At first glance, MoneyHero’s Q2 2025 numbers suggest a turnaround, but the headline “profitability” rests on shaky ground.
The Singapore-based financial aggregator posted a slim net income of US$0.2 million–driven almost entirely by deep cost cuts and a favourable foreign exchange swing, rather than genuine revenue growth. (The group employed a similar playbook in Q4 2024; more on that here.)
The topline paints a sobering picture: revenue slid 13 per cent YoY to US$18 million, with sharp contractions in the Philippines (–42 per cent) and Taiwan (–47 per cent). In Malaysia, revenue dried up completely. In fact, Q1 the group’s overall revenue had already fallen to US$14.3 million from the same period last year.
After cutting about 80 jobs in 2024 to “streamline operations”, the company is now heavily reliant on Hong Kong and Singapore, which together contribute over 86 per cent of revenue—exposing the cracks in its regional diversification strategy.
Customer activity is also waning. Applications fell 14 per cent, approvals dropped 18 per cent, and while membership grew 33 per cent to 8.6 million, engagement is clearly eroding.
To its credit, MoneyHero is pivoting to higher-margin verticals like insurance and wealth (now 27 per cent of revenue). Still, without reigniting real growth in Southeast Asia, its Q2 “profitability” risks being remembered as a fleeting accounting win rather than a durable turnaround.
REGIONAL
MoneyHero swings to profit, but only on cost cuts and FX gains
Total operating costs and expenses (excluding net foreign exchange differences) plummeted by 37 per cent YoY to US$20.6M | This dramatic reduction was broad-based, including strategic technology cost reductions, simplified operations, and a “comprehensive restructuring” of employee benefit expenses | Employee benefit expenses specifically dropped from US$6.712 million in Q2 2024 to US$3.700 million in Q2 2025.
Southeast Asia digital bank Yup raises US$32M
Investors are Moore Strategic Ventures and Spice Expeditions | The new funding brings Yup’s total equity raised to over US$100M since its founding in 2021 | The company will use the funds to expand its customer base and enhance its digital banking offerings for underbanked and underserved segments in the region.
Alodokter closes investment led by SEA-focused angel investors
AngelCentral is the lead investor | Alodokter offers telemedicine consultations, doctor appointment bookings, health content, and e-pharmacy | The company previously secured a US$5.2M in early 2024 and has over 20M monthly active users.
Grab, WeRide to launch first autonomous shuttle service in SG
Ai.R, Grab’s first autonomous vehicle service for consumers in Singapore, will operate the new AV shuttle service in Punggol, the only service chosen to run on two designated routes, starting with an initial fleet of 11 vehicles.
Nvsion secures fresh capital to drive AI-led semiconductor inspections
The investor is Cambrian Fund | Nvsion’s solutions enhance precision, improve quality, and increase efficiency in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test and electronics manufacturing services segments.
SG IoT provider iSense gets investment from Chinese company Dnake
The investment will see iSense shift its manufacturing to DNAKE’s facilities and collaborate on new IoT solutions in healthcare, access control, security, and urban monitoring | iSense provides smart city technology for projects in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia.
SeaX Ventures joins Brineworks in race to decarbonise aviation and shipping
The firm’s DAC technology promises to unlock ultra-low-cost carbon feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuels and e-methanol, powered entirely by renewable energy, while co-producing significant amounts of hydrogen | Carbon feedstocks are raw carbon-based inputs that serve as the building blocks for making fuels, chemicals, or materials.
Bliink launches business travel platform to empower Indonesia’s MSMEs
Bliink’s new offering is tailored to reduce inefficiencies in a segment that forms Indonesia’s economic backbone yet remains largely underserved by traditional corporate travel solutions | The company partnered strategically with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics to support MSME digitalisation.
BetterGov.ph: A bold civic tech push to fix Philippine governance
Launched by Filipino serial entrepreneur Jason Torres, backed by a consortium of industry tech and startup veterans, BetterGov.ph is a volunteer-led civic technology initiative to confront the significant transparency and efficiency challenges within Philippine governance.
