Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant promise for Southeast Asia; it is the single most consequential bet being made across the region’s venture capital landscape. In 2025, AI startup investment in Vietnam alone surged 13-fold to US$130 million, while Singapore continued to serve as the region’s capital allocator, with Temasek deploying US$34 billion globally and AI-native software emerging as the dominant investment thesis from seed to growth stage.

Across the six core markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, a new generation of VC firms is reshaping how capital flows to founders building with and for artificial intelligence.

This listicle profiles 20 VC firms operating in Southeast Asia that have demonstrated a clear and documented commitment to investing in AI companies, whether through dedicated AI funds, AI-focused cohorts, or consistent backing of AI-native startups across their portfolios.

Each firm has been featured in e27 coverage and verified to be actively deploying capital in the region.

1. Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is one of the region’s most established multi-stage VC firms, backed by Temasek Holdings. Known for its early bet on Grab, Vertex has built a pan-regional portfolio spanning Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Also Read: In Vietnam, the challenge isn’t talent but mindset, says Vertex’s Genping Liu

The firm operates with a founder-first philosophy, providing hands-on operational support from seed through to growth stage. In recent years, Vertex has deepened its focus on AI-native startups, enterprise software, and deep tech, reflecting the broader shift in SEA’s investment landscape toward technology companies with durable competitive moats.

Notable AI investments & activity: Portfolio includes Grab (AI-powered super-app), multiple enterprise AI and deep tech companies across SEA. Vertex Japan launched with a US$67M fund in March 2025 to connect Japanese AI startups with SEA markets.

2. Wavemaker Partners

Wavemaker Partners is a leading Singapore-based VC firm with dual presence in Southeast Asia and Los Angeles. Since 2012, the firm has backed over 200 companies and manages more than US$600 million across three fund families: Wavemaker Ventures (early-stage B2B tech), Wavemaker Impact (climate-tech), and Wavemaker Growth (bridging Series B gaps).

Wavemaker is particularly known for its thesis-driven approach to enterprise AI, deeptech, and sustainability, and has been one of the most active writers of early-stage checks in the region.

In November 2024, the firm launched a US$60 million growth fund specifically to support SEA’s most promising Series B-stage companies.

Notable AI investments & activity: Backed Carousell, Funding Societies, and multiple AI-native enterprise startups. Wavemaker Ventures led a US$4M round in DataMasque (data privacy AI) in June 2026. Wavemaker Growth Opportunities Fund targets AI-driven B2B companies at Series B.

3. Monk’s Hill Ventures

Monk’s Hill Ventures is a Singapore-based pan-Southeast Asia VC firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies. With 77 investments to its name, the firm is known for leading Series A rounds in the US$2M-US$10M range and providing deep operational support to its portfolio companies.

Monk’s Hill has consistently backed companies at the intersection of AI, deeptech, and enterprise software, and has been a co-investor alongside global tier-one funds including Sequoia and Lightspeed. The firm’s portfolio includes Glints, Lendingkart, and a growing cohort of AI-native B2B startups across the region.

Notable AI Investments & Activity: Led a US$28.8M round in Cinch (device-as-a-service, AI-powered) in April 2025. Co-invested with Iterative in Vietnamese AI wealth management startup 1Long (2024). Active in AI & deep tech, advertising & marketing, and enterprise software.

4. Golden Gate Ventures

Golden Gate Ventures is one of the region’s most prolific early-stage venture capital firms, with 128 investments across the region. Founded in Singapore, the firm has built a reputation for backing category-defining companies at the earliest stages. Golden Gate invests across a broad range of sectors with a strong emphasis on AI and deep tech, and has been an active participant in the region’s AI investment wave. The firm’s extensive network and deep market knowledge make it a preferred first institutional check for founders building AI-native companies in SEA.

Notable AI investments & activity: Portfolio includes Carousell (AI-powered marketplace), Carro (AI-driven auto platform), and multiple AI-native startups. Active investor in AI & deep tech across pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages in SEA.

5. Jungle Ventures

Jungle Ventures is a Singapore-headquartered investor with 151 investments across India and Southeast Asia. The firm has carved out a strong position as a lead investor in AI-native software companies, enterprise SaaS, and consumer technology. Jungle’s investment thesis has increasingly centred on companies that use AI to create defensible, scalable businesses in SEA’s diverse markets. In November 2024, Jungle published a widely cited report on seed investment trends in Asia, noting that median deal sizes are rising even as deal counts stabilise, a signal of increasing conviction in AI-first founders.

Also Read: Median rises, deals dip: Jungle Ventures unpacks seed investment trends in Asia

Notable AI investments & activity: Active in AI-native software, enterprise SaaS, and consumer AI. Published landmark report on seed investment trends in Asia (2024), highlighting AI as the dominant investment theme. Portfolio spans India and SEA with AI focus.

6. Quest Ventures

Quest Ventures is a Singapore-based pan-Asia VC firm with 119 investments across multiple verticals. The firm is known for its multi-sector approach and active presence in markets ranging from Singapore and Southeast Asia to Kazakhstan and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Quest has backed AI-powered startups across healthcare, robotics, IoT, and enterprise software, and has co-invested with global funds to support founders building with AI. The firm also played a key role in establishing a startup and innovation ecosystem partnership with the National Development Commission of the Philippines in 2023.

