Women in Tech & Innovation: Breaking Barriers in Southeast Asia’s Startup Ecosystem

1. The Southeast Asian Digital Economy: A Strategic Context

Southeast Asia is a region undergoing a profound digital transformation, propelled by explosive growth in internet and mobile adoption. This rapid digitalization is not merely a technical phenomenon but a powerful engine for economic and social change. Between 2019 and 2022, approximately 100 million people came online, bringing the total number of internet users to nearly half a billion within the SEA-6 economies alone.¹ This expansion has created a fertile ground for new businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities. The region has made significant strides in closing the digital gender gap, with its average of 0.96 for internet access and 0.98 for mobile usage surpassing the global averages of 0.89 and 0.93, respectively.¹ This indicates a strong foundation for inclusive participation in the digital economy.

The pursuit of gender equality in this burgeoning digital landscape is not simply a matter of fairness; it is a strategic economic imperative.¹ With women and girls comprising just over half of Southeast Asia's population, their full and equitable participation is essential for unlocking the region's full economic potential and driving sustainable, inclusive growth.¹ Research has consistently demonstrated the clear value of diversity, with companies that have a more balanced workforce and gender-diverse leadership showing superior performance and higher innovation revenues.⁶ A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found that companies with more than 20% female members on their management teams generate 10% higher innovation revenues than their less-diverse counterparts.⁶ Harnessing the full capabilities of women as citizens, consumers, workers, and business owners is therefore critical to a thriving digital future.¹

While the regional averages for digital access appear promising, a deeper examination reveals significant disparities between countries.⁷ This highlights a crucial point: a one-size-fits-all approach to policy and investment is not sufficient. Data from the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index for 2023 illustrates a wide range in progress across Southeast Asia, with the Philippines ranking highest in the region at number 16 globally, followed by Singapore at 49.⁷ Other nations, such as Thailand (74), Indonesia (87), and Malaysia (102), have significant room for improvement.⁷ This divergence indicates that while some nations have established robust digital infrastructures and more progressive social policies, others are hindered by deep-seated, systemic issues that require targeted, country-specific interventions.⁷ The challenges and opportunities for women in tech vary fundamentally across these diverse national contexts.

2. Deconstructing the Gender Gap: A Data-Driven Analysis

Despite Southeast Asia's progress in overall digital inclusion, the tech and startup ecosystems still exhibit a significant gender gap, particularly in leadership and funding. This analysis reveals a "leaky pipeline" effect, where women's representation diminishes dramatically as they advance in their careers and seek to scale their ventures.

2.1. The Workforce and Leadership Disparity

At a macro level, the proportion of women in Southeast Asia's tech sector, ranging from 34% to 40%, is already higher than the global average of 28%.⁸ Singapore stands out at the forefront, with women making up 40% of its tech workforce, while Indonesia lags with a lower share of women at 22%.² This positive baseline, however, belies a stark reality at higher career levels. Women's representation plummets in technical roles, where they hold only 20% to 30% of positions, and falls to a meager 8% in senior leadership roles, including CEO and board-level positions.⁸ This phenomenon, often referred to as a "leaky pipeline," indicates that the challenge is not solely in attracting women to the tech sector but in retaining and advancing them into positions of influence and decision-making.² Across all industries in Southeast Asia, women make up more than 50% of university graduates but hold fewer than 15% of CEO and board-level positions.² The problem is not a lack of qualified women but a systemic failure to promote them to positions of influence.

2.2. The Venture Capital Funding Chasm

The imbalanced representation in leadership is mirrored, and likely amplified, in the venture capital funding landscape. While the ecosystem is showing signs of moderate progress, it remains heavily male-dominated. In 2023, startups with at least one female founder secured 18.3% of the total private capital raised in the region, a notable increase from the 12.6% share in 2022.¹¹ This amounted to $1.4 billion of the total $7.7 billion raised that year.¹¹ However, this data means that over 80% of venture capital still goes to all-male or male-majority teams. This persistent imbalance indicates that while women are successfully entering the startup world, they face disproportionate challenges in securing the capital required to scale their businesses. A more recent report from 2024 showed a significant decline in funding for women-led tech startups, which secured just $198 million, or 6% of the region's overall tech startup funding.¹³ This represents a sharp 65% drop from the $570 million raised in 2023.¹³

A comparison of funding shares across the region underscores the uneven nature of progress. Vietnam is a significant outlier, with a remarkable 53% of funding in 2023 going to female-founded startups.¹¹ This figure not only leads the region but also far exceeds the global average, where all-female founding teams receive just 2.3% of venture capital.¹⁴ The Philippines ranked second at 23%, followed by Malaysia at 19% and Singapore at 18%.¹¹ The following table provides a clear visualization of this funding distribution.

