The Daily Brief - 10/9

Singapore-based N&E Innovations secured US$1.73 million to support international expansion, regulatory programs, and team growth. Read more here.

Malaysia’s Department of Statistics (DOSM) will be using Chatbase to allow people to get useful insights from Malaysia’s official statistics through simple conversations in English and Malay. Read more here.

Singapore-based AI startup Estha launched Private Agents, a suite of AI agents designed to run locally on Macs, giving users greater control over their data and workflows. Read more here.

Vietnam's AI startup funding reached US$130 million in 2025, up from US$10 million in 2023, while the number of AI deals nearly doubled to 23. Read more here.

The Philippines launched an eight-year AI infrastructure roadmap targeting an estimated US$34.4 billion in public and private investment to prepare the country for large-scale AI deployment. Read more here.

Vietnam is positioning data centres around the growing demands of AI, with build-to-suit facilities becoming increasingly important as AI workloads require greater computing capacity and specialised infrastructure. Read more here.

The OpenAI Foundation is committing $60 million over the next three years to deliver AI-powered weather and crop disease forecasts to 100 million smallholder farmers in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Africa. Read more here.

As a founder, never show up late to meetings where your input is needed. A delayed meeting can push back every meeting that follows, eventually slowing down decision-making and execution.

Avoid having too many meetings. Not everything needs a verbal discussion, so set clear communication guidelines for your team. If something is Slack-worthy, don’t send a meeting invite.

RaiseSEA is a fundraising intelligence platform built specifically for Southeast Asian founders, with investor matching, SEA fundraising benchmarks and AI pitch practice. Check it out here.