Asian AI Startup Pulse

SEA AI Startup Funding

• 🔥 Video Rebirth Raises $80M: SG AI startup Video Rebirth raises $80m; founded by Dr Wei Liu, formerly a Tencent...

• DeepSeek push: Mystery Hunter Alpha rumored as V4 stealth launch in April from Chinese startup
• Tencent counter: Hunyuan 3.0 drops April 2026...

• PixVerse becomes SEA's first genAI unicorn, fueling the region's AI video boom
• Singapore's Video Rebirth raises $80M; founded by ex-Tencent...

Key highlights from Tencent's AI push:

• Seizing momentum against Alibaba in agentic AI
• Back on Paramount-Warner Bros deal with fresh funding
• Frenetic pace alongside peers like Qwen and ByteDance's Seed

Indian AI Funding Rounds

• 🔥 BambooBox Secures $6.6M: BambooBox, an AI-driven orchestration platform founded by Ankur Saigal and Divyesh Dixit,...

Semiconductor powerhouse AMD is supercharging generative video AI in Asia via direct CEO investments and VC arms:

• Ex-Tencent AI expert Liu Wei's...

• Benny Liao (Acorn Pacific Ventures): Ex-SEA fintech founder who raised $10M+, now backs technical founders in AI infrastructure and data...

Akshith from Scaler School of Business lands role at Emergent Labs, India's fastest-growing AI startup founded in 2024 and valued at $300M.

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• Fresh funding: Peak XV leads $6.6M round for BambooBox's AI-driven ABM orchestration, with Emergent Ventures, Arc180 and angels joining.
• Founders...

Campus Fund launches FutureX AI, a platform scouting India's best student AI founders.

• Google Cloud partnership powers the accelerator for pre-seed...

Grapevine raises $4.1M led by Kae Capital, Peak XV, Unilazer to launch AI Talent Agent TAL for job discovery.

• Ex-IBM Emergence opens Bengaluru...

Key insights from India's From Model to Market panel on scaling AI startups:

• Core journey: From AI research/prototypes to market-ready products,...

Indian commercial interiors startup Officebanao secures $7.7M funding to integrate AI and machine learning into its proprietary platform for automated design.

China's agentic AI trend accelerates:

• Moonshot unicorn leap: Seeking $1B funding at $18B valuation, quadrupling prior mark
• Tencent's bold push:...

Singapore's national AI push is fueling Agnes AI's explosive growth, scaling the SEA app-layer startup to millions of global users across Southeast Asia and emerging markets, while raising tens of millions.

Key insights from Gokul Rajaram on building durable AI companies:

• 8 Moats Framework identifies truly defensible software firms amid AI disruption
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Atlys secures $36M Series C led by Susquehanna Asia VC to fuel global growth.

• Targets new international markets with its AI-powered visa processing platform
• Positions the startup to scale amid rising demand for travel tech innovations

Together Fund launches a program backing early-stage AI startups, with select teams gaining up to $1M funding, technical mentorship, and resources to build and scale products in India. A timely shot in the arm for India's AI builders.

SEA AI Funding Boost

• 🔥 Singtel Innov8 USD 250M Fund: Singtel Innov8 launches USD 250 mln AI fund to support startup investment in areas...

• 20-year tax holiday proposed for foreign cloud companies operating data centers in India, potentially until 2047
• Targets $60B investments from...