Author: Ruthc

Singapore-founded Infinium Robotics has been acquired by German-listed Deutsche Defence Beteiligungen (DDB) in a share-based transaction valued at up to about US$24 million, giving the autonomous warehouse drone company a public-market platform in Europe as demand for industrial automation continues to rise.

The deal involves DDB acquiring 100 per cent of Infinium Robotiics’s 2,395,455 shares from existing shareholders. Instead of a cash payout, the transaction was completed by issuing up to 20,548,847 new DDB shares, priced at around US$1.17 per share.

Also Read: Rise of the machines: 20 robotics startups shaping Southeast Asia’s future

Infinium Robotics develops AI-driven autonomous drone systems for indoor warehouse and inventory operations. Its drones are designed to fly inside warehouses, scan stock, capture data, and feed inventory information into enterprise systems with minimal human intervention. The company says its flagship system supports round-the-clock inventory tracking, helping logistics, manufacturing, industrial and energy-sector customers reduce manual stocktaking work.

The acquisition gives Infinium a stronger route into Europe, where warehouse operators, manufacturers and industrial groups are under pressure to automate because of labour shortages, rising fulfilment expectations, and cost pressures across supply chains.

Infinium Robotics CEO Jon Woon described the deal as a milestone in the company’s international expansion.

“This is an important step in strengthening our international footprint, particularly as demand for automation accelerates globally. By integrating into DDB’s German-listed platform, we are positioned to scale more effectively into new markets while enhancing our partnerships and capabilities,” he said.

A Singapore robotics company takes the European route

Founded in Singapore, Infinium Robotics has built its business around autonomous indoor drones, a niche within the broader warehouse automation market. The company says its systems have been deployed across Asia and Australia, including in Singapore’s industrial and energy sectors.

The company claims customer-reported cost savings of more than 80 per cent in inventory stocktaking processes in Singapore. It also says major international enterprises have used its systems to reduce counting time and improve operational visibility and workforce safety.

The European expansion angle is crucial. While Southeast Asia has been an active testing ground for logistics technologies because of e-commerce growth and warehouse fragmentation, Europe offers a different type of opportunity: large industrial customers, mature automation budgets, stricter workplace safety requirements, and a stronger appetite for robotics that can be integrated into existing enterprise workflows.

For Singapore’s startup ecosystem, the transaction also reflects a familiar pattern. Deeptech and robotics companies often develop their early products in the city-state, using it as a base for R&D, pilots, and regional deployments. But to scale revenue meaningfully, they usually need access to larger industrial markets such as Europe, the US, China, Japan, or South Korea.

Also Read: The humanoid robot economy is no longer science fiction

Woon said the acquisition gives Infinium a platform to pursue partnerships and deployments in Europe. “With Europe being a key market for advanced industrial automation, our transaction with DDB AG allows us to deepen our presence where demand is both sophisticated and rapidly growing,” he said.

Warehouse automation is moving beyond conveyor belts

Warehouse automation has historically been associated with conveyor systems, automated storage and retrieval systems, and robotic arms. Over the past decade, however, the sector has expanded to include autonomous mobile robots, goods-to-person systems, computer vision, inventory analytics, and drones.

Inventory counting remains one of the most labour-intensive parts of warehouse operations. Many warehouses still rely on staff using handheld scanners or forklifts to check stock across aisles and racks. The process is slow, prone to human error, and often requires operations to pause or slow down during audits.

Autonomous drones offer a potential workaround. They can scan barcodes, RFID tags, labels or shelf positions during off-hours or continuous operations, reducing the need for workers to climb ladders, operate lifts, or manually inspect hard-to-reach locations. The value proposition is particularly relevant for high-bay warehouses, manufacturing facilities, spare-parts depots, and energy-sector storage sites.

The broader market tailwinds are strong. The global warehouse automation market is widely estimated by research firms to be worth tens of billions of dollars and is expected to keep expanding through the decade, driven by e-commerce, omnichannel retail, supply-chain resilience planning, and labour constraints.

In Southeast Asia, the growth of e-commerce and third-party logistics has forced retailers, brands, and fulfilment providers to modernise warehousing infrastructure, even though automation adoption remains uneven across markets.

Singapore has been among the region’s most advanced markets for logistics automation, helped by high labour costs, land constraints, government support for productivity tools, and its role as a regional logistics hub. That has made the city-state a useful launchpad for warehouse robotics companies, though not always a large enough market on its own.

Competition is intensifying

Infinium operates in a competitive global field. Switzerland-based Verity is one of the better-known players in autonomous warehouse drones and has worked with large logistics and retail customers. US-based Gather AI and Corvus Robotics also offer drone-based inventory monitoring solutions.

Outside drones, companies such as Dexory use autonomous ground robots for warehouse visibility, while Locus Robotics, Geekplus, Hai Robotics, AutoStore and GreyOrange compete across different layers of warehouse automation.

Also Read: Why robotics is just entering its prime phase

In Southeast Asia, adoption has been shaped by a mix of global robotics vendors, Chinese automation companies, and regional logistics technology providers. Large e-commerce and logistics operators have invested in automated sorting centres, robotics-assisted fulfilment, and data-driven warehouse management systems. However, many warehouses in the region remain semi-manual, creating room for automation tools that can be deployed without a complete redesign of existing facilities.

That is where drone-based inventory systems may find demand. Compared with heavy fixed infrastructure, autonomous drones can be less disruptive to deploy in existing warehouses, although challenges remain around navigation reliability, integration with warehouse management systems, battery performance, safety certification, and operating consistency in complex indoor environments.

DDB gets an automation asset

DDB, formerly Strategie Kapital, is an investment company based in Cottbus, Germany. Its shares are listed in Germany under the ticker S14. The company says it pursues both security-oriented and opportunity-oriented investments.

For DDB, acquiring Infinium brings an operating technology business with exposure to industrial automation, AI, and robotics — sectors that have attracted investor interest despite tougher fundraising conditions across the global startup market.

