Movers and shakers in Southeast Asia’s genAI space (Update)

Duc Tran and Glenn Kaonang contributed to this story.

This is an update of the piece we first published on September 15, 2025.

Southeast Asia is buzzing with AI activity.

In the span of a few months, the conversation has rapidly shifted from genAI, to agentic AI, to robots – which have dominated headlines in AI thus far this year.

That’s not to say there isn’t still innovation happening in the genAI space. We’ve added some 20 new names to our initial list of more than 70 founders, including leaders fronting AI efforts in large companies as well as researchers and public officials.

New additions include Justin Kim of Hupo, an AI sales coach for financial services executives, which raised US$15 million this January. There’s also Zichen Liu, the latest addition to Google DeepMind’s team in Singapore, who joins from a stint at Sea AI Lab.

Whether you’re curious about the space or looking for like-minded founders, we hope this list will serve as a starting point.

The people we’ve included check at least one of the following boxes:

• Startup founders based in Southeast Asia building a product for users in the market, with the region serving as one of their bases
• People running genAI companies that display significant traction, evidenced by funding, a substantial user base with notable clients, or an M&A
• Founders of genAI companies with a track record of running other tech startups – including non-AI firms – previously
• Top AI leaders of large companies, only if their main remit is AI (for this reason, CTOs and chief product officers are excluded)
• Generative AI companies, rather than “traditional” AI companies
• Academic researchers, as well as chief scientists and researchers from public and private AI research labs
• Government leaders shaping AI policy

See also: The startups powering Asia’s AI-generated video boom

The list also highlights several trends. Of the 93 AI startup founders included, 60 – over 64% – run companies that are incorporated in Singapore.

That said, the concept of a “headquarters” is becoming increasingly fluid. More Southeast Asian AI founders are choosing to base themselves in the US to be in the nexus of AI development – while still maintaining a team in the region.

Meanwhile, more Chinese founders are sinking roots into geopolitically neutral Singapore. Manus’ US$2 billion acquisition deal by Meta is indicative of the benefits and possibilities of doing so, despite an ongoing review by Chinese authorities.

AI as a whole continues to take the lion’s share of startup funding.