December’s funding rebound offers a useful, but nuanced, signal for Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem. The 49.71% month-on-month jump is less a return to exuberance and more an affirmation that capital is selectively re-engaging where conviction is highest.

Airwallex’s US$330M round did the heavy lifting, underscoring a clear reality: late-stage capital has not disappeared, but it is now reserved for category leaders with proven global relevance, strong governance, and clear paths to scale.

Strip out that single deal, however, and the picture becomes more instructive. The steady flow of mid-sized and early-stage rounds suggests investors are rebuilding the pipeline rather than chasing momentum. With nine early-stage and six seed deals in December, VCs appear more comfortable underwriting future optionality than stretching valuations at the growth stage. This aligns with a broader regional reset in 2025, where discipline replaced speed and capital efficiency became non-negotiable.

The year’s extreme volatility—from February’s US$107M trough to July’s US$1.67B spike—reflects an ecosystem recalibrating after years of excess. The encouraging takeaway is the Q4 climb. October through December shows sequential recovery, hinting that the market may have found a more stable floor.

Heading into 2026, the message for founders is clear: capital is available, but only for those who can demonstrate resilience, clarity of execution, and realistic ambition in a more sober funding environment.

REGIONAL

Nadiem Makarim indicted in US$125M Chromebook graft case: The Chromebook procurement process between 2019 and 2022 failed to meet basic planning and procurement standards. Crucially, the devices were found to be essentially unusable certain regions due to inadequate infrastructure.

Manus to join Meta in acquisition deal: Manus AI positions itself as an “execution layer” for AI, transforming advanced capabilities into scalable and reliable systems that can perform end-to-end work in real-world settings. Its agent has already processed 147T+ tokens and powered 80M+ virtual computers in just a few months.

Hong Kong’s Buy&Ship secures US$12M to scale AI-driven cross-border commerce: Investors include MLC Ventures, MemeStrategy, Cool Japan Fund, and Altara Ventures. Funding backs AI automation, Southeast Asia growth, US expansion plans and early steps toward IPO for cross-border e-commerce platform globally.

Singapore’s data centre firm DayOne bags over US$2B Series C: Investors include Coatue and the Indonesia Investment Authority. Capital will be used to develop its Finland platform in Lahti and Kouvola, and to grow its presence in Singapore, Johor, Batam, Thailand, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Iterative, Antler invest in US$1M round of Singapore AI startup i10x: i10X offers a workspace that lets users access multiple AI models and tools in one platform. The funding will support product development, infrastructure expansion, and team growth.

Vietnam’s digital tech sector hits US$198B revenue: The sector reported a 26% rise from 2024 and 16% above the annual goal. Its contribution to GDP reached nearly US$40.9B, up 10% YoY. Hardware and electronics exports hit US$178B, up 35% from 2024 and 12% higher than targeted.

FEATURES & INTERVIEWS

From US$107M lows to a US$491M finish: SEA’s volatile 2025: The full-year funding trajectory for 2025 was defined by extreme volatility. The region experienced a dramatic peak in July 2025, when total funding reached a staggering US$1.67B, a figure nearly triple the next highest month.

INTERNATIONAL

Airwallex to invest US$234M in Netherlands: The firm said it will expand its Amsterdam team by 60%, bringing the local headcount to roughly 70 by the end of 2026. Airwallex provides a platform for businesses to handle international payments and multi-currency accounts.

Zomato fires 5,000 delivery workers monthly over fraud, CEO says: Deepinder Goyal said many terminations are related to repeated fraud, such as delivery partners falsely marking food as delivered or failing to return change to customers. He also said 150K-200K gig workers also leave the company voluntarily each month.

Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan hit 2.6M a day: According to the island’s National Security Bureau, sectors such as energy, emergency services, and hospitals saw the largest YoY rises in attacks. They included distributed denial-of-service and man-in-the-middle techniques, aiming to steal information.