Notable AI investments & activity: Backed Vulcan Augmetics (AI-powered robotic prosthetics, 2023), Dolbomdream (AI-integrated IoT hugging vest, 2024), and multiple AI-native startups. Active in AI & deep tech, advertising & marketing, and enterprise software.

7. Antler

Antler is a global early-stage VC firm headquartered in Singapore with one of the most active AI investment programmes in Southeast Asia. Through its AI Disrupt programme, launched in March 2025, Antler specifically targets founders building AI-native companies with early commercial traction.

In the second half of 2025, Antler invested US$7.4 million into SEA startups, with US$2.8 million earmarked specifically for AI ventures. In December 2025, the firm deployed US$5.6 million across 14 AI startups in a single cohort. Antler’s portfolio spans over 1,000 investments across six continents, with a particularly strong pipeline in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Notable AI investments & activity: US$5.6M invested in 14 AI startups in one cohort (Dec 2025). US$2.8M for AI ventures in H1 2025. Backed Zeya Health (AI healthcare admin, Singapore), M3TRIQ (AI biotech, Malaysia), NCSpeech (AI fintech, Malaysia), Obiguard (AI governance, Malaysia), Otonoco AI (GenAI compliance, Malaysia).

8. Iterative

Iterative is a Singapore-based seed-stage VC firm that closed its US$55 million Fund II in November 2022, doubling down on early-stage founders across Southeast Asia and South Asia. The firm operates with a strong conviction in AI-native companies and has been a consistent co-investor alongside Monk’s Hill Ventures, Accelerating Asia, and other regional funds.

Iterative’s portfolio includes companies building AI-powered financial services, B2B marketplaces, and enterprise software tools. The firm is particularly active in Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Singapore, and has backed multiple companies that have gone on to raise Series A rounds from top-tier global investors.

Notable AI investments & activity: Co-invested with Monk’s Hill in 1Long (AI wealth management, Vietnam, 2024). Co-invested with Accelerating Asia in PriyoShop (AI-powered B2B retail marketplace, 2024). Backed Opilot (AI copilot startup, Singapore, 2024). US$55M Fund II closed to double down on seed-stage AI founders (2022).

9. Singtel Innov8

Singtel Innov8 is the corporate venture capital arm of Singtel, Southeast Asia’s largest telecommunications group. With a mandate to invest in startups that complement and extend Singtel’s core business, Innov8 has backed companies across AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, IoT, and digital media. In August 2022, Singtel Innov8 received an additional US$100 million to back startups in Southeast Asia, the US, China, Israel, and Australia. The fund’s AI investments span enterprise AI infrastructure, AI-powered connectivity solutions, and AI-native applications that leverage Singtel’s regional network and enterprise customer base.

Notable AI investments & activity: Joined Airalo’s US$60M Series B round (AI-powered eSIM platform, 2023). Backed Handprint (AI-powered impact measurement, 2022). US$100M additional capital deployed across AI, cybersecurity, and cloud startups globally. Active in AI & deep tech, advertising & marketing, and enterprise software.

10. Tin Men Capital

Tin Men Capital is a Singapore-based VC firm dedicated to backing B2B tech founders across Southeast Asia through capital, strategic connections, and operational resources. The firm focuses on Series A and Series B investments in B2B technology and marketplace startups, with a growing emphasis on AI-driven solutions for traditional industries.

In June 2026, Tin Men Capital published a detailed investment thesis on where it sees the greatest opportunities for AI-powered operational improvement in sectors such as logistics, manufacturing, and professional services, underscoring the firm’s conviction that AI will transform Southeast Asia’s most entrenched industries.

Also Read: Solving operational problems in traditional industries: Where Tin Men Capital sees opportunities for impact

Notable AI investments & activity: Published investment thesis on AI-powered operational improvement in traditional industries (June 2026). Active in B2B AI, marketplace AI, and enterprise software. Focused on Series A and Series B AI-native B2B companies across SEA.

11. Kadan Capital

Kadan Capital is a Singapore-based early-stage venture capital firm founded by Rei Murakami, daughter of renowned Japanese activist investor Yoshiaki Murakami. Launched in September 2024, Kadan Capital has quickly established itself as an AI-native VC firm with a focus on backing founders building AI-powered companies across Southeast Asia and Japan. The firm’s investment philosophy centres on identifying AI-first companies that can create durable competitive advantages in SEA’s fragmented markets. Kadan Capital has been vocal about the structural challenges facing SEA’s venture ecosystem, particularly the lack of exit opportunities, and positions itself as a long-term partner for AI founders navigating these headwinds.

Notable AI investments & activity: AI-native VC firm with explicit focus on AI-powered startups in SEA and Japan. Rei Murakami commented on the structural challenges for AI exits in SEA (Feb 2025). Active in early-stage AI investments across Singapore and the broader SEA region.

12. East Ventures

East Ventures is one of Southeast Asia’s most prolific venture capital firms, with over 644 investments since its founding in 2009. Headquartered in Indonesia and Singapore, the firm operates across the full investment spectrum from pre-seed to growth stage, and has backed some of the region’s most iconic companies including Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Ruangguru.

