Forbes Asia 100 To Watch 2026 — IT/AI Companies Filter
- URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranawehbe/2026/08/24/forbes-asia-100-to-watch-2026/
- Date Saved: 2026-08-26
- Source: Forbes Asia
- Tags: ai-tools, business
Summary
From the Forbes Asia 100 To Watch 2026, 47 companies are IT/AI-related. Total raised by all 100: $2.4B. AI-driven innovation is the dominant theme — ~25% are enterprise tech with AI services, 10 are robotics.
Enterprise AI / SaaS (24)
| Company | Country | Business Model | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Star Quantum | Japan | Quantum algorithms for enterprise planning (JAL maintenance) | $13M |
| Algo Artis | Japan | AI for operational decisions in logistics/energy (DeNA spinoff) | $9.8M B |
| Cekat.AI | Indonesia | AI customer service bots (WhatsApp/IG/web), 3K+ customers | Seed |
| Clouted | Philippines | AI-optimized short-form video marketing + 100K editors | $7M seed |
| Eagle Cloud | China | AI security software + data protection (Geely, Leapmotor) | Series B |
| Everstage | India | AI agents for sales commission/quota automation, 350 clients | $45M |
| Featuring | South Korea | AI social media analytics, 200M accounts tracked, 3.5K companies | $15.5M |
| Firmable | Australia | Sales/recruitment database + CRM integration (Aconex founder) | $9.7M A |
| Ideally | New Zealand | AI consumer research/insights, 250+ enterprise users | $14M |
| IVRy | Japan | AI phone-answering with NLU | $54M |
| Kuzen | Japan | AI personalized marketing via LINE, 700+ enterprises | $18.3M |
| Level3AI | Singapore | AI agents that act (refunds, eligibility), 10M+ interactions | $13M seed |
| Metroo/OrtCloud | Singapore | Fixed-fee cloud computing; OpenAI uses their sandboxes | $1.7M pre-seed |
| Mitigata | India | AI cybersecurity monitoring + cyber insurance, 1M incidents/yr | $15M B |
| Pollen Tech | Singapore | AI for FMCG surplus inventory pricing & marketplace | $3.4M |
| Pollo AI | Singapore | AI video content creation, 10M+ users, access to Seedance/Kling | $14M seed |
| ReN3 | Singapore | Private AI model deployment for regulated sectors, smart routing | $5M seed |
| Respond.io | Malaysia | Omnichannel inbox + AI, 2B msgs/quarter, 10K businesses | $62.5M B |
| Saltmine | Singapore | AI office space design/management (BlackRock customer) | $40M |
| Sapiens Technology | Singapore | First SG-homegrown AI model trainer, Agnes 2.5 Pro Alpha | — |
| Simplismart | India | MLOps backend, run AI models faster/cheaper, cuts bills ~50% | Accel-backed |
| SynaXG Technologies | Singapore | 5G + AI on single chip (Nvidia/NTT Docomo/Fujitsu partners) | $20M |
| TrueFoundry | India | MLOps platform (Nvidia, ResMed customers) | $19M A |
| Wert Intelligence | South Korea | AI patent search/analysis, 170M docs, 30K users | $12M |
Robotics (10)
| Company | Country | Business Model | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bioyond Robotics | China | AI + robotics for drug discovery lab automation | $80M |
| Botinkit | China | Robot chef OMNI, 10K recipes (Jollibee, Emirates customers) | ~$50M |
| Daimon Robotics | China | Robot training data hardware + open dataset (5M+ downloads) | — |
| Diden Robotics | South Korea | 2/4-legged industrial robots for shipyards (KAIST spinoff) | — |
| Neptune Robotics | Singapore | Ship hull cleaning robots, 3,500 vessels cleaned | $52M B |
| Rlwrld | South Korea | AI for dexterous 5-finger robotic hands, trains from video | $42M |
| Robocore Technology | Hong Kong | Service robots, 15K sites globally (Foxconn-backed) | $40M |
| Robopoet | China | AI companion pet “Fuzozo” with emotions, 300K sold | $15M |
| ugo | Japan | Security/facility robots for labor shortage | $25M+ |
| Vita Dynamics | China | AI robot dog “BoBo” household pet, 7K orders | ~$74M |
Semiconductors & Chips (3)
| Company | Country | Business Model | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agnit Semiconductors | India | GaN chips for telecom/defense, vertically integrated | $2.6M seed |
| Beijing Lightlink Technology | China | Optical chips for AI training/inference clusters | $74M A |
| HyperAccel | South Korea | AI inference chips (LLM Processing Units), KAIST spinoff | — |
Consumer Tech / Apps (7)
| Company | Country | Business Model | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equal Identity | India | AI call assistant in 8 languages + ID verification, 2M MAU | $30M B |
| Bateriku | Malaysia | On-demand car battery/roadside assistance app | $7.4M B |
| Jatri | Bangladesh | Bus ticketing + B2B ground travel platform | $7.3M |
| Moving Tech/Namma Yatri | India | Open-source ride-hailing, flat fee model | ~$4.4M |
| Soul Parking | Indonesia | Smart parking with mechanized racks + AI gates | Series A |
| StoReel | China | AI microdrama platform, AI generates scenes from scripts | $34M |
| Marloo | New Zealand | AI for financial advisors (notes/summaries/drafts) | $10M seed |
AI in Healthcare/Other (3)
| Company | Country | Business Model | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Intelligence Manifolds | Taiwan | AI medical imaging for bone/cardiovascular, 100+ hospitals | $3.9M |
| Galux | South Korea | AI protein drug/antibody design (AstraZeneca partner) | $47M |
| Stellerus Technology | Hong Kong | AI + satellite imagery for disaster forecasting | — |
Patterns
- Singapore dominates (11 companies) — strongest AI startup hub in APAC
- India strong in enterprise AI/MLOps (Everstage, Simplismart, TrueFoundry)
- China leads robotics (Bioyond, Botinkit, Daimon, Robopoet, Vita Dynamics)
- South Korea strong in AI chips + specialized AI (HyperAccel, Rlwrld, Galux)
- Customer service AI most crowded niche (Cekat, Level3AI, Respond.io, IVRy)
- “AI for regulated sectors” emerging theme (ReN3, Mitigata, TrueFoundry)
- Respond.io largest raise in the tech cohort ($62.5M series B)
- Vita Dynamics & Beijing Lightlink tied for largest single rounds (~$74M each)