Asia

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.

Ovum, an Australian women's health company founded by Ariella Heffernan-Marks, has raised $4 million in seed funding to address the gender health gap, tripling its valuation just one year after securing $1.7 million in a pre-seed round.

Early-stage investor Antler has unveiled 28 startups from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia as part of its Asia Regional Portfolio Showcase, highlighting a shift from AI copilots and productivity tools toward autonomous systems capable of independently executing complex tasks.

Organized by the GSMA, MWC26 Shanghai takes place from June 24-26, 2026 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

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.

Online game Roblox has launched Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts globally, automatically placing users into age-appropriate account types with tailored access to games, chat, and other features.

Workers aged 18 to 26 in Singapore are the least frequent daily users of AI among all age groups, at 20 percent, trailing those aged 27 to 39 at 25 percent and those aged 40 to 54 at 23 percent, according to the ADP Research's People at Work Report 2026.

Vietnam leads the region with 52 percent of local employees utilizing weekly construction-specific technology, ahead of Australia at 48 percent and Singapore at 47 percent, according to Autodesk's State of Digital Adoption in the Construction Industry 2026 report.

Singapore-based Golden Gate Ventures has launched its Uzbekistan office, in a move to help technology companies in its Middle East - North Africa (MENA) portfolio expand to the country and the broader region.

100x100, a Singapore-based climate company builder and venture capital fund, announced Wednesday the launch of its second fund (Fund II) targeting $100 million.