Your practical roadmap to joining Southeast Asia’s venture‑capital fellowships and scout networks – what they look like, how to qualify, and why now is the right moment to apply
If you are an operator in Singapore, a product manager in Jakarta, or a student in Ho Chi Minh City who wants to cross the table from founder chat rooms to investor cap tables, Southeast Asia (SEA) is still a credible place to start. Even after a difficult 2024 in which venture funding fell to “half of pandemic levels,” according to DealStreetAsia’s year‑end recap (article) , the first half of 2025 has already shown month‑on‑month rebounds. Scouts and fellowship cohorts are part of that recovery because they lower the cost of discovering talent and founders across eleven very different markets.
Scout pools hand you a small allocation—typically US $50 000 to 100 000—to deploy on behalf of a sponsoring fund. You do not put in personal capital, and you share 10 to 20 percent of any upside. Fellowships invest mainly in your time. Over eight to sixteen weeks (sometimes longer) you cycle through workshops on fund economics, run mock or real diligence, and leave with a written or actual track record.
A 2023 Economic Times feature on Peak XV’s Spark fellowship called it a “$100 000 equity‑free grant and mentorship program” aimed at boosting female founders across India and Southeast Asia (story) . While Spark targets founders, its format—stipend plus curriculum—mirrors what investor fellowships offer to would‑be analysts and principals.
The Antler blog described its Singapore residency as an “intense in‑person program that condenses months of progress into a few transformational weeks” (post) . Investor cohorts take a similar time‑compressed approach: rapid deal‑memos instead of slow apprenticeship.
Interview pipelines run two to four rounds: culture screen, written memo, partner call, sometimes an investment committee simulation. Acceptance rates hover near 3 percent—roughly Y Combinator odds—so prepare early.
Weekly cadence
Scout tracks usually require one qualified lead per month. Fellowship tracks culminate in a mock or live investment committee where you defend a deal and outline follow‑on strategy.
A November 2024 piece from Insignia Business Review announced the firm’s 12‑week StartCXO track, noting it “evolved from our successful StartCFO initiative” to train future leaders (article) . Alumni from earlier cohorts have parlayed that certificate into junior investing roles at SEA‑based funds.
These pieces confirm that SEA’s investor‑training landscape is no longer an experiment. Whether you choose a curriculum‑heavy fellowship or a “here is the capital, go scout” allocation, the region now offers clear ladders into venture. Select the rung that matches your skills, commit to the workload, and you will exit the cohort speaking the language partners and limited partners respect.
Founders are extraordinarily busy, even for their own investors. A decade ago, they might have had relationships with a handful of VC partners as they scaled their businesses and raised additional rounds of capital.
It takes a village to grow a startup, so Village Global is offering access to a deep network of top tech execs to lure founders to its seed fund. Today, Village Global announced it’s raised $100 million for that fund that was first unveiled in September.
Dorm Room Fund, a venture capital operation that launched to invest in student-led startups, has raised a new $10.4 million fund, per SEC filings. The filing marks Dorm Room Fund’s largest fund to date, and its first that appears to include investors beyond First Round Capital, the firm that first launched the student-focused operation in 2012.
The article confirms that Spain has a number of scouts working for top Silicon Valley and European funds (Sequoia, Accel, EQT, Index, etc.), though many keep a low profile
Spearhead announced today that it has raised $100 million for its fourth fund. The basic outline of the program remains the same, but what’s changed is what happens after the formal Spearhead program has finished.
Ten years ago, Sequoia Capital began quietly encouraging founders of its portfolio companies to consider which of their founder friends they might like to get behind financially.
It started as First Round Capital’s experiment. After all, founder Josh Kopelman had started his first company, Infonautics, while he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Partner Hayley Barna had started Birchbox while still at Harvard Business School.
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