Enterprise AI adoption has crossed the tipping point. Globally, more than 70 per cent of companies are now using AI in at least one function, while overall AI spending is projected to exceed US$2.5 trillion in 2026. What was experimental just two years ago is now operational.

But results have not kept pace. Many companies are still struggling to turn AI investment into tangible outcomes, exposing a widening gap between capability and execution. The issue is structural. AI is not just another software layer. It changes how software behaves. Traditional systems were deterministic and testable. AI systems are not. They introduce variability, ambiguity, and a new class of risk.

This is forcing companies to rethink leadership, talent, and product design at once. Decisions are increasingly made under uncertainty, engineering roles are shifting toward adaptability, and users now expect outcomes, not just tools. Travel platforms are an early test case for this transition. The category is fragmented, high-intent, and decision-heavy, making it particularly exposed to both the upside and the pressure of AI-driven change.

At Agoda, this shift is already taking shape. The company runs more than 90 generative AI use cases and has backed this with a move to a 26,000 square metre tech hub at One Bangkok, consolidating nearly 4,000 employees. As software becomes less predictable, how teams work together is becoming as critical as the technology itself.

To understand how this plays out in practice, Agoda’s CTO Idan Zalzberg outlines how the company is rethinking engineering, talent, and product in the age of AI.

When AI first hit, there was a lot of noise, fear, and conflicting opinions internally across most companies. How did you cut through that and actually align Agoda around a clear direction?

I think we are all being challenged. When the sea is stormy, the role of the captain becomes much more important. When everything is smooth and predictable, you have to ask yourself, what is my job really? Leadership ultimately comes down to making decisions, and when those decisions are shaped by uncertainty and diverging paths, they matter even more.

For us, developing an “inside-out” AI strategy early on was critical. At the time, people simply did not know what to expect. Should we go into it? Should we use it in programming? Is it good or bad? Is it going to take my job? There were many voices, and a lot of fear.

In that environment, leadership had to step in, make clear decisions, and bring confidence to people. We had to show that we have a strategy, that we have a point of view, and that no one is being left behind. A lot of people were asking what this means for them personally, and we had to give them an answer. This is how we see it. This is our mindset.

It was about making decisions, communicating them clearly, and reinforcing that message consistently to build confidence. I think this was a moment where leadership across companies really had to show up. You can also see examples where that did not happen, where leaders said one thing and then walked it back. That is very jarring, and it breaks trust. Once that confidence is lost, it is very hard to regain.

Also Read: Money on the move: The key to making dynamic travel payments simple

Has the rise of AI changed your philosophy on what makes great engineering talent, and if so, how?

What we are seeing with AI is that it introduces a fundamental difficulty. It makes software unpredictable. Traditionally, software worked in a very clear way. You define exactly what you want, you build it, and then you can verify that it behaves exactly as expected. That model is now gone.

With AI applications, you no longer know exactly how the system will behave. You cannot always guarantee that it will meet the requirements in a consistent way. Even if something works once, it does not mean it will work the same way again. That level of unpredictability is new for most engineers.

Data scientists have been used to this way of working, but now this mindset needs to extend across the entire engineering organisation. That is one of the biggest challenges we are dealing with, and we are still learning how to handle it.

This is also why starting internally was so important for us. We wanted to build that experience and help people get comfortable with the idea that software is no longer fully deterministic. AI is now embedded in many parts of the system, and whenever it is involved, you cannot assume a fixed outcome. It is not as simple as saying five plus five will always be ten. Sometimes it will say eleven.

Because of that, building the right evaluation frameworks and ensuring that you are actually improving with every iteration becomes much harder. It is something we are learning together with our teams.

It also changes what we look for in people. We need engineers who are curious, open-minded, and comfortable working in this kind of environment, because this is not something you can approach with a traditional mindset.

As AI agents become more capable, how do you see the role of OTAs evolving beyond search and booking?

I do think AI agents could become the new OTAs. What we are seeing is that customer expectations are evolving very quickly. It is no longer enough to just provide a search and booking tool. People want more autonomy, more assistance. They want something that actively helps them, not just a platform where they do everything themselves.

Also Read: Trust remains travel’s defining currency: Inside travel’s next operating model at MarketHub Asia 2026

Today, many people still see OTAs as trustworthy but relatively basic. You can search, you can book, but ultimately you are the one making all the decisions. Of course, there is already a lot of intelligence behind the scenes in how we rank and recommend options, and that has been driven by machine learning for a long time. But expectations have shifted.

Users now want more than recommendations. They want context and reasoning. They want to understand why something is being suggested. They expect the system to connect different parts of their journey. If they have just booked a flight, the hotel recommendation should take into account things like distance from the airport, arrival time, and whether early check-in might be needed. They expect a much more holistic and proactive experience.

And expectations rise very quickly once people see what is possible. I remember when AI-generated images first became popular, and people pointed out that the fingers looked wrong. But if you step back, a computer had just generated a photorealistic image from a simple prompt, something that felt like science fiction just a few years ago. Yet almost immediately, the expectation shifted to perfection.

The same dynamic is happening in our industry. As soon as users see what generative AI can do, that becomes the new baseline. They expect more, and we have to evolve to meet that.

Beyond coding, where are you starting to see AI have the most impact across the organisation?

AI is starting to show up everywhere. We have already talked about programming and development, which are clearly strong use cases. But what we are increasingly seeing now is adoption on the office side as well.

This includes tools like Excel and PowerPoint, and more broadly, work that sits between creative thinking and operational execution. Things like creating documents, reading and summarising information, building presentations, and helping people communicate more effectively. These are areas where AI is starting to have a real impact, and it is evolving quickly.

Also Read: Elevating travel experiences: The power of value-added services

On the engineering side, while core coding is already well supported, everything around it is still catching up. For example, reviewing code, debugging incidents in production, and understanding what went wrong are still emerging areas. The ability for AI to reason through issues, analyse problems, and explain what is happening is only just starting to come together.

