Financing What Matters: Backing the Next Generation of Founders

By Pahrada Sapprasert (Mameaw), Partner, 500 TukTuks and Managing Partner, Orzon Ventures (Thailand)

Capital is more than abundant in Southeast Asia, yet for the majority of young entrepreneurs across the region, the path from idea to first investment often remains inaccessible. The financing ecosystem has grown, but it has not grown equitably, and that gap is the defining system challenge of the next decade.

What Has Changed

Ten years ago, the conversation about financing young entrepreneurs in APAC was almost entirely about microfinance and grants. That has shifted — and meaningfully so. From my vantage point at 500 TukTuks and Orzon Ventures, I have watched an entirely new vocabulary enter the ecosystem: blended finance, impact investing, revenue-based financing, gender-lens investing and many more.

Thailand’s startup ecosystem also reflects this shift. Back then, the investable deals were almost entirely confined to tech and e-commerce and the founder profiles had to follow the Silicon Valley norms. Today, we are seeing investment conversations opened up to agri-tech, climate, community commerce, social care, and many more — sectors where young founders from all backgrounds are genuinely building things that matter. In the past, young founders did not know how to reach out to investors but youth entrepreneurship competitions and programmes like Youth Co:Lab have been critical in surfacing these founders and making them visible to investors. The pipeline is richer and more diverse than it has ever been. There are also more investors these days who are willing to back youth entrepreneurs.

Also, one of the most encouraging developments I have observed in Thailand and increasingly across the broader region, is the growing role of universities and private organizations as active entrepreneurship enablers, not just academic institutions or companies that only want to make profits. They are hosting and supporting hackathons, pitching competitions, and technology showcases. These programmes play an important role in preparing students to be a good founder, exposing them to real market problems, and creating the kind of peer-learning environments where entrepreneurial mindset can be practiced. 

What Is Still Missing

Despite these gains, the financing ecosystem still has a fundamental design flaw: it is optimized for founders who already have proximity to capital. In practice, this means founders who grew up in the cities with university degrees, English fluency, and connections, are far more likely to close a first round than equally talented founders operating in secondary cities or rural communities, or those who are young women, persons with disabilities, or from ethnic minority groups. First-check capital for founders without credit history is still scarce. The instruments that exist are rarely structured to support the transition from subsistence to scale.

There is also a readiness gap. Young founders across the region are remarkable in their passion and sense of purpose. They are building for communities they understand, solving problems that larger companies ignore. But passion alone does not produce a term sheet. Too many promising young ventures fail to attract institutional funding not because the problem they are solving is wrong, but because they have not yet developed the business fundamentals that investors need to see:  a clear understanding of costs, revenues, and the path to profitability, a repeatable revenue model, and evidence that the venture can sustain itself beyond its founding team’s enthusiasm. Until this changes, the most purpose-driven founders might continue to be screened out before reaching a serious investment offer.

What Is Next

Closing this gap will take coordinated effort across the ecosystem. Dedicated blended finance vehicles, built specifically for youth-led ventures rather than adapted from existing frameworks, could meaningfully lower the barrier to first-check capital. Universities and institutions are already creating momentum through hackathons and competitions; the natural next step is sustaining that energy with programmes in financial modeling, business model validation, and operational skills, helping founders arrive investment-ready, not just pitch-ready. Investors and government organizations that support innovation also have room to normalize early-stage financing options, such as convertible grants, where funding can convert to equity under agreed conditions, and revenue-based financing, where repayments are tied to actual business income, both of which work for founders without collateral or credit history.

Underpinning all of this is a shared need for better data: youth enterprise registries, gender- and geography-disaggregated financing flows, and ecosystem diagnostics that help every actor understand where the gaps are and who is being left behind. With that foundation in place, the ecosystem becomes far better equipped to find and back the founders who matter most.

About the Author

 Pahrada Sapprasert (Mameaw) is Managing Partner of 500 TukTuks and Orzon Ventures, backing Thai and Southeast Asian startups from seed to growth stage. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and Generation T awardee, she has supported Youth Co:Lab Thailand as a speaker and judge across its national dialogues and innovation challenges.