Antler Expands Its Regional Footprint, Connecting China’s AI Founders With Southeast Asia’s Global Network
Singapore, 14 September 2025 - Global early-stage venture capital firm Antler brought together hundreds of founders, builders, and investors last week in Hangzhou, China, for its first Antler AI Community Event, a gathering that showcased China’s new generation of AI founders looking beyond borders.
Out of hundreds of applications, 17 AI teams took the stage to demonstrate their innovations, from AI agents and vertical copilots to creative consumer tech. All conversations circled back to the same question: how do we bring our products global from China?
China’s Builders Are Going Global
A new wave of Chinese startups is expanding into Southeast Asia to scale internationally and hedge against global headwinds. According to Antler’s research, between 2023 and 2025, dozens of Chinese AI startups have established offices in Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia, attracted by open markets, access to advanced chips, and proximity to global investors.
Companies like Manus AI recently shifted headquarters to Singapore to access Nvidia GPUs and raise funding from U.S. firms like Benchmark. DeepSeek, one of China’s fastest-growing open-source AI players, has seen surging global adoption. Meanwhile, Zhipu AI is setting up innovation centers in Indonesia and Vietnam, signaling a deeper integration between China’s AI ecosystem and Southeast Asia’s infrastructure.
“Southeast Asia has become the new destination for China’s founders to go global,” said Winnie Khoo, Partner at Antler Southeast Asia. “It’s where engineering excellence meets open markets. The question isn’t if they’ll move, but how fast the region can keep up with their speed.”
Even outside of AI, Chinese firms such as Shein, BYD, and Ant Group have all expanded into Southeast Asia, building manufacturing bases, regional HQs, or fintech partnerships across the region. Southeast Asia’s role has evolved from a “growth market” to a strategic global bridge for Chinese founders to internationalize.
Why Southeast Asia Became the Global Bridge
Recent data shows clear motivations for the China–SEA expansion:
- Access to capital – As domestic venture funding tightens, Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, offers a concentration of global investors, sovereign funds, and family offices eager to back next-gen AI ventures.
- Access to technology – Locating in SEA allows founders to legally access advanced AI chips (e.g., Nvidia A100/H100) and cloud services restricted in China, crucial for scaling AI products.
- Regulatory openness – SEA markets provide regulatory sandboxes and flexible frameworks for emerging tech, compared to China’s stricter AI and data governance rules.
- Market proximity – With 680 million digital-first consumers, Southeast Asia mirrors China’s early growth trajectory, offering both new users and a testbed for global expansion.
- Geopolitical neutrality – Singapore and other SEA hubs offer a stable, neutral base for founders navigating the U.S.–China tensions and seeking to rebrand as global companies.
“The energy in the room was incredible,” said Erik Jonsson, Partner at Antler & Head of Vietnam. “These builders combine deep technical capability with a global ambition from day one. Antler’s mission is to help them bridge that ambition, linking ideas born in China to the world through Southeast Asia’s fast-growing innovation hubs like Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta.”
Antler’s Role: Building the China–SEA Bridge
As a global investor with offices across Asia, Antler has been actively backing founders who are building global solutions from the region. Over the past year, Antler has expanded its reach to include founders from China and Chinese-speaking ecosystems who aim to build globally from day one.
Startups such as TrustAI (building AI-powered compliance and trust infrastructure for enterprises) and ChatCut (AI-driven video creation and localization platform) are recent examples of Antler-backed founders from China, using Singapore and Vietnam as bases to access compute, capital, and cross-border customers.
These founders exemplify Antler’s global thesis that innovation built in Asia can scale to the world when founders have access to the right ecosystem, mentorship, and global investor network.
“Our goal is to strengthen the bridge between China’s builders and Southeast Asia’s fast-growing innovation hubs,” said Jussi Salovaara, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Antler Southeast Asia. “The momentum we’re seeing is proof that collaboration across these ecosystems can unlock global opportunities far beyond the region.”
Building the Future from Asia, for the World
From AI builders in Hangzhou to early-stage startups in Ho Chi Minh City, Antler continues to invest in founders at the inception stage, providing pre-seed capital, co-founder matching, business model validation, and direct access to its global network across 30+ cities.
As global AI adoption accelerates, Southeast Asia is not just a destination. It’s becoming the launchpad for global AI innovation. Antler aims to deepen this bridge, backing technical founders who can harness both China’s scale and SEA’s global reach to build companies with worldwide impact.