So while some parts of the stack are already quite mature, many of these surrounding workflows are still in the early stages. That is where we are seeing a lot of new progress right now.

What does the future of travel booking look like if AI can take on a more proactive, end-to-end role for the user?

This is a question we are asking ourselves a lot, and it is more important now than ever. At the same time, it is not entirely new for us, so it does not come as a shock. In fact, it is quite exciting because generative AI is finally enabling a vision we have had for several years.

The easiest way to think about that vision is to look at what travel agents do and why people still go to them. Planning a trip end-to-end is hard and often stressful. There are many decisions to make, and every time you hit that “book” button, there is hesitation. Are the dates correct? Does everything line up? Is this the right hotel, or should I choose another one?

What we want to do is remove that stress while still keeping the user in control. Imagine having a personal travel agent who works only for you, understands your full history, your preferences, what you like and what you do not like. Instead of you doing all the work, they prepare the trip for you and guide you through it.

They might suggest options and ask, how does this look, or would you prefer something different. You can respond, adjust, and refine. Maybe this time you want a more relaxed, beach-focused trip. The system adapts instantly and reshapes the plan around that.

The goal is to create an experience where you still feel in control, but without the stress, and with a high level of trust and confidence that you are getting exactly what you want. That is where we want to go, and we believe we can get there.

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Image credit: Agoda

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Global supply chains are going through a profound transformation. For a long time, logistics decisions relied heavily on experience and fragmented data. Today, two very different forms of intelligence are starting to work together, quietly reshaping everything from warehouse design and inventory planning to fulfilment and customer service.

Two partners, two kinds of smart

Our thinking is that we believe these two forms of intelligence act as a pair of partners:

• The Precise Calculator
• The Intelligent Communicator

The Precise Calculator is a familiar figure in supply chain: demand forecasting models, inventory optimisation, transport optimisation, network design and so on. This is the class of tools that excels at finding patterns in huge, complex datasets and answering questions like: how much inventory should each warehouse hold to avoid both stockouts and overstock? When should we place purchase orders, and in what quantities, to balance cost and service levels?

Precision in practice

We see how, at Cainiao, these capabilities are increasingly becoming part of day-to-day operations. Intelligent engines are used to support demand forecasting, inventory allocation across regions, and replenishment planning. For a beverage chain, this can involve estimating how many drinks thousands of stores are likely to sell and ensuring ingredients are positioned accordingly. For an automotive company, similar approaches help align parts supply with downstream demand, so service levels are maintained while keeping working capital tied up in inventory within reasonable limits.

The impact can often be observed in areas such as improved inventory turnover, fewer stockouts, and more efficient logistics and warehousing processes. From a technology standpoint, this layer of intelligence is becoming more accessible. It typically runs on standard servers and can be deployed in cloud environments or on premises. In practice, performance depends less on specialised hardware and more on whether organisations can provide consistent, high-quality operational data and are willing to allow systems to learn from real-world outcomes over time.

Also Read: Building smart: A tech founder’s guide to the semiconductor supply chain revolution

The Intelligent Communicator: When supply chains learn to talk

The second partner, the Intelligent Communicator, is the recent wave of large language models. These systems excel at understanding natural language, synthesising information, and responding in ways humans find intuitive.

In logistics, this capability first shows up in customer service and knowledge management. In the past, when a customer raised an issue, an agent might have to copy chat logs into a spreadsheet, switch between multiple systems to check orders, inventory and billing, and then manually craft a response. Now, a large language model can read the conversation, identify the customer’s intent, call backend systems through APIs to retrieve shipment status, warehouse data and transaction records, and automatically compose a more accurate and appropriate reply. For cross‑border consumers, multilingual ability is especially valuable.

At Cainiao, we have been exploring AI-enabled customer service applications built on large language models. While this Intelligent Communicator typically requires stronger computing resources, the more important factor in practice is how well it is integrated with domain knowledge and operational workflows. The usefulness of such systems depends not only on fluency but also on whether responses are grounded in a real business context and can be trusted by both customers and frontline teams.

When the two partners start working together

The real turning point comes when these two forms of intelligence stop operating in isolation and start amplifying each other.

The first step is to let the Precise Calculator teach the Intelligent Communicator, using years of high‑quality operational data, so the latter doesn’t just chat—it actually understands supply chain logic. The second step is to bring the Intelligent Communicator into the decision loop, so it’s not just answering questions but helping structure decisions, explain trade‑offs, and surface cause‑and‑effect in the business.

Also Read: Why supply chain AI works in the lab but fails in the real world

From copilot to autonomous agent

Long-term, the goal is to build intelligent agents with a degree of autonomy at key points in the operation. Imagine a scenario like Double 11 or Black Friday: instead of manually coordinating dozens of teams, a supply chain leader interacts with a single interface and sets an objective such as: “Ensure on‑time delivery in our core North America and Europe markets stays above 96 per cent, while reducing overall inventory risk by 10 per cent.”

The system then breaks this goal down into concrete tasks, calls on demand forecasting, capacity assessment, network optimisation and in‑warehouse simulation modules, and takes into account the capabilities of automated warehouses and overseas hubs. The output is a complete operating plan: how to rebalance inventory across different overseas warehouses, which SKUs’ service commitments should be dynamically adjusted, when and where to activate additional automation capacity, and so on.

Building the future, one step at a time

Within our global network, we are already seeing early versions of this evolution. From planning our five‑day global delivery service to coordinating overseas warehouse networks and automation assets, the Precise Calculator is embedded in day‑to‑day operations. At the same time, more natural, intelligent conversational interfaces are being rolled out, allowing teams in different countries and functions to simply talk to the supply chain instead of clicking through endless dashboards.

