Asia’s Startup Surge: Deep Tech, Biotech & Blockchain Infrastructure Take the Lead

The past week’s funding roundup reveals evolving investor priorities in Asia, with capital shifting toward asset-intensive and infrastructure-oriented sectors—deep tech biotech, hard tech, aerospace, and blockchain infrastructure—suggesting that investors are becoming more willing to back longer R&D cycles and regulatory-intensive plays.

Syneron Bio’s raise (~$100M Series A/A+) stands out not only for its size but for the participation of leading global pharma players (AstraZeneca, Pfizer) and Chinese VCs, underlining confidence in platform-driven biotech focused on macrocyclic peptides—historically a high risk category requiring strong scientific and regulatory credibility. With pipeline development toward clinical stages, this level of capital implies long-term validation of China’s biotech ecosystem competitiveness.

CoreEL Technologies in India saw $30M in Series B financing led by ValueQuest and 360 ONE Asset, earmarked for scaling manufacturing capacity, R&D, and partaking in complex defence programs domestically and abroad. This reflects alignment with India’s ‘Make in India’ push and indigenization policy in defense, which seeks to reduce reliance on foreign systems.

EtherealX’s ~$21M raise for its reusable medium-lift launch vehicle signals rising investor appetite for space infrastructure in India, competing at entry levels with global space players. The fact that ETH launch is planned for early 2027 suggests fast-tracking of hardware development and potential first mover advantage.

ETHGas seed raise & commitments: $12M led by Polychain Capital, plus $800M in blockspace supply commitments from validators and block builders. ETHGas is building futures markets to allow users to hedge gas fees and traders to prebuy execution. This is a technical infrastructure play, addressing gas price volatility and transaction pipeline risk in Ethereum ecosystems. The model involves both token-equity (or SAFT) and non-cash commitments, posing unique opportunities and risks.

Education and proptech sectors got smaller checks: CarDekho’s $10M investment in CollegeDekho with ~40% stake highlights consolidation or synergies in EdTech, particularly expanding into underserved tier-II/III cities. Meanwhile, Truva raised $6.32M at ~₹284 crore (~$31.6M) valuation for its proptech marketplace with rich buyer tools, though operating revenue remains minimal—this is typical of early-stage consumer marketplaces where unit economics and scale will be key pressures.

Strategic implications:

• Regimes with strong policy alignment (China biotech regulation, India defense indigenization, space sector support) are seeing inflows—governments matter.
• Valuations in “deep tech” and infrastructure are rising for early-stage companies with credible technical roadmaps and anchor customer commitments. The risk for capital misallocation increases if execution lags.
• Capital for crypto-enabled infrastructure (e.g. ETHGas) is becoming sophisticated: aligning token economics, decentralized contributions, and future regulatory clarity is essential.

Open questions:

• Will the exogenous environment (e.g. interest rates, regulatory tightening, supply chain constraints) support expensive, long-lead biotech and aerospace projects over the next 12–24 months?
• How sustainable is the momentum in emerging sectors—e.g. ETH market infrastructure—if regulatory risk or competitive threat shifts quickly?
• For consumer-edtech and proptech (CollegeDekho, Truva), when will unit economics and profitability become visible or credible to justify follow-on rounds?
• How will talent acquisition, IP protection, and cross-border collaboration play out in these capital intensive verticals in Asia?