For Infinium, the bigger test starts now. A public-market platform and European ownership structure may open doors, but warehouse automation buyers tend to be conservative. They require proven reliability, measurable return on investment, and integration with existing systems. Scaling in Europe will likely mean competing not only on technology, but also on enterprise sales, customer support, certification, and partnerships.

Woon said the company is prepared for that next phase. “We have successfully deployed our solutions in Asia and Australia, and now, we are ready to serve the European market.”

The acquisition marks one of the more notable cross-border outcomes for a Singapore-founded robotics company. It also underscores a broader shift: Southeast Asian deeptech startups may build locally and validate regionally, but their growth and exits increasingly depend on how well they connect with global industrial markets.

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Today, a panel of judges at the Corruption Crimes Court at the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and Gojek co-founder Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison for his involvement in the Chromebook procurement corruption case.

Makarim was detained in September 2025 and had been moved to house arrest in May due to health concerns. The period of detention that he had served would be deducted entirely from the imposed sentence.

Makarim was proven guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption as regulated in Article 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law and Article 604 of the Criminal Code.

As part of the punishment, in addition to 10 years of imprisonment, the panel of judges also imposed a fine of IDR1 billion (US$55,000) that can be replaced with 190 days of imprisonment, and an additional penalty in the form of an obligation to pay compensation of IDR809 billion (US$45 million).

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: SEA’s volatile 2025; Funding swings, Nadiem Makarim case, Meta–Manus deal

Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office first launched a formal probe into the case in May 2025, examining dozens of witnesses involved in Chromebook procurements valued at nearly US$600 million overall.

Makarim publicly denied wrongdoing in June 2025, defending the use of Chromebooks as a cost-effective solution for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After being questioned as a witness, he was barred from overseas travel and was named a suspect in September 2025 before being detained.

Multiple trial delays followed, including a postponement in December 2025 due to Makarim’s post-surgery recovery, before proceedings resumed in January.

With the assistance of his legal team, Makarim has posted a statement on LinkedIn about the sentencing: “The verdict is in, and it’s as bad as I feared: 10 years in prison, plus a further five years and six months if I can’t pay the IDR809 billion restitution. I don’t have that money — never have, never touched it — and the prosecutors and judges knew this.”

“I sat in front of the judges. None of them could look me in the eye. They knew I wasn’t guilty. Of course, I will keep fighting: for my kids, my family, and the Indonesia I still love. I will appeal immediately, for the sake of truth, for the young people, the professionals, everyone innocent who’s being criminalised.”

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Singapore-based Qashier has raised US$6.125 million in a Series A+ round, giving the merchant operating system startup fresh capital to expand across Southeast Asia after reaching profitability and crossing US$1 billion in annualised payment volume.

The round comprises equity and debt and was led by Cocoon Capital, IFP Securities, and BlackSoil Global, with participation from strategic angel investors.

Also Read: How Qashier plans to continue on supporting SMEs with its product innovation

Qashier did not disclose its valuation or the split between equity and debt.

The company said it now serves more than 20,000 merchants across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. It claims to have been profitable every month since December 2025 and grew annualised recurring revenue by 61 per cent in 2025.

To date, Qashier has raised under US$20 million, a relatively lean capital base for a payments and merchant software business operating across multiple regulated markets.

The latest financing will be used to deepen Qashier’s omnichannel payments capabilities, expand embedded financial services, and build AI-enabled insights and workflow automation for merchants.

The company is also preparing for a future Series B round, with milestones expected around recurring revenue, payment licensing, and loan disbursements.

A fragmented market with a large prize

Qashier is targeting one of Southeast Asia’s most persistent SME problems: small merchants are digitising, but often through a messy stack of disconnected tools.

A restaurant, salon, clinic, or retail chain may use one provider for point-of-sale software, another for card acceptance, a third for QR payments, a separate inventory tool, a loyalty system, and a bank or non-bank lender for working capital. This fragmentation raises operating costs and makes it harder for business owners to get a consolidated view of sales, customers, stock, and cash flow.

Also Read: QR payments are shaping Asia’s crypto adoption curve

The opportunity is large. Southeast Asia has more than 70 million SMEs, which account for the vast majority of enterprises in ASEAN and employ a significant share of the region’s workforce. The region’s digital payments market is already estimated to exceed US$1 trillion, supported by the rapid adoption of QR payments, e-wallets, online ordering, and real-time bank transfer rails.

Yet the market remains uneven. Singapore is highly card- and QR-enabled, Malaysia has seen strong DuitNow QR adoption, Thailand has built one of the region’s most successful real-time payment rails through PromptPay, while the Philippines is still pushing wider digital payment acceptance among smaller merchants. For companies such as Qashier, the challenge is not just building software but stitching together local payment methods, compliance requirements, settlement flows, and merchant workflows in each market.

Qashier’s pitch is to bring these functions into one system. Its platform combines payments, point-of-sale tools, inventory management, ordering, customer relationship management, loyalty, automated marketing, and embedded financial services. The company says it supports more than 50 integrated modules and over 20 regional payment methods, including cards, QR payments, e-wallets, and buy-now-pay-later options.

Crucially, Qashier owns its end-to-end payments stack, including know-your-customer processes, processing, payouts, and cross-border settlement. In February 2025, it secured a Major Payment Institution licence in Singapore, strengthening its regulatory footing in its home market.

From POS software to lending

The company’s move into lending could become one of its more important growth levers.

Also Read: One size fits none: Why SEA’s SMEs need vertical payment stacks

In June 2025, Qashier launched QashierLoans, a revenue-based financing product underwritten using proprietary transaction data from its platform. Repayments are automatically deducted from a merchant’s daily sales, a model designed to reduce friction for SMEs with variable cash flows.

The product has disbursed more than US$10 million to over 100 SMEs since launch. While still small relative to the scale of Southeast Asia’s SME financing gap, it gives Qashier a path beyond software subscription and payment processing revenue.

