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View all search resultsStart-up scandals in 2025 force investors to raise the bar, change playbooks
From the unravelling of eFishery saga to corruption probes ensnaring venture capital executives tied to state-backed funding at TaniHub, the year stripped the gloss from Southeast Asia’s most coveted start-up market.
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An illustration of venture capital funding.
(Shutterstock/Panchenko Vladimir)
I
ndonesia’s start-up ecosystem spent 2025 in a crisis of trust, shaken by high-profile frauds and their aftershocks that chilled investor appetite and deepened the country’s private funding slump. Industry players and experts say the scandals have forced investors to tighten scrutiny through “more forensic” due diligence, and, in some cases, to overhaul their investment mandates.
From the unravelling of agritech unicorn eFishery saga to corruption probes ensnaring venture capital executives tied to state-backed funding at fellow agritech firm TaniHub, alongside alleged misconduct cases at fintech platforms including Investree, KoinWorks and Crowde, the year exposed lax oversight and intentional deception that stripped the gloss from Southeast Asia’s most coveted start-up market.
“They’ve definitely impacted trust in the short term and created reputational drag for the ecosystem,” Roderick Purwana, managing partner at venture capital firm East Ventures, told The Jakarta Post on Dec. 16.
The changes, he added, were not driven by a sudden fear among investors. “Our risk appetite is intact, but the bar is higher.”
Roderick said investors had intensified due diligence, making it “deeper and more forensic” following a string of exposés earlier in the year. Financial controls, revenue quality, related-party exposure and cash discipline are now scrutinized earlier in dealmaking, alongside tighter governance checks.
“Capital is still available,” Roderick emphasized, but it is being deployed far more selectively, “which is how a healthy ecosystem should behave.”
Read also: Governance gaps, lax oversight hurt Indonesia’s start-up scene
