A burgeoning array of specialized AI startups is emerging in Southeast Asia, catering to industries spanning from seafood to finance. Antler, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, recently demonstrated its confidence in this trend by investing $5.1 million in 37 startups at the pre-seed stage. Noteworthy is their collaboration with Khazanah, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, which contributed to seven of these startups.
Jussi Salovaara, the co-founder and managing partner of Antler, highlights the shift towards solving practical industry-specific challenges in Southeast Asia, emphasizing the region’s focus on customer-centric AI applications tailored to diverse sectors. While acknowledging the region’s current limitations in building complex AI models like OpenAI, Salovaara underscores the potential for addressing unique pain points in various markets.
Each country in Southeast Asia exhibits distinct trends within the realm of specialized AI. Vietnam, for instance, boasts a rich pool of technical talent, with consumer startups initially targeting the local market while B2B ventures have a more global outlook from their inception. Conversely, Indonesian startups, buoyed by a sizable domestic market, often prioritize local expansion. Antler anticipates a shift towards more international growth strategies among Indonesian startups.
Among Antler’s investments, BorderDollar stands out for its innovative approach to invoice financing in cross-border logistics, leveraging region-specific data to develop a tailored credit scoring system. Salovaara stresses the importance of adapting solutions to the unique funding landscape of Southeast Asia, cautioning against a one-size-fits-all approach.
Another standout in Antler’s portfolio is CapGo, chosen for its founders’ diverse expertise—CTO Chen Yu’s background in machine learning at Grab and CEO Yichen Guo’s extensive experience in product management. CapGo streamlines data acquisition for market research, offering a more efficient alternative to traditional methods. Salovaara emphasizes the competitive advantage of building region-specific data sources, positioning CapGo for expansion across the Asia Pacific region.
Noteworthy startups like Zolo and Seafoody are revolutionizing Southeast Asia’s food supply chain infrastructure through AI-driven solutions. Seafoody, founded in Malaysia, leverages AI to disrupt the seafood supply chain by eliminating intermediaries and directly serving businesses. Meanwhile, Zolo simplifies order management in the food supply chain, streamlining communication between suppliers and restaurants.
Coex, a Malaysian startup, harnesses AI to digitize project claims and bills of quantity, enhancing operational efficiency in the construction sector. Salovaara underscores the transformative potential of AI in optimizing capital and operational processes within traditionally analog industries like construction.
While establishing a vertical AI startup poses challenges, assembling a skilled team with industry expertise and access to relevant training data is crucial. Salovaara emphasizes the competitive advantage of vertical AI startups in creating a robust market position over time, contrasting them with broader horizontal AI models. The focus on vertical plays is seen as a strategic approach in Southeast Asia, where competing with Silicon Valley-based companies in the horizontal AI space may present significant hurdles.
