Steve Thomas - IT Consultant
A growing roster of vertical AI startups is emerging in Southeast Asia to serve sectors ranging from seafood to finance. Singapore-based venture capital firm Antler recently made a bet on 37 of them, investing $5.1 million in total for pre-seed deals. This included a strategic partnership with Khazanah, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, which invested into […]
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In the middle of a long funding winter, AC Ventures’ latest news will give Southeast Asian startups hope. The Jakarta, Indonesia–based venture firm announced today it has raised $210 million, finishing the final close on its fifth fund, called ACV Fund V. Limited partners include the World’s Bank’s IFC and investors from the United States, […]
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Founded in 2007 to help IP and R&D professionals do their jobs more efficiently, Singapore-based PatSnap‘s first product was a global patent search database. Now it’s building out its suite of AI products with the launch of its AI assistant CoPilot. CoPilot lets users search patent and non-patent literature more quickly, which the company says […]
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Indonesia’s construction industry is growing quickly, driven by residential and industrial building, alongside infrastructure development plans by the government. Sourcing skilled labor is still a time-intensive process, however, and often relies on personal networks and lengthy recruitment efforts. The founders of Gravel want to change that by making it easier to find workers and other […]
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In Western markets, freight forwarders are well into digitizing their operations, but the same doesn’t hold true in Southeast Asia, say the founders of Fr8Labs. The reasons for that include the lack of localized software and a more fragmented logistics industry where SMBs dominate. Fr8Labs wants to digitize Asia’s logistics industry with its SaaS operating […]
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Hussain Elius is best known as the co-founder of Pathao, one of Bangladesh’s top ride-sharing apps. For his latest startup, however, Elius is exploring the world of DeFi with Wind.app, a self-custodial, smart contract wallet with three main features. The first is enabling businesses to send payments to remote employees around the world. The second […]
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Textiles and garments contribute 16% of Vietnam’s total GPD, but it’s challenging for small garment brands to take advantage of the country’s manufacturing prowess. Inflow is stepping into the gap, with a platform that gives small brands visibility into manufacturers’ supply chains and the design-to-production cycle. It also helps them meet manufacturers who are willing […]
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Every year, Temasek teams up with Bain & Company on the e-Conomy SEA report. It covers Southeast Asia’s digital economy and is published by Google. This year’s report, published today, underscores what many startups and investors already know—the region’s funding landscape is currently challenging to navigate. On the bright side, there’s still plenty of “dry […]
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More South Korean investors are putting money into Southeast Korea startups, creating an “investment corridor” between the two regions. The latest one is KIPSEA. Short for Korean Investment Partners Southeast Asia, KIPSEA has a Singapore-based team and just announced its first fund close of $60 million. Limited partners come from South Korea, Hong Kong and […]
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YouTrip, a Singapore-based fintech that offers multi-currency wallet for consumers and business accounts with corporate cards for SMEs, has its eyes on growth throughout Southeast Asia after landing a Series B led by Lightspeed. The round was $50 million, and brings YouTrip’s total raised to $100 million since it launched in 2018. The new funding […]
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Created by the founder of Thunes, global digital currency payments institution Triple-A wants to close the gap between traditional finance and blockchain-based payments with its white-label solutions for businesses. It enables clients to pay in or accept crypto and get fiat money in their bank accounts the next day. Triple-A announced today it has raised […]
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