The journey from basic digitalisation to true intelligence will not happen overnight. It is built step by step. But the direction is already clear. For brands and supply chains accelerating their globalisation, the fusion of precise computation and intelligent dialogue will be a critical pillar of future competitiveness.

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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.

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The crypto market advanced 1.86 per cent to US$2.34T over 24 hours, driven primarily by a major institutional catalyst. This rally shows a strong 93 per cent correlation with the S&P 500, indicating a shared macro-driven move rather than isolated crypto speculation. The primary reason for this surge is a US Department of Labour proposal to allow retirement plans to invest in crypto, potentially unlocking trillions in institutional capital. Secondary factors include sustained positive sentiment from recent regulatory clarity from the SEC and CFTC, and technical breakouts in specific altcoin sectors like Layer 1s. The near-term market outlook suggests momentum could extend toward the US$2.38T to US$2.41T resistance zone if the March Jobs Report on April 3 supports a dovish Fed narrative, while a weak report could trigger a pullback toward US$2.27T support.

The key driver behind this institutional capital catalyst is a proposed rule from the US Department of Labour that would permit 401(k) retirement plans to include cryptocurrencies. This news circulated widely on social media and signals a potential flood of long-term institutional capital, which could directly boost market sentiment. This represents a structural bullish development because it reduces a major barrier for institutional adoption and provides a new source of predictable demand. When retirement accounts gain the ability to allocate even small percentages to digital assets, the cumulative effect could reshape market dynamics. The proposal indicates a shift in how regulators view crypto, moving from skepticism toward cautious integration within established financial frameworks. This change matters because it validates crypto as an asset class worthy of long-term savings, not just speculative trading.

Regulatory clarity continues to support market strength as participants digest the recent SEC and CFTC joint guidance classifying major assets as commodities. This guidance reduces regulatory overhang and provides a cleaner operating environment for projects and investors. Concurrently, the Layer 1 sector outperformed, posting a 2.25 per cent gain, fuelled by events such as Algorand’s recognition in a Google quantum security report. Regulatory tailwinds provide a foundation for growth while capital rotates into fundamental narratives, indicating a maturing rally beyond pure speculation. When investors see projects advancing on technical merits like quantum resistance, they allocate capital based on long-term utility rather than short-term hype. This shift toward fundamentals suggests the market is developing deeper roots and attracting more sophisticated participants.

Also Read: The return of crypto—or just a technical bounce?

The immediate trajectory hinges on the March US Jobs Report released on April 3. A weak number could reinforce rate-cut hopes, supporting a test of the US$2.38T level, which represents the 38.2 per cent Fibonacci retracement, to the US$2.41T level at the 50 per cent Fibonacci retracement. Conversely, strong data may pressure risk assets, with the US$2.27T swing low acting as critical support. Traders should watch whether volume sustains above the 7-day moving average at US$2.33T. This technical perspective matters because it frames the market’s next move in terms of observable levels, allowing participants to manage risk while staying aligned with the broader bullish narrative. The interplay between macro data and technical structure will likely dictate whether the rally extends or consolidates.

Global markets experienced a euphoric rally on April 1, 2026, primarily driven by optimism regarding a potential de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. US indices surged on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, following unconfirmed reports that Iran’s president expressed willingness to end hostilities on certain conditions. The S&P 500 jumped 2.9 per cent to close at 6,528.52, marking its best daily performance since May 2024. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.8 per cent to 21,590.63, led by a recovery in mega-cap technology shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 1,100 points, a 2.4 per cent increase, to end at 46,341.51. This broad-based strength in traditional markets provided a supportive backdrop for crypto’s advance, reinforcing the high correlation between risk assets.

International markets reflected this optimism, with Asia-Pacific markets in Sydney, Tokyo, and Hong Kong poised to open at least one per cent higher following the Wall Street rally. ASX 200 futures rose 1.5 per cent while the Straits Times Index recently crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time. European equity futures indicated a positive start, with the euro rising 0.2 per cent to US$1.1572. In commodities, West Texas Intermediate steadied around US$102 per barrel after prices fell 1.5 per cent on Tuesday when President Trump suggested the US might leave Iran within 2 to 3 weeks. Gold surged 2.8 per cent to US$4,654 per ounce as investors balanced safe-haven demand with high volatility. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1 per cent, losing safe-haven appeal amid hopes of de-escalation. Within this complex tapestry, Bitcoin remained stable at US$68,137 while Ether saw a marginal decline to US$2,103, showing relative resilience amid broader risk-on sentiment.

Also Read: Oil surges 59% in March while S&P 500 drops 6%: What this means for your crypto portfolio

The economic outlook presents both opportunities and risks as the IMF projects 3.3 per cent global growth for 2026, though persistent US inflation and geopolitical tensions remain key downside risks. J.P. Morgan forecasts a 35 per cent probability of a US recession in 2026, citing sticky inflation as a prevailing theme. This macro uncertainty underscores why the crypto market’s correlation with traditional indices matters. When institutional capital enters through retirement channels, it may dampen volatility over time, but near-term price action will still respond to inflation data, employment reports, and central bank signals. The market’s ability to hold gains above the US$2.33T 7-day moving average will signal whether bullish conviction outweighs macro caution.

As the crypto market integrates more deeply with traditional finance, its movements will increasingly reflect a blend of crypto-native catalysts and broader economic forces. This convergence demands that investors maintain a dual focus, tracking both on-chain developments and macro indicators. The path forward likely involves volatility, but the direction appears upward as institutional gates slowly open and regulatory frameworks solidify. Either outcome would represent a normal phase within a larger bullish trend, one powered by genuine adoption rather than speculation alone.

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PolicyStreet has pulled in US$21 million in the first close of its Series C round, with Japan’s Cool Japan Fund leading the cheque and existing backers Altara Ventures and Gobi Partners returning for more.

On the surface, it is a straightforward funding story. Look closer, and it reads more like a market signal: investors are no longer paying up for insurtech swagger alone. They want profit, discipline, and a credible role in Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure.

