Weekly Funding Signal
AI infrastructure and developer tools continue to attract the largest checks, while Asia's crypto funding remains quiet with only a handful of small rounds, mostly in stablecoins and prediction markets.
Key Deals
| Project | Sector | Amount | Investors | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Markets | Prediction Market | $8.5M seed | Haun Ventures led; Y Combinator, Coinbase Ventures, Qube Research | Institutional-grade prediction market trading gains US backing but targets global liquidity, with Asia a likely expansion market. |
| BLOX | Stablecoin/Payments | $1M seed | Kivo Technology led | Malaysian ringgit stablecoin MYRC sees 33x volume growth in 12 months, signaling early but strong regional demand. |
| DeepSea Intelligence | Robotics (Deep-sea) | Over ¥500M Series A | Guanghe Venture, Fortune Capital, GGV Capital, Addor Capital, others | Chinese deep-sea robotics attracts major domestic VCs, underscoring industrial and defense applications. |
| Daimon Robotics | Robotics (Tactile AI) | Hundreds of millions RMB strategic round | Ant Group led | Ant Group's lead investment in tactile world models signals serious interest in embodied AI infrastructure. |
| Huilun Technology | Humanoid Robots | Over ¥100M | CRRC Innovation Fund, CMB International, Sichuan Science & Tech | GAC Group's humanoid robot spin-off gains industrial backing for automotive and service applications. |
| IO-AI Tech | Robotics Data Infrastructure | Hundreds of millions RMB | Shunwei Capital, Songhe Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group | Data infrastructure for embodied AI is a critical bottleneck, drawing top Chinese VCs. |
| LatentVerse | Embodied Foundation Model | Hundreds of millions RMB seed | Hillhouse Venture, Qingsong Capital, Inno Fund, Zhiyuan, Xingji Shidai | Tsinghua-backed team building foundation models for robots, with backing from established AI VCs. |
| GraphAI | AI Data Infrastructure | ~$12M Series A | K2 Investment Partners led | Korean enterprise AI data platform expands globally, reflecting Asia's growing AI infrastructure buildout. |
Builder to Watch
- BLOX: BLOX is building a Malaysian ringgit-pegged stablecoin (MYRC) with enterprise and institutional products. Despite operating in a regulatory gray zone, its 33x volume growth in 12 months signals strong domestic demand for digital payments. With Singapore's Kivo Technology leading the round, BLOX is well-positioned to become a regional stablecoin player, bridging traditional finance and crypto rails in Southeast Asia. Its proactive engagement with regulators could set a precedent for compliant stablecoin issuance in the region.
Also Noted
- Manus: Tencent, ZhenFund, and Sequoia China are repurchasing Manus shares from Meta for $2B, making Tencent the largest shareholder. This move brings the AI agent company back under Chinese ownership, though its operations remain global.
- Thrive Holdings: SoftBank participated in this $2B round for an AI investment platform, adding a notable Asian investor to a US-centric deal.
- Entravel: Crypto travel platform raised $7.5M from Ethereal Ventures and Finality Capital. While it serves global brands like Kraken, its Asia expansion remains unclear, though its 220M hotel inventory could appeal to Asian travelers.
Capital Flow
- AI infrastructure and developer tools led global funding, with Databricks' $5B round and River AI's $1.1B raise dominating headlines.
- Investors favored projects with clear enterprise utility—AI data platforms, code review, and robotics data infrastructure—over consumer applications.
- Asia's strongest angle was in robotics and embodied AI, with multiple Chinese startups raising hundreds of millions RMB, and in stablecoin infrastructure with Malaysia's BLOX.
PANews View
Asia's crypto funding remains anemic compared to the AI boom, but strategic bets on stablecoins and robotics signal a shift toward infrastructure with real-world use. The BLOX round, though small, highlights the potential for compliant, local-currency stablecoins to unlock Southeast Asian payments. Meanwhile, the concentration of Chinese robotics deals underscores a national priority on embodied AI, which could yield significant enterprise value in manufacturing and services.
