Welcome to Tech in Asia’s Sunday newsletter, your weekend brief on the biggest moves in Asia’s tech and startup world. Not on the mailing list? Register here. Got a story tip? Send it to editors@techinasia.com.
In focus
- Eileen C. Ang on the human difference
- A new funding environment for consumer startups in the AI era
- A growing side quest for Asia’s marketplaces
Hello reader,
I have a theory that most of us, especially those who work in or keep up with tech, have AI fatigue. It’s AI this, AI that, and it’s nonstop.
You’ve got AI agents, but watch out for AI slop. You lose out if you snooze on AI prompting, but keep that human touch because it makes all the difference. AI is coming for your job – no, it’s actually a helpful tool. Need friends but you can’t find any? Just find an AI companion who will never be sick of your rants or call you out on your faults.
It’s now an AI (or AI-first, take your pick) world, and we humans just get to live in it.
But is it, really?
Peel back the layers, and I bet you’ll find humanity at the center. Our story on Asian companies selling their in-house AI tools to other businesses sounds like yet another article showing AI’s chokehold on the tech industry. But when you go deeper, you’ll find out that their plan hinges on using the staggering amount of consumer data that they’ve collected over the years. Yes, still people.
Image credit: Ulla
Our other editor’s pick is about how consumer startups, particularly in Southeast Asia, are struggling to find funding as VCs chase AI gold. Investors appear to have lost interest in backing coffee chains, health services, e-groceries, beauty brands, and other companies that cater to human wants and needs.
However, VCs and founders in the region point out that it’s still consumers who drive the economy, and smart investors don’t ignore that. That said, VCs have also changed their criteria for cutting checks, so startups are pivoting accordingly.
AI fever aside, a startup’s success hinges on how well it adapts to this new funding environment. And perhaps the key to it is an innately human instinct: survival.
Eileen C. Ang, co-managing editor
Editor’s picks
1️⃣ AI fever leaves SEA’s consumer startups fighting for attention
Short cuts
Weekend deep dive
Infrastructure for the agentic era
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