DBS, Granite Asia close $110m AI IPO fund for Asian firms

DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, and Granite Asia, a leading multi-asset investment platform, have announced a three-year partnership to develop innovative investment and financing solutions for high-growth Asian companies.

The collaboration kicked off with Granite Asia’s closing of a US$110 million IPO fund focused on AI companies, which was offered exclusively to DBS’s wealth clients.

The fund, now fully closed, aims to support the IPOs of regional AI-driven firms and broaden access to capital for them.

This marks Granite Asia’s first product of this kind and the first of several funds planned under the partnership.

DBS will provide financial services, including loans and advisory, to support portfolio companies through various growth stages.

🔗 Source: DBS

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Why the deal targets Asia’s tech funding shortfall

The tie-up responds to a funding imbalance where Asia is seen as “under invested” compared with an “amply funded, if not overfunded” US market 1.
The gap looks plain in recent rounds, a top Chinese AI startup raised about US$500 million while US rival Anthropic raised US$30 billion 1.
The collaboration started after the two leaders spoke about “so much talent” in the region paired with too little capital 1.
For DBS, the move fits its roots as the Development Bank of Singapore, created in 1968 to take on the industrial financing work of Singapore’s Economic Development Board (the government agency that leads Singapore’s industry development strategy) 1.

How the deal could change Asian tech funding beyond IPOs

The agreement sets up funding across a company’s life cycle, going past the initial AI IPO fund to include investment and financing options for high-growth Asian firms at several stages 2.
A planned private capital product would provide “non-dilutive capital,” which lets founders raise money without giving up equity ownership and helps them keep control 3.
The plan matches today’s market where the “best companies are staying private for longer” and need more flexible structures than traditional venture capital 4.
DBS could pair wealth management with corporate and investment banking, plus Granite Asia’s multi-asset investment platform, to extend its “One Bank” approach 5 as a model for other regional banks serving fast-growing tech clients.