If the first wave of funding this week is any indication, Asia’s innovation map is stretching in new directions. Venture capital is gradually flowing toward hard tech(deeptech if you would), aerospace, and biological solutions, rather than the usual fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce. This week alone saw $179 million—a 135.53% increase from last year’s week 52 total of $76 million—showing that the new year is off to a good start.

At the top of the list, Beijing-based Syneron Bio raised nearly $100 million across its Series A and A+ rounds. For a company building an intelligent high-throughput macrocyclic peptide drug discovery platform, the raise reflects growing confidence in platform-driven biotech models, attracting backing from AstraZeneca, Pfizer Biotech Development Investment Fund, AZ-CICC Healthcare Investment Fund, GL Ventures, 5Y Capital, Sinovation Capital, Lenovo Capital, Gree Capital, and KHK Fund. The fresh capital will go toward strengthening its proprietary Synova™ platform and advancing multiple pipelines toward the clinical stage.

Across the border in India, Bengaluru-based defence electronics firm CoreEL Technologies secured $30 million in a Series B round. Led by ValueQuest Scale Fund with participation from 360 ONE Asset, the raise will support expanded manufacturing, deeper R&D, and the execution of large aerospace and defence programmes in India and overseas.

Also out of Bengaluru, EtherealX secured $21 million in Series A funding for its reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The round was co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, with Accel participating to scale operations and push the company’s development efforts forward.

ETHSGas, a Hong Kong-based company building settlement infrastructure for the Ethereum blockspace futures market, closed a $12 million seed round led by Polychain Capital. Stake Capital, BlueYard Capital, Lafayette Macro Advisors, SIG DT, Amber Group, and a group of Ethereum validators, block builders, and relays also participated.

Meanwhile, Gurugram-based edtech firm CollegeDekho received a $10 million follow-on investment from CarDekho Group. The funding increases CarDekho’s stake to about 40% and will be used to expand CollegeDekho’s presence in tier-II and tier-III cities while improving services for students and educational institutions.

Rounding out the week, proptech startup Truva raised over $6.32 million from existing investors Stellaris Venture Partners and Orios Venture Partners. Stellaris led the round with an investment of ₹30.5 crore($3.3 million), followed by ₹26.22 crore($3 million) from Orios. According to RoC filings, the funds will be used to meet working capital needs and support business expansion.

With the new year already in full swing, this week’s funding rounds show that 2026 is off to a strong start, but whether that momentum will hold for the months ahead, only time will tell.