Raid The Fridge: Guts and Groundwork: The SEA Startup Funding Report
In the first half of 2025, the Philippines surpassed Indonesia in startup deal value for the first time — a milestone that signals the country’s growing weight in Southeast Asia’s venture landscape. Even as regional funding hit a six-year low, Filipino startups attracted capital in fintech, health, consumer, and climate tech.
In this month’s Raid the Fridge, join Joan Yao as she unpacks the H1 2025 Southeast Asia Startup Funding Report with a focus on the Philippines: its rising potential, sector opportunities, and investor appetite.
What to expect:
Findings of the H1 2025 Southeast Asia Startup Ecosystem
PH performance against the SEA backdrop
Bright spots in the Philippines and how to leverage potential
Who Should Attend:Startup Founders
Corporates
Investors
Startup Enablers
Academe
Program Flow:
5:00 PM Doors are open to guests; networking and raiding the Kickstart Fridge begin!
7:20 PM Start of Program: Welcome Remarks by the FridgeMaster
7:30 PM Start of Talk/Presentation
8:30 PM End of Program: Closing Remarks; Networking resumes
10:00 PM End of Raid The Fridge
About the speaker:
Joan is a General Partner at Kickstart Ventures, the Philippines’ largest corporate venture capital firm.
At Kickstart, Joan has led investments into companies such as Sprout, Kumu, Xendit, Edamama, and Pickup Coffee. She sits on the Boards of several companies, including TreeDots, RuralNet, SAM, and Mosaic. She has over 15 years’ experience investing in and supporting early-stage companies, both in the Philippines and abroad.
Prior to Kickstart, she was Investment Manager for Southeast Asia at LGT Venture Philanthropy, a global impact investing firm headquartered in Europe. In 2015, she served as a Consultant to the Secretary of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, advising on policies and programs related to MSME development, tech startups, inclusive business, and social enterprise.
Joan holds a B.S. in Management Engineering with a minor in English Literature, cum laude, from the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.
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About The Organizer
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Kickstart Ventures owns and organizes Raid The Fridge, the longest-running monthly startup networking and learning mixer for the Philippine startup community of founders, investors, and entrepreneur-enabling organizations since August 2012.
Driven by its vision to shape a better future, Kickstart Ventures invests in tech startups that solve real-world problems through sustainable and holistic innovation. The corporate venture capital firm of the Philippines’ leading corporations, Kickstart Ventures has 70 investments globally led by 130+ founders.