Pranav Balakrishnan · · 5 min readAI tools: Marketplaces’ new side hustle
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In focus
- Asian marketplaces can launch AI businesses, but growing them won’t be easy
- SEA’s VC deployment is up from last year. Is that good news?
- South Korea’s Kospi tumbles nearly 11% on chip sell-off
Hello reader,
Since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, some of the sheen around Asia’s consumer internet companies has worn off. They’re no longer seen as being at the cutting edge of technology.
Many players are also wanting in on the action – some even had ambitions to build a ChatGPT rival, but Ola’s Krutrim, for instance, failed to take off.
Most companies start out by building AI tools for their own users and operations. Grab, for example, has introduced an AI assistant as well as an AI translator for riders and drivers who speak different languages.
While digital businesses in India have also rolled out AI solutions over the past two years, some are now taking the next step: commercializing their internal tools by selling them to other enterprises. That has been a recurring theme this earnings season.
Eternal, Zomato’s parent company, has begun reporting revenue from its enterprise AI business, Nugget, separately. Paytm became the latest to enter the space with the release of its enterprise AI business last week.
Ecommerce firm Meesho, real estate marketplace NoBroker, jobs platform Apna, and logistics company Shiprocket have all made similar moves in recent years.
They’re betting that AI trained on years of proprietary data has given them an edge. Today’s top story explores whether these spin-offs can become a high-margin business and turn internet companies into serious AI players.
We also shine the Spotlight on how startups in Southeast Asia have secured more capital this year so far than in all of 2025. But since much of that increase comes from a handful of big deals, does this really indicate recovery?
Pranav Balakrishnan, AI reporter
Top Story
Firms are spinning off AI tools, but are clients interested?
Image credit: Ulla
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