Day: March 4, 2026

Yesterday, while grabbing coffee after church, a friend vented to me, “Aleks, why does my dad’s generation trust AI-generated influencers so much? They treat them like real people with credible opinions, but won’t listen when I tell them to look for actual facts.”

It instantly hit me: the marketing world is facing the exact same problem. There’s a massive disconnect between what we think AI is doing and what the audience actually feels. Recent Braze research highlighted by MarTech proves this point perfectly: while 93 per cent of marketers are convinced AI helps them understand customers better, only 53 per cent of consumers feel brands accurately predict their needs.

We find ourselves in a “high-capability, low-trust” paradox. While marketing teams are sprinting ahead with AI adoption, consumers remain deeply sceptical about how and why brands are using these tools.

The core issue isn’t a technology problem; it’s a trust problem. And for brands looking to scale across diverse markets in Asia and beyond, realising that difference is the key to survival.

The rise of the AI intermediary

The implications of this trust gap are profound. Today, 19 per cent of consumers are already using AI intermediaries to interact with brands, a number expected to surge to 46 per cent in the near future. However, more than half of consumers expect brands to use AI in self-interested ways (like cutting costs) rather than to actually improve the customer experience.

When your customers view your technology as a barrier rather than a benefit, visibility and value clarity matter more than ever. Marketers are no longer just optimising for search results or social algorithms; they are optimising for how an AI assistant interprets, filters, and recommends their brand.

This perception gap cannot be solved with better internal dashboards or more efficient media buying alone. It requires transparent, tangible value demonstration. The customer needs to see and feel how AI makes their experience better.

Enter creative differentiation: The META’s perspective

How do brands bridge this gap? The answer lies in moving away from algorithmic homogenisation and leaning heavily into what Meta defines as creative differentiation.

Consumers don’t want to feel targeted by a machine; they want to feel understood by a brand. For example, in our company, SOMIN, we recognise that as the most powerful application of AI, which isn’t finding cheaper ways to serve the same generic ad — it’s using AI to fuel ad diversification and rapid content expression development.

Also Read: When AI stops being a feature and starts being infrastructure

When brands rely on a single, rigid visual or message, ad fatigue sets in, and the AI comes across as a cold, calculating retargeting tool. By introducing ad diversification, brands can break out of this trap. We use AI-powered insights to analyse audience behaviours, motivations, and cultural nuances, allowing brands to develop a wide array of tailored “content expressions.”

This means a single campaign can dynamically present different visual cues, messaging angles, and ad formats based on what genuinely resonates with a specific, hyper-local audience segment.

When AI is used to drive creative differentiation, the consumer experience shifts dramatically. Instead of feeling stalked by repetitive, self-serving corporate messaging, consumers are served varied, highly relevant content that speaks to their specific pain points and interests. The AI stops feeling algorithmic and starts feeling authentic.

The path forward

The brands that succeed in the next era of digital marketing will be the ones that can explain their AI usage through actions, showing how it improves customer outcomes rather than just internal operational efficiency.

As the MarTech data suggests, moving fast breaks things, and right now, it’s breaking customer trust. Rebuilding that trust requires connecting AI capability with genuine cultural relevance. By embracing diversification and prioritising diverse content expressions, brands can finally prove to their customers that AI isn’t just about the bottom line; it’s about building a better, more personalised relationship.

Are you experiencing the AI trust gap in your customer interactions? It might be time to rethink how your creative speaks to your audience.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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myFirst, a Singapore kids’ tech company selling “first devices” for children, has secured over US$8 million in a Series A round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, as investors chase a category many parents already treat as unavoidable: giving children connected tech, but trying not to hand them the keys to the entire internet.

The company sits in the fast-growing space between two uncomfortable extremes — kids borrowing a parent’s smartphone, or kids getting their own and immediately colliding with adult platforms, adult content, and adult incentives. myFirst’s answer is a tightly controlled ecosystem built around its myFirst Fone watchphone and the myFirst Circle family app, which it says is already used by more than one million families across 60 countries.

Also Read: How myFirst aims to provide a safer social media experience for children

“We started myFirst because our own kids wanted to use technology, but everything out there was built for adults,” said founder and CEO G-Jay Yong.

A safety-first ecosystem built for children, not retrofitted from adult tech

myFirst’s technology stack is designed around a simple idea: children should be able to communicate and create without being exposed to the open social web.