REPORTS, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
From labs to boardrooms: QAI Ventures bets on Singapore’s quantum future
Singapore has built one of the world’s most coordinated national quantum strategies, backed by long-term funding and public-private partnerships | As a financial and logistics hub, it provides immediate boardroom-level use cases in areas like fraud detection, risk modelling, and secure supply chains.
Facing EV hurdles, Indonesia looks to nickel and battery supply chains for answers
Indonesia’s new administration has placed industrial downstreaming at the centre of its energy and economic strategy | Under its “Asta Cita” or eight-vision framework, the fifth vision is dedicated to expanding value-added industries | Nickel, which Indonesia holds the world’s largest reserves of, is at the heart of this plan.
INTERNATIONAL
SoftBank, Meta, others to build Japan-Singapore submarine cable
The submarine cable system called Candle will connect Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore | The project, with NEC as the system supplier, will span about 8,000 km and is scheduled to start operations in 2028.
Trump says Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch might invest in TikTok deal
While Trump did not specify whether he was talking about personal or company investments, following his comments, Deadline reported that Fox Corp — owner of Fox News, run by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, and long led by chairman emeritus Rupert — is in fact in talks to join the investor group backing TikTok’s US spinoff from owner ByteDance.
UK bank NatWest to invest in Indian startups
The UK-based bank is targeting companies in payment solutions, agentic AI, and control frameworks, with planned investments ranging from US$250K to US$2M per deal | NatWest recently opened an expanded global capability centre in Bengaluru, adding to its existing locations in Gurugram and Chennai, where it employs about 17,000 people.
Indian VC firm 888 launches US$19.8M fund for AI, deeptech startups
The fund will target investments of US$240K to US$482K per startup over the next three years, with a focus on companies aiming for global markets | 888 VC also introduced GRO8, a platform for cross-border investment and mentorship, which will offer services such as capital access, mentorship, and market connections.
Cryptocurrencies drop as US$1.5B in bullish bets liquidated
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped up to 9 per cent to US$4,075 as nearly US$500M in leveraged bullish bets were wiped out, according to Coinglass data | Bitcoin also fell almost 3 per cent to US$111,998 during the same period |More than 407,000 traders had positions liquidated within 24 hours.
UAE targets 10K entrepreneurs with ‘Startup Capital’ initiative
The campaign is managed by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, with participation from over 50 public and private sector entities, including business incubators and academic institutions | Key initiatives include launching StartupEmirates.ae, training 10K Emiratis through the Entrepreneurship Programme, and licensing 500 Emiratis to manage residential construction projects.
European ride-hailing firm Bolt launches in Taiwan
Bolt is partnering with local Taiwanese fleets to provide its service in Taipei, joining a market that has had limited platform options for ride-hailing | The Tallinn-based company operates in over 600 cities across 50+ countries, offering ride-hailing, scooter, e-bike, and car rentals.
SEMICONDUCTOR
MediaTek launches new AI chip to rival Qualcomm
The Taiwanese semiconductor firm said the processor, Dimensity 9500, was built using a 3-nanometer process by TSMC | It will enable features like enhanced call and meeting summaries, improved AI model performance, and higher-quality 4K photos.
Samsung shares rise 5.3 per cent on Nvidia chip approval reports
The shares rose 5.3 per cent to their highest level since August 2024 after reports that the company’s 12-layer HBM3E memory chips passed Nvidia’s qualification tests | Samsung, based in South Korea, produces memory chips used in AI and other computing applications.
Taiwan sees GDP boost from TSMC, AI demand
Taiwan is expected to surpass South Korea in GDP per capita in 2025, driven by the growth of TSMC and rising demand for AI applications, according to Taiwan’s National Development Council | TSMC, a Taiwan-based contract chipmaker, increased its global foundry market share to 70.2 per cent in Q2 2025, according to TrendForce, while Samsung held 7.3 per cent.
AI
LLM prompting, fine-tuning, RAG, or AI agents: Which AI is better for marketing?