The Malaysian-born company, now operating across Asia and Australia, says it posted more than US$1 million in profit after tax for the financial year ended December 2025. It also reported 2.5x year-on-year net revenue growth, doubled the number of customers served from five million to more than 10 million since 2023, and lifted total sum insured from US$6 billion to more than US$10 billion.

Also Read: ‘Profitability is an inflexion point, not the finish line’: PolicyStreet CEO

For a sector that spent years promising scale before economics, that matters.

PolicyStreet is not a consumer insurance brand in the old sense. It is trying to become plumbing: the layer that enables digital platforms, telcos, travel players, logistics firms, and gig-economy companies to embed insurance into everyday transactions. That position, straddling distribution and infrastructure, is what has now attracted a second sovereign wealth fund after Khazanah Nasional backed its US$15.3 million Series B two years ago.

Profitability, but not the full picture

The headline number, more than US$1 million in profit, is enough to stand out in Southeast Asia’s insurtech market. It is not, by itself, enough to settle every question.

In a recent interview with e27, co-founder and Group CEO Yen Ming Lee described FY2025 as “a significant milestone for a venture-backed insurtech”, arguing that the company had focused on “building a disciplined, scalable model, not short-term margin maximisation”. That is a fair defence, but it also comes with limits. PolicyStreet has not disclosed group revenue, margin breakdowns, cash burn in 2024, or how much of the Series B capital remains on the balance sheet. It has also declined to provide a detailed geographic revenue split, beyond saying Malaysia remains the core market and regional businesses are contributing progressively.

Still, the available data points suggest a company that has moved beyond the frothy growth logic that once defined the category. In a tighter funding market, profit after tax, revenue growth, and an expanding insured base make a stronger case than customer acquisition rhetoric ever did.

Even the 10 million customer figure, while impressive, needs context. Lee noted that the number reflects cumulative policies issued across PolicyStreet’s embedded ecosystem, adjusted for overlap across products and partners. That means the figure should not be read as 10 million deeply engaged insurance customers marching in neat formation. Many will be users of micro-insurance or transaction-linked cover. But that does not automatically make the number inflated. It reflects the reality of embedded insurance, where relevance comes from frequency and context, not from a one-size-fits-all premium.

The company says coverage varies widely across products. While some are short-duration, low-ticket policies, others are materially larger. Gig workers on partner platforms such as foodpanda or ShopeeFood, for instance, can be insured for around US$25,000 per policy.

Why Cool Japan Fund sees more than an insurtech bet

Cool Japan Fund’s entry is not just another foreign investor taking a punt on Southeast Asia. It is a strategic fit.

The Japanese fund was set up to expand overseas demand for Japanese products and services. PolicyStreet’s embedded insurance model directly supports that ambition by reducing one of the biggest bottlenecks in cross-border digital commerce: trust. If consumers feel protected when buying, travelling, shipping goods, or working through online platforms, they are more likely to transact. That makes it easier for Japanese brands and services to travel across the region.

Cool Japan Fund President, CEO, and COO Kenichi Kawasaki put it bluntly, saying PolicyStreet is “building a sense of security and assurance through its embedded insurance model”, which could become “a foundation for the safe and confident expansion of online commerce and digital services”.

That is the real synergy. PolicyStreet gets capital, institutional backing, and a potentially valuable bridge into Japanese commercial networks. Cool Japan Fund gets exposure to a company sitting inside the rails of Southeast Asia’s digital economy. One side brings infrastructure for insurance distribution and risk management. The other brings a mandate tied to overseas market creation. This is not a vanity investment; it is a bet that protection products can help commerce travel further.

Also Read: “SEA + Japan is a long game”: MUIP’s Gerrard Lai on cross-border startup collaboration

It also helps explain why Japanese investors have become more active in Southeast Asian startups. Japan offers stability and capital, but domestic growth is slower and digital adoption curves are less dramatic than in emerging markets. Southeast Asia offers younger consumers, rising internet penetration, growing spending power, and whole sectors still being formalised through software, fintech, logistics, and embedded services.

Japanese investors are also no longer treating the region simply as an export destination. Increasingly, they see it as a strategic operating environment. Startups give them an earlier foothold in shifts that matter, whether in payments, commerce, climate, health, or insurance.

The sectors driving PolicyStreet’s expansion

PolicyStreet’s recent push into gig work, mobility, travel, logistics, and telecommunications is not a grab bag of buzzworthy verticals. These are sectors where insurance can be attached to a clear moment of risk, and where distribution works best when the product is built into the user journey.

In gig work, platforms need coverage for riders, drivers, and freelancers who often fall outside traditional employment protections. In mobility, insurance can be tied to vehicle usage, rides, or accidents. In travel, embedded cover can be sold with less friction at the point of booking. In logistics, it can protect shipments, cargo, delays, or other operational risks. In telecommunications, insurance can be bundled into device protection and digital service offerings at scale.

This matters because PolicyStreet’s model relies on context. It is easier to sell protection when the customer already understands what can go wrong. Embedded distribution lowers customer acquisition costs, allows platforms to monetise or strengthen retention, and makes insurance less of a cold sell and more of a service layer.

Lee argued that affordability and profitability are not incompatible if distribution is efficient. Embedded insurance, he said, cuts acquisition costs compared with traditional channels, while modular products let customers choose narrower, cheaper cover instead of buying oversized bundles. In some cases, he added, platform partners may partially or fully fund the protection as part of their broader user proposition.

That sector mix has likely done more than lift volumes. It has reinforced the platform. More partners mean more data, more use cases, more touchpoints, and stronger distribution logic across the business.

The risk beneath the momentum

None of this makes PolicyStreet bulletproof.

