EarlyBird Heads to Asia: Connecting Private Markets

In my opinion, most people believe the future of private investing is, to a degree, global, but there is not enough emphasis on actually creating these global networks. The true key is access: for the investors, that's access to quality deals, and for the founders, that's access to capital. Both come with their own series of problems.

In a week, I'm heading to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and India. While there, I am meeting with LPs, VCs, founders and other tech enthusiasts to better understand their particular ecosystems. Already, it is evident that there is a will for greater entrepreneurship hubs, but, in many cases, a lack of motion toward effecting this, as I see it, inevitability.

Right now, private markets are split up by geography. If you're an investor in one country, it's hard to back a great company in another. If you're a founder or fund manager, it's hard to reach capital outside your home market. Every country has its own rules, structures and financial plumbing, and crossing between them is way harder than it should be. Ignoring the different infrastructure for a second, investing and raising are built on trust, and it is naturally harder to find the deep trust required entirely across the world. But both of these issues are what I am setting out to fix. I see cross-border investing and raising as a massive opportunity.

Silicon Valley Is Miles Ahead. It Need Not Be. Today, Silicon Valley is still the best place in the world to build a startup. Startup Genome ranked it number one again in 2026, ahead of New York and London (Startup Genome). I think NYC is close, but after that, I think the rest are currently far behind. The money is concentrated to a degree most people don't realize:

• The market is booming. Startups raised $679 billion in the first nine months of 2026 alone, way past the $425 billion raised in all of 2025 (Crunchbase).
• The U.S. gets most of it. About $274 billion, or 64% of global venture funding, went to U.S. companies in 2025 (Crunchbase). The NVCA counts roughly $320 billion across 15,352 U.S. deals (NVCA).
• The Bay Area gets most of the U.S. share. Of the roughly $159 billion that went into U.S. AI startups in 2025, about $122 billion went to the Bay Area (Crunchbase).
• And it's getting more concentrated, not less. The Bay Area's share of U.S. seed funding jumped from 28% in 2023 to 45% in 2025 (Crunchbase). This is likely drastically thrown off by large AI companies, though.
• One city beats entire countries. San Francisco has 222 unicorns. All of India has 61 (Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026). Japan, one of the world's largest economies, had just 8 as of October 2025, versus 724 in the U.S. (JETRO).

The number that stuck with me most: two-thirds of U.S. seed-stage startups in 2025 were outside the Bay Area, but the Bay Area still took 45% of seed dollars (Crunchbase). The founders are everywhere. The capital isn't. I do expect that the two-thirds number will only continue to climb as the need for founders to be in a city lowers, especially with the higher cost of living. Silicon Valley's real edge is its network, and networks can be connected with the proper effort.

The IMF expects Asia to drive about 60% of global growth (Times of Oman). The savings are already there too. Japanese households hold about ¥2,386 trillion in financial assets, and 47% of it is sitting in cash. In the U.S., it's under 11% (Bank of Japan via Omni Calculator; Adnkronos).

The founders and capital are there, but the connection between them seems not to be.

Why Asia?

Asia is the obvious place to start. It has some of the world's biggest financial centers, fastest-growing startup scenes and most active private markets. Even Bhutan is getting involved.

Every country is different. Japan has huge institutions and huge savings. Singapore is the investment hub for Southeast Asia. Malaysia has one of the most developed alternative finance industries in the region. India has one of the biggest founder ecosystems in the world. On this trip, I want to learn how each market works, build real relationships with the people in it, and figure out how to connect them to investors everywhere else. I'm especially interested in how different structures can work together, instead of every country needing to copy the same rules.

Japan

Japan is fascinating to me. It has one of the deepest pools of savings in the world, a world-class corporate sector, and startups that raised ¥761.3 billion in 2025 (Speeda). Yet it had only 8 unicorns as of October 2025. That gap won't last. The rules are already opening up: in December 2025, an FSA working group recommended raising the limit for crowdfunding raises without a full securities filing from ¥100 million to ¥500 million (Daiwa Institute of Research).

I'll add updates from my meetings and conferences in Japan here throughout the trip.

Singapore

Singapore is the capital of startup investing in Southeast Asia. Companies there raised S$5.9 billion across 472 venture deals in 2025 (Enterprise Singapore and EY-Parthenon).

I'll add updates from my meetings and conferences in Singapore here throughout the trip.

Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the best examples anywhere of regulated online private investing. Companies can raise up to RM20 million over their lifetime on licensed equity crowdfunding platforms (Securities Commission Malaysia). Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer platforms there have already sent more than RM11.5 billion to over 20,000 businesses, and venture and private equity funds grew 21% a year from 2020 to 2025 (TNGlobal).

I'll add updates from my meetings and conferences in Malaysia here throughout the trip.

India

India is massive. Its tech startups raised about $10.5 billion in 2025, third in the world behind the U.S. and U.K. (Tracxn via IANS), and it has 61 unicorns, fourth most of any country.

I'll add updates from my meetings and conferences in India here throughout the trip.

Building a Global Investment Ecosystem

Unlike many, my goal isn't only to bring U.S. deals to international investors, or to help Americans invest abroad. It's to build the relationships, partnerships and infrastructure that connect private markets in every direction. I want to figure out how existing structures can work together, how local institutions can partner across borders, and how technology can make a messy, fragmented process simple.

An investor shouldn't need to become an expert in five regulatory systems to know whether a deal is open to them. The complexity should live in the infrastructure. I'll be posting updates here throughout the trip on who we meet, what we learn and where things are heading. Silicon Valley won by connecting founders with capital faster than anyone else. I think the next big shift in private investing isn't just making deals more accessible. It's connecting the world's private markets to each other.

Sources • Q3 2026 global startup funding, Crunchbase News • Funding data: 2025 was the third largest year, Crunchbase News • NVCA releases 2026 Yearbook, NVCA • Big funding trends, end of 2025, Crunchbase News • U.S. seed funding concentration in the Bay Area, Crunchbase News • Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2026, Startup Genome • Global unicorn club hits record 1,603, Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026 via Vision IAS • Invest Japan Report 2025, overseas capital and startups, JETRO • Asia will account for about 60% of global growth, Times of Oman (IMF) • Japan household financial assets grow 7%, Adnkronos (Bank of Japan) • Americans keep less than 11% of savings in cash; in Japan, nearly 50%, Omni Calculator (Bank of Japan) • Japan's 2025 startup funding market, Speeda • Crowdfunding disclosure threshold reform, Daiwa Institute of Research • Singapore's venture funding shows resilience, Enterprise Singapore • Digital financing starter pack, Securities Commission Malaysia • Malaysia VC and PE record 21% CAGR, TNGlobal • India tech startups rank 3rd globally, IANS (Tracxn)