Cambodia’s startup ecosystem is still small by Southeast Asian standards, but its newest crop of founders is starting to build with a wider market in mind. Newwave Tech Foundry, a Phnom Penh-based artificial intelligence and software development company, is one example: barely two years old, it already says more than 70 per cent of its clients are outside Cambodia.
That early cross-border traction has now helped Newwave secure seed funding from Canadia Impact Fund Co. (CIFC), the corporate venture capital initiative of Canadia Group. The size of the investment was not disclosed.
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The deal was announced during the 3rd Digital Trade Forum in Phnom Penh, an event supported by the Asian Development Bank and launched by Cambodia’s Minister of Commerce, H.E. Cham Nimul.
For CIFC, it is only its second investment since launching in 2025. For Newwave, it comes at a time when companies across the region are experimenting with generative AI, but many small and mid-sized businesses still lack the tools, talent and confidence to apply it in daily operations.
Founded in 2024 by Cambodian entrepreneurs Kim Chan Amrithvatey and Nhek Pich Panharith, Newwave provides AI transformation and software development services to medium and large organisations. Its work spans customised software, automation and AI deployment for business functions that have traditionally relied on manual processes or disconnected systems.
The company is also building RE:AI, an AI platform aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its first suite of services will focus on helping businesses use AI across sales, marketing, accounting, supply chain and human resources.
That focus matters in Southeast Asia, where SMEs make up the bulk of businesses but often lag larger companies in technology adoption. Many still depend on spreadsheets, messaging apps and informal workflows to manage operations. AI tools promise productivity gains, but implementation remains difficult when firms lack technical teams or cannot afford expensive consultants.
Cambodia’s AI opportunity
Newwave is entering a market that is growing quickly, though from uneven foundations. Southeast Asia’s AI sector is projected to expand from US$12 billion in 2025 to nearly US$80 billion by 2031, according to figures cited by the company. The region’s largest economies — Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines — have already drawn much of the investor attention around AI adoption, cloud infrastructure and enterprise software.
Cambodia has a different challenge. Its digital economy accounts for just 1.8 per cent of GDP, according to Newwave co-founder Nhek. That leaves a large gap, but also room for local companies to help businesses leapfrog older systems.
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“The idea came from seeing what could be done better,” said Nhek. “Our digital economy sits at 1.8 per cent of Cambodian GDP, and we believe Cambodia can compete for a much bigger share of the global tech industry.”
Newwave says its international clients are spread across the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Australia. In Cambodia, it has worked with companies including Lucky Supermarket, part of DFI Retail Group. Its team has grown to 17 employees.
The founders bring different strands of experience. Kim is a serial entrepreneur with an MBA in AI and IT Business from South Korea. Nhek joined FlutterFlow, the San Francisco-based low-code platform backed by Google Ventures, as a core team member in 2024 and was ranked among the top one per cent of builders worldwide that year.
That combination — local market knowledge, international exposure and product-building experience — is central to Newwave’s pitch. Cambodia has no shortage of young technical talent, but many developers have historically looked abroad for opportunities. Startups such as Newwave are trying to show that global-facing technology companies can be built from Phnom Penh.
A small ecosystem gains more structure
CIFC’s investment also reflects a broader attempt to give Cambodia’s startup ecosystem more institutional backing. The fund was launched in 2025 as Canadia Group’s corporate venture capital arm, with a mandate to support young entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia.
Its first investment was Jalat Logistics, a last-mile delivery startup serving merchants across Cambodia. Since receiving CIFC backing, Jalat has completed two million deliveries, achieved a 98 per cent success rate and grown its client base to nearly 10,000 merchants, according to the fund.
Newwave now becomes CIFC’s second portfolio company. Thierry Tea, CEO and co-founder of Canadia Impact Fund, said the firm is looking for Cambodian founders who are not limiting their ambitions to the domestic market.
“In Cambodia, we’re seeing a new generation of entrepreneurs building companies with ambitions beyond our borders,” Tea said. “Newwave is exactly the type of company we want to support.”
Cambodia’s startup landscape remains early. Startup Cambodia recorded 235 startups in 2025, a modest number compared with more mature ecosystems in the region. But there are signs of growing investor and policy interest. Plug and Play, the global innovation platform and venture capital firm, is now active in the country. In August 2026, the Cambodian government launched its National Strategy on Startup Development 2026-2030, targeting US$30 million in startup investment and 100 funded startups by 2030.
The country is also preparing to host FrancoTech from 14 to 16 November as part of the Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh. The event is expected to bring entrepreneurs, investors and francophone technology networks, including French Tech, to the capital.
Competition will not stay local
Newwave’s challenge is that the market it wants to serve is not empty. In enterprise AI and digital transformation, it faces competition from large consulting and technology services firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, FPT Software and NCS, which already work with corporates across Southeast Asia.
At the SME end, global software platforms are adding AI features into accounting, marketing, customer service and workflow tools, making it easier for businesses to adopt off-the-shelf solutions.
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Its advantage, if it can sustain one, may lie in serving companies that need more handholding than a software subscription can offer, but cannot afford the cost or complexity of a multinational consulting engagement. This middle ground is particularly relevant in markets such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, where digital adoption is still uneven and local context can determine whether technology is actually used after installation.
For Cambodia, the importance of Newwave’s raise is not only the funding itself. Seed cheques remain useful, but what the ecosystem needs more urgently is proof: that Cambodian founders can win customers abroad, hire technical teams at home and build products for regional markets rather than only local clients.
Newwave is still at an early stage, and the hard part will be execution. AI services businesses can grow quickly, but productising that expertise into a scalable platform such as RE:AI is a different test. If it works, the company could become one of the more visible examples of Cambodia’s shift from technology adoption to technology creation.
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