Asia
Ondine Capital closes first round of Fund III with Taiwan chip firms as LPs
Ondine Capital has announced the first close of its third US dollar-denominated venture fund, with commitments from institutional and strategic limited partners, including several leading Taiwanese semiconductor companies.
Fujitsu and partners test AI packaging damage checks in Japan
Fujitsu and SoftBank Robotics are testing image-based AI to standardize packaging damage decisions in Japan's home-appliance supply chain.
Thunes raises UnionPay payout limit in mainland China to $10,000
Thunes has expanded its UnionPay connection to support instant payouts of up to $10,000 daily to cards across 79 mainland Chinese banks.
HSBC plans Hong Kong AI institute with HKUST for early 2027
HSBC plans to open a Hong Kong AI and emerging technology institute with HKUST as its anchor academic partner in early 2027.
Sunrate launches agentic card for AI-driven business payments
Sunrate has introduced a programmable virtual commercial card that lets authorized AI agents execute business payments under predefined controls.
Digital Realty’s Serene Nah on the infrastructure gap behind APAC AI investment [Q&A]
Digital Realty APAC head Serene Nah discusses the infrastructure gap behind rising AI investment, including workload placement, data sovereignty, interconnection and ROI.
82 percent of founders maintain US expansion plans despite immigration uncertainty – Beyond Border survey
Despite growing uncertainty over US immigration policies, 82 percent of founders surveyed by Singapore-founded immigration platform Beyond Border have not changed their plans to expand into the American market, with access to customers remaining the main driver of their ambitions.
Singapore’s HugoHub makes first live bank deployment in Pakistan
HugoHub, a Singapore-based financial infrastructure platform, has secured its first live deployment with a regulated bank, as Pakistan’s digital retail bank HugoBank opened its first pilot customer account on the platform on Sept 25, 2026.
EV supply chains dominate APAC automotive investment as focus shifts to components
Investment in Asia-Pacific's automotive manufacturing sector is increasingly shifting towards electric vehicle (EV) supply chains, battery technologies and component production, rather than vehicle assembly, as manufacturers strengthen local production capabilities and position themselves for the transition to next-generation mobility, BMI Country Risk and…
China-Laos digital payment link offers new model for cross-border transactions: AMRO
The launch of a cross-border digital payment link between China and Laos marks an important step in regional financial integration, demonstrating how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can connect with conventional payment networks while preserving local-currency settlement, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said on Monday.
