Singapore VC Granite Asia leads a $60 million funding round for AI ‘Data Foundry’ to fund global expansion

AI startups are currently paying close attention to Asia when searching for new markets for AI models. Local AI developers such as China’s deepseekshows that Asian AI models sit on the frontier of technology.

“This funding round is not about necessity, it’s about ambition,” CEO Venkat Langapuram said in a statement. “This investment is turbocharged our mission. It empowers the enterprise to resilient, agile and meticulously tuned AI systems.”

He plans to use funds to expand the platform’s capabilities, improve research and development, and deepen collaboration with partners such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and Lenovo.

AI startups work with large companies to develop, train and deploy AI, including trying to eliminate bias, hallucinations and other mistakes. “We can’t really solve enterprise-related issues unless the model is based on a very specific scenario and dataset,” Langapuram said in the conversation. luck. “There’s a lot to think about before you can go to a gig with the Enterprise setup.”

Centific started as the US division of Pactera, a Chinese IT consulting and outsourcing company. After China’s state-owned electronics corporation acquired Pactera in 2020, it opened up its US business and eventually became an independent company.

Rangapuram said luck He was excited by the “disruptive and exciting possibilities” of physical AI, especially in ASEAN and Singapore. (“Physical AI” is a model designed to use real-world machines like manufacturing equipment.) “The future is global, not just North America,” he said.

The desire to expand into a new market was how many conferences have transformed granite Asia and famous venture capitalists (and MPW Asia Finalist) Jenny Lee is one of the fund’s senior managing partners. Langapuram pointed to Granite’s “networks and resources within Asia and India,” and pointed to Lee and her fund “diversifying from the North American market to alternative markets around the world.”

Granite Asia is looking at investments in the century as part of its mission to build a “permanent infrastructure for the future of the industry,” Lee said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the funding. The 1cm feature is “uniquely built to become the foundational partner of the Enterprise AI stack.”

Granite Asia was born from GGV Capital, a venture giant with deep roots in Asia. Lee established GGV’s first Chinese office in 2005, supporting giants like Alibaba, Grab and Xiaomi. However, in 2023, following Congressional scrutiny of US venture investments in China, GGV decided that the Asia-based business would become granite Asia and split it into two.

The fund quickly built new relationships across the region. Late last year, it formed a strategic partnership with Indonesian Investment Bureau, one of Indonesia’s sovereign wealth funds. Expanding $1.2 billion For investment opportunities. Announced in March New joint venture As Japanese private equity companies are essential, they will pool $100 million into Japan’s tech sector.

Then on Tuesday, granite Asia was One of two foreign VCsalongside Taiwan’s Appworks, was chosen to invest in local startups and participate in the new Malaysian initiative to encourage Redmicairyle in Southeast Asian countries to global companies.

“We always felt that Asia lacked a capital focus for Asian companies,” Lee said. luck Late October. “Our vision is to become the dominant capital platform for startups, founders and businesses across the region. Regional capital is fixed in the region.”