Self-driving tech, AI take centre stage at CES as automakers dial back EV plans: Just as automakers have hit the brakes on EV plans and look for their next money maker, a slew of auto suppliers and startups are lining up to show off their latest autonomous vehicle hardware and software.

South Korea’s labour minister rebukes Coupang over data breach: The online retailer faced scrutiny in a parliamentary hearing after it reported a breach affecting 33.7M customers. The Minister Kim Young-hoon linked the incident to what he called a pattern of alleged cover-ups at Coupang.

France, Malaysia probe xAI’s Grok over sexualised deepfakes: The probes follow similar condemnation from India, which ordered X to restrict Grok from producing obscene or illegal content and warned of potential loss of legal protections if action is not taken within 72 hours.

SEMICONDUCTOR

Trump orders cancellation of US$2.9M chip deal on security grounds: The order targets HieFo’s purchase of chip and wafer fabrication operations from Emcore, announced in May 2024. It requires HieFo to divest the technology within 180 days due to “credible evidence” that the current owner is a citizen of China.

Taiwan indicts ex-TSMC engineer, others in 14nm chip trade theft: The accused include Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC engineer, a current TSMC employee surnamed Chen, and a Tokyo Electron employee surnamed Lu. They are charged with reproducing trade secrets and destroying evidence.

AI demand drives chip prices higher, lifts Samsung, Micron: Chipmakers have shifted production towards high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, reducing supply for other products such as flash chips for USB drives and smartphones. Some memory chip prices have more than doubled since February 2025.

Nvidia debuts open-source AI tools for autonomous vehicles: Alpamayo is a suite of open-source AI models, simulation tools, and datasets to support autonomous vehicle (AV) development. Nvidia said its new tools can be adapted for use in AV stacks and may help accelerate level 4 autonomy.

AI

AI adoption in Southeast Asia: Balancing automation gains with the rising threat of cyberattacks: As AI and edge automation scale across Southeast Asia, enterprises must secure distributed infrastructure against AI-driven and quantum-era threats.

Why AI startups across Southeast Asia are shipping themselves into churn: AI startups in the region ship rapidly, but users can’t keep up. The resulting velocity-comprehension gap erodes trust, predictability, and retention—unless founders slow changes, align UX, and communicate mental models.

The Agency: AI-augmented development in action: A solo founder plus seven AI agents built a near-beta e-commerce platform in eight days, proving AI agencies enable choreography, faster decisions, scalable product development, and a new team model.

Singapore’s workforce is facing its biggest reset yet and AI is forcing the shift: From finance to creative roles and frontline operations, AI tools are increasingly woven into daily workflows. Yet a growing gap remains between the pace of adoption and the readiness of the workforce to use these tools effectively.

The dawn of housing abundance: Why AI will collapse construction costs by 90%: A full supply-chain analysis shows AI and robotics could slash construction costs 70-90%, cut build times 75%, and shift housing scarcity from economics to policy through labour and energy automation.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Meta × Manus: The misread AI deal: Meta bought Manus not for smarter models, but for execution scars—hard-won reliability, failure recovery, and trust at scale—avoiding reputational risk of relearning real-world agent mistakes across billions of users globally.

How startups and VCs can propel Indonesia’s energy transition: Amid climate urgency, ASEAN’s digital growth is driving surging energy demand, especially in Indonesia, creating a massive opportunity for renewable energy, data centres, and climate-tech entrepreneurs to replace fossil fuels.

Asia’s US$4T tokenisation boom: Why the region will lead the global financial revolution by 2030: Asia is leading tokenisation by pairing mobile-first markets with regulation to move programmable finance into production.

How to use blockchain to fund and create a greener future: With a blockchain-based recycling programme, one can earn tokens in exchange for dropping off recyclables like plastic containers, cans, and bottles. It’s already working in Northern Europe.

Stop making it yours, make it everyone’s victory: The founder’s greatest role is not to be the smartest person in the room, but to be the Chief Stakeholder Manager, who ensures that every essential person is maximally motivated because they know, without doubt, that your company’s success translates directly into their success.

