Glenn Kaonang · · 5 min readThe outcome-first AI bet
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In focus
- SG-based Level3AI banks $13m for enterprise AI agents
- HKEX or SGX over Wall Street for Vietnamese IPO candidates
- SG-based Toku debuts on SGX with strong market interest
Hello reader,
I’ve been covering AI startups in the past two years, and I’ve noticed a shift. Early on, most founders would lead with which frontier models they were using and how those helped them top specific benchmarks. Now, some of them won’t even bother talking about the models at all.
It’s not because LLMs have become less important, but more about how the intelligence gap between models has narrowed down to the point where it’s pointless to root for one.
People know AI is smart and getting smarter every day, but what they want to hear now is what that actually means for them. For companies, they want to know how these models could move the needle in their businesses.
Harry Yu calls this “measurable outcome.” He’s the co-founder and CEO of Level3AI, a Singapore-based startup building customer support and sales AI agents for enterprises.
The company recently raised US$13 million, and it’s backing up its approach with a bold promise: full refunds if the agents don’t hit agreed-upon targets. Our first top story today digs more into Level3AI’s unique approach, including its LLM-agnostic philosophy and vision for AI-human collaboration.
Meanwhile, our second top story examines a different kind of recalibration happening in the region. Vietnam’s most ambitious companies are rethinking their IPO dreams, with Wall Street losing its shine in favor of Hong Kong and Singapore.
It’s not just about proximity, as these Asian exchanges are actively courting regional firms with frameworks that better fit their ownership structures and growth stories.
Glenn Kaonang, journalist
Top Stories
1️⃣ SG startup raises $13m for ‘LLM-agnostic’ customer support agents
Harry Yu, co-founder and CEO of Level3AI / Photo credit: Level3AI
Level3AI’s pitch to enterprises is straightforward: tell it what metrics they want to improve, and it’ll co-design AI agents to get them there. Whether that’s customer satisfaction scores or sales conversion rates, the startup promises measurable results with a money-back guarantee.
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