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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Asia, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌏️
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📰 Important News
- South Korea has launched a one-month patent fast track for AI and biotech startups to accelerate IP protection and the pace of innovation.
- Quobly and Singaporean software company Entropica Labs signed a strategic MoU to jointly develop fault-tolerant quantum computing.
- Commotion launched an NVIDIA-powered enterprise AI Operating System empowering autonomous AI workers to execute complex business tasks.
- Certis Group and FieldAI partnered to deploy autonomous AI robots in security, boosting efficiency and easing labor shortages.
- Miraqules MedSolutions secured CDSCO approval for StopBleed, a nano-biopolymer that rapidly stops severe bleeding in trauma care.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Spirit AI secured $280 million to scale embodied AI models, using a “dirty data” approach for real-world robotics and validating with CATL.
- AI² Robotics raised $144 million in Series B from Baidu and CRRC,reaching a $1.45 billion+ valuation to advance humanoid robotics and embodied AI.
- BOS Semiconductors landed $60.2 million in Series A funding to accelerate mass production of AI chips for autonomous vehicles.
- The ePlane Company attracted $50 million in a round co-led by Speciale Invest to unveil its full-scale prototype and accelerate its certification process.
- Malaysian digital infrastructure provider Zetrix AI raised $40 million from the World Bank's IFC to expand across Southeast Asia.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- Edtech major upGrad acquired a 90% stake in internship marketplace Internshala in a stock deal to integrate skilling with job placement.
- Deepinder Goyal's LAT Aerospace acquired defense robotics startup Sharang Shakti to build indigenous civil aviation and defence capabilities.
- Capillary Technologies acquired Mastercard's SessionM for $20 million to boost its loyalty offerings and expand its North American presence.
- Veremark acquired Singapore-based background verification firm Risk Management Intelligence to expand its Asia-Pacific operations.
- Accenture acquired an advanced AI solution from Avanseus to enhance its platform capabilities.
🏦 About Investors
- DBS and Granite Asia partnered to launch a $110 million AI fund aiming to boost Asian tech by addressing the region's funding shortfall.
- AISIN Corporation and Pegasus Tech Ventures are doubling their corporate venture capital fund to $100 million.
- Switzerland-based QAI Ventures is launching a specialized industry cluster in Singapore with partners SoftBank and HorizonX.
- Sky Venture Labs is launching a zero-knowledge AI platform to help Asian SMEs automate customer response and lead qualification.
- Standard Chartered and Seviora Capital launched the STAR hedge fund platform for high networth clients, offering diversified access to top managers.
🚀Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Spirit AI
Founded in Beijing, Spirit AI is emerging as a serious contender in embodied AI, developing general-purpose Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models designed to power what it calls a universal robotic brain. Led by co-founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Yang Gao, the company is pioneering a contrarian “dirty data” strategy, training systems on large volumes of unstructured real-world interactions rather than curated datasets. Spirit AI recently secured $280 million from global financial and strategic investors to scale deployment, following industrial validation with CATL, where its robotic agents achieved over 99% task success in live manufacturing. By bridging frontier research with factory-floor execution, Spirit AI is positioning itself at the forefront of scalable, real-world robotics.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Granite Asia
Granite Asia is a leading Asia-focused multi-asset investment platform backing high-growth technology companies across private and public markets. Led by Senior Managing Partners Jenny Lee and Jixun Foo, the firm recently entered a three-year strategic partnership with DBS Bank, launching a fully subscribed $110 million AI IPO fund aimed at narrowing Asia’s tech funding gap. By combining its deep technology investment expertise and founder network with DBS’s integrated banking platform, Granite Asia is positioning itself as a key capital bridge, empowering the region’s next generation of AI-driven and innovation-led market leaders.
🤑Opportunities Expiring Soon
Google for Startups Accelerator: Korea
- 📢 Organizer: Google for Startups
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Seed, Series A
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 02, 2026
THRIVE Studio Sprint
- 📢 Organizer: SVG Ventures | THRIVE
- 🗂️ Category: Incubator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Agriculture & Food
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 02, 2026
MassChallenge Switzerland 2026 Accelerator
- 📢 Organizer: MassChallenge Switzerland
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator, Award/Prize, Competition/Challenge
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 04, 2026
World Wide Vibes Hackathon
- 📢 Organizer: GenAI Works
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon, Training & Learning
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data, Infrastructure & Smart Cities, Social & Governance, Education & Workforce
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 07, 2026
Techstars Founder Catalyst WaterTech & Sustainability
- 📢 Organizer: Techstars
- 🗂️ Category: Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Energy & Environment
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 08, 2026
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