The classroom: An untapped testbed for human-centric AI: As SEA works to build strong AI ecosystems, responsible edutech is poised to become a foundation for long-term digital growth. The World Economic Forum finds that technology skills, including AI, are expected to see rapid growth in demand.

Creating sustainable futures: The vision of steady-state societies and still cities: Discover the transformative vision of steady-state societies and still cities, and how they can create sustainable futures for our planet and communities.

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i10X, a Singapore-based startup that enables users to access the world’s most powerful AI models through a single platform, has raised US$1 million in a pre-seed funding round.

The capital injection was led by a group of early-stage investors, including Iterative, Antler AI Disrupt, and PPR Ventures, marking a significant milestone for the startup as it seeks to scale its product and operational infrastructure.

Also Read: The AI revolution in emerging markets: Local models, global impact

The startup intends to utilise the newly raised funds to accelerate product development, expand its technical infrastructure, and support team growth. While headquartered in Singapore, i10X also maintains an office in Berlin, reflecting its ambitions for an international footprint.

Founded by Patrick Linden (co-founder of match.asia and Deep Green Group), Rene Linden (founder of Blue Zone Tech GmbH and co-founder of Deep Green Group), and Pawel Netreba (co-founder of Bfab and former executive at Foodpanda), i10X operates as a unified AI workspace, allowing users to access a diverse range of AI capabilities through a single interface.

The platform currently aggregates more than 500 specialised AI agents and integrates major foundational models such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

The pre-seed round validates i10X’s approach as a “meta-layer” for AI tools, addressing fragmentation in subscriptions and workflows. It positions the startup to scale in a competitive Singapore hub, where AI investments are surging, with plans for infrastructure growth and team expansion.

In terms of market positioning, i10X claims to serve 100,000+ users.
This early traction highlights its potential to capture market share from siloed providers.

Also Read: The AI-first era: Why the model is the new runtime and how Asia can lead

i10X disrupts AI access by bundling top models like GPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok, plus specialised agents for tasks like SEO, code review, and image generation, into one US$25/month workspace. Users conserve up to 90 per cent on costs compared to US$385/month for separate subscriptions, eliminating logins and tab-switching for seamless productivity. Features like real-time model comparisons and unlimited usage target professionals, creators, and startups, simplifying adoption beyond tech-savvy users.​

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Singapore’s ambition to remain Asia’s premier digital hub has entered a decisive new phase. Following the government’s announcement of a 700 MW low-carbon data centre park on Jurong Island, attention has turned to how the city-state will balance soaring AI-driven demand with constraints around power, land, and sustainability.

For developers and investors, the question is no longer whether a data centre in Singapore makes sense, but how to secure a viable foothold in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

The latest 2025 Data Centre Construction Cost Report by Turner & Townsend underscores the scale of the challenge. AI workloads are rapidly redefining infrastructure requirements, pushing power density from the historical 3–4 kW per rack to well over 100 kW per rack. This shift has direct cost implications, with capital expenditure rising between 20 and 40 per cent due to the need for advanced cooling systems and more robust electrical infrastructure.

Yet despite these pressures, Singapore continues to attract hyperscalers and institutional capital. At US$14.53 per watt, it is now the world’s second most expensive market for building. Cost alone, however, does not tell the whole story.

“Singapore has been a data centre hub for many, many years,” said Sumit Mukherjee, head of data centre cost management for Asia at Turner & Townsend, in an interview with e27. “Certainly, as it relates to the Asia Pacific region, Singapore was one of the early movers in terms of the data centre sector.”

Also Read: Why AI startups across Southeast Asia are shipping themselves into churn

Fundamentals have reinforced that early-mover advantage that few regional peers can match. Singapore’s dense network of subsea cables, cloud on-ramps, and carrier-neutral facilities has cemented its status as a digital crossroads for Asia.

