Asia’s AI founders are increasingly facing a split-screen reality. Investor interest is high, but building at the frontier of artificial intelligence still requires more than a seed cheque. Startups need access to large models, cloud infrastructure, technical feedback, distribution channels and patient capital, all while competing with better-funded peers in the US and China. Granite […] The post Granite Asia, Google AI Futures Fund team up to back Asia’s AI founders appeared first on e27.

For much of the past three decades, American companies operating overseas benefited from a powerful assumption: that despite periodic political turbulence at home, the United States (US) remained a predictable and broadly reliable commercial partner. That assumption has been badly tested. Yet the latest phase of the US-European relationship is more complicated than a simple […] The post Europe’s trade truce with America has not restored trust in American business appeared first on e27.

The 521kg (1,148lbs) of suspected methamphetamine seized by Laotian authorities from a private jet was not sourced from Malaysia, with the drugs believed to have originated in Laos and been destined for Manila, the Philippines. Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Hussein Omar Khan said police were informed by Laotian authorities on Tuesday that the cross-border smuggling attempt had been foiled at Luang Prabang International Airport last Thursday. Hussein said the...

Concierge medicine is expensive for a simple reason: physician attention is scarce. A typical primary-care doctor may be responsible for 2,000 or more patients, while concierge practices generally restrict panels to 400 or fewer to 600. Patients pay annual retainers ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands for longer appointments and faster […] The post AI could turn concierge medicine into the future interface to healthcare appeared first on e27.

Malaysia’s repatriation of Myanmar nationals ahead of a visit to Kuala Lumpur by the war-torn country’s leader appears to mirror efforts by other Asean countries seeking to mend ties with Naypyidaw. Several Asean members have stepped up engagement with Myanmar at the bilateral level recently, raising questions about whether a gradual normalisation between the bloc and the country could undermine efforts to end its civil war, according to analysts. Nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals repatriated from...

Ask anyone to name Southeast Asia’s most successful startups and you will hear the same names. Grab. Sea. GoTo. Each is a consumer company. Each won by reaching enormous numbers of users, burning enormous amounts of capital, and surviving long enough to consolidate a market. This is the story the region tells about itself. It […] The post Why Southeast Asia is underbuilt in the categories that produce its most durable companies appeared first on e27.

MDI Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Indonesia’s TelkomGroup, is narrowing its Southeast Asia investment focus around enterprise AI, AI infrastructure, governance software, real-world asset tokenisation, institutional custody, and regulated digital asset rails. The Jakarta-headquartered firm said its updated thesis reflects a shift in the region’s technology cycle. After more than a decade in […] The post MDI Ventures sharpens SEA thesis around AI, blockchain, digital asset infra appeared first on e27.

Four Indonesian seamen who were kidnapped and held hostage by Somali pirates aboard an oil tanker for more than five months arrived back home on Tuesday. The men were among 17 crew rescued a week ago when maritime police from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia stormed the Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 tanker that was hijacked in April. Before the vessel could be recaptured, the pirates had already killed five crew members – three Pakistanis, an Indian and a Myanmar national...

A Singaporean woman has been added to a US list of “the worst of the worst criminal aliens,” becoming the third citizen from the city state to appear on the register, after convicted sex offender Amos Yee and money launderer Lim Seok Pheng. Jing Emtage, 54, was sentenced in July last year to two years and two months in prison on seven counts of second-degree promoting prostitution across multiple Washington state massage parlours she ran with her husband, Gerald Emtage. Gerald Emtage, 49, was...

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto is seeking to keep potential rivals in his inner circle as he faces growing political pressure by appointing influential figures from across the political establishment to a presidential advisory council, according to analysts. The council, which advises the president on the direction of government policy but has no power to set or control it, comprises allies of former presidents, political commentators and Muslim leaders. “These are figures who have...