In January 2025, East Ventures predicted a ‘significant surge’ in AI-first startups across SEA, and in February 2025, the firm secured the first close of a US$100 million cross-border fund with SV Investment. East Ventures’s annual Digital Competitiveness Index for Indonesia is one of the most widely cited reports on the country’s digital economy and AI adoption landscape.

Notable AI investments & activity: Backed Videotto (AI-native video editing, Singapore, 2025). Predicted ‘significant surge’ in AI-first startups in SEA (Jan 2025). US$100M cross-border fund with SV Investment (Feb 2025). Annual Digital Competitiveness Index tracks AI adoption across Indonesia. Launched IndoBuild AI Demo Day in Jakarta (Mar 2025).

13. AC Ventures

AC Ventures is a leading Indonesia-based VC investor that has established itself as one of the most active investors in the country’s tech ecosystem. The firm focuses on fintech, AI-native software, consumer technology, and mobility, and has backed companies that have gone on to become category leaders in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia. AC Ventures is known for its deep operational expertise in Indonesia’s market dynamics and its ability to support founders navigating the country’s complex regulatory and consumer landscape. The firm has been particularly active in tracking and investing in AI-powered mobility and fintech companies, and has published widely read analysis on consolidation trends in SEA’s mobility sector.

Notable AI investments & activity: Portfolio includes Beam Mobility and ION Mobility (AI-powered micro-mobility). Published analysis on AI-driven consolidation in SEA mobility sector (Jul 2025). Active in AI-native software, fintech AI, and consumer AI across Indonesia and SEA.

14. Alpha JWC Ventures

Alpha JWC Ventures is one of a prominent venture capital firm, with US$700 million in assets under management and a decade of investing in Indonesia and the broader region. Founded in 2015, the firm has built a portfolio of over 60 companies across AI, fintech, consumer technology, and healthcare, and has backed multiple unicorns and category leaders. Alpha JWC’s investment thesis centres on the ‘Indonesia+ angle’, backing companies that can win in Indonesia’s large, complex market and then scale across SEA. The firm has been increasingly active in AI investments, backing companies that use AI to transform financial services, healthcare, and enterprise operations.

Notable AI investments & activity: Backed Honest (AI-powered credit card issuer, US$100M raised, 2025). Launched SpeakUp (AI-powered whistleblowing platform for startups, 2025). Led pre-Series A round for Bumame (AI-powered healthtech, 2025). US$700M AUM with growing AI portfolio across Indonesia and SEA.

15. Gobi Partners

Gobi is an Asia-focused venture capital firm headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, with US$1.6 billion in assets under management. Founded in 2002, Gobi has built one of the most geographically diverse portfolios in Asia, spanning Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Japan. The firm has made AI, robotics, and biotech a central pillar of its investment strategy, marking its first healthcare AI investment in Southeast Asia in 2024.

In July 2026, Gobi entered into a strategic collaboration with NTT to connect Japan’s tech sector with SEA startups, and in November 2025, the firm expanded into Japan as a Global Network Partner. Gobi also backed SkyeChip, a Malaysian AI chip design startup, in early 2025.

Notable AI investments & activity: Invested in SkyeChip (AI chip design, Malaysia, 2025). First healthcare AI investment in SEA (2024). Strategic collaboration with NTT for Japan-SEA AI co-investments (Jul 2026). AI, robotics, and biotech are core investment pillars. US$1.6B AUM deployed across Asia with growing AI focus.

16. Insignia Ventures Partners

Insignia is a leading growth-stage venture capital firm, with over US$516 million raised across its funds. Founded in 2017, the firm has invested in over 90 companies spanning fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, and SaaS, and manages capital on behalf of premier institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, and family offices from Asia, Europe, and North America. Insignia’s founder-first approach and deep regional network have made it a preferred partner for AI-native founders seeking growth-stage capital in Southeast Asia. The firm has been bullish on AI, web3, climate tech, and healthcare as the defining investment themes of the decade.

Notable AI investments & activity: Backed Carro (AI-powered auto platform), Ajaib (AI-driven investment platform), and Payfazz (AI-powered financial services). Raised US$516M with explicit bullishness on AI, web3, climate tech, and healthcare (2022). Backed Konvy (AI-powered beauty e-commerce, Thailand, 2022).

17. Kickstart Ventures

Kickstart Ventures is the Philippines’s largest technology venture capital fund, connecting global innovation with Southeast Asia’s leading conglomerates and the markets they serve. The firm invests globally in early-to-growth-stage tech startups, with a particular focus on companies that can deliver strategic value and financial returns to its corporate limited partners.

In 2026, Kickstart published a widely read analysis on how AI is recalibrating venture capital in Southeast Asia, positioning the firm as a thought leader on the intersection of AI and VC in the Philippines and the broader region. Kickstart has been a consistent presence at Echelon Philippines, where it has shared its investment thesis on AI-driven transformation.

Notable AI investments & activity: Published ‘Recalibrating Venture Capital in Southeast Asia with AI’ (Apr 2026). Presented AI investment thesis at Echelon Philippines 2024. Philippines’ largest tech VC fund with growing AI portfolio. Connects global AI innovation with Philippine conglomerates and markets.

