The First Four Years

Four years ago today, we quietly launched forge.vc with a simple website and a big idea: that Southeast Asia deserved a new kind of seed investor.

That was the beginning of Forge. A couple of believers trying to rethink what seed investing in Southeast Asia could look like if we started from scratch. We wouldn’t announce the launch of Fund I until a few months later.

We asked: what if we stayed small on purpose? What if we said “yes” before traction, before the first line of code — before, frankly, it made much sense on paper?

What if we actually earned the right to be called a founder’s first institutional partner?

That meant leading rounds others passed on, backing missionaries over mercenaries, and showing up even when things got weird (and they often did).

Since then, we’ve partnered with 18 companies across the region — from Singapore to Jakarta to wherever Zoom links take us. We’ve helped close rounds on red-eye flights, whiteboarded pivots at kopi shops, and found ourselves on more “quick syncs” than we’d care to count. We’ve seen companies go from “two people and a slide deck” to real revenue, real users, and real impact, often in the Southeast Asia region, and some had even found their footing on the global stage. Some of those journeys have been smooth. Most haven’t. But all of them have shaped how we invest, how we support, and how we grow.

We’re still early-stage nerds. Still obsessed with helping founders make the first 18 months count. Still saying no more than yes. Still believing the best Southeast Asian companies are going to be built by people no one’s heard of — yet.

To our founders, LPs, collaborators, and friends — thank you. This only works because you believed in us when we were a Google Slide and a prayer.

Here’s to the next chapter. Still early, still building!