Hello Betamax, At the time of writing, it’s been about two days since we wrapped up Tech in Asia Conference 2026 in Singapore. It was a genuinely electric experience, and it was heartening to see our tech community – alongside the wider business and enterprise folks that have entered the fold – come together to explore all things AI. A recurring theme that emerged from the conversations I had at the event is how we’re moving past the hype around AI. The focus now is how to use it effectively and at scale. And it’s not just about slapping an AI layer onto things – a fundamental reworking of processes and mindsets needs to happen in order to make agentic AI and automation effective in reality. Some of the companies on our list of the biggest deals this week are trying to do just that. They’re transforming industries like construction and manufacturing by bringing in AI. It’s tough work, but it’s also ripe with opportunity, and that’s what makes this so exciting. You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up. 
Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place. — Stefanie
THE BIGGEST DEALS BY MARKET🇨🇳 D-robotics provides a hardware and software development platform for robotics. Based in China, the company raised US$400 million in series C money from Beyond Moore Fund, Cathay Capital Private Equity, GF Xinde Investment Management, Meituan, Mirae Asset Capital, Nanshan SEI Investment, Prosperity7 Ventures, Unity Ventures, Vertex Growth Fund, and YF Capital. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia’s Barq offers digital payments and money transfer services. It banked US$329.5 million from M20 Fund, Noon Investments, and Sohar International Bank from a series A fundraise. 🇦🇪 Based in the United Arab Emirates, Tabby offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans and other financial services. It raised US$233 million in a series F round from Arbor Ventures, Blue Pool Capital, HongShan, and Wellington Management. 🇮🇱 Israel’s Buildots uses AI and computer vision to transform construction management. The West Asian startup bagged US$130 million in series D funds from OG Venture Partners. 🇯🇵 CADDi is a Japanese manufacturing AI data platform. The company’s series D round raised US$113.28 million from Atomico, Coreline Ventures, Globis Capital Partners, Japan Post Bank Asset Management, Moore Strategic Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Woven Capital. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: 73 deals worth over US$3.1 billion.
M&AS🇸🇬 Atome is a Singapore-based BNPL company. It was acquired by super app Grab for US$1.49 billion. 🇰🇷 South Korean inbound travel platform Creatrip was acquired by MyRealTrip, also based in the country. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
STARTUPS THAT ARE RAISING FUNDSFundraising is hard. To make things slightly easier, we’ve compiled this list of fundraising startups for our subscribers. Do you run a startup that’s raising at the moment or know someone who does? Sign your company up for listing here. 🇹🇼 This Taiwanese startup offers a gamified social app for friends and couples. 🇸🇬 Hailing from Singapore, this startup is building a real-time AI governance control layer for regulated enterprises. 🇮🇳 This Indian company is building an audio over-the-top platform for audiobooks and podcasts. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia over here.
BEHIND THE GLASSWALL
Image credit: Timmy Loen
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 process was clear and moved at a sensible pace, and what stood out was that they cared more about substance than a polished story.” – Read more
- ❌ “Likely ex-PE professionals trying to be startup investors but clearly don’t understand the basics of early-stage investing.” – Read more
- ✅︎ “Overall, the experience has been positive. They’re helpful when we need them to be, but not overbearing at all – more hands-off, which I appreciate. They really focus on the team and trust us to execute.” – Read more
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 What really matters in AI investing In this episode of the Masters of Scale podcast, host Rana el Kaliouby speaks with Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures. Having invested in AI companies since 2016, Seseri talks about how the AI investing landscape is changing, AI’s real value, and more. 2️⃣ The illusion of capability While AI tools promise to drive massive productivity gains, they could also end up masking gaps in skills and expertise. The result is a “capability mirage,” where AI adoption risks creating workplaces that appear highly capable, but people’s real skills are vanishing beneath polished veneer. This piece from the Sloan Management Review goes deeper. 3️⃣ Kazakhstan rising Kazakhstan may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about startup ecosystems. But the Central Asian country is ripe with potential, with a tech-savvy population, stable governance, and access to significant opportunities with major markets such as China. Read more on TNGlobal. 4️⃣ Pre-gaming, VC edition Venture capital is a pretty exciting space, but it’s certainly not for everyone. This piece from Money Management shares insights into what financial advisers need to consider before going into VC and private equity for their clients. 5️⃣ An ode to VC It may appear that VC has lost its luster as an asset class, but the reality is that it remains incredibly important to the development of new, disruptive, and transformative solutions. This piece on Forbes reflects on VC’s role in the face of significant global challenges, and the impact it could have. Today’s edition was written by Stefanie Yeo. It’s edited by Eileen C. Ang. |
