SEA’s AI edge: hard mode

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In focus

• Hard mode becomes the moat for AI in SEA
• ​​Another investment platform in Indonesia makes it rain
• Excuse my sass, but is SaaS dead yet?

Hello reader,

We’ve spent the last few years hearing endless claims about how AI will transform every industry imaginable. But one of the most interesting shifts may be simpler: AI is starting to turn old weaknesses into strengths.

Take Southeast Asia as an example.

For years, the region’s difficulty adopting Silicon Valley-style software-as-a-service models was seen as a weakness. Startups here often had to rely on service-heavy operations, account management, and human coordination in ways that looked messy and unscalable compared to pure software companies in the US.

But that very “hard mode” may now create a major AI opportunity.

Today’s first featured story, written by aCommerce co-founder Sheji Ho, argues that Southeast Asia’s operational complexity, service-oriented culture, and deeply embedded workflows could become valuable advantages in the AI era.

It’s a take that tracks with a lot of what I’ve been reading about AI adoption in recent months: Those who deeply understand workflows, operational edge cases, and how work actually gets done may end up with a far bigger advantage than those simply building another generic AI wrapper.

That’s knowledge you only acquire in the trenches – not via dashboards.

Also in this issue, my colleague Jofie reports on Indonesia-based investment platform Pluang’s US$10 million series C funding round, with much of the fresh capital being kept in reserve for potential acquisitions and regional expansion.

Let’s dive in.

Peter Cowan, engagement editor

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1️⃣ How ‘hard mode’ became Southeast Asia’s AI advantage

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