18. Intudo Ventures

Intudo Ventures is a firm with a distinctive ‘Indonesia-only’ investment mandate, backed by the conviction that Indonesia’s US$1.3 trillion economy and 270 million population represent one of the world’s most compelling standalone investment opportunities.

In November 2024, Intudo closed US$125 million across two funds focused on Indonesia’s middle-class and sustainable industry. The firm has been vocal about why it believes treating Southeast Asia as a single cohesive market is a fallacy, and has built a portfolio of companies that are deeply embedded in Indonesia’s consumer and enterprise landscape. Intudo’s AI investments focus on companies using artificial intelligence to serve Indonesia’s rapidly growing middle class.

Also Read: Why ‘Indonesia-only’ Intudo Ventures believes SEA as one cohesive market is a fallacy

Notable AI investments & activity: US$125M across 2 funds focused on Indonesia’s middle-class and sustainable industry (Nov 2024). Backed Banyu (AI-powered seaweed value chain, Jan 2025). Backed Coldspace (AI-powered cold chain logistics, 2023). Active in AI-driven consumer and enterprise solutions for Indonesia’s middle class.

19. Do Ventures

Do Ventures is Vietnam’s leading homegrown venture capital firm, with a mission to support tech startup companies in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The firm provides finance, mentorship, and strategic connections to founders building technology companies that address the needs of Vietnam’s rapidly growing digital economy. Do Ventures has been at the forefront of tracking Vietnam’s AI investment surge, the country’s AI startup funding rose 13-fold to US$130 million in 2025, according to Do Ventures’ own research. The firm has backed companies across fintech, enterprise software, and AI-native applications, and has positioned itself as the go-to early-stage partner for Vietnamese founders building with AI.

Notable AI investments & activity: Published Vietnam Innovation and Private Capital Report 2025, documenting AI startup investment surge from US$10M (2023) to US$130M (2025), a 13-fold increase. Backed FlexOS (AI-powered hybrid work platform, 2022). Active in AI-native fintech, enterprise software, and consumer AI in Vietnam and SEA.

20. 500 Global

500 Global (formerly 500 Startups) is one of the world’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, with a significant regional presence in Southeast Asia anchored in Singapore. The firm has supported over 5,000 founders across more than 2,600 companies in 80 countries, including 51 unicorns. In September 2023, 500 Global raised US$143 million for early-stage and growth vehicles in SEA. In June 2024, the firm doubled down on AI, announcing a strategy to back startups building AI applications for specific industry verticals, reflecting a deliberate shift from horizontal AI tools to vertical AI solutions. 500 Global has been a consistent presence at Echelon Philippines and other regional conferences, where it has shared its AI investment thesis.

Notable AI investments & activity: Doubled down on AI apps for specific industry verticals (Jun 2024). US$143M SEA fund raised (Sep 2023). Backed NexMind (AI-powered multilingual digital marketing, 2023). Backed Canva (AI-powered design platform), Grab, and Udemy. Portfolio includes 51 unicorns with growing AI cohort.

The post Inside SEA’s AI gold rush: The 20 investors writing the biggest cheques appeared first on e27.

Malaysia’s public-sector pension fund, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan), or KWAP, has moved to contain concerns over its exposure to eFishery, saying its total investment in the troubled Indonesian aquaculture startup amounted to about US$38.4 million and represented a 2.51 per cent stake in the company.

The clarification comes after media scrutiny of eFishery, once one of Southeast Asia’s most closely watched agritech startups, following revelations of financial manipulation and misrepresentation in its accounts.

Also Read: “There’s no excuse”: Aqua-Spark calls out eFishery’s deception

eFishery co-founder and former CEO Gibran Huzaifah was recently sentenced by the Bandung District Court to nine years in prison after being convicted of embezzlement and money laundering.

The fallout is significant not only because eFishery was a flagship Indonesian startup but also because its cap table included several institutional investors. KWAP said it was a minority shareholder, while most of the company’s shares were held by other investors, including major global institutions that were also affected by the misconduct.

A pension fund caught in a startup blow-up

KWAP manages Malaysia’s public-sector retirement fund and invests across equities, fixed income, money market instruments, and private-market assets. The fund said that, after irregularities at eFishery were discovered, it conducted an internal investigation and reviewed its investment processes, post-investment monitoring arrangements, and the information available to it during the investment period.

“Appropriate follow-up actions have been taken in accordance with KWAP’s internal governance and accountability framework,” the fund said, adding that it is pursuing all available avenues to maximise recovery of its investment.

KWAP did not specify how much of the US$38.4 million investment it expects to recover, nor did it name the other affected institutional investors. It also did not disclose whether any legal action has been initiated by the fund.

The size of the exposure appears modest relative to KWAP’s overall balance sheet. Based on unaudited results for the financial year ended 31 December 2025, the fund recorded gross investment income of about US$1.96 billion and total funds under management of roughly US$45.9 billion. Still, the eFishery case raises uncomfortable questions for institutional investors that increased allocations to private markets during the region’s low-interest-rate venture boom.

eFishery’s fall from startup darling status

Founded in 2013, eFishery built its business around smart feeding devices for fish and shrimp farmers, alongside financing and marketplace services. It was part of a broader wave of Southeast Asian agritech startups seeking to formalise fragmented supply chains, digitise smallholder farmers and connect producers with credit and buyers.

