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Funding to startups in Asia in the first half of 2023 dropped 50 percent from the previous year — spurred on by fewer large, late rounds, and mirroring the global venture market, Crunchbase said Thursday.

"We also discussed the participation of SpaceX in the Starlink satellite service, which can contribute to faster and broader internet access, especially in remote areas that require minimal physical infrastructure and land to improve global internet connectivity," Anwar said.

Home loans and online loans are the most popular in Southeast Asia, Robocash Group said on Thursday. Based on search requests related to lending, housing loans make up 46 percent of all queries over the past 12 months. The second place by popularity is taken by online loans (30 percent).

Total funding into Southeast Asia (SEA) tech startups fell 71 percent to $2.3 billion in the first half of 2023, from $8 billion a year ago, said Tracxn Technologies Ltd on Thursday. The total funding in the first half is also 45 percent lower than $4.3 billion raised in the second half of 2022.

"The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe. You can meet the team and ask us questions during a Twitter Spaces chat on Friday, July 14," the company said.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Antler is extending its international footprint into Malaysia through a partnership with the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia Khazanah. Khazanah said in a statement on Thursday that Antler is aiming to invest in over 30 startups across Malaysia over the next three years.

Teleport, the logistics venture seeded by Malaysia-listed firm Capital A Berhad, has officially inducted its first Airbus A321 Freighter (A321F) aircraft into its air logistics fleet, which is set to strengthen its position as the market leader in terms of most air cargo volume by tonnage across Southeast Asia, as certified by the World ACD.

Orderfaz, an Indonesian fintech startup for social commerce sellers, has on Thursday announced the completion of a pre-seed round of financing led by 1982 Ventures. With this round of financing, the firm plans to bring on new hires across all functions to drive platform development and market expansion.

EHang Holdings Limited (EHang), the United States-listed Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) technology platform company, has raised a total of $23 million in private placement led by strategic South Korean investor Lee Soo Man.

Vertex Master Fund III was set up by Vertex Holdings to provide Japanese investors diversified exposure to key innovation hubs globally by investing into its Vertex family of funds