GenAI ASEAN Monthly Newsletter – February 2026

The GenAI ASEAN Monthly Newsletter is an initiative by GenAI Fund to keep you informed about the latest trends, breakthroughs, and developments in Generative AI across Southeast Asia. Each month, we curate key highlights — including 💰 investments, 📰 policy shifts, 🚀 startup innovations, and 🤝 impactful collaborations shaping the GenAI ecosystem in ASEAN.

February was a month of reflection, community, and renewed focus. After a meaningful break for the Lunar New Year, the GenAI Fund team is back with recharged energy, channeling our efforts into an ambitious roadmap for 2026. Our community momentum continues to build with our first GenAI Builders Meetup of the year, while our portfolio companies and partners demonstrate real-world AI impact. All roads now lead to our landmark GOI Summit in October, and the groundwork is being laid month by month.

Together, these milestones highlight how GenAI Fund and its partners are strengthening the bridge between startups and enterprises — driving AI from pilot to production across Asia.

Key Highlights for February 2026

1️⃣ A Time for Reflection and a Renewed Vision for 2026

The Lunar New Year provided a welcome opportunity for our team to take a meaningful break, recharge with loved ones, and reflect on the journey ahead. This period of rest has been invaluable in sharpening our focus and refining our strategic initiatives for the coming year. We return with a renewed sense of purpose, fully dedicated to building out the ecosystem and preparing for our most ambitious project yet: the GenAI Open Innovation (GOI) Summit in October 2026.

2️⃣ Recap: GenAI Builders Meetup x Pharmacity

📜 Summary of what happened:

On February 10th, over 30 builders, founders, and enterprise leaders gathered at Pharmacity’s headquarters for our first GenAI Builders Meetup of the year. Co-hosted with Pharmacity, the event brought together a diverse group from healthcare, FMCG, AI infrastructure, and more, with some attendees flying in from across the globe. The discussions were sharp and focused, moving beyond hype to address the real-world challenges and opportunities of deploying AI in sectors like retail and healthcare.

🔎 Why this matters to the GenAI ecosystem in ASEAN:

This meetup is a cornerstone of our Road to GOI Summit, building a grassroots community of operators who are actively deploying AI. The high-intent conversations and the collaboration with a major enterprise like Pharmacity signal a critical shift in the ecosystem: GenAI is no longer a side experiment but is becoming core infrastructure for business operations and growth. These gatherings are where the practical, collaborative foundation for the future of AI in the region is being built.

📌 Read more: HERE

3️⃣ From Strategy to Execution: Sime Darby Property’s Innovation in Action

📜 Summary of what happened:

At the recent BIG Programme Corporate Innovation Forum by Cradle Fund, our partner Sime Darby Property showcased how to turn innovation strategy into tangible outcomes. Two live Proof-of-Concepts, developed with GenAI Fund and leading AI startups, were demonstrated:

🔷 SafePass AI (with Buildbob) to create universal digital safety passports for construction workers

🔷Guardian AI (with Ailytics) to detect high-risk behaviors on-site in real-time. 

The PoCs were personally demonstrated to Malaysia’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, highlighting the strategic importance of this initiative.

🔎 Why this matters to the GenAI ecosystem in ASEAN:

This is a powerful showcase of enterprise AI adoption done right. It demonstrates a clear path from identifying a problem to deploying a real-world solution, moving beyond the pilot stage. By bringing together a major corporation, a government agency, and cutting-edge startups, this collaboration sets a new benchmark for safety and innovation in traditional industries, proving that AI can deliver life-saving and business-critical impact.

📌 Read more: HERE 

4️⃣ Introducing the GenAI Expert Series: First Session Featuring Qwen by Alibaba Cloud

GenAI Fund is launching a new webinar initiative — the GenAI Expert Series — a curated series of high-impact sessions featuring the most influential players in the global AI ecosystem. Our inaugural session features Qwen by Alibaba Cloud, the open-source model family currently topping global leaderboards and outperforming industry giants in multimodal reasoning and coding efficiency.

In this session, we’ll dive into the latest Qwen model developments with real-world case studies, explore practical applications for deploying Qwen tools effectively, and provide founder access to start experimenting and building with Qwen right now.

📌 RSVP: HERE

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🎉 Stay tuned for the next edition of the GenAI ASEAN Monthly Newsletter.

As we continue our journey toward the GOI Summit, we’ll keep sharing the stories, partnerships, and milestones shaping the future of AI in Southeast Asia.

Let’s keep building the region’s AI future — together. 💪✨