The company gained prominence because aquaculture is a large and strategically important sector in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago and one of the biggest fish-producing nations globally. Indonesia’s fishery and aquaculture economy supports millions of livelihoods, but the industry has long been dogged by inefficiencies, opaque middlemen networks, limited working capital, disease risks and thin farmer margins.

That made eFishery’s pitch attractive: data-led feeding systems, farmer financing, procurement and distribution could, in theory, improve yields and reduce waste. For investors, the company offered exposure to a sector sitting at the intersection of food security, fintech, climate resilience and rural digitisation.

Also Read: eFishery founder held by Indonesian police over alleged embezzlement

The company’s collapse in credibility is therefore a blow beyond one balance sheet. Southeast Asia’s agritech sector has already had to contend with a tougher funding environment since 2022, as investors moved away from growth-at-all-costs models and demanded clearer paths to profitability. A fraud case at a high-profile startup will almost certainly sharpen scrutiny of revenue quality, customer verification, loan-book exposure and related-party transactions across the sector.

Regional peers face a different investor climate

eFishery operated in a market with several regional peers trying to solve different parts of the aquaculture and fisheries stack. In Indonesia, JALA Tech focuses on shrimp farm management and monitoring tools, helping farmers track water quality and production data. Delos has built a technology and operational platform for shrimp farming, including farm design and productivity improvement. Aruna, another Indonesian startup, works on fisheries commerce by connecting fishers with domestic and export markets. FishLog has focused on cold-chain and fisheries distribution infrastructure.

The eFishery affair may benefit more conservative operators if investors begin rewarding slower, verifiable growth over aggressive expansion. But it may also make fundraising harder for the entire category, particularly for startups whose business models mix hardware deployment, farmer credit and marketplace revenue, areas where field-level verification can be expensive and messy.

KWAP tightens private-market approach

In its statement, KWAP said it has strengthened its private-market investment approach, including greater portfolio diversification, investing alongside experienced fund managers and strategic partners, enhanced post-investment monitoring, and closer oversight of material developments involving portfolio companies.

Those measures reflect a broader reassessment among Southeast Asian limited partners, sovereign funds and pension funds after the exuberant funding cycle of 2020 to 2022. During that period, global capital flooded into the region’s startups, pushing valuations higher across fintech, e-commerce, logistics, Web3 and agritech. As liquidity dried up, weak governance, inflated metrics and fragile unit economics became harder to hide.

For pension funds, the challenge is especially sensitive. Private-market investments can improve long-term returns and diversify portfolios, but failures involving fraud or misrepresentation carry reputational and political consequences. The ultimate beneficiaries are retirees, not venture capital partners.

Also Read: 10 years behind bars? eFishery case forces startup reality check

KWAP stressed that its broader fund remains diversified across asset classes, sectors and geographies, and said it remains committed to managing the fund prudently and transparently in line with its statutory mandate to help the Malaysian government meet pension obligations to public-sector retirees.

The eFishery case is unlikely to end with one clarification. For Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem, it is another reminder that governance is not back-office plumbing. In private markets, where valuations often depend on company-reported numbers and investor trust, governance can be the difference between a breakout story and a costly write-off.

The post Malaysian pension fund KWAP moves to contain damage after eFishery fraud shock appeared first on e27.

Japanese financial services group SBI Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto exchange Coinhako, turning the company into a consolidated subsidiary after receiving approval from the market regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The transaction, completed on July 16 through SBI Ventures Asset, involves both a capital injection into Holdbuild, Coinhako’s parent company, and a share purchase from existing shareholders.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Also Read: Regulation crypto is here: The 400-page rule that could kill or save American crypto innovation

The deal gives SBI a regulated foothold in one of Asia’s most closely watched digital asset markets at a time when crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and tokenisation platforms are moving from retail-led speculation towards institution-facing infrastructure. On the other hand, Coinhako gets a deep-pocketed parent with a large financial services network in Japan, a market where SBI has been one of the most aggressive incumbents in crypto, blockchain, and digital securities.

Founded in 2014 by Yusho Liu and Gerry Eng, Coinhako operates mainly through Hako Technology, which holds a Major Payment Institution licence from MAS, and Alpha Hako, a crypto asset service provider registered with the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.

Coinhako is among the island nation’s earlier consumer-facing digital asset platforms and has survived multiple industry cycles, including the post-FTX regulatory tightening that pushed many exchanges out of the market.

A Singapore bet, not just a Coinhako deal

For SBI, the acquisition is less about buying a standalone exchange and more about securing a regulated bridge into Southeast Asia.

The Japanese group said Singapore is a key hub in its digital asset strategy, particularly as it works to build what it describes as a digital asset economic zone focused on Asia-Pacific. SBI has also been working with Startale on on-chain financial infrastructure, including JPYSC, billed by the company as Japan’s first trust-type yen-denominated stablecoin.

SBI Chairman, President and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said the group aims to create a “global corridor for digital assets” by connecting exchanges across markets. Singapore, he added, plays a central role because of its regulatory position.