For many merchant platforms in Southeast Asia, embedded finance is the logical next step. Transaction data can provide a clearer picture of business health than traditional SME financial statements, which are often incomplete or outdated. Companies that control checkout, sales, and settlement flows can use that data to assess working-capital needs and repayment capacity more quickly than banks.

Christopher Choo, co-founder and CEO of Qashier, said the company is trying to build core infrastructure for regional SMEs while staying disciplined on costs.

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“Merchants should not have to stitch together five vendors to run one business. By bringing payments, software, financial services and customer engagement into a single ecosystem, we give them clarity, lower costs and the confidence to scale across markets,” he said.

Competition is getting sharper

Qashier is operating in a crowded and increasingly competitive space. In Singapore and Malaysia, HitPay provides payment acceptance and commerce tools for SMEs. StoreHub, which has a strong base in Malaysia and other regional markets, offers POS, QR ordering, loyalty, and payments for restaurants and retailers.

Xendit and Fazz focus more heavily on payments infrastructure and financial services, while players such as Pine Labs, Stripe, Adyen, Grab, and traditional bank acquirers compete across various layers of the merchant payments stack.

The battle is not only about payment acceptance fees. Merchant platforms are racing to become the system of record for SMEs. Whoever owns the transaction layer can cross-sell software, financing, payroll, loyalty, procurement, and analytics. This is why profitability matters: many fintechs in the region expanded aggressively during the low-interest-rate years, only to face pressure to cut burn and prove unit economics after funding conditions tightened.

Qashier’s claim of monthly profitability since December 2025 therefore gives it a stronger story than the usual growth-at-all-costs narrative. Still, the next phase will be more difficult. Serving larger, multi-outlet businesses in food and beverage, beauty, and wellness requires deeper workflows, stronger reliability, better reporting, and tighter integrations with accounting, delivery, and enterprise systems.

Also Read: Growth-minded Singapore SMEs turn to fintech amid cost pressures: Airwallex survey

Cocoon Capital, an early backer of Qashier, framed the latest round as a continuation of a long-term bet. Michael Blakey of the VC firm said the team had shown “resilience and ingenuity” while building towards becoming operating infrastructure for commerce in Southeast Asia.

For Qashier, the funding comes at a point when Southeast Asian merchants are more willing to digitise but also more selective about the tools they pay for. Profitability gives the company breathing room. The bigger test is whether it can convert its payments volume and merchant data into a defensible regional platform before better-funded rivals close the gap.

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Most of us have sat through more training, workshops, and professional programmes than we can remember. In the moment, they often feel meaningful. We leave energised, pages filled with notes, ideas sparking, and a quiet belief that something has shifted.

But time has a way of clarifying things. A few months later, the details blur. Slides fade into one another, frameworks become hard to recall, and even certificates – once carefully saved – end up forgotten in a folder somewhere.

I used to wonder what that meant. Whether learning had actually happened, or whether we were just collecting experiences that felt important at the time.

Over the years, I have accumulated more certifications than I can easily track – PMP, Scrum Master, ACLP, coaching, yoga teaching, personal training, and others. Some translated directly into work I still do today: facilitating leadership workshops, coaching teams, and designing learning experiences. Others never became careers.

For a while, I saw those as detours. But that view feels incomplete now. Each programme, even the ones I never used, offered something quieter – an entry point into a different world. A different way of thinking, a different discipline, a different lens on people.

Yoga did not turn into a career, but it changed how I understand presence. Coaching did not just give me tools, but reshaped how I listen. And leadership programmes I have attended and later facilitated myself continue to influence how I design spaces where adults learn – not through instruction, but through reflection and interaction.

That leads to a more interesting question than what we learned: what actually stays with us after learning?

Looking back at the few learning experiences I still vividly remember, three patterns show up consistently.

First, they were fun

One participant once told me after an improv-inspired leadership workshop that it was “more memorable than a yacht sunset.” That stayed with me because it was not about entertainment in a shallow sense. It was about energy.

My own improv journey taught me this deeply. Sessions were often messy, playful, and unpredictable. You might find yourself acting as a completely different character, reacting to absurd prompts, or navigating unfamiliar cultural references on the spot. It felt silly at times, but that was exactly the point.

Fun created permission. Permission to try, to fail, to respond without overthinking. That emotional engagement is what made people present. And presence is where learning actually begins.

Also Read: How SMEs can become learning organisations, without the corporate bureaucracy

Second, they prioritised practice over theory

I still remember my early days as a coach: sweaty palms, racing thoughts, and an internal voice constantly trying to get it right. Over time, I realised most of that pressure was self-imposed.

Nothing changed in theory first. It changed through repetition.

This is something I now see clearly in leadership development work as well. Insight without practice fades quickly. But when people are repeatedly placed in situations where they must listen, respond, and reflect in real time, something shifts. Capability starts to form through experience, not explanation.

Third, they embraced chaos

Most traditional learning environments are designed around structure: clear agendas, defined outcomes, predictable flow. But real learning rarely behaves that neatly.

The moments that stay with people are often the unplanned ones – when discussions go off script, when disagreement surfaces, when silence lingers longer than expected, or when someone says something that reframes the entire room.

In those moments, structure loosens just enough for people to think for themselves. And that is usually where real insight emerges.

Some thoughts

Facilitation, I have realised, is not confined to workshops or training rooms. It is a mindset for growth – guiding people, teams, and even ourselves through ambiguity while creating conditions where learning can happen naturally.

Perhaps the real purpose of training was never the certificate at all. It was learning how to stay curious, practice consistently, and feel comfortable in the unknown.

Also Read: Why Southeast Asia’s edutech must go beyond chatbots to truly transform learning

Startups operate in a very similar way. The ones that endure rarely succeed because they followed a perfect plan. They experiment constantly, learn through iteration, and keep building even when outcomes are uncertain. Leadership in that environment is less about certainty and more about creating space for discovery.