Table 1: Funding Share of Female-Founded Startups by Country (2023)

Country	Percentage of Total Funding to Female-Founded Startups
Vietnam	53%
Philippines	23%
Malaysia	19%
Singapore	18%

Vietnam's exceptional performance is not a random anomaly but a powerful case study in structural alignment.¹⁵ Its success can be attributed to a confluence of factors, including a deeply egalitarian societal mindset and a high female labor force participation rate, which stood at 69.1% in 2024, among the highest on the planet.¹⁵ This demographic advantage is coupled with supportive government policies and financial mechanisms, such as microcredit, which have historically supported a vast ecosystem of women-led micro-businesses.¹⁵ The government's national agenda includes creating more female entrepreneurs ¹⁶ and has incorporated measures into its laws to strengthen the enabling environment for women-owned SMEs.¹⁷ This foundation creates a pipeline of female entrepreneurs who are not just starting businesses out of necessity but are building scalable, market-driven ventures.¹⁵

The pipeline problem extends beyond the overall funding totals. Data from outside Southeast Asia, which can offer a valuable lens on global trends, shows that funding for female-only teams progressively declines from the seed stage (3.2% of capital) to later stages (1.8% of capital).¹⁴ This pattern suggests that while women are able to secure initial backing, the challenges compound with each successive funding round, making it increasingly difficult to raise the capital needed to compete at a global scale.¹⁸ The problem, therefore, is not just one of entry into the startup world, but of advancement and retention throughout the entire growth journey.

3. Multifaceted Barriers: An Ecosystem of Challenges

The data-driven gaps in representation and funding are symptoms of deep-seated, systemic barriers that operate across the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem. These challenges range from unconscious bias to limited access to critical resources.

3.1. The Pervasiveness of Bias in Business and Investment

Gender bias remains a deeply entrenched barrier that affects how female entrepreneurs are perceived and trusted.¹⁹ Female founders report being judged on their appearance and age rather than their skills and ideas, which can undermine their expertise and stall opportunities for growth.¹⁹ This bias is particularly pronounced in the investment world, where the prevailing perception of entrepreneurship is still male-dominated.²⁰ The venture capital industry itself is overwhelmingly male, with 77% of firms in Southeast Asia lacking a woman in a senior investment decision-making role, such as a partner or board member.⁶

This homogeneity creates a documented phenomenon known as "homophily," where individuals tend to associate and bond with others who are similar to them in terms of gender, educational background, and experience.²¹ In the context of venture capital, this translates into an "affinity bias" where male investors are more likely to fund, network with, and partner with other men.²¹ This self-perpetuating cycle is demonstrated by the fact that male angel investors outnumber their female counterparts by more than 200%, and female investors are 2.3 times more likely to invest in female founders than male angels.¹⁴ This means that the lack of female representation in investment decision-making roles directly contributes to the persistent funding gap. The problem is not a lack of qualified women to invest in, but a broken access and allocation model driven by implicit biases within the ecosystem itself.²⁰

3.2. Limited Access to Networks and Mentorship

The lack of gender diversity in the ecosystem also creates a significant barrier to networking and mentorship.²⁴ Women are overwhelmingly underrepresented at traditional tech networking events, which are crucial for forging the personal and authentic connections necessary for securing funding and building a business.¹¹ The challenge is not just the absence of opportunities but also the sporadic and unstructured nature of many mentorship programs.¹¹ Successful female founders have highlighted the need for more enduring and supportive communities, such as mastermind groups, where they can receive candid feedback and peer support to navigate the solitary journey of entrepreneurship.¹⁹ Organizations like Ladies in Tech Indonesia (LIT) and the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN) provide vital platforms for this collaboration.²⁵