That framing makes sense. Singapore has spent the past few years trying to separate regulated digital asset activity from the excesses of the last crypto bull run. MAS has tightened retail access, introduced stronger requirements around custody and customer asset segregation, and pushed licensed players towards compliance-heavy operations. At the same time, it has encouraged institutional experimentation in tokenisation, stablecoins and cross-border settlement through projects such as Project Guardian.

Also Read: The future of stablecoin payments will be decided in emerging markets

This has created a market where the cost of compliance is high, but the regulatory signal is clearer than in much of the region. For a Japanese financial group looking to expand digital asset rails outside its home market, acquiring a licensed Singapore operator is faster than building from scratch.

Coinhako gets scale after a brutal market cycle

For Coinhako, SBI’s backing comes after a period in which many regional crypto firms have struggled to maintain momentum.

Southeast Asia was one of the most active crypto retail markets during the last bull cycle, driven by young populations, high mobile penetration and underdeveloped investment infrastructure in several countries. But the sector has since split sharply. Regulated platforms in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines have continued to operate under tighter rules, while weaker or offshore-led players have faded, frozen withdrawals or been forced into restructuring.

Coinhako now competes in Singapore against global and regional names including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Independent Reserve, Gemini, and OKX — all of which have pursued regulatory approval in the city-state to varying degrees. In the wider region, competition includes Indonesia’s Indodax and Tokocrypto, the latter backed by Binance; Coins.ph and PDAX in the Philippines; and Bitkub in Thailand. Several of these players have stronger domestic retail recognition in their home markets but lack the same Singapore regulatory positioning.

The exchange’s challenge has been familiar: surviving long enough to become relevant to the next phase of the market. Retail trading fees alone are no longer a compelling growth story. The bigger opportunity now sits around compliant custody, tokenised real-world assets, stablecoin settlement, cross-border payment corridors and institutional digital asset access.

“Joining SBI Group is the natural next chapter for Coinhako,” said Liu, Coinhako’s co-founder and CEO. He said the platform had spent the past decade building in “one of the world’s most progressive regulatory environments” and would use SBI’s scale to deliver new digital financial services across the region.

Stablecoins and tokenisation are the real prize

The most important clue in the announcement is not the acquisition itself, but SBI’s repeated reference to JPYSC and cross-border digital finance.

Stablecoins have moved from a crypto trading utility to one of the most closely watched pieces of payments infrastructure in Asia. Dollar-linked stablecoins dominate global usage, but regulators and banks across the region are exploring domestic currency-backed tokens for settlement, treasury management and tokenised asset transactions.

Singapore has already established a regulatory framework for single-currency stablecoins, initially covering tokens pegged to the Singapore dollar or G10 currencies issued in Singapore. Japan, meanwhile, has taken a more bank-and-trust-led route, creating a path for regulated yen-denominated stablecoins. SBI’s attempt to connect these developments through Singapore could position Coinhako as more than a retail exchange.

Also Read: Stablecoins surge in Southeast Asia 2026: A real shift or just a bridge to CBDCs?

The same logic applies to tokenisation. Financial institutions in Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong have been testing tokenised bonds, funds, deposits and foreign exchange settlement. The problem is no longer whether assets can be tokenised; it is whether distribution, compliance, liquidity and settlement can be stitched together across jurisdictions.

A licensed Singapore platform with an existing customer base and operational experience may give SBI a local testbed for these services. It could also help the group connect Japanese digital finance infrastructure with Southeast Asian users and institutions, though that ambition will depend heavily on regulatory approvals in each market.

Japan-Singapore ties add political timing

The announcement also lands during the 60th anniversary year of diplomatic relations between Japan and Singapore. SBI said it plans to hold its first overseas branch managers’ meeting in Singapore this summer, signalling that the city-state is becoming more than a regional office for the group.

The broader backdrop is a growing convergence between Japanese capital and Southeast Asian fintech infrastructure. Japanese banks, trading houses, and financial groups have been active investors in regional payments, digital lending and wealth platforms. SBI’s Coinhako move extends that pattern into regulated digital assets.

Still, execution will be difficult. Crypto regulation in Southeast Asia remains fragmented. Singapore is strict but clear; Indonesia has shifted oversight from commodities regulators towards financial authorities; Thailand has allowed licensed exchanges but imposed advertising and product restrictions; the Philippines remains active but cautious. A “corridor” strategy will require SBI and Coinhako to navigate each of these regimes rather than assume a single regional playbook.

The acquisition gives SBI a credible base in Singapore and gives Coinhako more institutional muscle. But the deal’s significance will be measured by what comes next: whether the pair can move beyond exchange trading into stablecoin settlement, tokenised assets and cross-border financial rails that regulators will actually permit. For now, SBI has bought itself a seat at Singapore’s digital asset table. The harder task is turning that seat into regional leverage.

The post SBI buys majority stake in Coinhako to deepen Singapore digital asset push appeared first on e27.

For two decades, winning search meant one thing: rank on page one. That game hasn’t disappeared, but it has quietly become the smallest of three games being played for your customers’ attention. Ask Google a question today, and it increasingly answers before the first blue link, inside an AI Overview. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity, and there is no page one at all — just an answer, with a handful of brands woven into it. Either yours is one of them, or the conversation moves on without you.