Even the pace of change today, especially with AI, reinforces this. What feels new quickly becomes baseline. The only constant is iteration.

In that sense, facilitation, leadership, and entrepreneurship are not separate disciplines. They are variations of the same practice: learning how to move forward without needing everything to be fully clear.

And maybe that is the real skill underneath it all – not what we remember from training, but what we are still able to build when certainty is missing.

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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.

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As Indonesia continues to grapple with a persistently high rate of traffic accidents, transport technology firm TransTrack is positioning AI, telematics and data analytics as central tools for improving road safety, both for its own operations and for the customers it serves.

The company’s approach was outlined during the Road Transport Safety Management System Strengthening Socialisation Programme, held on June 4 in Medan. The event brought together regulators, transport operators, insurers and technology providers to discuss the implementation of the Public Transport Company Safety Management System, known as SMK PAU.

At the forum, TransTrack presented its Safety Intelligence solution, which combines AI-powered Driver Monitoring Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The technology is designed to help transport operators spot risky driving behaviour, lower accident risk, and meet operational safety standards more consistently.

Speaking about the company’s broader AI strategy, chief technology officer Aris Pujud Kurniawan told e27 that TransTrack has not yet reached full agentic AI implementation, where a system manages an entire decision-making cycle independently. Instead, the company currently relies on AI assistants that speed up human decision-making.

He attributed the gap partly to the complexities of the transport sector, including safety requirements, regulatory considerations and cost management, as well as the risk posed by poorly optimised training data. Data silos across the industry, he added, remain a persistent obstacle, with much information still unintegrated.

Also Read: Profitable Qashier raises US$6M as SEA’s SME payments race intensifies

Within its products, TransTrack has introduced AI assistants capable of detecting driver fatigue and relaying reports to control centres, though Kurniawan said the tools have not advanced to the point of making higher-level judgements, such as recommending whether a driver should be dismissed. On the operational side, the company has adopted semi-autonomous AI for tasks including integrated installation processes and stock analysis used to determine when to re-engage with vendors.

Kurniawan described TransTrack’s product development process as beginning with real problems identified within the industry, drawing on a dedicated team that researches customer pain points and use cases before assessing what data is available to address them. He noted that customer requests are not always supported by existing data, making early validation essential.

The company also draws on IoT platforms, both its own and those already owned by customers, as data acquisition tools.

TransTrack’s development team numbers around 200 people, and Kurniawan said the company maintains close ties with roughly ten public and private universities in Indonesia, as well as institutions in South Korea, to support joint research. One outcome of this collaboration is an internally developed driver fatigue detection tool, which Kurniawan said relies on multiple analytical layers; additional research with university partners has helped raise its accuracy from 80 per cent to 90 per cent. The company is also pursuing maritime technology research, including work on fuel efficiency detection.

Data availability remains a broader challenge, Kurniawan said, citing inconsistent infrastructure, connectivity and accessibility across Indonesia, where many customer fleets vary widely in condition and some vehicles are too outdated to yield usable data. TransTrack said its products are designed to function in such constrained environments, supported by a database of thousands of connected IoT devices nationwide.

Also Read: German-listed DDB acquires Singapore’s Infinium Robotics in US$24M share deal

On staying current with rapid technological change, Kurniawan said he encourages his team to engage with new developments without being swept up by hype, emphasising safety, compliance and regulatory considerations before implementation. Team members are permitted to use AI tools for tasks such as correcting code.

The company also runs TransTrack Academy, which is open to the public and fresh graduates, and which some customers use to train their own staff. Strong graduates may be offered employment. Looking ahead, Kurniawan said the company aims to progress from semi-autonomous systems toward agentic AI capabilities.

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Image Credit: TransTrack

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I keep a small notebook by my bed. Not for ideas. Just things I don’t want to forget.

Last week I wrote: “What does this place look like in 2040?”

Not for a deck. Not for a client. I don’t have kids. The usual anchors people use to think about the future, school fees, inheritance, legacy through bloodline, none of that applies to me. So I find other anchors. Climate is one of them. It’s personal in a way that’s hard to explain at a conference but easy to feel at midnight.

I’ve been watching SEA climate capital closely for a few years now. And a number in a recent Tracxn report stopped me cold.

Over 900 backers have put money into climate tech in SEA. You can count the ones who kept showing up on one hand.

Let that sit for a second.

The crowd that showed up once

900 is an impressive number until you look at what it actually means. One check. One conference announcement. One ESG box ticked somewhere in an LP deck. Then back to whatever they were doing before.

The ones who kept showing up are SEEDS Capital, Entrepreneur First, 100×100 (formerly Wavemaker Impact, rebranded June 2026 after spinning out as an independent fund manager with a fresh US$100M mandate to build 50 climate companies across SEA and India), SGInnovate and East Ventures. Between them, they’ve done the unglamorous work of showing up round after round across companies that haven’t yet become household names.

That’s not a coincidence. That’s conviction. And conviction in climate is rare because the timeline is long, the exits are slow, and the narrative keeps shifting between optimism and panic depending on what’s burning that week.

The others weren’t lying about caring. They just weren’t prepared for what caring actually costs in this space.

Also Read: Investing in impact: High-growth tech for climate and community

What the data says about where the money went

The top five funded sectors are all infrastructure plays. Solid waste, smart grid, energy efficiency, air pollution, renewable energy. The top five funded companies are almost all in electric mobility. Beam, Neuron, Dat Bike, ALVA. Hard assets, visible units, clear revenue models.

This isn’t surprising. Capital backs what it can underwrite. Infrastructure and mobility fit the frame. What doesn’t fit — adaptation, resilience, the harder climate problems without a clean SaaS analogy — stays unfunded.

Geographically, three-quarters of all climate capital went to Singapore. Indonesia and Vietnam are emerging, but the map is thin outside the main hubs.