A business built around digital platforms and telcos must answer a familiar question: what happens if a major partner decides to bring insurance in-house? Lee’s answer is that insurance remains a regulated, specialist activity involving underwriting, reinsurance, compliance, risk assessment, and capital management — capabilities that most consumer platforms do not want to build themselves. He also pointed to a diversified partner base across sectors and markets as protection against concentration risk.

That argument is credible, though not absolute. Large platforms have a habit of internalising valuable layers once they become strategically important. PolicyStreet’s defence will depend on whether it remains more useful as an expert infrastructure partner than it would as a replaceable integration vendor.

Also Read: Japan’s innovation dilemma—and why SEA startups could be the answer

That is why this fundraise matters beyond the amount. The US$21 million first close suggests investors think PolicyStreet has a shot at becoming essential infrastructure rather than an optional add-on. Profitability gives the story weight. The Cool Japan Fund tie-up gives it strategic shape. And the company’s presence across high-frequency sectors gives it room to deepen rather than merely widen.

The harder part starts now. Southeast Asia’s insurtech market has little patience left for businesses that confuse distribution with defensibility. PolicyStreet has shown that embedded insurance can scale and, at least for now, make money. The next test is whether it can turn that momentum into something more durable: a position in the region’s digital economy that platforms, insurers, and investors cannot easily route around.

The post PolicyStreet’s US$21M raise signals a shift from insurtech hype to infrastructure reality appeared first on e27.

Singapore’s updated advertising guidelines, which took effect on March 25, are forcing banks and financial firms to rethink how they monitor advisers and influencers online — or risk reputational and regulatory consequences.

The new MAS regulation governing digital financial communications has arrived, and for institutions still relying on periodic spot audits to oversee their advisers’ online activity, the window to act has effectively closed.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s updated guidelines establish a clear expectation: financial institutions are now accountable for the content their financial advisers and affiliated influencers (“finfluencers”) publish across digital platforms. Reactive oversight, regulators have signalled, is no longer sufficient.

“The urgency is immediate,” said Ram Bojeesh, Country Manager for Southeast Asia and India at Meltwater. “Those relying on manual spot audits will fall short, as they cannot meet the expectation of continuous oversight or demonstrate it in practice,” he stressed in an email interview with e27.

The shift demanded by the new MAS regulation is fundamental. Traditional compliance structures built around selected case reviews, legal escalation, and periodic sampling were designed for a slower media environment. Digital channels operate differently. Content can spread within hours, reach audiences well beyond its original context, and potentially surface in AI-generated search results. In a market where more than half of Singaporeans reportedly turn to social media for financial guidance, the stakes are considerable.

Also Read: PolicyStreet’s US$21M raise signals a shift from insurtech hype to infrastructure reality

Bojeesh argues that existing compliance teams and legal functions, while still essential, are structurally insufficient on their own. “Manual processes rely on sampling and escalation, so there will inevitably be gaps,” he said. “It becomes difficult to practise full oversight in a way that complies with the new regulatory standards.”

What the guidelines effectively demand is a shift toward technology-enabled monitoring: systems capable of tracking adviser activity across digital channels in real time, flagging unapproved keywords, missing disclaimers, misleading claims or improper use of branding, and generating audit trails that can be presented to regulators on request.

Beyond regulatory risk, Bojeesh frames the new MAS regulation as an opportunity for institutions to exercise greater control over how they are represented online. A single non-compliant post, he notes, carries outsized consequences.

“If an adviser publishes something misleading or non-compliant, it can be amplified across digital platforms within hours,” he said. “As financial advisers are seen as representatives of their institutions, such content is rarely viewed in isolation.”

Over time, individual lapses can compound into a broader public narrative that reshapes an institution’s credibility across online discussions, social media, and increasingly, generative AI search outputs.

The concern is not purely theoretical. In a digitally fluent financial market like Singapore, the connection between compliance and brand reputation is direct and fast-moving.

Also Read: Building equity into Asia’s AI future: From principles on paper to power in practice

A regional regulatory trend

Singapore’s move reflects a wider pattern across Southeast Asia and India. Bojeesh points to regulators in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia as having already introduced or strengthened guidelines on financial advertising, adviser responsibility, and online promotion. In India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has intensified scrutiny of unregistered financial influencers and inadequate disclosures.

The trajectory across the region, he argues, points toward convergence. “Gaps in compliance across the region are unlikely to persist in the long term,” Bojeesh said. “Given how deeply embedded digital channels are, expectations around regulating digital financial communication will increasingly converge.”

One concern raised by industry practitioners is that intensive monitoring risks creating a surveillance culture that damages adviser morale. Bojeesh pushes back on this framing, arguing that effective oversight, when implemented with clarity, functions as a support system rather than a penalty mechanism. When advisers understand the boundaries and receive real-time guidance, he contends, they are better positioned to engage confidently — not less.

For institutions that have yet to act on the new MAS regulation, the calculus is straightforward: scalable, technology-enabled oversight is no longer a competitive advantage. It is the baseline.

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Image Credit: Meltwater

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In this fireside chat from Echelon Philippines 2025, moderator Artie Lopez, Co-Founder and Startup Coach at Brainsparks, sits down with Saul Molla, Founder and CEO of FlowerStore and Potico, to discuss his bold leap from corporate stability to entrepreneurship.

Molla recounts leaving his role as CFO of Lazada to enter the gifting industry — a uniquely demanding niche within e-commerce that requires exceptional precision and a strong sense of aesthetic. He also opens up about the complexities of scaling across Southeast Asia, sharing candid insights into the distinct cultural nuances and market challenges he encountered while expanding his business regionally.

The post Echelon Philippines 2025 – Risk, roses, and ROI: The founder + team blueprint to go regional appeared first on e27.

MSIG Asia has taken a strategic equity stake in Singapore-founded travel insurtech Ancileo and entered into a regional partnership aimed at expanding its travel insurance business across Asia Pacific.

While the deal size remains undisclosed, this is less about headline funding and more about control of distribution in one of Asia’s most competitive digital battlegrounds: travel.

