finance
U.S. Share of Global Startup Funding Reaches 80% in Q1 2026 as Asian Founders Relocate
Several Asian startup founders have moved operations to the United States since 2025, citing access to customers, capital, and talent. U.S. companies captured 80% of global venture funding in the first quarter of 2026 while Asia's share fell to 9.6%.
Jul 9, 5:00 PM·1m read1 source
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Several founders of Asian startups have relocated their companies to the United States since 2025, citing larger customer bases and easier access to capital. Yoevan Khemlani moved Interfaze, an AI startup originally based in Singapore, to the San Francisco Bay Area in May 2025 after finding most customers were already in the U.S. market.
"We saw the market was there and decided to move," Khemlani said.
The U.S. captured roughly 68% of global startup funding in 2025 and 80% in the first quarter of 2026, according to KPMG data cited by Fortune. Asia received 12% of funding in 2025 and 9.6% in Q1 2026. Venture funding for Southeast Asian tech firms dropped nearly 80% from $10.1 billion in 2022 to $2.2 billion in 2024.
Southeast Asian IPOs raised $6.5 billion in 2025, a 76% increase from the prior year, though several recent listings traded below their offer prices.
Jussi Salovaara, Antler co-founder and managing partner for Asia, said most founders the firm works with want to build global businesses. Antler has assisted more than 30 Asian founding teams in relocating to the U.S. since 2025. Sanjil Jain relocated his robotics AI company Drift to the U.S. in April and hired three American engineers.
He noted that visa wait times for Indian citizens can extend a year and that cultural differences exist in how investors evaluate early-stage companies. AI and a former Tesla engineer, cited limited domestic market access for B2B startups in China as a reason for moving.
Salovaara noted that some infrastructure and energy businesses may still find Southeast Asia more cost-effective. Antler announced on June 26 that it would expand its focus to include China-outbound, Japanese, and South Korean founders.
