DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, is partnering with investment fund Granite Asia to launch a -announced $110 million fund focused on investing in initial public offerings (IPOs) of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology startups across the region. The fund will be exclusively available to DBS’s high-wealth clients, a move designed to capitalize on the growing AI sector in Asia and address a funding gap compared to the United States.
The three-year partnership aims to provide crucial capital to Asian startups, which often struggle to secure funding compared to their Western counterparts. According to Jenny Lee, senior managing partner at Granite Asia, the U.S. Market is “amply funded, if not overfunded,” accounting for 10 of the 11 largest deals in the fourth quarter of , according to KPMG. Lee emphasized that “the rest of Asia is under invested… and Asia is not small.”
Southeast Asia’s venture capital landscape has faced headwinds in recent years, hampered by macroeconomic challenges and inconsistent returns. Traditional banks, DBS CEO Tan Su Shan noted, are often reluctant to lend to startups due to their high cash burn rates. This new fund seeks to overcome that hesitancy by providing early-stage investment and fostering long-term relationships with promising companies.
The collaboration between DBS and Granite Asia stems from a long-standing professional relationship between Lee, and Tan. “We were bemoaning the fact that there was so much talent, but not enough capital to fund these guys,” Tan recalled, referencing a conversation during a conference in Qatar in . The fund is intended to address this imbalance, offering investors “early access” to high-growth AI-driven companies in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Europe.
The disparity in funding between Asian and U.S. AI startups is significant. While Chinese startup Moonshot, developer of the Kimi open-source model, raised $500 million earlier in , U.S.-based Anthropic, the creator of the Claude model, secured $30 billion in funding earlier this month. This illustrates the scale of the funding gap the DBS-Granite Asia fund intends to address.
DBS, ranked No. 7 on the Southeast Asia 500, has a historical commitment to supporting entrepreneurship, originating as the Development Bank of Singapore in with a mandate to finance industrial development. “We were always about backing entrepreneurs, and supporting businesses from early- to mid-growth, and beyond,” Tan stated, highlighting the bank’s long-term focus on fostering innovation.
The fund is also expected to benefit DBS’s wealth clients by providing access to growth assets and private markets, potentially generating higher returns than more conservative investments like exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Tan explained that “if you want alpha, you’ve got to go up the value chain… to more upstream companies.”
Granite Asia, which manages around $10 billion in assets and has supported 65 IPOs globally, was formed from the separation of GGV Capital’s Asia and U.S. Operations in . The firm has previously partnered with other Asian institutions, including sovereign wealth funds Khazanah and the Indonesia Investment Authority, demonstrating its commitment to the region. Lee previously opened one of GGV’s first China offices in and has a track record of successful investments in companies like Xiaomi and Grab.
Both Tan and Lee emphasized the importance of a regionally focused approach. “This multi-asset partnership is deeply rooted in Asia,” Tan said. “It brings together the understanding of Asian needs, Asian capital, Asian purpose, Asian knowhow, Asian hardware and software.” The partnership aims to create a more robust ecosystem for Asian founders, providing them with the resources and support needed to thrive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