That is why marketers now juggle three acronyms instead of one: SEO, AEO, and GEO. They are not competing philosophies. There are three layers of the same new reality, and in 2026, a business serious about being discovered needs all of them.

Three games, one customer

• SEO — Search Engine Optimisation — is the discipline we all know: making your website visible in traditional engines like Google and Bing through keyword targeting, backlinks, technical health (speed, mobile experience, crawlability), and content people actually find useful. Its purpose has always been simple: bring visitors to your site.
• AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation — is about winning the moment when a single answer gets lifted out and served directly: a featured snippet, a voice assistant’s reply, a line in Google’s AI Overview. Here, ranking a page matters less than structuring one — concise answers near the top, clear headings, and demonstrated authority on the topic, so the machine can extract you cleanly.
• GEO — Generative Engine Optimisation — which you may also see labelled AI SEO or LLM optimisation- is the youngest of the three disciplines and, increasingly, the decisive one. This is the work of making sure generative tools — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude — decide you are worth naming when they answer a question: citing you, quoting you, recommending you. Unlike AEO, there is no single result to win. What matters is whether the places these models learn from — your structured data, review platforms, directories, forums, knowledge bases — tell one consistent, accurate story about who you are. Done well, your brand lives inside the answer even when no one ever reaches your website.

A useful shorthand: SEO is about keywords and clicks, AEO is about context and the answer box, and GEO is about entities and the mention.

Also Read: AI and the crisis of recognition: Do we still see the human behind the words?

Why 2026 is the tipping point

Three shifts make this urgent rather than theoretical. Zero-click behaviour is becoming the default — users take the answer and leave, never reaching a website even when your content produced that answer. AI platforms concentrate attention on a handful of sources they trust per query, which turns citation into a winner-take-all contest. And queries themselves have changed shape: people no longer type “website design Singapore” — they ask, “which company builds affordable websites for a small F&B business in Singapore?” Engines reward content that speaks the way people now ask.

Southeast Asia feels this earlier and harder than most regions. Its consumers are mobile-first and among the fastest adopters of AI assistants, and Singapore in particular is a brutally competitive, English-language market where a single AI answer can settle a shortlist. There is a quieter risk too: regional brands are thinly represented in the sources these models learn from. If you are not deliberately feeding the engines accurate, consistent signals, they will describe your category through your competitors — or describe you wrongly.

The moment it bites

Picture the buyer you most want. An operations director at a mid-sized Singapore company opens an AI assistant and types: “Best providers for this in Singapore — mid-sized team, tight budget. Give me three options.” Ten seconds later, she has three names, each with a tidy justification. Yours is not among them.

Nothing in your dashboard will ever record this. There was no impression lost, no ranking to recover, no analytics trail. In the old game, you could at least watch yourself losing from page two. In this one, invisibility is silent.

The content flood — and why creativity becomes the moat

Faced with all this, the reflexive strategy is volume: use LLMs to generate hundreds of optimised articles and carpet-bomb every question in your category. Here is the uncomfortable arithmetic — everyone can now do that. When every competitor can generate a thousand plausible “ultimate guides” overnight, generated volume is worth precisely nothing. The web is filling with synthetic sameness, and both search engines and AI models are getting sharper at collapsing near-duplicates and discounting content that adds no new information. A model deciding what to cite behaves, in this one respect, like a tired editor: it keeps what is distinctive and skips the rest.

So the differentiators flip. What earns citations is what generic generation cannot produce: first-hand data nobody else has, a point of view sharp enough to be quotable, and creative angles into whitespace no competitor occupies. Across the markets, the pattern is consistent — categories converge on the same three messages, and the brand that finds the untouched angle is the one that gets remembered, by humans and machines alike. You cannot prompt your way into being the answer. You have to say something worth answering with.

Also Read: Bitcoin at US$64,660: The hidden on-chain signal that suggests we’re still in a bear market

None of this replaces the fundamentals, which are quickly summarised: answer the actual question in your first sixty words; structure pages with clear headings, FAQs, and schema markup; keep your brand’s facts (what you do, where you operate) identical everywhere they appear; build presence on the third-party sources AI reads — reviews, directories, industry publications; and start measuring mentions and citations, not just clicks.

Creativity with evidence, not instead of it

The honest objection is that originality is expensive. Research, ideation, and testing take weeks that most teams don’t have. It’s a challenge we’ve encountered firsthand at SOMIN, where we’ve explored how AI can help teams analyse competitor and audience data, identify gaps in a category, and evaluate creative concepts before significant resources are committed.

In our experience, this has helped reduce research and ideation time for some organisations, giving teams more space to focus on creative thinking rather than repetitive groundwork. The machine does the reading. The humans get their time back to do the daring.

The future belongs to brands worth citing

AEO and GEO are not the death of SEO — they stand on its shoulders, because AI systems still select and cite from well-indexed, well-structured, credible pages. The strategy for 2026 is integration: SEO for discoverability, AEO for the answer, GEO for the recommendation, and creativity as the thread that makes any of it worth surfacing.