Also Read: PolicyStreet’s US$21M raise signals a shift from insurtech hype to infrastructure reality

For years, travel insurance has largely been treated as an afterthought at checkout, the tiny box many travellers ignore while rushing to book a flight. That model is now under strain. Airlines, online travel agencies, and digital platforms increasingly want insurance products that are easier to embed, simpler to understand, and faster to claim.

Insurers, meanwhile, want a larger slice of travel demand returning across Asia, but without relying on the same clunky legacy systems that slowed expansion in the past.

That is where the MSIG-Ancileo tie-up fits.

MSIG gets a technology and distribution partner with deep airline and OTA integration experience across more than 25 markets. Ancileo gets capital, a major insurer with balance-sheet strength, underwriting muscle, and a footprint stretching across Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, and Taiwan. In plain English: one side brings the pipes, the other brings the water.

As MSIG Asia CEO Clemens Philippi put it, the partnership combines Ancileo’s “technology and distribution expertise” with MSIG’s regional footprint to deliver faster and more relevant travel experiences. Strip away the corporate polish, and the point still lands. This is a distribution deal disguised as a partnership announcement, and distribution is where travel insurance is increasingly won or lost.

Why this deal matters to both sides

For MSIG Asia, the investment is a shortcut to speed. Large insurers are good at underwriting, capital management, and regulation. They are usually less nimble when it comes to product personalisation, user journeys, and integration with digital travel sellers.

Also Read: Poni’s Cassandra Wee on why the most meaningful insurtech innovation will not come from operating in silo

Ancileo helps close that gap. Its platform is built around B2B2C travel insurance, enabling insurers to distribute policies through airlines, OTAs, and travel partners rather than relying solely on direct channels or old-school brokers.

That is crucial because travel insurance is increasingly sold at the moment of purchase. If MSIG wants to grow across Asia’s travel boom, it needs to sit where travellers book, not where they file paperwork.

For Ancileo, the benefit is equally obvious. Strategic capital from a heavyweight insurer is more valuable than a passive financial cheque if it comes with underwriting access, distribution scale, and regional credibility. Ancileo has spent years building the technology layer for travel protection. MSIG gives it a far larger field on which to deploy that technology.

Ancileo founder and CEO Olivier Michel said the goal is to “reimagine what B2B2C travel insurance looks like in Asia”. That ambition sounds lofty, but the business logic is grounded. Ancileo’s products can become harder to ignore if they are backed by a recognisable insurer and deployed across more markets at scale.

Ultimately, the deal benefits three groups beyond the companies themselves. Travellers get more relevant and better-integrated protection. Airlines and OTAs can offer an insurance product that increases ancillary revenue while improving customer trust. And both firms improve their competitive position in a region where digital travel recovery has been outpacing many earlier forecasts.

Where the capital is likely to go

Neither MSIG nor Ancileo disclosed a detailed use-of-funds plan, so there is no official line-item breakdown of how the money will be spent. But the commercial intent is clear enough from the structure of the partnership.
The capital is likely to support four areas.

First, product personalisation. Travel insurance is moving away from generic annual policies and towards modular cover tied to trip type, route, traveller profile, and disruption risk. That means more dynamic pricing and more tailored policies rather than blunt, one-size-fits-all products.

Second, deeper integrations with airlines and OTAs. Ancileo’s value lies in helping partners embed insurance inside booking flows without turning checkout into a conversion-killing maze. More capital and insurer backing should help it expand these integrations faster across Asia Pacific.

Third, claims automation and customer experience. One of the industry’s biggest headaches is not just selling policies but handling claims without driving customers to despair. Faster claims, automated triggers, and cleaner digital journeys are likely to be a major investment focus.

Also Read: What Southeast Asia can learn from Europe’s insurtech revolution

Fourth, regional expansion. MSIG’s footprint gives Ancileo a ready-made path into more markets. That does not mean instant rollout everywhere, but it does create a credible route to scale that many insurtechs spend years trying to build from scratch.

Asia’s travel rebound is rewriting the insurance playbook

The timing is hardly accidental. Travel across Asia has been recovering on several fronts at once: rising intra-Asia tourism, expanded airline capacity, visa waivers in key corridors, and a continued shift to mobile-first booking behaviour. Southeast Asia, in particular, has benefited from strong regional demand as travellers opt for shorter-haul, more frequent trips.

This is important because travel insurance adoption tends to rise with booking frequency and digital convenience. The more often people travel and the more they book through apps and online platforms, the easier it becomes to present insurance as part of the booking journey rather than as a separate financial product.

Several forces are accelerating that shift.

The first is higher disruption awareness. Travellers have become more conscious of delays, cancellations, baggage issues, medical emergencies, and weather-related disruptions. The pandemic changed traveller psychology, and climate volatility has kept that anxiety alive.

The second is embedded distribution. Airlines and OTAs no longer want insurance to be a clumsy upsell bolted awkwardly onto a transaction. They want integrated products that are easier to explain and easier to claim. That increases take-up rates.

The third is a better digital claims infrastructure. Consumers are more willing to buy insurance when they believe they will not need to wrestle a call centre for weeks to get paid.

As for market size, exact estimates vary by research firm, but most industry trackers place the global travel insurance market in the low tens of billions of US dollars in the mid-2020s, with Asia Pacific among the fastest-growing regions. Broadly, the market is expected to expand strongly over the next decade as more travel sales move online and embedded insurance becomes standard at checkout. Asia’s share of that growth is likely to be disproportionately high, thanks to rising middle-class travel demand, stronger regional air connectivity, and the sheer scale of outbound and intra-regional traffic.

That is the larger backdrop to this deal. MSIG and Ancileo are not inventing a market. They are trying to get ahead of one that is already changing shape.