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to AI in marketing | Small businesses might start with LLM prompting or dip into AI agents to get an edge, while larger enterprises can leverage RAG for its real-time insights and fine-tuning for brand consistency | Ultimately, AI isn’t here to replace human marketers; it’s here to amplify creativity and strategic decision-making.
Agentic AI in action: How Southeast Asia’s startups are turning constraints into strengths
Agentic AI is not about creating machines that replace humans | It is about giving small, ambitious teams the leverage to do what was previously impossible | And that is why Southeast Asia matters | Here, innovation is often born not from abundance but from constraint | The region’s complexity—its languages, its fragmented regulations, its entrepreneurial hunger—makes it one of the most important testbeds for this next frontier of AI.
The AI revolution’s dark side: Mass unemployment, rage, and the collapse of stability
AI threatens the core economic identity of white-collar workers, stripping away not just income but also their sense of purpose and social superiority | The sense of betrayal felt by these workers — falling down the economic and social ladder with no way back — will generate rage on a scale rarely seen.
What happens when AI transforms social networks into civic square?
The transition from network to community governance is not speculative; Already, decentralised platforms are experimenting with models that move beyond corporate stewardship | MeWe, a privacy focused alternative social media network, rejects surveillance driven capital in favour of community and user-centric control.
Why the future of AI on mobile may not be in the cloud
We are entering a phase where the intelligence is not just in the cloud, not just in the model, but in the choreography between device, data, and environment | AI that truly feels human won’t be achieved through brute compute or bigger models | It will come from systems designed to operate at the speed of thought.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Why I built an app to make blood donation less scary
Technology should serve as an enabler, not a gatekeeper | By designing tools that are intuitive, affordable and scalable, we can influence public attitudes towards blood donation and tackle one of the region’s most urgent yet solvable healthcare challenges.
Funding for good: A new era
The challenge—and opportunity—for investors is to make funding for good the norm rather than the exception | By backing startups that deliver measurable social impact, capital can flow toward ventures that strengthen communities, preserve the planet, and still generate strong financial returns.
Most CTOs obsess over tech, I obsess over trust — here’s why
In the world of AI and ML, trust is crucial | These technologies can be transformative, but they’re also often seen as a “black box” mysterious and sometimes even intimidating | To use AI/ML effectively, businesses must trust that the algorithms are working as expected, that the data is secure, and that the models are making decisions in an ethical way.
How this founder went from being a tutor to a modern day mompreneur
Female entrepreneurs need a solid community to help them get through the difficult times in their business journey | After all, shattering the glass ceiling is hardly a one (wo)man job | When it comes to stepping outside gender norms, the entrepreneurial world can be brutal.
Cybersecurity in the AI age: How startups can stay ahead
The emergence of new tactics such as Jailbreak-as-a-Service highlights the democratisation of cyber threats, underscoring the need for startups to stay ahead of the curve | Recent technological developments mean that hostilities can now come from anywhere, which makes threat detection increasingly complex, particularly as we look ahead to the future.
How this startup is bringing efficiency to the process of exchanging business cards
Shake is a contact data exchange and management app platform which truly digitises the business card and makes for seamless data distribution and collection | More importantly, the platform addresses a variety of needs and problems which businesses and business people likely didn’t even realise they have.
How is open-source collaboration empowering Asia’s fastest growing markets?
Open-source collaboration can be a gateway to innovation | It provides a platform where individuals and organisations collaborate to create, develop, and improve software freely shared among users | For example, consider popular platforms like Linux or WordPress; they’ve allowed endless customisation opportunities on a global scale.
Decoding startup financing: Why pre-money SAFEs are founders’ best bet
In a pre-money SAFE, the valuation cap is determined before the investor’s contribution | This approach anchors the investor’s ownership stake to the valuation of the company at the time of their investment | As a founder, this can work in your favour, as you are less susceptible to dilution caused by subsequent investments at higher valuations.
Why Japanese startups are interested in the Southeast Asian market
South East Asia has a growing middle class of consumers with increasingly high purchasing power driving up demand in multiple sectors | This provides a great opportunity for Japanese startups to establish a foothold in the region and tap into the potential of the markets by plugging their services into multiple industries.
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