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Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Saturday VC newsletter! Register to 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. Ensure our articles appear in your Google searches: 
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Hello Betamax, "I'd like to go one day without seeing 'AI' in the newspaper," my mom said to me a few weeks ago. She's a little tired of seeing the term thrown around so much. I told her to imagine what it's like for me. I work in the tech sector - there's no escape. Much like Thanos in Avengers: Endgame ("I am inevitable"), it does seem that AI is coming for us, in some form, shape, or way. What's heartening for me personally is seeing how people are thinking deeper about the tech: the implications using it holds, its actual value, and how we can use AI productively. We're looking beyond the hype at what it can actually do, and I think that's important. Case in point: While three of the five startups on our list of this week's biggest deals are classified as AI companies, two of them are heavily involved in physical tech and mobility. This marks growing interest in how AI is being applied to revolutionize capital-intensive hardware, logistics, and transportation, rather than just generative software. Here's to us building more useful things with AI, instead of generating another awful image of some public figure, or whatever. 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. -- Stefanie |
THE BIGGEST DEALS BY MARKET🇰🇷 Wrtn Technologies, an AI services platform headquartered in South Korea, has raised US$72.2 million in series C funding. New investors include Coreline Ventures and Eugene Asset Management, alongside existing backers Goodwater Capital and Korea Development Bank. 🇦🇪 Fasset, a stablecoin-based financial services platform from the United Arab Emirates, has bagged US$68 million in series C funding from SBI Holdings and Speedinvest. 🇮🇳 Airbound is a drone tech startup based in India. It has secured US$37 million in series A funding from DoorDash, Greenoaks Capital, Humba Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and entrepreneur Lachy Groom. 🇳🇿 Based in New Zealand, Vessev is a marine tech company that builds electric hydrofoiling vessels. It has bagged US$19 million in series A funding from Blackbird Ventures, Global from Day One, Icehouse Ventures, K1W1, NZVC, Rypples, and Shasta Ventures. 🇨🇳 Eacomp is an industrial software developer. Headquartered in China, it has raised US$14.9 million in strategic funding from Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited. Here's the complete list of this week's funding chart: 42 deals worth over US$341 million. |
M&A🇸🇬 MakeGoodwill, a digital wills platform that hails from Singapore, has been acquired by digital investment platform StashAway for an undisclosed sum. |
STARTUP IN THE SPOTLIGHTThis startup uses neural signals to restore communication  Millions suffer strokes every year, leaving many people struggling to communicate. The startup Neural Drive is working to give them a way to express their basic needs.
- The gap: Caregivers and hospital staff are often forced to guess what stroke patients need, as they can't always talk. This can lead to dangerous delays in treatment, stress for patients and their caregivers, and medical errors.
- The fix: Neural Drive makes a wearable that can be set up in minutes. The device reads deliberate eye blinks and neural biosignals, allowing patients to send basic messages to a screen, send WhatsApp messages, and control smart devices.
- The pitch: The Afore Capital-backed startup sells its devices directly to hospitals and families for roughly S$2,500 (US$1,968) and makes recurring revenue through software subscriptions, maintenance plans, and replacement sensors.
This article is part of our Startup Spotlight series. To get your startup or portco covered, fill out this survey. |
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.
- ✅︎ "They reached out to us via LinkedIn and got the conversation started. We received the investment in about 1.5 months after the initial discussion. Nice surprise to have a VC cold outreach to us and actually invest." - Read more
- ❌ "Had pretty junior people reach out a few times via LinkedIn, asking to have a conversation. I would reply in the affirmative only to have them ghost the reply. Really rude." - Read more.
- ✅︎ "They understand what's important and are able to cut through the fog. If nothing else, the fundraise process itself will help you learn about your own business better." - Read more.
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12 READY-TO-DEPLOY SOLUTIONS, 0% THEORYMeet the builders moving Asia's AI out of the sandbox  Want to know what the next era of business looks like? You need to see the tech shipping right now. We've finalized our Lightning Pitch lineup of 12 market-ready builders who will showcase how they are bridging today's execution gap in these categories:
- Autonomous autonomy: Robotics and AI-powered fleets redefining safety and efficiency on construction and mining sites
- Industrial intelligence: Real-time computer vision and automated inspection systems for the built world and manufacturing floors
- Workflow evolution: AI teammates and engagement tools handling complex enterprise operations and supply chains.
- Biotactical tech: Next-gen bio-tracking and health solutions moving from the lab into real-world applications
Witness 15-minute technical deep-dives into real-world builds. The best part? It's all for free. We're making our exhibition visitor passes available at no cost to ensure that every leader in the region can see these solutions in action. Register today. |
EXCLUSIVE LISTICLESLists 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 READS1️⃣ Let's go gamers Funding in the gaming industry is on the rise, but the money isn't going into the games themselves. The bulk of investment seems to be going into AI tech and tools that make games easier and cheaper to build - something that has significant implications for the industry. Business professor and author Joost van Dreunen unpacks this in an interview with Ben Feder, managing partner at entertainment-focused VC firm Tirta Ventures. 2️⃣ Take me to the moon Spacetech startups raised more venture capital in the first half of 2026 than in the entirety of 2025, with a greater focus on companies already producing solutions, as opposed to technical validation. Learn more from this PitchBook piece. 3️⃣ Putting women's health back on track Venture investments in women's health startups fell last year after reaching record levels in 2024. A recent Silicon Valley Bank report says this is the result of investors focusing on more established companies that seem to be surer bets - and there are a few "resets" happening that could help move the needle for women's health startups in the current landscape. This BioPharma Dive article digs deeper. 4️⃣ Food matters Asia Pacific is struggling to build resilient food systems, a fact made worse by increasing climate volatility. This piece from AgNavigator posits that to strengthen food security and supply chains, investment needs to go into infrastructure and innovation - and capital needs to flow more effectively between investors, corporations, and the builders. 5️⃣ Going retail A new crop of VC firms has emerged, making a unique promise: to provide retail investors with access to venture capital. However, considering the volatility of the VC space, it remains to be seen how successful these VC firms will be - and whether they can do well in this mission without making backers take on outsized risks. This piece on Wealth Management takes a closer look at the phenomenon. Today's edition was written by Stefanie Yeo. It's edited by Mina Deocareza. |
EVENTS HAPPENINGYou can also check out our curated list of trending tech events and Tech in Asia's signature events.
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