At the hardware level, the flagship watchphone is positioned as a compromise product: kids can call and message, but parents aren’t effectively giving them a pocket computer with an app store. The company highlights GPS tracking, safety zones (geofencing), and an SOS button—features aimed at reassurance and rapid response rather than entertainment.

The ecosystem approach goes further than a single device. myFirst sells a range of kid-targeted gadgets (watchphones, cameras, headphones, drawing tablets and more) paired with connected services. The point is less about piling up screens and more about creating controlled entry points into digital behaviour: communication, creativity, and self-expression.

The core safety design principles, as described by the company, include:

• Closed networks over open platforms (children interact only within approved circles)
• Parental controls baked into the product, not bolted on after the fact
• Encrypted environments for sharing and messaging
• No ads, reducing the risk of behavioural targeting and engagement traps
• Reduced exposure to strangers by limiting who can contact or view a child’s content

Taken together, myFirst is trying to sell parents something the mainstream internet struggles to offer: a smaller, safer digital world that’s still functional.

myFirst Circle: social networking without the stranger-danger business model

The biggest differentiator is myFirst Circle, which myFirst describes as a “closed, ad-free social network designed specifically for children”.

Also Read: GeckoLife wants to protect the digital privacy of you and your children

That sets it apart from traditional adult social media in three key ways:

• Access is permissioned: kids share moments only with approved family and friends, rather than broadcasting to the public or algorithmic discovery feeds.
• The environment is parent-controlled: the platform is designed around guardians managing contacts and boundaries, rather than expecting children to self-moderate.
• It’s not ad-driven: without advertising as the engine, there’s less incentive to maximise time spent, provoke engagement, or collect extensive behavioural data.

In other words, myFirst Circle is attempting to keep the “social” part (sharing, reacting, staying connected) while stripping out the parts that have made adult social platforms a headache even for adults.

Where the money goes: retail, telcos, and a push outside Southeast Asia

The Series A funding will be used to deepen the kidstech ecosystem and expand distribution, with myFirst pointing to retail and telco partnerships as its main route into new markets.

The company says it plans to scale across North Asia, the Middle East, the US, and Europe

It also namechecked large retailers Walmart and Best Buy as partnership examples, signalling a strategy built around mainstream consumer shelves and carrier bundles rather than niche online-only sales. For a kids’ device category—where trust, warranties, and physical retail visibility matter—that approach could be decisive.

Jessica Koh, Senior Executive Director at Vertex Ventures SEA & India, framed the bet as a shift in consumer behaviour: “We see a structural shift in how families introduce children to technology, driving demand for purpose-built products rather than adaptations of adult platforms.”

The real battle: defining “first tech” before the smartphone does

myFirst is effectively trying to claim the moment when a child moves from offline to online before a smartphone becomes inevitable. The company’s wager is that parents will pay for a safer on-ramp if the products are credible, not clunky, and don’t feel like a punishment device.

Also Read: Unlikely mentors: What kids can teach you about entrepreneurship

The challenge, as always in children’s tech, is balancing freedom and safety without turning the experience into surveillance theatre. But with fresh capital and an explicit global expansion plan, myFirst is pushing its case that kids shouldn’t have to start their digital lives on platforms built for adults—and parents shouldn’t have to choose between connection and chaos.

myFirst as one of the first 15 semifinalists of e27‘s TOP100 programme in 2023

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Agents Stack positions itself as an advisory board for the C-suite at a time when AI is reshaping how enterprises operate. Founded in February 2025 by Aanchal Gupta, the consultancy works with senior leaders navigating AI transformation, offering expertise across AI, digital transformation, cybersecurity, sustainability, ethics, and governance.

Rather than pushing tools, Agents Stack focuses on tightly defined, strongly guardrailed use cases designed to deliver measurable outcomes. The company works with clients across banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, maritime and real estate, among others.

Its premise is straightforward: efficiency gains from AI are only sustainable when governance comes first.

“When you deploy AI, how do you make sure that it’s secure and has ethical practices and governance built into it by design?” Gupta said in a call with e27.

For Agents Stack, governance is not an afterthought but the foundation upon which digital efficiency is built. It works closely with customers not only on strategy but also on change management and implementation, helping organisations embed AI responsibly within their operations.

