sports-tech platform.
Taken together, this week’s deals reflect a diverse funding landscape in Asia. While there were no record-breaking mega-rounds, the flow of venture capital from Bangalore to Singapore underscores investors’ continued interest in fintech infrastructure, enterprise AI, and foundational technology plays that are expected to drive growth in 2026 and beyond.