The Iran factor and the limits of travel cover

One complication hangs over the broader travel insurance sector: geopolitics.  Wars and tensions between countries (for example, the ongoing war in the Middle East) would ripple through the travel insurance market quickly. Airspace restrictions, flight rerouting, cancellations, fuel-cost pressure, and destination risk repricing all feed into the economics of travel cover.

This is where the industry gets messy. Most travel insurance policies contain war exclusions, meaning losses caused directly by war are often not covered. But indirect consequences (delays, missed connections, or trip disruption linked to changing airline operations, etc.) may be covered depending on the policy wording and trigger. That creates exactly the kind of ambiguity travellers hate, and insurers must price carefully.

For firms such as MSIG Asia, this means tougher underwriting, sharper policy wording, and potentially higher claims volatility around disruption products. For insurtech players such as Ancileo, it raises the bar on product clarity and real-time distribution. Travellers want to know what is covered before they buy, not after they are stuck in an airport staring at a departures board that resembles performance art.

Also Read: Meet Forgettable, the startup transforming the world’s most forgettable product: insurance

In that sense, geopolitical volatility strengthens the case for smarter travel insurance technology. Products need to be clearer, more modular, and easier to distribute dynamically as risk conditions change.

That is the real story behind this investment. MSIG Asia is not merely buying into an insurtech. It is buying into a mechanism for selling, adapting, and servicing travel protection in a region where the travel rebound is real, the competition is intensifying, and the risks are becoming more complex. Ancileo, meanwhile, gets a powerful ally in its effort to turn travel insurance from a neglected add-on into a core part of the booking experience.

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When we think of healthtech in South and Southeast Asia, certain themes often spring to mind: SARS, COVID-19, and an ageing population driving a demand for effective eldercare. For those of us living here, these issues feel obvious and urgent. But what’s obvious to us in the region is not always obvious to decision-makers sitting in other parts of the world.

It’s a reminder that when it comes to innovation in healthcare, perspective matters.

A missed opportunity in telehealth

In a previous role at a late-stage video conferencing company, I saw firsthand how a lack of local context can mean missing the moment. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a colleague from Hong Kong and I proposed that we should give away video conferencing licenses to healthcare institutions.

At the time, governments across South and Southeast Asia were already mobilising to prepare their healthcare systems. We believed that this was the perfect opportunity to not only seize market share but also build a reputation as a company that understood the urgency and wanted to help.

The idea was met with scepticism at our London sales headquarters and was ultimately rejected. We were a small team of four in Asia trying to signal the importance of moving quickly, but our urgency didn’t translate back to the company’s US headquarters.

Three months later, the world was in lockdown. The company eventually doubled down on telehealth, but the approach (to me at least) felt outdated. The market had already moved, and many of the most interesting innovations we were seeing were coming from startups within the region, not from Europe or the US.

Also Read: Decoding digital preferences: A glimpse into the future of health tech ecosystem in SEA

Learning from Sehat Kehani

Around that time, I met the founder of Sehat Kehani, a Pakistani healthtech company with a clear mission and a deep understanding of its local context. The company was addressing three critical issues:

• Increasing female doctors’ participation in Pakistan’s workforce
• Extending healthcare outreach to rural villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan
• Training local nurses to deliver telehealth services, connecting patients to remote female doctors

This approach was remarkable because it was designed from the ground up to work within the constraints and opportunities of the local healthcare ecosystem. It wasn’t about parachuting in technology or people from elsewhere; it was about building something that made sense for the realities on the ground.

If our HQ had been willing to listen and pivot, we could have adapted our platform to serve this massive, underserved market. Instead, after being acquired by a US telco, we exited customers from this region entirely.

Why local founders matter

Experiences like this have shaped the way I evaluate healthtech startups. I look at how “close” the founders are to the market they are serving. If they are too far removed from the region, they are often too far removed from the problem, and that distance makes it difficult to design truly effective solutions.

The strongest healthtech innovations in Asia often come from founders who have lived the problem, understand its nuances, and can navigate local systems to get solutions into the hands of those who need them most.

Standout examples in the region

Here are just a few companies that stand out for their impact and market insight:

• Sehat Kehani (Pakistan) – Rural telemedicine and enabling greater participation of female doctors in the workforce.
• SixtyPlus (India) – At-home eldercare for a rapidly aging population.
• HealthPro (Indonesia) – Home healthcare services tailored to urban and semi-urban populations.
• MedEasy (Bangladesh) – Combining B2C and B2B pharmaceutical services with telehealth delivery.
• PulseTech (Bangladesh) – B2B pharmaceutical distribution designed for emerging market supply chains.
• Relaxy (Bangladesh) – Mental health services in a context where mental wellbeing is often overlooked or stigmatised.
• Sova Health (India) – Supplements tailored for the Indian gut biome, recognising the need for locally relevant nutrition science.
• TB-AI (Pakistan) – Rapid diagnostics using mobile phone technology, scalable across rural Africa and Asia.
• Amar Lab (Bangladesh) – Bringing lab diagnostics directly to patients’ doors.

These aren’t just product stories; they are founder stories. Each one reflects a combination of lived experience, deep market understanding, and creative problem-solving.

Also Read: Empowering women in healthtech: The role of technology in driving inclusive workplaces

Healthtech’s frontline role in Asia

Healthtech is no longer a “nice to have” in South and Southeast Asia: it is an essential part of building resilient healthcare systems. The region faces a unique mix of challenges:

• Large rural populations with limited access to formal healthcare
• Uneven distribution of medical professionals, especially in specialised fields
• Rising demand for eldercare as life expectancy increases
• A growing awareness of mental health and preventive care needs

At the same time, there are powerful enablers:

• High mobile penetration, even in rural areas
• Increasing acceptance of telemedicine post-COVID-19
• A growing pool of local founders building solutions for local problems

The best solutions emerging here are not imported wholesale from Silicon Valley. They are tailored to local realities: from bandwidth limitations to cultural sensitivities, and are designed to be affordable and accessible.

