The key startups reshaping Southeast Asia’s AI landscape

Global VC investments continue to revolve around artificial intelligence, with 49% of the total US$205.6 billion raised in the first half of 2025 going into AI companies, according to Crunchbase data.

Most of this capital – nearly US$90 billion out of US$100.8 billion – was poured into US companies, with OpenAI alone closing US$40 billion in March.

While that makes it seem like Southeast Asia is barely a player in the global AI scene, some companies in the region still bagged substantial deals.

A few of these companies focus on the agentic AI, developing solutions that allow AI to complete tasks autonomously on users’ behalf.

Singapore-based Manus, for example, has secured US$75 million with a valuation of US$500 million. Another notable company is Genspark, which has employees spread across Singapore and the US. The startup has raised US$160 million in total, valuing it at US$530 million.

Both Manus and Genspark are offering tech that can perform complex tasks such as generating presentation slides, booking travel itineraries, and programming web apps.

Tech in Asia’s data shows that 164 startups in Southeast Asia have secured funding since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. As of August 22, only 49 have received funding this year so far.

The slowdown in AI startup investments in the region can be partly attributed to how some companies have decided to skip external funding. According to a September 2024 report by GenAI Fund, 32% of generative AI startups in Southeast Asia are bootstrapped.

Physical AI startups like Menlo Research and Fabrica AI – both based in Singapore – have either gone completely without VC funding or raised a small amount despite the capital-intensive nature of the sector, which is essentially an intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics.

In comparison, their US-based counterpart Physical Intelligence has raised US$400 million in total funding.

Not all capital flows from VC firms, though. Startups such as Orion Arm have proven that significant capital can be raised from their own circle of tech entrepreneurs.

Others like Jakarta-based Meeting.ai don’t see an urgent need to raise funding as they have either reached or are inching closer to profitability, further highlighting the trend of diminishing roles for VCs in the later stages of Southeast Asia’s AI startups.