Also Read: Bridging the AI trust gap: Why ad diversification and creative differentiation are the future of customer connections

Before formally launching, Gupta spent much of 2025 meeting more than 1,000 C-level executives across the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Middle East, Europe, and India. The objective was not to pitch, but to listen.

The most consistent feedback was not a lack of tools, but too many of them. Executives cited an overload of cybersecurity products and information, coupled with limited visibility over actual risk exposure. What they sought was a trusted partner that could consolidate and simplify the landscape, cut through vendor noise and provide clear oversight of cyber threats. That insight now shapes the company’s strategic direction.

In 2026, Agents Stack’s priorities centre on critical infrastructure, operations and supply chain risk — areas Gupta sees as the most pressing vulnerabilities in the coming year. Global expansion is also high on the agenda, alongside helping customers consolidate vendors to reduce complexity and cost.

Geographically, the company plans to extend its footprint into the Middle East, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Africa. Its service scope is expanding in parallel, with end-to-end risk advisory spanning climate and nature risk, operations risk, supply chain risk and AI risk.

The emphasis on operations technology and supply chain exposure reflects a broader shift in the cybersecurity landscape. As hardware and software become more tightly integrated in sectors such as energy, railways and defence, the attack surface widens.

Also Read: Purpose or drift? America’s Iran strategy, global shockwaves, and Tehran’s post-strike trajectory

According to Gupta, operations and supply chain risk in critical infrastructure will be among the most significant threat vectors in 2026, particularly as AI-driven systems become more prevalent.

In the Asia Pacific, governments and regulators are sharpening their focus on these vulnerabilities. Policies targeting data protection, operational resilience and supply chain transparency are gaining traction. Gupta expects regulatory attention on operations and supply chain risk to intensify, given the growing exposure created by digital transformation.

At the same time, she argues that long-term resilience will depend on capacity building. Agents Stack is prioritising public-private-education integration across Asia Pacific to strengthen talent pipelines and foster collaboration. With limited cybersecurity talent and rising costs, enterprises cannot address every risk simultaneously. Strategic prioritisation is essential.

As generative AI and automation accelerate, Gupta advises organisations to adopt a calculated approach. Security leaders must prioritise high-risk parameters and accept that not every vulnerability can be mitigated at once. “There is too much noise with a lot of tools and vendors on data visibility and protection,” she said. What matters is meaningful coverage of the most critical risks.

In an environment defined by rapid technological change and regulatory complexity, Agents Stack is positioning itself as a steady hand for the C-suite — one that combines governance by design with practical risk prioritisation. As it expands globally in 2026, the company’s bet is that clarity, consolidation and trust will matter more than ever in the age of AI-driven transformation.

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Image Credit: Agents Stack

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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s stop in Singapore before heading to the Philippines was more than ceremonial diplomacy — it was a strategic signal.

At the Korea-Singapore AI Connect Summit, Lee positioned artificial intelligence not merely as a technology trend but as a national competitiveness imperative. His announcement of a US$300M global fund to be established in Singapore by 2030 marks Korea’s first offshore master fund dedicated to AI and deeptech startups, underscoring Seoul’s intent to anchor itself deeper within Southeast Asia’s innovation ecosystem.

The proposed Korea-Singapore AI Alliance adds institutional weight to that ambition, linking policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders in what Lee described as an open innovation framework. The emphasis on joint research to address global challenges suggests a bid to move beyond capital flows toward co-development and shared intellectual leadership.

For two resource-scarce but talent-rich economies, collaboration in AI is both pragmatic and symbolic. As the sector remains dominated by the US and China, Seoul and Singapore appear to be betting that middle powers can still shape emerging technologies — not alone, but together.

REGIONAL

S Korea to launch US$300M AI startup fund in Singapore by 2030: The fund will invest in promising AI and deep‑tech startups from both countries. The fund would be Seoul’s first offshore global master fund and proposed a Korea‑Singapore AI Alliance.

myFirst bags US$8M to build a safer first internet for kids: Vertex Ventures is the lead investor. myFirst’s technology stack is designed around a simple idea: children should be able to communicate and create without being exposed to the open social web.

Dyna.Ai lands eight-figure Series A to move banks beyond AI pilots: Investors include Lion X Ventures and ADATA. Singapore-based Dyna.Ai aims to deploy agentic AI inside banks, betting enterprises are shifting from pilots to governed, results-driven systems built for measurable operational execution.

