Digital Transformation

Acti, a Singapore-based company describing itself as the world's first agentic keyboard, has raised $5.3 million in a seed round led by the United States-based BITKRAFT Ventures.

Malaysia is stepping up efforts to create more high-value jobs in advanced industries with the launch of the BAKAT MADANI initiative, a national program aimed at strengthening talent pipelines in semiconductors, renewable energy, the digital economy and advanced manufacturing.

Indonesia's digital competitiveness score rose to 42.2 in 2026, up from 38.8 in 2025, according to East Ventures's Digital Competitiveness Index 2026, marking a more than 50 percent increase in the average provincial score since 2020.

Malaysia is seeking to position itself as a regional leader in the emerging low altitude economy (LAE), with the government working on a regulatory framework to support new aviation technologies such as drones, air taxis and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, its Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said Tuesday.

Agentic commerce, bank-backed wallets, and Click to Pay are the three technologies expected to have the most significant impact on consumer payments over the next 12 months, according to the Consumer Payments Tech Horizon report, released by Juniper Research.

Blackwall, a web traffic security company based in Estonia, has partnered with Vietnam's HOSTVN Technology Solutions Joint Stock Company to launch HOSTVN Website Protection, marking Blackwall's  entry into Vietnam, also its first market in Southeast Asia.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its first Local Zone in Vietnam, located in Hanoi, bringing AWS-managed cloud infrastructure to organizations across healthcare, finance, gaming, and other sectors operating in the country.

The panel "Finding the Next World Champion from the Global South" featured Harmender Singh, SVP (Group Business Development & Innovation Advisory) at Cradle Fund and Minjun Liang, Founding Partner at ATM Capital.

Malaysia's digitalization agency Digital Penang and Indonesia's startup ecosystem KUMPUL have renewed their memorandum of understanding for 2026 to 2027, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening the startup, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystem across Malaysia and the region.