Editor’s notes: in collaboration with Hong Kong’s Cyberport
As the year of 2024 ends, we sought insights from startups’ founders across the Southeast Asian tech landscape. These leaders reflected on their triumphs throughout the year, sharing valuable perspectives on their achievements and the challenges they overcame. Furthermore, they unveiled their ambitious aspirations, meticulously outlined their strategic plans for 2025, and offered insightful predictions on the trajectory of the tech industry in the coming year.
We talked to Paco Chan, Co-founder, Farmio Pte Ltd, one of Hong Kong’s Cyberport incubatees, to learn more about the company’s achievements in 2024, its plans and priorities in 2025. He also shared his views on the outlook of the tech ecosystem in Hong Kong for the new year and how he sees Southeast Asia.
Established in 2023, Farmio is a food tech and eCommerce corporation that functions within the food supply chain in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. The Singapore-based company caters to both retailer and F&B businesses, while also offering software-as-a-service solutions to facilitate digital transformation across the food supply chain industry. Farmio is currently operating in Singapore and collaborates with global partners from Thailand, Malaysia, Ukraine, Indonesia, and beyond, information from its website showed.
How was your start-up in the year 2024?
2024 was a pivotal year for Farmio. We strengthened our technology foundation, focusing on AI-driven automation to optimize food supply chain processes. Our advanced AI solutions enabled seamless business operations, connecting over thousands of F&B partners in Singapore through our technology. This rapid adoption validated the need for AI-powered efficiency in traditional industries. By leveraging AI-driven automation and smart workflows, Farmio successfully processed tens of thousands of orders and significantly reduced operational dependencies on human intervention. Our solutions proved that businesses could scale efficiently with minimal manpower while maintaining high service quality. We’re thrilled to share that one of the largest regional chains has been leveraging our AI solution for over six months. Their trust, along with the tangible value Farmio continues to deliver, is a powerful validation of our impact and progress.
What are your expectations/aspirations for 2025?
In 2025, Farmio aims to strengthen its AI-powered automation solutions, positioning AI as a core driver for supply chain efficiency and business growth. By advancing our technology, we seek to streamline operations, optimize workflows, and enable businesses to scale with minimal manual intervention. As part of our expansion strategy, we are entering new markets, planning to start with Hong Kong, where we see strong demand for AI-driven supply chain optimization given the high labor costs. At the same time, we continue to deepen our presence in Singapore by expanding into additional food verticals, further integrating AI into the broader supply chain ecosystem. Through these initiatives, we aim to drive greater operational efficiency and industry transformation. Speaking about the support in digital transformation, we would like to thank Cyberport HK for their invaluable support in connecting us with partners and investors who share our vision for AI adoption in traditional industries across Hong Kong. We are confident that 2025 will be a transformative year for AI adoption in Hong Kong.
What are the plans and focus in the new year?
In 2025, our key focus is global collaboration, local adoption – connecting more international partners to Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. As AI transforms the supply chain industry, we see tremendous potential in building a network of global businesses leveraging our automation solutions. Our goal is to bridge markets through AI-driven solutions, enabling companies to remove the traditional bottlenecks in cross-border business and scale efficiently while tapping into the bigger economies of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
How is the outlook for 2025 for tech ecosystem in Hong Kong? What’s your view about Southeast Asia?
Speaking about the supply chain tech scene in Hong Kong, I am truly optimistic about the opportunity and growth potential. Hong Kong’s tech ecosystem is poised for strong growth in AI, automation, and supply chain innovation. With its role as a major trade and logistics hub, there is an increasing demand for AI-powered solutions that can streamline operations and reduce labor-intensive processes. Government initiatives supporting AI adoption will further accelerate technological advancements.
Southeast Asia, on the other hand, continues to be a high-growth region with booming e-commerce, logistics, and food industries. Businesses are rapidly digitizing their operations, making AI integration a critical competitive advantage. We see massive opportunities for AI-driven supply chain automation in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, where demand for efficiency is surging. We believe 2025 will be an exciting year for the change in AI supply chain intervention in a lot of traditional industries.