“Singapore is incredibly well connected,” Mukherjee said. “It is the digital hub in the true sense, and it’s a position that it looks to protect very seriously.”

Policy stability is another differentiator. Over the past decade, Singapore has maintained a relatively consistent and transparent regulatory stance on data centres, even as it introduced moratoriums and tighter controls to manage energy use.

“The predictability of Singapore is almost a bigger factor than cost,” Mukherjee noted. “Clients feel very confident that if they’re there, they’ve got long-term stability and sustained revenues.”

This predictability is increasingly critical as developers contend with power access challenges. While Jurong Island’s new park signals a controlled expansion of capacity, lead times for critical equipment can stretch from nine to 18 months. Power readiness has become a strategic advantage rather than an operational detail.

“Operators are now engaging with regulators and utility companies at the absolute earliest stages of land development and design,” Mukherjee said. Instead of designing first and seeking power later, developers are adopting a bottom-up approach—shaping facilities around what power can realistically be secured.

Also Read: The Agency: AI-augmented development in action

Crucially, sustainability has moved to the centre of these discussions. “The conversation has been less about the data centre itself, and more around the sustainable power strategy,” he said.

Regulators are scrutinising power usage effectiveness targets, low-carbon cooling methods, and ESG roadmaps before granting approvals. Those with credible sustainability strategies are finding it easier to unlock grid access.

AI is also reshaping how data centres in Singapore are designed and built. Where a one-megawatt facility was once considered significant, projects are now being planned at hundreds of megawatts, and even approaching the gigawatt scale. This has accelerated the industry’s shift towards modular engineering and prefabricated mechanical and electrical systems.

“Clients are now seeking hundreds of megawatts of capacity pretty much instantly,” Mukherjee said. Modular construction, he added, enables operators to deliver capacity more quickly, with greater precision and reduced on-site complexity.

Alongside this, innovation in liquid cooling—particularly water-based systems—is becoming essential. “Ultimately, water-cooled is the only way in which you can cool AI data centres,” he said, pointing to rapid advances in both performance and cost efficiency.

Speed to market has emerged as a defining competitive advantage. Prefabrication, standardised modules, and plug-and-play systems can significantly cut installation time, a critical factor in a market where demand continues to outstrip supply. “If you can get that pre-built and brought and plugged in and played, even at the largest scales, it’s going to bring efficiency and speed,” Mukherjee said.

Also Read: AI adoption in Southeast Asia: Balancing automation gains with the rising threat of cyberattacks

Despite rising costs, the outlook is not one of unchecked inflation. Mukherjee described the sector as moving towards “a new normal” rather than overheating. While demand-supply gaps persist, he does not expect year-on-year cost spikes of 50 or 60 per cent. Instead, the industry is in a transformative phase driven by AI, higher power densities, and resource scarcity.

Stabilisation, he suggested, is more likely over a three- to five-year horizon.

For Singapore, the challenge lies in sustaining its leadership while operating within hard constraints. Limited land, finite power, and stringent carbon goals mean growth will be measured rather than explosive. Yet these same constraints have forced a level of sophistication that investors value.

“On face value, it is an expensive market,” Mukherjee said. “But equally, it’s a very stable market for clients in terms of returns and investments.”

As AI reshapes global digital infrastructure, Singapore’s approach—anchored in policy clarity, sustainability, and long-term planning—may prove to be its greatest asset. For operators seeking a resilient base in Asia, the proposition of a data centre in Singapore remains compelling, not despite the costs, but because of what those costs help secure: predictability, performance, and a platform built for the next decade of growth.

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Image Credit: Turner & Townsend

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Taiwanese venture capital firm AppWorks has announced the final closing of its fourth flagship fund at US$165 million, bringing its total capital raised to US$386 million.

AppWorks Fund IV represents a significant milestone in regional financial integration, marking the first time that

Major sovereign limited partners (LPs) from Taiwan, Malaysia, and South Korea invested in the fund. The names include Taiwan’s National Development Fund, Malaysia’s Jelawang Capital (a national fund-of-funds under Khazanah Nasional), and the Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC).