2026 so far has been even quieter. Four rounds. US$17M. Down 59 per cent from the same period last year.

The crowd didn’t just come once. Some of them have already left.

What the data can’t see

Here’s the thing about a report that tracks 900 backers. It only sees what gets disclosed. Formal rounds. Announced deals. Tracxn does this well. But there’s a whole layer of capital doing real ground-level work that never shows up in any database.

Funds like Bali Investment Club, Indonesia-focused, impact-first, backing waste, agritech and climate ventures at the earliest stages in a market most Singapore-based funds fly over, won’t show up in the top five. They’re not doing 10 rounds in the data. They’re doing the first round in places nobody else is looking.

That gap between what the data captures and what’s actually happening on the ground is where a lot of the real conviction lives.

Also Read: Climate tech’s shift from doing good to doing well

What the five who stayed understand

100×100 doesn’t just write checks. They co-found companies from scratch, sit inside them, find the first customers, and build the team. That’s a different level of commitment than a seed round from a platform investor diversifying into climate for a season.

The difference between the handful who stayed and the hundreds who didn’t isn’t access to data or deal flow. It’s tolerance for a long, uncomfortable, uncertain road. Climate doesn’t reward impatience. The founders building in this space know that. The capital that stays knows that too.

The capital that came once was looking for a climate story. The capital that stayed is building one.

The notebook question

I still haven’t answered what I wrote last week. What does this place look like in 2040?

It depends on which kind of capital wins. The kind that showed up for the photo. Or the kind that’s still here when there’s nothing to announce.

I know which one I’m watching.

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The current correction in the digital asset market reflects a structural shift in investor behaviour rather than a random price fluctuation.

Bitcoin recently fell by 0.84 per cent over a 24-hour period to settle at US$59,526.31, which slightly outpaced the broader market decline of 0.94 per cent. This synchronised downward movement highlights how tightly integrated crypto assets have become with traditional financial markets, demonstrating an 85 per cent correlation with the S&P 500 index.

Institutional capital is actively rotating out of digital assets and back into traditional equities, creating a profound liquidity drain. Last week, exchange-traded funds tracking spot Bitcoin experienced US$1.79 billion in net outflows, marking the second-largest weekly redemption phase since these financial products launched.

A single-day redemption of US$445 million occurred on June 26, which provided clear evidence that institutional investors are reducing exposure. Over a longer horizon, these funds shed roughly US$6 billion over six weeks, while adjacent market reports indicate that total exits reached approximately US$6.4 billion over a 30-day period. Consequently, total assets under management for these investment vehicles plummeted from US$105.32 billion down to US$81.83 billion within one month, demonstrating that the structural buying pressure that catalysed previous market rallies has completely reversed.

This aggressive capital flight directly coincides with a broader macroeconomic tightening cycle and mounting geopolitical risks. The Federal Reserve continues to maintain a hawkish stance, with officials projecting a median interest rate forecast of 3.8 per cent for 2026. These higher-for-longer interest rate expectations have consistently strengthened the dollar, which naturally dampens demand for speculative, risk-sensitive assets.

This macro pressure intensified as fragile ceasefire negotiations between the United States and Iran stoked fears of conflict escalation, prompting global market participants to seek safety in cash. Although equity futures staged a minor recovery on June 29 after both nations temporarily pulled back from military strikes, the prolonged period of regional tension has left energy markets on edge and dragged European indices down by an average of one per cent.

The combination of institutional selling and macroeconomic headwinds triggered an immediate unwinding of high-risk leverage within crypto derivatives markets. Over a recent 24-hour window, the market suffered US$44.96 million in total liquidations, with long positions accounting for an overwhelming US$39.77 million of that total. This rapid liquidation sequence forced the asset price below its critical 200-week moving average of approximately US$62,383, which technicians widely respect as a key long-term trend indicator. The steep decline means Bitcoin now trades roughly 30 per cent lower in 2026, leaving it roughly 50 per cent below its historical peak established in October 2025.

Also Read: Why the 4.1% PCE inflation print just turned crypto into a high beta risk asset

While the overarching market structure remains transitionally bearish, certain technical indicators suggest that the current selling pressure might be reaching a temporary exhaustion point. The 14-day relative strength index plunged to 30.7, placing the asset on the verge of deeply oversold territory.

This technical condition indicates that if the current support zone between US$58,000 and US$59,000 holds firm over the coming days, a short-term relief bounce toward the US$62,000 level could easily manifest. Conversely, a definitive break below the US$58,000 threshold would likely trigger a fresh wave of liquidations, risking a rapid cascade down toward US$56,000.

A sustainable market recovery depends entirely on a stabilisation of fund flows and an easing of macroeconomic pressures. The broader financial landscape is experiencing a massive rotation, with Wall Street shifting capital out of underperforming assets and certain mega-cap technology equities to fund small-cap firms and blue-chip sectors.

Within the technology sector itself, a distinct wedge has formed between software hyperscalers struggling with infrastructure costs and memory component manufacturers like Micron Technology, which recently surged to outpace Meta and Tesla in valuation. If the massive capital rotation into chip makers and artificial intelligence infrastructure slows down, or if the Federal Reserve delivers a more dovish policy signal, capital may eventually flow back into the digital asset space.

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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.

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Singapore-based medtech company Biobot Surgical has raised SGD 20 million (about US$15.6 million) in a financing round led by ClavystBio, with participation from ZIG Ventures, as it looks to expand global adoption of its robotic-assisted prostate cancer care platform and enter the US market.

The company develops Mona Lisa, a platform that combines robotic needle guidance with MRI-ultrasound image fusion for targeted prostate biopsy and focal ablation procedures. The system is designed for transperineal prostate interventions, an approach increasingly preferred by clinicians seeking to reduce infection risks and improve access to hard-to-reach lesions.