Toku emerges stronger from IPO year with AI suite driving monetisation: Toku grew FY2025 revenue 9.3% to US$34.8M, with usage revenue up 21%, improved EBITDA, reduced debt, and strengthened finances post-IPO, positioning its AI platform for margin expansion and global growth.

Indonesia launches platform to combat rising gaming addiction: DARA is a multiplatform private counselling service designed to help children and families manage gaming addiction. Studies show about 33% to 39% of high school students in some samples fall into moderate to severe gaming addiction.

FEATURES & INTERVIEWS

‘Profitability is an inflexion point, not the finish line’: PolicyStreet CEO: Khazanah-backed PolicyStreet posted over US$1 million in profit after 2.5x revenue growth, with CEO Yen Ming Lee outlining disciplined capital management and a sustainable embedded insurance model.

Strait of Hormuz closure: A potential chokepoint for the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem: Skyrocketing energy prices might erode profit margins for startups in SEA hubs, where data centres guzzle electricity for AI training and cloud computing.

From bridge rounds to global awards: Startups across Asia keep building: Asian startups are securing funding, partnerships, awards, and leadership hires — but visibility drives credibility. On e27, dynamic profiles turn milestones into lasting signals of traction, momentum, and growth.

INTERNATIONAL

Amazon to invest US$50B in OpenAI, expands cloud deal: They’re expanding their multi-year contract from US$38B to US$100B over eight years, and OpenAI will secure about 2 gigawatts of Trainium capacity on AWS. They’ll work to customise OpenAI models specifically for Amazon developers to integrate more deeply with AWS infrastructure.

Amazon to invest US$9B in Korea, eyes public sector AI push: As part of the deal, it plans to invest over US$5 billion by 2031 in data centres. Ham Kee-ho, AWS Korea’s managing director, predicts that AI-native models could allow Korean startups with fewer than 12 employees to generate US$100B in annual revenue by 2029.

China unveils first national standards for humanoid robots: The system is built on six pillars – foundational and common standards, neuromorphic and intelligent computing, limbs and components, full-system integration, application, and safety and ethics.

ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after the deal with the US gov: CEO Last week, the AI giant reached an agreement allowing the Department of Defense to use its AI models in the department’s classified network. This follows a high-profile standoff between the DoD and OpenAI’s rival Anthropic.

Pine Labs to launch stablecoin prepaid cards in 9 countries: The prepaid card will be funded from consumers’ digital wallets with stablecoins and will convert them into local currencies at the point of sale in real time. It does not plan to launch the product in India or China.

CYBERSECURITY

‘Cybersecurity must move at the speed of AI development’: ArmourZero CEO: Tho Kit Hoong warns AI-driven development is accelerating application and supply chain risks, urging enterprises to adopt real-time, contextual risk intelligence to secure modern software ecosystems across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Beyond the audit: Why risk management is the secret engine of 2026 growth: In a permacrisis economy, risk management is no longer compliance theatre but a growth engine. Founders must tackle non-linear scaling, correlated expansion risks, and AI obsolescence to build resilient, sustainable startups.

Cyber risk is moving upstream but we’re still defending downstream: Cyber defence once focused on firewalls and incident response. Today, risk forms upstream—in architecture, code, identity, and supply chains—long before attacks occur, demanding security by design, not detection alone.

Cybersecurity is not an IT problem: It is a trust architecture crisis: Southeast Asia’s digital economy risks fragility as cybersecurity remains siloed. Trust depends on empowered people, coordinated governance, and resilient infrastructure — not perimeter defence — to sustain confidence at scale.

SEMICONDUCTOR

China chip firms post big 2025 gains as Nvidia H200 blocked: Cambricon, Moore Threads, and MetaX posted large revenue rises for 2025 as domestic demand for semiconductors climbed amid Beijing’s tech-sufficiency push. Cambricon posted its first full-year profit of US$306.02M in 2025, while revenue jumped 450% to US$947.23M.

India chip market to hit US$103B as AI, EV drive demand: Domestic semiconductor market could nearly double to US$103B by 2030 from US$52B in 2024. The next 18 months are key as the ecosystem transitions from policy announcements to operational readiness.