Also Read: AppWorks showcases startups rewiring mobility, finance, AI and food supply chains

Other prominent institutional and corporate investors participating in the fund include Fubon Life, Taiwan Mobile, Wistron, Phison, and E Ink.

Market recalibration and disciplined deployment

The fundraising journey for Fund IV began in late 2022 with an original target of US$360 million. However, the firm chose to reassess this figure following the US Federal Reserve’s transition into a tightening cycle, which triggered global market corrections and a broader recalibration of the venture capital landscape.

After integrating feedback from LPs and monitoring market signals, AppWorks optimised the fund size to US$165 million. The firm stated this revised scale allows for more disciplined deployment into “high-conviction opportunities” emerging from its regional ecosystem during what is expected to be a compelling venture vintage.

Fuelling a pan-Asian “venture flywheel”

Since its inception in 2009, AppWorks has cultivated a massive founder community comprising 2,086 entrepreneurs and 653 active startups, which have collectively created 28,256 jobs across the region. Since 2017, the firm has sharpened its focus on AI and Web3, currently supporting 128 active AI startups and 146 live Web3 projects.

The firm’s strategy has increasingly shifted towards a pan-Asian footprint; approximately 70 per cent of founders in the 14 most recent accelerator batches now originate from outside Taiwan. According to the firm, this “ecosystem-first” approach has already yielded significant results, with the firm’s 2014 vintage Fund II delivering a 1.9x DPI, placing it within the top-quartile of global venture funds.

AppWorks’s proprietary pipeline has previously backed early-stage category leaders that have become household names in Southeast Asia and beyond, including Lalamove, Carousell, ShopBack, Animoca Brands, 91APP, and KKday.

Bridging deeptech and commercialisation

The fund aims to act as a bridge between Taiwan’s deeptech and manufacturing strengths and the commercial savvy of founders in markets like Malaysia and South Korea. By connecting corporate LPs with visionary founders, AppWorks facilitates the co-development of products in frontier sectors.

Also Read: AppWorks turns 15: Showcasing SEA’s next-gen AI, Web3, deep tech startups

A notable example of this synergy is the partnership between Taiwan Mobile and USPACE (an AppWorks alumnus), which resulted in the launch of an EV-charging service that utilised AppWorks’s network to expand into Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan.

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The retail industry is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by changing consumer expectations and the rapid expansion of the digital economy. This year’s e-Conomy SEA 2024 report highlights the region’s robust digital economy, which is projected to grow by 15 per cent year-over-year, reaching US$263 billion. Revenues have seen a 14 per cent increase, with forecasts indicating they will reach US$89 billion in 2024.

This growth underscores how digitalisation is reshaping the retail landscape, creating new ways for businesses to connect with consumers. For today’s shoppers, the ability to choose where and how they shop is non-negotiable.

Shoppers demand seamless, personalised experiences, and the lines between online and in-store shopping are fading fast. This new era of retail brings both opportunities and challenges as retailers strive to meet heightened expectations while maintaining operational efficiency.

A recent global shopper study by Zebra Technologies revealed a shift in shopper satisfaction. While consumer spending remains steady, shopper satisfaction is declining. In the Asia Pacific region, satisfaction with in-store shopping dropped from 81 per cent in 2023 to 78 per cent in 2024, and online satisfaction fell from 80 per cent to 75 per cent.

Meanwhile, 78 per cent of shoppers favour retailers with an omni-channel presence, and 78 per cent of shoppers prefer to shop with e-retailers that also have brick-and-mortar shops. Shoppers no longer see online shopping as a mere alternative but expect a seamless integration across different channels.

The new retail reality: Greater variety, greater complexity

Modern shoppers arrive at the store informed and expect retail associates to provide value beyond transactions through personalised insights and tailored recommendations. According to Zebra’s study, around 77 per cent of APAC shoppers are more likely to try and purchase items when retailers demonstrate an understanding of their preferences.