The global relevance of local solutions

One of the most exciting aspects of Asia’s healthtech innovations is their potential for global application. Technologies built to work in low-resource settings such as mobile-based diagnostics, community health worker training platforms, and AI-powered remote consultations, are not just relevant for emerging markets. They can also address healthcare access issues in underserved communities worldwide.

This is why listening to and supporting local founders is so important. The problems they are solving are urgent today in Asia, but they may be the same problems others will face tomorrow elsewhere.

Looking ahead

The future of healthtech in South and Southeast Asia will be shaped by the intersection of technology, cultural understanding, and policy support. Startups that can blend these elements will not only transform healthcare access in their home markets but could also influence how care is delivered globally.

For investors, this is a space where impact and returns are not mutually exclusive. For policymakers, it’s a chance to integrate nimble, tech-enabled solutions into broader public health strategies.

As I’ve learned, being close to the problem is the only way to design the right solution. And in healthtech, the right solution can mean the difference between life and death.

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In Southeast Asia’s vibrant startup ecosystem, strategic investors from technology giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Google offer more than just capital. Unlike traditional VC funds, they can provide access to technology, networks, and markets, aligning investments with their business goals.

For the 700 million consumer market in our region, these partnerships can catapult startups to regional dominance. However, founders face significant risks, including loss of control and misalignment of incentives, which can jeopardise autonomy and long-term success. This week’s post addresses the opportunities and challenges of taking on strategic corporate investors and highlights the safeguards founders should consider to stay aligned and in control.

What is a strategic investment?

A strategic investment is when an established company invests in a young startup with the aim that the investment can bring something of value to the investor itself. The aim may be for the investor to gain access to a particular product or technology that the startup company is developing, or to support young startups that could become customers for the investor’s own existing products.

A well known example is Microsoft’s investment into OpenAI, where the partnership went beyond capital into deep product and market collaboration to spur AI technologies.

What are the benefits of a strategic investment?

Strategic investments usually bring huge advantages other than the usual cash investment including even willingness to  accept a higher valuation to make a deal work. Additionally, a strategic investor can offer other support including operational expertise,  such as integration into a corporate ecosystem like expertise in existing verticals such as logistics or cloud which can provide instant market access and credibility. 

Also Read: Unlocking startup investment: The vital role of virtual data rooms

Patient capital is another benefit, as corporates may likely be able to tolerate longer return timelines for strategic value. The “halo effect” of partnering with a global giant boosts valuations and attracts talent, while mentorship from industry leaders accelerates growth in our region’s competitive digital landscape.

Risks and challenges in a strategic investment

Despite these benefits, strategic investments can also carry substantial risks. 

Founders may lose control when investors demand board seats or veto powers, as seen in the usual hierarchical business cultures prevalent in our culture such as in Indonesia or Thailand, where pressure to concede may be intense. 

Misalignment is a key risk, as corporates may prioritise their own agendas such as redirecting product development or valuable intellectual property to serve their ecosystem which potentially stifles your ability to innovate. 

In our past experience at Izwan & Partners, I have seen situations where a corporate investor comes into a startup, but the business leader involved in the deal who backed you initially later moves on or decides to pivot in a new direction. In such a scenario, without clear alignment or written safeguards, you may be left stuck if priorities shift after a leadership change.

Over-reliance on a single investor may also expose your startup to corporate shifts, such as economic downturns or geopolitical tensions (e.g. the US and Chinese firms vying for regional dominance). 

The “halo effect”, while beneficial, can deter potential acquirers wary of competing with a strategic investor, limiting exit options for existing investors and founders.

Alibaba’s US$1 billion controlling stake in Lazada in 2016 may be a good case study that allowed the e-commerce platform to benefit via logistics integration but eroded founders’ autonomy as Alibaba reshaped its own operations. Tencent’s US$1.5 billion investment in Sea Group in 2018 may have helped to supercharge Shopee’s growth, but it may also likely come with  additional pressure to follow Tencent’s playbook considering its challenges against the backdrop of having to deal with the US-China geopolitical tensions.

Making strategic investment work and mitigating risks

To navigate these challenges, founders must engage a startup lawyer to help them structure deals carefully. and include milestones tied to strategic support, not just funds.

Also Read: McKinsey: Strategic investment fuels Asia Pacific quantum computing expansion

Other considerations include:

• Minority stake: Where possible, negotiate for the strategic investors to take up minority stakes so that you can retain control.
• Board and voting rights: Negotiate veto rights or reserved matters to protect against unwanted pivots.
• Milestone-based commitments: Tie part of the deal to strategic support (e.g. distribution, partnerships, market access), not just cash.
• IP protection: Restrict how your technology, know-how, or data can be used within the corporate investor’s ecosystem.
• Exit flexibility: Ensure you’re not locked into the corporate investor if future fundraising or an acquisition opportunity arises (e.g. shares swap or put option agreement). This can help preserve autonomy in the unfortunate event that things don’t work out post-investment
• Funding alignment: Clarify expectations on follow-on funding and whether they’ll support future rounds. Diversifying funding sources may help reduce reliance on one investor, mitigating risks from the investor’s corporate or geopolitical shifts.
• Non-compete/exclusivity: Limit how far the corporate investor can restrict you from working with others in the same industry.
• Leadership change clauses: Address what happens if the corporate champion backing you leaves or priorities shift.

In any funding deal, it is crucial for you to conduct your own due diligence including vetting the corporate investor’s past track record with their past portfolio investments. 

Final thoughts

As a founder, getting a strategic investor in a company can offer unparalleled benefits including new sources of capital, networks, and expertise that can propel your business to greater success, as seen in Lazada and Shopee. Yet, the risks of control loss and misalignment need to be managed properly to avoid misalignment of interests down the line.

By learning from these case studies, I hope you can consider how a strategic investment can let your startup harness corporate strengths while safeguarding your startup’s agility to innovate and grow.

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