3.3. Overcoming Cultural and Societal Norms

The journey of female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia is further complicated by deep-seated cultural and societal norms.⁷ A significant challenge is the disproportionate burden of care work that women are expected to bear, which can hinder their career development and limit their time and energy to engage in networking and business development.²⁹ While many women are pursuing entrepreneurship as a way to capitalize on market opportunities, others, particularly in less developed areas, are pushed into it by a lack of traditional employment options.³⁰ These societal pressures and cultural expectations often mean that women must demonstrate a greater level of resilience and persistence to be taken seriously as business leaders.¹⁹

4. The Economic and Social Case for Gender Parity

The evidence suggests that the continued underfunding and underrepresentation of women in tech is not just a social issue but a profound market inefficiency.¹⁸ By failing to fully support female entrepreneurs, the venture capital ecosystem is leaving significant financial and social returns on the table.

4.1. Financial Outperformance and Innovation

The financial case for investing in women is overwhelming. Research by BCG shows that companies with gender-diverse management teams (with more than 20% female members) generate 10% higher innovation revenues than their less-diverse counterparts.⁶ Furthermore, multiple studies reveal a financial paradox: women-led startups consistently deliver superior returns on investment. They generate 78 cents in revenue for every dollar invested, compared to just 31 cents for male-led startups.¹⁸ Female founders also demonstrate greater capital efficiency, maintaining lower burn rates than the broader market.²³ This disparity presents a fundamental flaw in a supposedly rational market. In an ideal system, capital would flow to the opportunities with the highest potential returns. The fact that it does not suggests that the market is governed by implicit biases rather than purely financial metrics.¹⁸ Correcting this market inefficiency is not a charitable act; it is a competitive advantage for investors who can recognize and capitalize on this vast, untapped potential.¹⁸

4.2. Driving Broader Social and Economic Growth

Beyond financial outperformance, female entrepreneurs are key drivers of social and economic advancement. Research indicates that women entrepreneurs are often motivated by a purpose beyond profit and are uniquely positioned to use technology to address systemic societal needs.³³ This is evident in the rise of female-led startups in sectors like digital health, which provides services for women's healthcare, and fintech, which aims to provide financial education and capital to other female micro-entrepreneurs.⁶ Female founders are also more likely to hire other women, creating inclusive workplaces and fostering economic empowerment within their communities.³⁴ Their businesses, therefore, create a ripple effect that extends beyond their own success to contribute to the overall well-being and prosperity of the region.

5. Catalyzing Change: Recommendations for a Collaborative Ecosystem

Achieving true gender parity requires a "whole-of-ecosystem approach" that mobilizes governments, corporations, investors, and individuals to work together.¹⁰ The following recommendations are tailored to address the multi-layered barriers identified in this report.

5.1. Policy-Level Interventions

Governments have a critical role to play in creating an enabling environment for women in tech. This includes employing evidence-based policymaking and targeted actions to bridge the digital gender gap.¹ To address the funding chasm, governments should consider creating dedicated "gender-lens" funds and tax deduction schemes, similar to Singapore's Early Stage Venture Fund (ESVF), to provide targeted support to women entrepreneurs.¹¹ Furthermore, expanding access to formal financial services and strengthening legal frameworks to protect women from online harm and discrimination are essential steps.¹ The success of Vietnam’s government, which has integrated support for women-led businesses into its national agenda and established a national SME Support Portal, provides a clear blueprint for other nations to follow.¹⁷

5.2. Corporate and Industry Initiatives

Corporations and industry associations must lead the charge in fostering a more inclusive tech workforce. This begins with cultivating an interest in STEM among young girls by weaving technology into school curricula and exposing them to female role models.⁷ A program that has seen over 30,000 girls participate in technology, design, and engineering training over the last decade provides a strong example.¹ Companies must also actively implement initiatives for the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women, a practice that has seen a noticeable increase in Southeast Asia, with 70% of companies now having such programs, up from 49% in 2020.⁸ Providing flexible work schedules, mentorship, and career development pathways are crucial to retaining female talent and addressing the challenges they face in balancing professional and personal life.⁷

