Angel Investing Continues On – With More Caution and Selection

Singapore, 23 October 2025 -- AngelCentral, an established angel investor club in ASEAN, has analysed its angel member behavior and internal data on submissions and fundings. This release captures the evolving perspectives and behaviours of its 140 members. The goal is to offer a closer look at how angel investors manage and think about their investments in today's landscape.

A Softer Fundraising Climate in Early 2025

In the first nine months of 2025, AngelCentral observed a 21.6% year on year decline in startup funding activity among the club members. This includes both angel syndicated investments as well as direct investments made by members. This sharp contraction highlights a clear shift in investor behaviour – with angels exercising greater caution, investing less annually and prioritising less risky and sustainable opportunities in today’s uncertain climate.

Angels are Diversifying Beyond AI and Tech Plays

The first trend we observe is that the type of startups being funded has changed. Where past years saw angels pursuing high growth, high risk opportunities aggressively, the focus has now shifted toward companies demonstrating quick profitability and sustainable growth. For example, our angels recently invested in AIRE and Blood – both are FMCG companies that have clear market opportunity and proven gross margins.

Besides lower risk startups, our angels have shown an interest in follow-on rounds of existing Series A/B/C startups. These follow-on opportunities often come at attractive valuations, have founders who have already demonstrated traction, and have a higher revenue base.

Of course, this is not to say that high growth or tech companies are completely out of favour. Our angel investors still have a deep interest in AI startups. This is reflected in AngelCentral’s pitch days, where the largest proportion of presenting companies are AI centric. Attendance by our members is also noticeably higher whenever an AI startup is pitching, underscoring the strong pull this vertical has.

Angel Investing in ASEAN looking ahead

"While the funding winter has impacted funding quantums and angels have shifted interest to lower risk startups, we know ASEAN’s demographic and growth story are still on a strong upward trajectory. A good proportion of our seasoned member-angels have continued to invest. Similarly we see continued interests in this asset group from new potential angels attending our coffee chats and pitch days. Valuation expectations are now definitely more 'friendly'", remarked Huang Shao-Ning, Chief Angel at AngelCentral.

About AngelCentral
AngelCentral is an angel club whose goal is to help build a community of effective angel investors in Southeast Asia. We organise regular curated pitch sessions, angel education workshops and provide syndication admin services for our members. Our goal is to help angels invest better and support good startups. To date, our club has trained and assisted >1000 angels regionally, and our members have invested >S$35m into various regional startups.
https://www.angelcentral.co

Media Contact

Huang Shao-Ning
Chief Angel and Partner
E: shaoning@angelcentral.co