Also Read: The role of biotech in taking India from developing to developed

The raise puts Biobot among a small but growing group of Southeast Asian medtech firms attempting to move beyond domestic or regional deployment and compete in heavily regulated global healthcare markets. For Singapore, where state-linked capital and research institutions have long sought to turn biomedical research into commercial companies, Biobot’s next phase will be watched as a test of whether homegrown medical robotics can scale internationally.

A Singapore medtech moving into a larger global fight

Prostate cancer is among the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men globally, with more than 1.4 million new cases each year. In the US, around one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

Diagnosis has traditionally relied on transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy, but the field has been shifting towards transperineal procedures, where the prostate is accessed through the skin between the scrotum and anus rather than through the rectum. The change is being driven by lower infection risk, better targeting of certain areas of the prostate, and improved compatibility with image-guided and robotic workflows.

This is the clinical shift Biobot is betting on. Its Mona Lisa platform supports physicians in planning and guiding prostate needle placement using fused MRI and ultrasound images. The goal is to make biopsies and focal therapies more accurate and reproducible, while potentially allowing some procedures to move from hospital operating rooms into ambulatory surgery centres and, eventually, office-based settings.

Biobot says it has deployed more than 80 systems globally and supported over 30,000 patients, with adoption across centres in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company also points to more than 50 real-world clinical publications supporting its use in targeted transperineal biopsy and precision needle placement.

For a Singapore-based device company, those numbers matter. Medical robotics startups often struggle to bridge the gap between promising engineering and repeatable commercial adoption. Hospitals are cautious buyers, doctors need training, reimbursement can be complex, and regulatory pathways vary widely across markets. The US, while large and lucrative, is also one of the most difficult healthcare markets to enter.

Funding to build evidence and a US beachhead

Biobot plans to use the capital to accelerate international commercialisation, strengthen clinical and economic evidence, and build the commercial infrastructure needed for the next stage of growth. A key part of the plan is a focused US entry strategy.

Also Read: Asia’s biotech boom: Innovation, investment, and a new era of discovery

As part of that effort, the company will work with Fogarty Innovation, a California-based medtech accelerator and advisory organisation, to identify priority clinical segments, engage clinicians, and shape its commercialisation approach.

The US market is particularly important because prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment represent a large and mature specialty segment. At the same time, any new device platform must prove not only that it works clinically, but also that it fits into physician workflows, hospital budgets, and reimbursement systems.

“The objective is not simply to place systems, but to build Mona Lisa into a precision intervention platform for prostate care, connecting imaging, robotic guidance, procedure data and focal treatment workflows,” said Sim Kok Hwee, Deputy Chairman and CEO of Biobot Surgical.

That positioning is important. Biobot is not pitching Mona Lisa merely as a biopsy robot, but as a platform that can sit across the prostate cancer care pathway, from diagnosis to targeted treatment. If it can execute, this could give the company a broader role in clinical decision-making and longitudinal patient management.

Why this matters for Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has produced relatively few globally visible medical robotics companies, despite rising healthcare demand, ageing populations, and growing investment in specialist care. The region’s healthtech funding has historically leaned towards telemedicine, digital health platforms, insurance technology, and clinic management software. Hardware-heavy medtech, especially robotics, is harder to build because it requires deep clinical validation, manufacturing discipline, regulatory expertise, and long sales cycles.

Singapore is the regional exception. Its combination of public research funding, hospital networks, biomedical manufacturing capabilities, and investors such as Temasek-backed ClavystBio has made it the most likely base for Southeast Asian medtech companies with global ambitions.

ClavystBio was set up by Temasek to help commercialise biotech and medtech ideas from Asia. Its involvement in Biobot signals continued interest in backing companies that can move beyond laboratory innovation into regulated international markets.

“Biobot has the right combination of clinical relevance, international traction, and platform potential,” said Anselm Tan, medtech lead at ClavystBio. “The market is moving toward prostate procedures that are safer, more precise, and more reproducible.”

For the wider region, Biobot’s progress could also have practical implications. Prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment are uneven across Southeast Asia, with gaps in access to specialists, imaging, and advanced intervention technologies. If robotic-guided workflows can lower procedural complexity and support more standardised care, they may eventually help expand access beyond top-tier hospitals, though cost and training remain significant barriers.

The road ahead

Biobot’s next challenge is execution. Its installed base and clinical publications give it a foundation, but scaling in medtech requires more than product adoption at leading centres. The company will need to show that Mona Lisa can deliver measurable clinical and economic value across different healthcare settings.

Also Read: Are biomedicine and healthcare coming of age?

That means convincing hospitals and urologists that the platform improves biopsy accuracy, reduces complications, shortens workflows, or enables new treatment models. It also means building support, training, and service capabilities in markets where device reliability and physician confidence are essential.

The company’s US strategy will be especially critical. Success there could validate the platform globally and strengthen Biobot’s credibility across Europe and Asia Pacific. Failure to gain traction, however, would underline the difficulty of turning Southeast Asian medtech engineering into a global commercial business.

For now, the new funding gives Biobot room to push that ambition. In a region where startup stories are still dominated by software, fintech, and consumer platforms, its progress offers a different narrative: a Singapore-born medical robotics company trying to prove that Southeast Asia can build complex healthcare technology for the world.

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Kazakhstan is not a country most Southeast Asian founders think about when mapping expansion routes. But Magzhan Madiyev, CEO of Astana Hub, wants to change that fast. In seven years, the organisation has helped transform a country with virtually no venture culture into one where 2,200 companies generate US$2 billion annually, tech exports have grown twentyfold to US$1.14 billion, and the nation’s first AI unicorn, Higgsfield, is now valued at over US$3 billion.

The engine behind this shift is not government largesse; it is a calculated infrastructure of talent pipelines, global accelerators, and regulatory architecture built to attract serious founders and investors.

Also Read: How Big Sky Capital and Astana Hub are helping startups scale across Southeast Asia’s technology ecosystem

With Astana Hub opening a presence in Kuala Lumpur, partnerships deepening with Temasek and Quest Ventures, and interest growing from Singaporean investors, Central Eurasia’s most ambitious tech bet is increasingly looking in Southeast Asia’s direction. Here is what Madiyev had to say.

