The closure of CXA Group marks the end of a significant chapter in Southeast Asia’s insurtech story. Founded in 2013, CXA pioneered the idea of an integrated digital marketplace for employee benefits–long before “AI-driven HR” became a buzzword.
At its peak, the firm, once a local success story, attracted marquee backers including HSBC, B Capital, and EDBI, raising over US$58 million (including a US$25 million Series B round in 2027) and expanding across Asia. Yet despite its early promise, sustaining scale in the highly regulated, low-margin world of insurance proved elusive.
Rosaline Chow Koo’s announcement reflects both the ambition and challenges of building in this sector. CXA’s technology itself has not disappeared; it continues to operate under Pacific Prime, HSBC Life, and other licensees.
However, the original company could not maintain its independent path. This trajectory mirrors a common theme in Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem: innovation can outpace the business fundamentals needed to survive funding cycles and competition from entrenched incumbents.
The extraordinary general meeting to decide on liquidation is a formal closing of the books, but also a reminder of how capital-intensive and compliance-heavy B2B insurtech remains. For founders and investors, CXA’s rise and fall underscores the importance of aligning visionary technology with sustainable revenue models and disciplined scaling strategies.
REGIONAL
CXA that raised US$58M in funding shuts down after 12 years; moves to liquidate assets
The group has convened an extraordinary general meeting of its shareholders on September 25 | Shareholders will vote on whether to liquidate the company’s assets under Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, which governs voluntary winding-up procedures in Singapore.
Singapore hit by 6.4M cyberattacks in 2024 as AI supercharges threats
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky warns that AI is significantly amplifying these threats, enabling cybercriminals to launch “stealthier and less predictable” campaigns across the highly digitalised hub and the wider Asia Pacific region.
GoTo secures US$281M loan to strengthen balance sheet, fuel growth
A portion of the proceeds will be allocated to settle the outstanding amount from GoTo’s previous facility, which stood at US$28.2M as of June 2025 | The remaining funds are designated for general corporate purposes, including investments that will drive the company’s ongoing expansion.
SGX tightens climate reporting rules, expands green products as sustainable finance demand grows
Investor appetite for climate-focused ETFs surged, with AuM in SGX’s six sustainability-themed ETFs rising 133 per cent y-o-y to US$2.2B | The iShares MSCI Asia Ex-Japan Climate Action ETF tripled in size since its 2023 launch, driven by inflows from Finnish pension fund Ilmarinen, while the CSOP FTSE APAC Low Carbon ETF added US$75M.
Philippine fintech firm Salmon raises US$50M in oversubscribed bond
The company said the bond was oversubscribed, bringing its total bond financing to US$110M under a US$150M framework | This follows a US$60 million bond issued in April 2025 | Salmon Group offers credit lines, cards, loans, and deposit services.
Saison Capital launches US$50M Onigiri fund to bridge global blockchain with Asia
Onigiri Capital, which has already secured US$35M, will focus on startups building real-world asset solutions across five pivotal sectors: stablecoins, payments, tokenised assets, DeFi, and financial markets infrastructure.
Dat Bike teams up with Japan’s FCC in US$22M Series B round
Other investors are Rebright Partners, Jungle Ventures, Cathay Venture, and AiViet Venture | Vietnam’s two-wheeler EV sector braces for a monumental shift, propelled by substantial government support for green mobility and a global decarbonisation agenda.
Atomionics bags US$12.7M to map earth’s subsurface with quantum sensors
Investors include BHP Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Wavemaker Partners, VU Venture Partners, SG Growth Capital, and Alex Turnbull | Atomionics’s core innovation lies in its Gravio device, a portable, basketball-sized sensor that functions as a “virtual X-ray” for the earth | This quantum gravimetry technology enables high-resolution subsurface mapping up to ten times faster than conventional methods.
Terra Oleo emerges from stealth with US$3.1M to reinvent palm oil and cocoa
Investors include ADB Ventures, The Radical Fund, Elev8.vc, and Better Bite Ventures | Terra Oleo offers sustainable alternatives to palm oil derivatives and cocoa butter–crucial ingredients in the personal care, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food sectors.
Quantum investor QAI Ventures picks Singapore for APAC headquarters
The Swiss VC firm has partnered with EnterpriseSG to bring its acceleration and venture-building activities to the island nation | It will also run a 5-month QuantumAI Accelerator programme, designed to scout and scale global startups.