US may cap Nvidia H200 exports to Chinese firms at 75,000 units: Bloomberg reported that Alibaba and ByteDance privately sought orders larger than 75,000 units, which per-customer limits would restrict. The US rules would restrict Chinese companies from using H200s to build data centres overseas.

AI

71% of APAC firms see AI as top data security risk: report: Only 35% of Asia Pacific firms know where all their data resides, 40% can fully classify it, and 47% of sensitive cloud data remains unencrypted. Credential theft leads attacks on cloud management infrastructure in Asia Pacific at 69%, compared to 67% globally.

Singapore targets 100K workers in AI upskilling programme: The city-state last month unveiled a US$122B budget to help it navigate a “more dangerous world,” marked by technological challenges and trade fractures. The PM has made AI a key plank in his economic strategy and pledged there’ll be “no jobless growth” amid this push.

When AI stops being a feature and starts being infrastructure: As AI quietly shifts from experiment to infrastructure, reliability, governance, and accountability matter more than novelty. Once embedded in workflows, AI demands ownership, maintenance, and resilience — because business-critical systems cannot afford failure.

Nvidia, telecom firms partner to develop AI-powered 6G networks: Nvidia said the members will commit to building 6G networks using software-controlled radios running on general-purpose computers that use AI to help direct radio traffic safely and efficiently.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Extreme fear grips crypto: What 15 Fear Index reading means for your portfolio: US–Israel strikes on Iran triggered a global risk-off selloff, with crypto plunging alongside equities as correlation hit 78%, extreme fear spiked, leverage unwound, and oil-driven inflation fears clouded near-term recovery prospects.

How to use Bayesian thinking to pick a winning startups investment: Startup investing isn’t about bold vision, but Bayesian humility—updating beliefs with evidence, not hype. In a game of frequent failure, disciplined probability beats conviction, protecting investors from bias, overconfidence, and self-deception.

Why I’m trading bytes for atoms: The 65-year-old investor breaking the climate tech silos: After 33 years building and backing startups, this founder is “refiring” into FOAK climate-tech and nature-based solutions, launching Sherpa Alpha to back asset-heavy ventures bridging innovation, capital, and infrastructure gaps.

The investor data room: The final battlefield for trust: Startup deals often stall at due diligence: investors scrutinise data rooms, governance, and documentation. Institutional capital flows to ventures proving operational discipline, transparency, and readiness — not just compelling growth narratives.

The hidden risk most Founders don’t plan for: When everything looks “fine”: Success can mask structural risk. Overreliance on key people and weak systems stay invisible until disruption hits — and by then, damage is costly. Founders must diversify keyman risk early, while calm prevails.

Why perfect carbon audits could cripple climate finance — and what to fix instead: Blaming auditors for junk carbon credits misses the real problem: bloated methodologies. Lean baselines, satellite MRV, and smarter oversight can protect integrity without pricing developing-country climate projects out.

Transition climate risk: Navigating the future of sustainable real estate: As economies decarbonise, real estate faces rising transition risks from regulation, market repricing, technology shifts, and reputational pressure, demanding proactive decarbonisation, green financing, and data-driven resilience strategies.

Throwaway gold: How data can tap into the unrealised potential in plastic waste: Amid a worsening plastic crisis, poor data blocks a US$120B recycling opportunity. Better insights, inclusive systems, and circular innovation could transform waste into economic and environmental value.

The shifting geopolitics of sustainability, energy, and climate: Policy shifts in the EU, UK, and Canada reveal sustainability, energy security, and geopolitics converging — reshaping ESG standards, supply chains, Indigenous governance, and strategic business decision-making worldwide.

Can Bitcoin help us in the fight against climate change?: Bitcoin’s energy use draws criticism, but experts argue it consumes less than traditional banking and increasingly relies on renewables, potentially incentivising clean energy adoption while reshaping ESG and institutional investment conversations.

Revolutionise your business operations: A smarter alternative to lengthy paper processes: Paper-based processes slow businesses and cost up to US$36 per agreement. E-signatures boost productivity, enhance security, reduce costs, and cut environmental impact.

Why investors and customers are betting on ESG-aligned startups: Embedding ESG early helps startups accelerate growth, attract investors and talent, manage risk, drive innovation, and build resilient, purpose-driven businesses aligned with evolving market, regulatory, and consumer expectations.

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