The Daily Brief - 21/9

Singapore-based dtcpay, which provides infrastructure for businesses and individuals to accept, hold, and transact in stablecoins, raised US$16.2M in Series A funding. The round was led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, with Japan’s SBI Group joining as a strategic investor. The company plans to use the funds to expand its product offering and grow its merchant network. Read more here.

Cambodia-based Newwave Tech Foundry, which develops AI-powered solutions to help businesses automate and improve operations, raised seed funding from Canadia Impact Fund. The investment will support the company's development of its AI transformation platform and expansion of its solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Read more here.

Philippines-based DALI, a hard-discount grocery retailer expanding its network across the country, received US$28.4M in additional funding from existing investor Venturi Partners. The investment represents a follow-on investment rather than a new investor entering the company, providing additional capital to support DALI's continued expansion. Read more here.

Thailand-focused Verdant Energy, a renewable energy platform developing commercial and industrial solar projects, secured up to US$25M in non-recourse project financing from responsAbility. The financing will support the development, construction and operation of Verdant's growing portfolio of solar projects across Thailand. Read more here.

Singapore-based Carro, an online car marketplace and auto-fintech platform operating across Southeast Asia, secured a strategic investment from Japan's Orico. The partnership will initially focus on expanding automotive financing and related businesses across Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, combining Carro's digital vehicle commerce and AI-powered credit assessment capabilities with Orico's automotive financing expertise. Read more here.

Singapore-based AI startup ChemLex, which is developing self-driving laboratories that combine AI with automated experimentation for drug discovery, raised US$45M to expand its AI-for-science platform and develop its autonomous laboratory capabilities. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate the development of its technology and expand its work with pharmaceutical research. Read more here.

Vietnam-based Vinh Phat Motors (VM Motors), a commercial vehicle manufacturer with a production facility in Ho Chi Minh City, has been acquired in part by Tasco Auto. The transaction is aimed at expanding VM Motors' manufacturing and assembly capabilities, with the companies planning to develop electric and new-energy commercial vehicles and target the first batch of products in 2027. The ownership percentage and transaction value were not disclosed. Read more here.

Singapore's startup ecosystem is expanding beyond its traditional capital-city concentration, with secondary cities across Southeast Asia emerging as new centres of technology and innovation. The shift is being supported by improving digital infrastructure, growing local demand and increasingly distributed talent pools. Read more here.

Vietnam launched “AI Arena: Viet Nam 2026,” a national generative-AI competition for university students organised by Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Google. Participants will use Google Gemini and AI Studio to develop proof-of-concept products, providing a new pipeline for AI skills and potential future startup talent. Read more here.

The Philippines is moving toward greater AI adoption among businesses, with local companies increasingly exploring agentic AI to improve productivity, automate customer interactions and create new revenue streams. Salesforce said Philippine companies are looking beyond cost savings toward using AI to scale services and operations. Read more here.

ASEAN is moving toward greater regional coordination on AI policy, with Philippine officials saying a regional AI policy could emerge alongside the proposed ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA). The framework is intended to support common rules around cross-border e-commerce, paperless trade and regional digital payments. Read more here.

Singapore remained the largest source of foreign investment into Vietnam during the first eight months of 2026, with registered investment reaching US$10.9B. Manufacturing and processing accounted for 59.5% of Vietnam's total registered foreign investment, highlighting the continued importance of regional supply-chain investment. Read more here.

ASEAN and Japan are strengthening cooperation around resilient supply chains, green industry, digitalisation and AI, with these areas forming part of discussions between ASEAN and the Federation of Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in ASEAN. Read more here.

Understand the different sources of capital available to you and the pros and cons each.

Evaluate funding based on what your business actually needs. Ask yourself if you need capital, expertise, customers, hiring capacity or access to a strong network.

If network, mentorship and investor connections are a key priority, VC funding can offer more than just capital.

Excalidraw is a lightweight, open-source virtual whiteboard for sketching product ideas, user flows, business models and system architectures. Try it out here for your next meeting!

Malaysian.AI just opened up the application to their residency program. It will be an 8-week program for you to work on your project. Apply here.

Antler Singapore just opened applications for their next cohort. 6-week residency, up to $400K. Designed for SEA founders. Apply here.

Y Combinator Winter 2027 applications are open. $500K, in-person in San Francisco from Jan–Mar. Deadline Nov 2. Apply here.

PearX W27 is accepting applications. $500K–$2M over 12 weeks if you relocate to the Bay Area. Regular deadline Oct 4. Apply here.