So ask yourself the question your customers are already asking their assistants: when an AI describes your category next year, will it have anything distinctive to say about you — or will it quote whoever was brave enough to be original?

—

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

Join us on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to stay connected.

The post AI is answering your customers before they ever click, and it may never mention you appeared first on e27.

Singapore is often described as a small market. That is true in population terms, but misleading in almost every other way.

It is better understood as a compressed market.

Customers, investors, regulators, partners, talent, and competitors operate unusually close to one another. Information moves quickly. So does reputation.

In larger markets, a weak proposition may survive for years across separate cities or customer segments. In Singapore, the feedback tends to arrive much sooner.

This can make the market feel unforgiving. For founders who know how to listen, it is one of Singapore’s greatest advantages.

Density changes the game

Singapore’s startup ecosystem brings public institutions, multinational corporations, investors, universities, accelerators, and founders together within a remarkably small geography.

The country ranks second globally and first in Asia-Pacific in StartupBlink’s 2026 Innovators Business Environment Index. According to the Singapore Economic Development Board, 80 of the world’s top 100 technology companies have a presence here, with many using Singapore as a regional or global base.

For founders, this density reduces the distance between an idea and the people capable of testing, funding, regulating, or buying it. But proximity also raises expectations.

A poor customer experience does not remain isolated for long. An investor may know the company that rejected a pilot. A corporate buyer may speak to a former employee. A promising introduction may lead to three more, while a poorly handled one can quietly close several doors.

In Singapore, reputation is not simply a branding exercise; it’s more like operating infrastructure.

Also Read: Inside Singapore’s startup boom: The 21 firms investors can’t stop funding

Feedback arrives early

After working with thousands of startups and SMEs, I have noticed that founders sometimes misread Singapore’s speed of feedback.

When customers hesitate, they conclude that the market is too conservative. When a pilot does not convert, they assume local companies are too cautious. When growth slows, they point to the size of the domestic market.

Sometimes those explanations are valid. Often, the market is revealing something useful.

The proposition may not be specific enough. The proof may not be strong enough. The founder may be speaking to an interested user rather than the person who controls the budget. The product may solve a real problem without solving one urgent enough to earn funding.

Singapore compresses the time required for these weaknesses to surface. A founder who discovers a flawed assumption in three months is in a stronger position than one who spends two years scaling it.

Validation is not scale

The mistake is expecting Singapore to play every role.

It is an effective market for validation, partnerships, credibility, capital, and regional coordination. For many companies, however, it cannot provide the customer volume available in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, or Thailand.

Southeast Asia’s digital economy surpassed US$300 billion in gross merchandise value in 2025, according to the latest e-Conomy SEA report. That opportunity is spread across markets with different languages, regulations, price sensitivities, payment habits, and expectations of trust.

Singapore can provide a strong base. It cannot remove the need to localise.

The Singapore Business Federation’s 2025 internationalisation survey found that 84 per cent of internationalised Singapore businesses operate in ASEAN. Among businesses planning further expansion, 65 per cent intend to grow within the region.

This is an important distinction: Singapore may be where a company proves that its model works, but regional markets determine whether that model can adapt.

Assumptions do not travel well

APAC expansion rarely fails because a product suddenly stops functioning. It fails because assumptions travel further than evidence.

A company enters a new market with the same positioning, pricing, sales process, and customer experience. The team expects the formula that worked in Singapore to transfer intact. Then conversion slows.

Also Read: Singapore and Taiwan have a new window of opportunity, but will they seize it?

In one market, customers may expect to speak with someone before buying software. In another, the right local partner may matter more than a polished digital funnel. Procurement cycles, payment terms, hierarchy, and perceptions of foreign brands can vary significantly.

Localisation, therefore, is not simply translation; it’s more like the recalibration of trust.

Singapore helps by exposing founders to regional buyers, talent, investors, and partners early. But proximity to Southeast Asia should not be confused with understanding it.

Use compression deliberately

Founders can use Singapore’s compressed environment in four practical ways:

• Test the commercial argument. A successful pilot means little if no one will own the budget after it ends.
• Treat reputation as infrastructure. Delivery quality, communication, and follow-through compound quickly in a closely connected ecosystem.
• Design for regional expansion. Separate the features needed in Singapore from the languages, payment methods, onboarding models, and partnerships required elsewhere.
• Use rejection as market intelligence. Repeated objections are rarely random. They reveal problems with positioning, timing, trust, or value.

Small can be powerful

Singapore’s limited domestic market is a constraint. But constraints can improve companies when they force clarity early.

Founders here must think regionally, demonstrate credibility, and learn quickly. They operate in a market where feedback travels fast, and weak assumptions have fewer places to hide.

That does not make Singapore easy. It makes Singapore efficient.

The founders who benefit most are not those who treat the country as a smaller version of a larger market. They recognise it as a concentrated environment in which ideas, reputations, and opportunities move unusually quickly.

Singapore is not merely a market to conquer. Think of it as a pressure test.

Used well, that pressure can produce companies ready for much larger ground.

—

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

Join us on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to stay connected.

Image credit: Zaonar Saizainalin via Pexels.

The post Singapore is not a small market, it is a compressed one appeared first on e27.