Below are edited excerpts:

Building a startup ecosystem from scratch in an emerging market is notoriously difficult. What was the single biggest structural barrier Kazakhstan had to overcome?

When Astana Hub was conceived, Kazakhstan’s venture market was virtually non-existent. There was no venture culture, no capital, no critical mass of entrepreneurs, and no founder community. The ecosystem was dominated by companies chasing government contracts or running small e-commerce operations.

We had to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously: changing the mindset of specialists, creating innovation-friendly legislation, and overcoming government bureaucracy. None of it was quick.

The results speak for themselves: Almaty has entered the global TOP10 Rising Star ecosystems according to Dealroom’s 2026 index. Astana Hub now hosts over 2,200 companies generating roughly US$2 billion annually, and Kazakhstan’s tech exports surpassed US$1.14 billion in 2025.

Tax incentives can create artificial ecosystems that collapse once the support dries up. How are you ensuring startups are genuinely market-ready?

Every successful tech ecosystem, be it Silicon Valley, Israel, or Singapore, has had government backing at some point. The question is how you deploy it.

We did not ask the state to pour billions into the industry. We asked only for tax incentives and introduced a 1 per cent revenue contribution from participants to reinvest back into the ecosystem. That, combined with full infrastructure, such as education, acceleration, regional access points, and  pathways to Silicon Valley, meant all parties were satisfied without creating dangerous dependency.

The incentives will continue, but they will increasingly push participants to build globally competitive products. If we do not develop our own champions, our economy simply becomes a market for international vendors who are often not even fully taxed here.

How many startups have completed your programmes, and what does the success rate actually look like?

Astana Hub is not a single accelerator; it is an ecosystem of more than 50 programmes serving audiences from school students to institutional investors. Metrics vary accordingly.

Also Read: Big Tech’s efficiency paradox: Record profits, record layoffs

For startup-specific programmes, around 40 per cent of graduates continue building and scaling after completion. Across the broader ecosystem, participant companies have collectively attracted more than US$945 million in investment and generated US$4.9 billion in cumulative revenue over seven years, with a growing footprint in Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

What does the alem.ai Center offer that a startup could not get from Singapore, Dubai, or London?

The alem.ai centre is a vertically integrated AI ecosystem under one roof, something we believe is unique globally. It runs a continuous talent pipeline from children aged 12, through adult re-skilling, to dedicated founder tracks and Big Tech lab placements, all in one building.

That building is also an iconic structure in Central Asia, a deliberate signal from the country’s leadership about where Kazakhstan is placing its long-term bet. In August, we will host part of the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, welcoming national teams from over 60 countries.

Are graduates staying in Kazakhstan or leaving for higher-paying markets?

We do not frame this as brain drain; the world is becoming borderless, and what matters is building a strong community. We actively help founders go abroad to attract investment and launch products in the US, the UAE, and China. Most of them still build their teams and R&D centres back in Kazakhstan.

The most powerful argument for staying is Higgsfield, Kazakhstan’s first AI unicorn, now valued at over US$3 billion, built in Almaty with a team of 300 engineers whose average age is 25. You do not need to leave to build something world-class.

Which international partners have delivered real outcomes, not just signed MOUs?

Several partnerships have moved well beyond paper.

With Google, we launched the Silkway Accelerator — seven batches in, with graduates now carrying a combined valuation exceeding US$500 million.

With OpenAI and Stanford, we ran the AI Leaders programme across nine countries, reaching 800-plus executives.

With Telegram, we are launching the AI Olympiad and ICPC Bootcamp, and the company is opening an AI Lab at alem.ai.

With Draper University and Alchemist Accelerator, Tim Draper has personally invested US$2 million into Kazakhstani startups.

With Apple, a training centre is operating within the ecosystem.

Is there a genuine pipeline of Southeast Asian investors and startups looking at Kazakhstan?

Yes, though the potential has not been fully realised yet. We are opening a presence in Kuala Lumpur, working with Temasek and Quest Ventures, and seeing growing interest from Singaporean investors.

The roadblock is not a lack of opportunity, but a lack of awareness. Southeast Asia is very familiar with its own corridor; Central Eurasia remains undiscovered despite its talent base and fast-growing digital economy. That is precisely what we are working to fix.

Kazakhstan borders both Russia and China. How do you navigate that geopolitically when attracting Western partners?

Kazakhstan is a neutral country by design and we have turned that into a strategic advantage. After 2022, more than 500 global tech companies relocated here from Russia, bringing significant developer talent. From China, we adopt hardware and industrial technology. From the US, we attract capital and infrastructure, including NVIDIA chips. Our most active international hub is in Silicon Valley, where resident companies have attracted over US$300 million in investment.

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It is a puzzle only a country with Kazakhstan’s geography, neutrality, and foreign policy could assemble.

Venture capital in Central Asia is thin. Are there any homegrown VC funds of meaningful scale?

Kazakhstan leads the venture market across Central Asia and the CIS. The recently established fund of funds, Alem Capital Management, has a first fund of US$100 million, 70 per cent from private capital, with a target of attracting US$1 billion in venture investment over five years. Active local investors include Freedom Holding, MOST Ventures, Big Sky, Astana Hub Ventures, MA7 Ventures, and the Silkroad Angels Club.

What sectors are producing Kazakhstan’s most promising startups, and is it market demand or government money driving them?

AI, edutech, and fintech, and they are driven by talent, not government priorities. That distinction matters. Startups chasing government contracts stay domestic. Kazakhstan’s market is simply not large enough to produce valuations above US$100 million on its own. Unicorns are built for global markets. Higgsfield proves that.

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Thailand-founded enterprise AI company Amity has opened a Singapore office and AI Research & Application Center (ARAC), placing the city-state at the centre of its regional expansion, product development, and planned path to a public listing in 2027.

