Israel hits the high notes

Upwind, LimX Dynamics, FinAccel, and more raised funds this week.

Read from your browser FOMO Saturday Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Saturday VC newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia's tech and startup community by registering here. Hello Betamax, When I first read about Apple buying Q.ai, I got a sense that this was a huge move many of us wouldn't completely understand until a few years down the road. On paper, Q.ai is an Israeli audio AI startup whose tech can read facial micro‑movements and whispered speech. But the deal, which values the company at nearly US$2 billion, suggests its solution would likely give Apple some serious upgrades in the years ahead. What will these be? Who knows - all we can do is wait. You can find all other important investment deals from the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up. Let's dive into the biggest deals and M&A that have recently taken place. -- Jonathan THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY 🇮🇱 Upwind is a cloud security platform based in Israel, which is located in West Asia. It has raised US$250 million in series B money from Bessemer Venture Partners, Picture Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. 🇨🇳 LimX Dynamics, an AI robotics firm from China, has secured US$200 million in a series B funding round. Participating investors included CCMC, CoStone Capital, GF Xinde Investment Management, Hefei Innovation Investment Fund, and JD.com. 🇮🇩 FinAccel is a fintech company headquartered in Indonesia. It has secured US$178 million in debt funding from DBS Bank. 🇦🇪 Based in the United Arab Emirates, Kitopi is a foodtech platform. It has scored US$50 million in series D funding from EvolutionX Debt Capital. 🇯🇵 Akari is an AI startup based in Japan. It has bagged a US$35 million strategic investment from Mitsubishi Electric. Here's the complete list of this week's funding chart: 56 deals worth over US$987 million. M&AS 🇮🇱 Q.ai is an Israeli AI startup that develops machine learning applications focused on audio intelligence. It has been acquired by Apple for an undisclosed amount. PUT YOUR STARTUP IN THE SPOTLIGHT Want your startup featured on Tech in Asia? We're trying something new: You share your story, and we turn it into a Startup Spotlight article using generative AI. The article is then reviewed by editors, published, and promoted like any other story. Here's a look at some of the startups we've put in the spotlight recently: Digibox Limited uses IoT-enabled smart lockers to create fixed, reliable delivery points for packages. Relocal is a platform that uses AI to automate the hiring of international nurses. Spun's solution is designed to make visa processes faster and more predictable. Want to see your startup or portfolio company here next? Just fill in this form. BEHIND THE GLASSWALL Fundraising often involves reaching out to several contacts, many of whom founders might not have dealt with before. To provide some transparency to this process, we created Glasswall, a platform for founders to give feedback and recommendations on investors. Check out the full list here. ✅︎ "[The VC] rejected us initially but gave us constructive feedback. Our valuation was too high, and it would pressure us in the short term and prevent us from having the freedom of making mistakes. They were also transparent about their shortcomings in terms of not being an expert in our sector." - Read more ❌ "An old school traditional PE [private equity] mindset trying to be a VC. Extensive due diligence, multiple site visits, multiple investment committee rounds, then pass. Reasons for passing could have been determined from the first pitch deck provided." - Read more ✅︎ "They're a highly data-driven VC. They reached out because they recognized our strong performance via their tracking platform. We were surprised, took the call, but decided not to take external funding. They were respectful of our decision." - Read more SUCCESS ISN'T ACCIDENTAL. YOU TRAIN FOR IT. Why the "drills" phase is where potential turns into performance A strong foundation is only the beginning. Once you have defined the habits of excellence during the warm-up stage, you must rigorously practice them. Technical skill might get you in the room, but mental conditioning and systemic rituals are what keep you there. At the HSBC Women's World Championship Business Forum, we move from the arena of theory to the practical gym of leadership in the "drills" phase. We're going behind the scenes with leaders who don't just talk about discipline but live it. Grace Park and Cole Sirucek, co-founders of DocDoc, have built a patient-empowerment engine that spans multiple markets and has partnered with global giants like AXA and Aon. This husband-and-wife duo will discuss the work behind the wins, examining how high-performing partners create enduring systems for leadership, decision-making, and resilience. As AI reshapes execution, we can no longer rely on instinct to achieve leadership excellence. This shifts the focus from doing to deciding, and leaders have to train for relevance. Rob Bier, who has helped scale over 40 growth companies, will be facilitating an interactive workshop that explores how top leaders can develop judgment, culture, and decision discipline alongside intelligent machines. Join us for this exclusive event! Secure your access today - limited seats available. EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES Lists of most active investors in the region China | India | Indonesia | Japan | Singapore | Southeast Asia List of top-funded startups in Asia China | India | Indonesia | Israel | Japan | Hong Kong | Singapore | South Korea | Vietnam THOUGHTFUL READS 1️⃣ How Zoom zoomed to the top Ever wondered how the communications tech company took over legacy giants like the dearly departed Skype? Check out this Masters of Scale episode, featuring Zoom founder Eric Yuan. 2️⃣ The right kind of office politics Bringing in someone from another team within the company can be tricky. If you're looking for some advice on how to do it without ruffling too many feathers, this article from Harvard Business Review should help. 3️⃣ Dropping the C Moving from corporate to traditional VCs might not seem like much of a change, but there are some things one might need to take note of. This Reddit thread has a few nuggets of insight that can be useful. 4️⃣ No escape In this day and age, where everyone consumes short-form content, this question naturally arises: "Do all startups need to hop in and start playing the social media game, too?" This piece dives deeper. 5️⃣ The hare and the tortoise Everyone's so focused on OpenAI and other cutting-edge AI startups that we forget another potential behemoth of a player: governments. In this article, the author argues that the real AI "race" in 2026 is being set not only by research labs but also by governments, which are fast‑tracking adoption via public-private partnerships and industrial policy. ADVERTISE | SUBSCRIBE | HIRE | FIND JOBS P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Tech in Asia thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. 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