5.3. Reshaping the Investment Landscape

The venture capital community must fundamentally re-evaluate its approach to capital allocation. This requires actively recruiting more women into VC firms, especially into senior and decision-making roles, to mitigate affinity bias and tap into a wider pool of talent.¹⁴ Firms should also implement gender-lens investing strategies, as pioneered by firms like AC Ventures, by actively backing more women-led businesses in high-growth sectors.³² A higher percentage of late-stage startups founded or helmed by women is a welcome sign for the regional ecosystem.¹¹

5.4. Empowering the Individual

Ultimately, individuals must also be empowered to act. Women should be encouraged to be intentional about networking, seeking out supportive communities and mastermind groups where they can find peer support and valuable connections.¹⁹ Aspiring female entrepreneurs should also be prepared to demonstrate their expertise early with data-driven presentations to counter potential skepticism and build credibility from the outset.¹⁹ Initiatives like Ladies in Tech Indonesia and the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN) provide vital platforms for this collaboration.²⁵

The success of women-owned micro-businesses in countries like Vietnam, which form a significant part of the regional economy, presents a critical opportunity.³⁰ While these businesses often rely on informal funding sources, governments and financial institutions can create pathways for them to graduate to the next level of formality and scale.¹⁵ Vietnam's model, with its government-supported microfinance and SME programs, provides a roadmap for how to bridge the "missing middle" and nurture a robust pipeline of future founders.¹⁵ The recommendations must therefore be tiered, addressing the needs of both early-stage micro-entrepreneurs and later-stage venture-backed founders.

6. Inspiring Trailblazers: Profiles of Female Leaders

The narratives of Southeast Asia's female tech leaders reveal a powerful, unifying theme: they are driven by a purpose-first mentality and are using technology to solve systemic, human-centered problems. Their journeys serve as a testament to the resilience and innovative spirit of women in the region.

6.1. Tan Hooi Ling (Grab): The Architect of a Super-App

As the co-founder of Grab, Tan Hooi Ling is an architect of one of Southeast Asia's most transformative companies.³ Her journey began with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bath, followed by a career at the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Company.³ Her path to entrepreneurship was deeply personal, motivated by her own experiences with a lack of safety in Malaysia's public transportation system.⁴ She and her co-founder, Anthony Tan, developed a mobile app that would later become a regional super-app.⁴ After receiving a scholarship from McKinsey to pursue her MBA at Harvard Business School, she had to return to the firm after graduation to fulfill her bond before she could join Grab full-time.⁴ Tan's leadership is characterized by operational precision and a focus on solving local challenges, from optimizing driver networks to expanding into food delivery and fintech.³ After more than a decade of shaping Grab's operations, she has transitioned into a mentoring role, cementing her legacy not just as a builder of a billion-dollar company but as an enabler of the next generation of tech leaders in the region.³

6.2. Josephine Chow (ShopBack): The Engine of International Expansion

Josephine Chow's career is a testament to the power of seizing opportunity with speed and tenacity.³⁹ A communications graduate, she was introduced to the startup world at a late-night gaming session and quickly landed a job in e-commerce at Rocket Internet, eventually co-founding ShopBack.³⁹ Prior to ShopBack, she spent nearly four years at ZALORA, where she gained a wealth of e-commerce experience.⁴⁰ As the Head of Global Expansion, she leads a "commando" launch team that enters new markets, builds infrastructure, and ensures rapid traction.⁴⁰ Her pragmatic leadership philosophy emphasizes proving a business's sustainability to investors and being realistic about growth projections.⁴² She has personally overseen ShopBack’s expansion into markets like Thailand, Australia, and Vietnam, leveraging her extensive e-commerce experience.⁴⁰

6.3. Raena Lim (StyleTheory): The Visionary of Sustainable Fashion

Raena Lim's journey from a Goldman Sachs senior associate to a circular fashion pioneer is a powerful narrative of a career driven by purpose.⁴³ Before entering the corporate world, she worked on micro-credit financing in Kenya, a mission that instilled in her a desire to create a direct social impact.⁴³ She co-founded StyleTheory with her husband, Christopher Halim, to address a common complaint among modern women: having a wardrobe full of clothes but nothing to wear.⁵ Their solution, a subscription-based fashion rental platform, not only provides an "infinite wardrobe" but also offers a sustainable alternative to fast fashion, helping to reduce its environmental impact.⁴³ Her mission-driven approach exemplifies the growing trend of purpose-first entrepreneurship in the region, using technology to solve systemic problems and challenge established norms.⁵ Under her leadership, StyleTheory has grown to over 80,000 users and secured $15 million in funding, with a collection of more than 25,000 items from over 1,000 brands.⁴⁴

