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Supabase might just be the best example of a new tech startup in Singapore. It has built a fast-growing and global business that’s been backed with over $1 billion from investors across the world. And it’s building core tools for the agentic era. Today, we look at its newest round, an acquisition and its future goals.
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The tech startup blueprint Singapore wants to see more of
Supabase, the Singapore-based database platform that helps developers build apps and software, closed a $150 million funding round, just four months after it announced a $500 million Series F round.
The round is led by GIC, the Singapore sovereign fund, and it includes Google’s CapitalG fund for the first time. That’s notable as one of the main competitors of Supabase’s developer stack is Google-owned Firebase. Still, Supabase CEO Paul Copplestone said the fund’s “connections to the broader Alphabet ecosystem will be invaluable as we build for our next level of growth.”
You don’t typically see a smaller round like this follow a huge raise like Supabase’s Series F, but in this case the startup’s recent growth spurt is such that it appears to need the funds to support continuing to accelerate its trajectory.
“Supabase is now adding more than 1M users and 4M databases per month with 70% of new databases created by agents or AI-driven tools. The growth follows a 600% year-over-year increase in databases reported in June, when agents were already deploying the majority of new databases on the platform,” the company wrote.
Supabase has raised over $1 billion in total from investors that include Accel, Peak XV, Craft, Coatue, Y Combinator, Stripe, Salesforce Ventures and Figma.
It’s worth recalling what Supabase does. It provides a set of backend tools to enable developers to quickly build and develop apps, websites and other software using a central resource to manage files, authentication, databases and more. In the agentic era which allows software to be created in minutes or hours not days, that’s a particularly key tech stack as Supabase’s numbers seem to show.
That explains why, alongside the funding round, it announced that it acquired a startup called Turso, which allows databases to be provisioned on demand. That makes perfect sense for Supabase since vibe- and agentic-coding is sending its numbers skyrocketing, it needs the tools to support faster creation of databases and the plumbing beyond apps, websites and more.
Whether you create a web app for friends, a private CRM tool for your company or a new product for an existing customer base, Supabase wants to make its tools the go to for Claude, ChatGPT or bots like Muse, Grok Bot or Dots.
Supabase is the closest example to a modern Singapore tech success story. Its founders aren’t Singaporean, but they met in the country during a cohort for Entrepreneur First.
They didn’t start their business in EF, the accelerator programme that left Singapore in 2023, but they’ve grown a multi-billion dollar startup from the country without being limited to serving Southeast Asia or raising only from VCs in the region. Speaking of fundraising, you’d imagine that association has helped it win the continued support of GIC, which has been a key backer.
Now, Supabase has a real chance to put Singapore on the map for growing a global business in the age of AI.
India takes down Bitchat, Jack Dorsey’s app used by political protesters
Chat apps are a tough market to enter. There are hundreds of competitors and you need critical mass for a user to find value and return. Bitchat, the messaging app co-developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has managed to beat the odds since its launch a year ago. Proof of that comes after it was removed from app stores in India.
Unlike other messaging apps, Bitchat uses Bluetooth to enable chat between devices meaning it can function without cellular signal or WiFi. That led to its popularity surging in India after it was used by protesters over the summer. Its features enabled the protesters, from a Gen Z-led group, to continue to communicate despite authorities cutting access to mobile networks in the area.
The Indian government ordered its removal from Apple and Google’s app stores due to illegal content, but it’s fair to assume that’s linked to the protests. That’s proof Bitchat works exactly as intended, though Dorsey would doubtless prefer it remains fully accessible in India. Android devices will allow it to be sideloaded, but no longer being available in app stores will impact distribution.
AI data centre boom brings new demand for old tech
The insatiable demand for AI is making those who provide the key pieces for data centres think outside the box.
Toshiba, for example, has pledged to spend nearly $400 million by the end of next year to double the capacity of its hard drive production in the Philippines. Hard disk drives have long been obsolete for consumers with solid state drives replacing them. But they remain a cheap way of providing storage, which makes them useful in the AI data centre rush.
Another Japanese company is repurposing a technology that never made it off the ground.
Fuji Electric is dusting off refrigeration technology that it built for vending machines after Fukushima. The innovation uses waste heat to slash cooling power in machines by up to 85%. It was deemed too pricey to ever be seriously rolled out, but the firm believes it can have value at data centre scale.
Deals
AI chip startup Agrani Labs is reportedly in talks to raise ₹8-8.5 billion ($90-96 million) from Samsung, 360 One Asset Management and Peak XV Partners at a ₹24-25 billion ($270-281 million) valuation [Economic Times]
SoftBank completed its $4 billion acquisition of DigitalBridge, creating a vehicle to raise outside capital for its AI infrastructure push in data centres, power and related assets [FT]
Markets
Goldman Sachs bought about $220 million of Shein shares, or 13% of its initial float, after the online fashion retailer’s weak Hong Kong debut [FT]
Pony AI and WeRide are expected to remain loss-making through 2028 as their robotaxi fleets lag Waymo on utilisation [Bloomberg]
AI and Chips
TSMC is reportedly exploring a partnership with Elon Musk’s Terafab to operate planned semiconductor factories in Texas, with structures ranging from ownership to purchase commitments under discussion [Culpium]
Chinese-owned semiconductor fabs had acquired an estimated 343 immersion DUV lithography systems by early 2026 [SCMP]
Japanese local governments are stepping up outreach to Taiwan for AI and semiconductor investment as they try to capture more of the island’s industrial growth [Nikkei Asia]
US chip-IP provider MIPS is working with Chinese companies to standardise open-source RISC-V architecture across AI, microcontrollers and data-centre servers despite worsening US-China tensions [SCMP]
Policy
Pakistan will tax content creators on actual earnings or 195 rupees ($0.70) per 1,000 views, whichever is higher, a move that critics say could drive creators and payments offshore [Nikkei Asia]
Amazon and Flipkart are reviewing Indian security-camera listings after Reuters found hundreds of unlicensed products on sale despite testing rules introduced over espionage concerns [Reuters]
UK universities are reviewing links with China General Technology Research Institute after MI5 warned them to cut ties over its alleged intelligence connections [FT]
Anthropic appears to have tightened geographic restrictions on Claude in Hong Kong, with users reporting account suspensions after using VPNs to access the service [SCMP]
Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung is set to visit Arizona to meet officials and semiconductor companies as Taipei deepens economic ties with the US [Bloomberg]
In other news:
Singapore’s Temasek will open its first Gulf offices in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh next year, using them to support portfolio companies expanding in the Middle East [Semafor]
Hyundai is planning scores of new human-driven cars as Tesla shifts further away from the steering wheel in its push for robotaxis [WSJ]
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