VinFast, BDO Unibank team up to expand EV network in Philippines
The agreement aims to help expand electric vehicle availability, charging stations, and electric taxi operations in the country, with BDO Unibank providing financial services such as leasing, insurance, and tailored financing.
US$16M boost: NUS Enterprise joins forces with SG Growth Capital, Lotus One
These initiatives will provide greater support for NUS-affiliated startups and broaden co-investments in VC funds, complementing the US$116M NUS VC Programme launched in July 2025.
Openspace Ventures rebrands as Openspace Capital, launches funds
The venture capital firm is launching the Orbit Listed Growth Fund in partnership with Australian fund manager Perennial Partners, aiming to help companies list on the SGX | Onyx Growth Credit targets US$200M to provide loans between US$15M and US$30M to companies seeking growth capital.
REPORTS, FEATURES & INTERVIEWS
Alibaba’s AI muscle supercharges Lazada across Southeast Asia
Alibaba’s multilingual machine translation model, known for its strong performance in low-resource languages, underpins Lazada’s AI translation features | This symbiotic relationship allows Lazada to implement advanced AI solutions tailored to the diverse needs of the Southeast Asian market without having to build every component from scratch.
AI in e-commerce: Big promise, bigger hesitation among sellers in SEA
A new report by Momentum Works and Lazada highlights this paradox: a vast majority of sellers acknowledge AI’s long-term benefits, yet remain hesitant due to perceived costs and usefulness concerns | This presents both a challenge and a clear opportunity for those ready to embrace the shift.
DigiCert CEO: Quantum computing’s “ChatGPT moment” is coming
The aggressive race by tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and AWS toward quantum supremacy as a signal that the tipping point is not far off | With 24 per cent of organisations still in denial about the risks quantum computing poses to current encryption systems, DigiCert urged a collective move toward preparedness.
INTERNATIONAL
SoftBank-OpenAI Japan venture reportedly delayed to November
The JV aims to provide AI services for Japanese corporate clients | The venture, first announced in February, was scheduled to launch in summer 2025 | The venture will be owned by OpenAI and a company established by SoftBank and its domestic telecom unit.
Alibaba invests in Ant Group-backed Hello for robotaxi market
The Chinese ride-hailing firm said on September 17 that Alibaba’s investment will support joint work on AI algorithms and smart driving technology for commercial robotaxi fleets | The move comes as global tech companies, including Tesla and Alphabet’s Waymo, compete to commercialise driverless taxi services.
SoftBank said to cut 20 per cent of Vision Fund staff for AI push
The Vision Fund, with over 300 employees, is moving away from broad startup investments to concentrate on founder Masayoshi Son’s AI projects, including a proposed US$500B Stargate data centre network with OpenAI.
Uber to test drone food deliveries by end of 2025
Uber will begin testing deliveries with Flytrex in select Uber Eats pilot markets by the end of 2025 | The company is also investing in Flytrex, a US-based drone delivery startup | This marks Uber’s return to logistics experiments after exiting its in-house drone program due to regulatory challenges and pandemic cost-cutting.
PayU increases stake in Indian fintech firm Mindgate to 70 per cent
This follows its initial 43 per cent acquisition in March 2025 | The remaining 30 per cent is held by founders George Sam and Guhan Muthusamy, who will continue to run the company | PayU also plans to invest an additional US$5M to US$10M to drive synergies with its other business verticals.
Panasonic to develop new EV battery in two years for Tesla
The “anode-free” EV battery removes the anode during manufacturing and forms a lithium metal anode after the first charge | Panasonic said this could boost battery capacity by 25 per cent, extending the driving range of vehicles such as the Tesla Model Y by up to 90 miles.
ECHELON
AI agents at work: The future of productivity
At Echelon Singapore 2025, Prahlad Jaya of kurate opened a fireside chat with Clare Leighton of fileAI by reflecting on the company’s evolution from Blue Sheets into a key player in AI workflow automation.
SEMICONDUCTOR
Nvidia to invest US$5B in Intel for AI products
The partnership, pending regulatory approval, aims to develop custom data centre and PC products for AI applications | Intel has struggled to keep up with competitors, missing key technology shifts and facing rising competition from Asian manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung.
Huawei unveils AI infrastructure to compete with Nvidia
At its Huawei Connect conference in Shenzhen, the company announced SuperPoD Interconnect technology, which can link up to 15,000 graphics cards, including Huawei’s Ascend AI chips | The new system is positioned as an alternative to Nvidia’s NVLink, which enables high-speed communication between AI chips.