6.4. Martha Sazon (GCash): Democratizing Finance for the Underserved

With over two decades of experience across diverse industries, Martha Sazon has emerged as a transformative leader in the fintech space.⁴⁶ As the President and CEO of Mynt, the holding company of GCash, she is at the forefront of a mission to democratize finance in the Philippines.⁴⁸ Prior to this role, she was a Senior Vice President at Globe, where she led various businesses including postpaid mobile and broadband.⁴⁶ Under her leadership, GCash has evolved from a basic money transfer app to a comprehensive "finance super app," providing a wide range of services to historically underserved and unbanked communities.⁴⁸ Sazon's strategy focuses on breaking down the fundamental barriers to financial inclusion, such as the lack of infrastructure and access to traditional banking services, thereby using fintech innovation for social good.⁴⁸ She has brought GCash’s mission of "Finance for All" to a global audience, showcasing how fintech can address financial inclusion at events like the Mobile World Congress (MWC) CEO Panel.⁴⁸

6.5. Other Pioneers and Rising Stars

The impact of female leaders in Southeast Asia extends far beyond these key figures. Pioneers like Vivy Yusof, who founded the fashion e-commerce platform FashionValet in Malaysia ⁴⁹, and Amanda Cua, who launched the tech news newsletter Backscoop at just 19 years old in the Philippines ⁵⁰, are inspiring new generations. In Thailand, leaders like Sharinee Kalayanamitr founded Orami, an e-commerce and media site for women ⁵¹, and Kanpassorn Suriyasangpetch launched Ooca, the first mental health app in the country.⁵¹ Social impact-driven startups like Heyva Health and Kindred Health, which address women's healthcare, and MADCash, a fintech company that provides capital to female micro-entrepreneurs, are further proof of the breadth of female innovation across the region.⁶ In Vietnam, Louise Linh Pham launched Logivan to digitize the male-dominated trucking industry, while Chi Pham co-founded the fintech app Anfin to provide financial peace of mind.⁵²

7. Conclusion and Future Outlook

The narrative of women in Southeast Asia's tech and innovation ecosystem is one of remarkable progress in the face of persistent, systemic challenges. While the region boasts a comparatively high representation of women in its tech workforce and a growing share of venture funding for female-led startups, a detailed analysis reveals a "leaky pipeline" where opportunities and representation decline at the highest levels of leadership and capital allocation. This imbalance is not a reflection of a lack of talent or viable business models, but rather of a market inefficiency driven by entrenched biases and a lack of diversity within the investment community itself.

The findings of this report make a clear and compelling argument that investing in women is not just a matter of social justice but is a sound business strategy. Female-led startups consistently outperform their male-led counterparts in terms of revenue and capital efficiency, representing a significant untapped market for investors who can look past traditional biases. Furthermore, the purpose-driven nature of many female entrepreneurs, who are using technology to address critical social issues, creates a multiplier effect that benefits not just their companies but the entire region.

Achieving true gender parity and capitalizing on this immense potential will require a holistic, collective effort. It will not be enough to simply encourage more women to enter the tech sector. The entire ecosystem must be reshaped through targeted interventions. Governments must implement supportive policies and financial scaffolding. Corporations must create inclusive workplaces and foster diverse talent pipelines from a young age. The venture capital community must actively increase female representation in decision-making roles and pursue gender-lens investing strategies. The road ahead will also be shaped by emerging trends, such as the rise of AI, which presents a double-edged sword of both job displacement and new opportunities for bias reduction in areas like recruitment.⁷

Ultimately, the future of Southeast Asia’s digital economy is inextricably linked to the empowerment of its women. By addressing the systemic barriers and fostering an environment where all entrepreneurs can thrive, the region can unlock its full potential and pave the way for a more innovative, equitable, and prosperous future.

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