Whale’s real-world AI pitch wins another $40m

Temasek-backed AI startup Whale has raised US$40 million in its series C3 round led by CMB International and SMBC Asia Rising Fund. This brings its total series C funding to US$100 million as it looks to expand abroad.

Other investors in the round include Krungsri Finnovate, Singtel Innov8, Hyundai Motor Group, and Charisma Partners.

Whale CEO Jerry Ye / Photo credit: Whale

The Singapore-headquartered startup says the new funding will support hiring and expansion globally, starting with North America and Asia Pacific, where it already has a presence. Entering the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Europe, is also in the cards.

The fundraise follows Whale’s series C1 and C2 rounds in early 2023 and May 2025, respectively, where it secured more than US$60 million in total.

Founded in 2017 by CEO Jerry Ye, Whale offers software and hardware solutions that enable businesses to connect digital workflows with data in physical environments like showrooms or retail stores.

Businesses can capture real-world audio and video data – such as sales conversations and foot traffic – using Whale’s cameras and voice recorders. The data is then parsed through the startup’s AI model, which is used by analytics software to provide the businesses with actionable steps they can implement to improve sales processes, internal workflows, and other operations.

In an interview with Tech in Asia in June, Ye likened Whale’s agentic AI platform – and its ability to manage sales processes and automate workflows – to other enterprise and customer relationship management software offered by the likes of Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce.

We are really good at retail … but actually, automotive is our largest sector.

The firm has turned its attention toward serving enterprises in the past year, which account for about 70% of its customer base. It now works with more than 1,600 enterprises in over 45 countries, with more than 600,000 devices in circulation. These include bluetooth earpiece Echo Buds and the wearable Echo Mini, both voice recording devices.

While the startup’s early clients were from the retail space, it now also works with firms in the automotive, banking, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing industries.

On its website, Whale lists mobile phone brand Oppo, coffee chain Starbucks, and luxury brand Coach as clients.

“We are really good at retail … but actually, automotive is our largest sector,” he adds. With automotive firms, its devices can be placed in showrooms and repair centers to audit sales interactions and service quality as well as track in-store foot traffic.

The startup’s largest markets in Asia are Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.