Startups stories - Page 4

Deel launches The Pitch, a global contest offering up to USD $15m in SAFE funding to seed start-ups, with APAC entries closing 21 April.

Ethique founder Brianne West unveils Incrediballs, plastic-free effervescent tablets aiming to replace bottled soft drinks worldwide.

Record digital squatting surge sees 6,200 disputes in 2025, as lookalike domains drive costly phishing, malware and payment fraud.

New Zealand start-up mA.I Health has launched an AI-powered app giving patients lifetime control of secure, shareable medical records.

NeuBird AI appoints Venkat Ramakrishnan president and COO to scale its agentic AI SRE platform and expand global commercial operations.

Telna launches a USD $100m fund to back travel eSIM apps, MVNOs and Super Apps, aiming to speed global growth in digital roaming services.

Qualtrics appoints former Oracle executive Jason Maynard as CEO to spearhead AI-driven growth and a USD $6.75 billion Press Ganey deal.

DLA Piper has promoted Edward Eisdell-Moore to partner in its Auckland technology and data practice, effective 1 January 2026.

AI companions are edging into the mainstream, prompting doubts over whether digital pets could reshape - but not replace - traditional pet ownership.

Etleap launches a unified Iceberg data pipeline platform, promising simpler, scalable management of Apache Iceberg table operations.

Asia-Pacific startup founders are growing older but no less ambitious, with most over 45 and four in ten still chasing unicorn valuations.

Azzet names governance veteran Henry Stoever to its board as it accelerates the global rollout of its premium asset marketplace.

AiDeliv's reverse-auction marketplace is slashing ocean freight for small importers to an average of USD $0.65 per kilo, data shows.

Sam Altman says AI co-workers will reshape software jobs, cut team sizes and force firms to compete on ideas, attention and resilience.

AI platform Emergent raises USD $70m Series B from Khosla Ventures and SoftBank to speed global software creation for non-coders.

Zepz has bought fintech Pomelo to bolt credit cards and lending onto its remittance brands, deepening its push into cross-border finance.

Airwallex acquires Korean fintech Paynuri, securing local payment and FX licences as it accelerates its expansion across Asia-Pacific hubs.

Aspire embeds Deel's Employer of Record tools to let startups hire, pay and manage overseas staff from a single cross-border finance platform.

OpenAI rolls out USD $8-a-month ChatGPT Go across the US and prepares to trial clearly labelled ads for free and Go users.

Pax8 taps former Microsoft Asia channel leader Sarah Bowden to spearhead APAC sales, marketing and partner growth from 2026.