Offering consumers more choices come at a cost. Services like buy-online-return-in-store (BORIS), same-day locker pickups, and on-demand delivery have become essential offerings, but delivering these conveniences often complicates backend operations. With the proliferation of an increasingly popular ‘spend-and-return’ culture, retailers today need to spend more time and resources than usual to ensure that the back-of-house operations run smoothly.

Eighty-five percent of APAC retailers and associates reported challenges with both click-and-collect and returns options, citing challenges to confirm current inventory and pricing. Coupled with persistent labor shortages and inventory losses, these challenges risk slowing operations and disappointing customers.

Without better ways to handle this increased workload, organisations may end up experiencing stockouts, inefficiencies, and a loss of productivity—which ironically could lead to fewer choices and a poorer shopping experience.

Also Read: Cybersecurity for retail: How to avoid e-crimes

Bridging the gap with modern retail technology 

Retailers can address today’s toughest challenges with advanced retail technologies such AI-augmented mobile computers, connected RFID readers, and cloud-based workforce management systems without comprising efficiency. Research shows that modern RFID readers can improve inventory accuracy and reduce stockouts while lowering costs and boosting revenue.

Additionally, another research affirmed that retail management software enhances retail operations by providing businesses with automation capabilities, improved collaboration, and enhanced visibility.

Here’s how retailers can best use these technologies.

• Enhancing inventory visibility and fulfilment efficiency

Modern technologies like RFID scanners and mobile printers are transforming retail operations by dramatically accelerating productivity at the back-of-house, allowing businesses to better deal with the rapid pace of omni-channel sales and returns.

These devices collect data that provide complete, real-time view of inventories across the organisation, thereby optimising returns and ensuring products are where customers expect them to be, at all times.

Even taking baby steps with modern retail solutions can yield significant efficiency gains. For example, Malaysia’s largest prescription pharmacy chain, recently improved its capacity to fulfil e-commerce orders by five times and efficiency of fulfilment by 80 per cent just by deploying modern mobile computers and RFID sled readers.

• Empower retail associates with data-driven tools

Retail associates are pivotal to the omni-channel shopping experience, but they need the right tools to meet modern demands. Equipping them with modern devices like mobile computers and wearables, enables them to accelerate pickups and returns, reduce wait and checkout times, or make more informed decisions during service recovery.

According to Zebra’s study, 41 per cent of APAC retailers believe that Generative AI (Gen AI) will have an extremely significant impact on inventory management and demand forecasting.

Also Read: How to use Gen AI enabled chatbots for workplace safety?

Gen AI on these devices also further enhances productivity by providing employees with real-time personalised information. From summaries of return policies governing BORIS for specific lineups, to tailored product recommendations for in-store customers, Gen AI empowers retail associates to add a personal touch to every interaction.

Additionally, giving shoppers their own mobile shopping devices can elevate the customer experience. A Sri Lankan supermarket chain with 130 supermarkets conveniently located across the country, recently deployed such devices in-store, which enabled their shoppers to scan items as they shop and get recommendations on promotions – leading to reduced wait times and increased operational efficiency.

• Transform data into actionable insights

Businesses can leverage modern retail management software to fully harness the potential of the data collected by devices across the store. By using AI-driven predictive insights from historical data, retailers can better forecast demand, stay ahead of market trends, streamline stocktaking processes, and improve loss prevention.

Future-proofing for an evolving landscape

The retail sector continues to evolve, shaped by the expectations of emerging generations and their demand for hyper-personalised, seamless experiences. To stay ahead of these changes, retailers must future-proof their operations by adopting modern retail technologies, including AI-powered software, connected devices, and advanced data analytics.

These solutions not only enhance efficiency today but also enable retailers to anticipate and respond to the trends and preferences of tomorrow’s consumers. By embracing these innovations, businesses can remain agile, resilient, and prepared for the next wave of retail transformation.

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Image courtesy: DALL-E

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