Nvidia plans US$2.7B UK AI investment in partnership with VCs
The chipmaker will work with VC firms including Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton Capital, Hoxton Ventures, and Phoenix Court | It will allocate capital to UK startups and researchers, with funding sourced from its balance sheet.
Nvidia spends US$900M to hire AI startup Enfabrica CEO, staff
Enfabrica, founded in 2019, develops technology that connects large numbers of GPUs for AI systems | Nvidia had previously invested in Enfabrica during its US$125M Series B round in 2023 | Nvidia’s last billion-dollar acquisition was the US$6.9B purchase of Mellanox in 2019.
AI
AI’s silent sorting: How you get filtered, priced, and denied
When many firms adopt similar pricing algorithms—or license the same vendor—markets can drift toward tacit collusion: agents “learn” that undercutting gets punished and orbit around higher prices without any chatroom cartel | Competition authorities have mapped this risk and the evidentiary challenge of distinguishing “parallel algorithmic play” from unlawful coordination.
Why AI-driven influencer marketing is the future of B2C in 2025
Consumers today want to feel like a brand is speaking directly to them | AI has made it possible to create that kind of personalisation, even across dozens of campaigns | And when people feel the message is tailored just for them, they’re more likely to engage.
AI assistant or replacement? A PR pro’s take on using ChatGPT
ChatGPT gobbles up and thrives on the information you feed it | Tailor your prompts by supplying specific details, facts and information, and guide them with desired parameters, such as length and tone, for optimal results.
The future of work with AI: 2025 and beyond
According to Singapore’s second National AI Strategy (NAIS 2.0), AI has progressed “from opportunity to necessity”, and people “must know” AI, not just see it as a “good to have” | The strategy goes on to add that rather than seeing AI as a threat, it can be the great equaliser, enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing them.
AI: Boon or bane? Workers fear job loss despite productivity gains
According to the 2023 Work Trend Index, most business leaders are looking to leverage AI to improve employee productivity, not reduce headcount | High on the list of priorities are automating repetitive yet necessary tasks, eliminating low-value activities, and augmenting the capabilities of existing talent to accelerate the pace and quality of their output.
Building trust in the age of AI: Lessons for Southeast Asia’s startups
Southeast Asia is tightening data-protection rules. Countries like Singapore and Indonesia emphasise localisation, while others are exploring AI-specific governance | Startups must design for compliance across borders, not just at home | Retrofitting privacy later is far costlier than building it in from day one.
AI is eating the world and startups are riding the infrastructure wave
AI isn’t just a software revolution | It’s an energy-hungry, capital-intensive transformation that’s reshaping the foundations of the internet | For small businesses and founders, understanding this wave and its risks, could be the key to surviving and thriving in the next decade.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Liquidity dreams meet reality: How the Fed’s 25-basis-point cut is (and isn’t) changing everything
This adjustment brought the fed’s funds rate target range down to 4 per cent to 4.25 per cent, marking the first cut in the current easing cycle.
A new era of impact: Beyond the bottom line in Southeast Asia’s tech revolution
Across the region, impact-oriented investors are increasingly adopting a ‘Theory of Change’ approach that channels capital toward technology solutions addressing Southeast Asia’s most pressing challenges | This lens guides much of TNB Aura’s investment activity.
The great corporate flip: Why Korean startups are caught between dreams and tax bills
Across Seoul’s bustling startup districts, from Gangnam’s tech towers to Hongdae’s co-working spaces, founders face the same brutal reality: to play on the global stage, you need the right passport—a corporate one.
DePIN’s US$3.5T opportunity: Turning fragmented projects into unified infrastructure
DePIN, as a sector, is held back by the lack of fundamental infrastructure needed to function at scale | Right now, each individual project is like a country, building its own border controls to admit people from other networks.
PR is your megaphone: Why startups must master visibility in the AI era
PR is your megaphone | In the AI era, it does more than win human eyeballs | It teaches the algorithms that will advise your customers, investors and partners | For startups, this is not a nice-to-have | It is how you make sure your brand is heard in the conversations that shape your future.
Decentralised, intelligent, unstoppable: The future of the internet with Web3 and AI
Unlike traditional software, AI can process vast amounts of data, recognise patterns, and make decisions autonomously | It introduces intelligence to Web3, allowing decentralised applications to evolve in real time, predict changes, and optimise themselves without external input.
The post Ecosystem Roundup: CXA shuts down after US$58M raise | Singapore faces 6.4M cyberattacks in 2024 | AI in e-commerce sees big promise, bigger hesitation appeared first on e27.