The move follows Amity’s US$100 million Series D round, led by EDBI, the investment arm operating under SG Growth Capital, alongside Asia Partners and SMDV. Existing and new backers, including CMLIM Capital, also participated.

Also Read: Amity’s US$100M raise signals Southeast Asia’s AI coming of age

Amity said the Singapore hub will serve as its Southeast Asia regional headquarters and the global base for its AI research capabilities. The company is targeting US$200 million in annualised revenue by the end of 2026, after surpassing US$100 million in annualised revenue in 2025. It claims to have grown more than tenfold since 2022.

For Amity, Singapore offers more than a prestige address. It gives the company proximity to regional enterprise buyers, access to AI talent, a recognised regulatory environment, and a launchpad for acquisitions across Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is deploying its latest capital across three areas: accelerating agentic AI development, pursuing strategic M&A, and hiring engineering and commercial talent in Singapore.

Why Singapore matters for Amity

Amity’s bet comes as Southeast Asian enterprises move from AI experimentation to deployment. Banks, telcos, retailers, healthcare groups, logistics players, and large consumer companies are under pressure to automate customer engagement, extract more value from data, and reduce operational complexity across multilingual markets.

This is where Amity wants to position itself. The company’s ARAC will focus on vertical AI models trained on industry-specific data rather than generic datasets. Its current focus areas include agentic AI — systems that can execute end-to-end business processes with limited human intervention — and models tailored for sectors such as retail, telecommunications, and services.

The company argues that Asian enterprises need AI products built for fragmented channels, language diversity, and local business workflows. That is a valid pain point in Southeast Asia, where a single enterprise may operate across markets with different languages, messaging platforms, payment habits, regulations, and consumer behaviours.

“When we started Amity, we believed that Asian enterprises deserved AI that is built for their reality, not tools designed for other markets and retrofitted for ours,” said Korawad Chearavanont, Executive Chairman and Founder of Amity. “Singapore is where that belief comes to life.”

That statement also reveals the company’s broader ambition: to become a regional enterprise AI platform rather than just another SaaS vendor.

The market opportunity

Amity is entering a fast-growing but crowded market. Enterprise AI, customer experience automation, communications analytics, and vertical AI software are attracting capital globally, as companies search for tools that can move beyond chatbots and dashboards into workflow execution.

Global estimates vary, but the enterprise AI market is widely projected to become a multi-hundred-billion-dollar opportunity by the end of the decade. For Southeast Asia specifically, the prize is broader than software revenue alone. A widely cited Kearney estimate has suggested that AI could contribute up to US$1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s economy by 2030.

Also Read: AI user roles surge as Singapore pivots from specialist to mainstream hires

That economic upside is drawing both global players and regional challengers. Microsoft, Google, AWS, Salesforce, OpenAI-linked partners, and a wave of specialised AI startups are all targeting enterprise budgets. Amity’s differentiation will depend on whether it can turn local market knowledge, vertical datasets, and acquisitions into products that large companies are willing to buy at scale.

The company already has some distribution. It claims its platforms serve over 10 million monthly active users across more than 20,000 organisations in over 20 countries. Its portfolio includes Amity Solutions, Tollring, EGG Digital, Amity Accentix, and Amity-Nordstar, covering customer experience, analytics, communications, and voice capabilities.

More recently, Tollring entered into a definitive agreement to acquire UK-based Code Software. If completed, the transaction would expand Amity’s presence across the UK, US, EU, and ANZ markets, especially in communications analytics and recording.

What Southeast Asia could gain

The Singapore hub could bring several benefits to the region if Amity delivers on its plans. First, it could create higher-value AI roles locally. Amity plans to hire across AI research, engineering, and go-to-market functions in Singapore, with up to 60 roles expected over the next three years.

Second, the move could deepen Southeast Asia’s enterprise AI capabilities. Much of the region still depends on imported software stacks designed primarily for Western enterprises. A regional AI player building for Asian languages, regulations, and operating environments could help narrow that gap.

Third, Amity’s Singapore base could strengthen the region’s startup exit and scaling narrative. Southeast Asia has produced strong consumer internet and fintech companies, but fewer enterprise software companies with global ambitions. If Amity reaches its revenue target and lists publicly in 2027, it could become a reference point for the region’s AI and SaaS ecosystem.

Fourth, Amity’s acquisition strategy may create liquidity and growth options for smaller software companies in Southeast Asia. The company has said it will pursue M&A targeting high-potential software businesses in Europe and Southeast Asia. For regional founders building niche B2B software, this could open another route beyond venture funding or slow organic growth.

A tougher phase begins

The challenge is execution. Raising the largest AI/ML round in Southeast Asia for Q1 2026 gives Amity a strong balance sheet, but enterprise AI is not an easy market. Sales cycles are long, integration is complex, and buyers are increasingly sceptical of AI tools that do not produce measurable outcomes.

Agentic AI also carries operational and regulatory risks. Enterprises will need systems that are secure, auditable, and reliable across markets. Singapore’s policy environment may help Amity build credibility here, especially as the country pushes its refreshed National AI Strategy and National AI Council.

EDBI’s backing is also strategically significant. For Singapore, attracting Amity reinforces its ambition to be a regional AI hub not only for multinational labs but also for Southeast Asian technology companies scaling outward.

“Singapore provides a strong foundation for companies looking to develop and scale enterprise AI, with access to deep talent, a trusted and collaborative innovation ecosystem, and strong regional connectivity,” said Yeung Chia Li, Senior Partner at EDBI.

Also Read: Southeast Asia’s AI blind spot is getting bigger

For Amity, Singapore is now the test bed for a bigger question: can a Southeast Asian enterprise AI company build products that compete not only regionally, but globally? If it can, the company’s 2027 IPO plan may be more than a fundraising milestone. It could mark one of the region’s first major enterprise AI scale-up stories.

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