At first look, MoneyHero’s Q2 2025 numbers counsel a turnaround, however the headline “profitability” rests on shaky floor.
The Singapore-based monetary aggregator posted a slim internet revenue of US$0.2 million–pushed virtually totally by deep price cuts and a beneficial overseas change swing, relatively than real income development. (The group employed an analogous playbook in This fall 2024; extra on that right here.)
The topline paints a sobering image: income slid 13 per cent YoY to US$18 million, with sharp contractions within the Philippines (–42 per cent) and Taiwan (–47 per cent). In Malaysia, income dried up utterly. In reality, Q1 the group’s total income had already fallen to US$14.3 million from the identical interval final yr.
After slicing about 80 jobs in 2024 to “streamline operations”, the corporate is now closely reliant on Hong Kong and Singapore, which collectively contribute over 86 per cent of income—exposing the cracks in its regional diversification technique.
Buyer exercise can be waning. Functions fell 14 per cent, approvals dropped 18 per cent, and whereas membership grew 33 per cent to eight.6 million, engagement is clearly eroding.
To its credit score, MoneyHero is pivoting to higher-margin verticals like insurance coverage and wealth (now 27 per cent of income). Nonetheless, with out reigniting actual development in Southeast Asia, its Q2 “profitability” dangers being remembered as a fleeting accounting win relatively than a sturdy turnaround.
REGIONAL
MoneyHero swings to revenue, however solely on price cuts and FX features
Complete working prices and bills (excluding internet overseas change variations) plummeted by 37 per cent YoY to US$20.6M | This dramatic discount was broad-based, together with strategic know-how price reductions, simplified operations, and a “complete restructuring” of worker profit bills | Worker profit bills particularly dropped from US$6.712 million in Q2 2024 to US$3.700 million in Q2 2025.
Southeast Asia digital financial institution Yup raises US$32M
Traders are Moore Strategic Ventures and Spice Expeditions | The brand new funding brings Yup’s whole fairness raised to over US$100M since its founding in 2021 | The corporate will use the funds to develop its buyer base and improve its digital banking choices for underbanked and underserved segments within the area.
Alodokter closes funding led by SEA-focused angel traders
AngelCentral is the lead investor | Alodokter provides telemedicine consultations, physician appointment bookings, well being content material, and e-pharmacy | The corporate beforehand secured a US$5.2M in early 2024 and has over 20M month-to-month lively customers.
Seize, WeRide to launch first autonomous shuttle service in SG
Ai.R, Seize’s first autonomous car service for customers in Singapore, will function the brand new AV shuttle service in Punggol, the one service chosen to run on two designated routes, beginning with an preliminary fleet of 11 autos.
Nvsion secures contemporary capital to drive AI-led semiconductor inspections
The investor is Cambrian Fund | Nvsion’s options improve precision, enhance high quality, and enhance effectivity in outsourced semiconductor meeting and check and electronics manufacturing companies segments.
SG IoT supplier iSense will get funding from Chinese language firm Dnake
The funding will see iSense shift its manufacturing to DNAKE’s services and collaborate on new IoT options in healthcare, entry management, safety, and concrete monitoring | iSense offers sensible metropolis know-how for initiatives in Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia.
SeaX Ventures joins Brineworks in race to decarbonise aviation and delivery
The agency’s DAC know-how guarantees to unlock ultra-low-cost carbon feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuels and e-methanol, powered totally by renewable vitality, whereas co-producing vital quantities of hydrogen | Carbon feedstocks are uncooked carbon-based inputs that function the constructing blocks for making fuels, chemical substances, or supplies.
Bliink launches enterprise journey platform to empower Indonesia’s MSMEs
Bliink’s new providing is tailor-made to scale back inefficiencies in a section that kinds Indonesia’s financial spine but stays largely underserved by conventional company journey options | The corporate partnered strategically with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics to help MSME digitalisation.
BetterGov.ph: A daring civic tech push to repair Philippine governance
Launched by Filipino serial entrepreneur Jason Torres, backed by a consortium of business tech and startup veterans, BetterGov.ph is a volunteer-led civic know-how initiative to confront the numerous transparency and effectivity challenges inside Philippine governance.
REPORTS, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
From labs to boardrooms: QAI Ventures bets on Singapore’s quantum future
Singapore has constructed one of many world’s most coordinated nationwide quantum methods, backed by long-term funding and public-private partnerships | As a monetary and logistics hub, it offers rapid boardroom-level use circumstances in areas like fraud detection, danger modelling, and safe provide chains.
Going through EV hurdles, Indonesia seems to nickel and battery provide chains for solutions
Indonesia’s new administration has positioned industrial downstreaming on the centre of its vitality and financial technique | Below its “Asta Cita” or eight-vision framework, the fifth imaginative and prescient is devoted to increasing value-added industries | Nickel, which Indonesia holds the world’s largest reserves of, is on the coronary heart of this plan.
INTERNATIONAL
SoftBank, Meta, others to construct Japan-Singapore submarine cable
The submarine cable system known as Candle will join Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore | The venture, with NEC because the system provider, will span about 8,000 km and is scheduled to start out operations in 2028.
Trump says Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch would possibly spend money on TikTok deal
Whereas Trump didn’t specify whether or not he was speaking about private or firm investments, following his feedback, Deadline reported that Fox Corp — proprietor of Fox Information, run by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, and lengthy led by chairman emeritus Rupert — is the truth is in talks to affix the investor group backing TikTok’s US spinoff from proprietor ByteDance.
UK financial institution NatWest to spend money on Indian startups
The UK-based financial institution is concentrating on firms in fee options, agentic AI, and management frameworks, with deliberate investments starting from US$250K to US$2M per deal | NatWest lately opened an expanded world functionality centre in Bengaluru, including to its current places in Gurugram and Chennai, the place it employs about 17,000 individuals.
Indian VC agency 888 launches US$19.8M fund for AI, deeptech startups
The fund will goal investments of US$240K to US$482K per startup over the following three years, with a concentrate on firms aiming for world markets | 888 VC additionally launched GRO8, a platform for cross-border funding and mentorship, which is able to supply companies reminiscent of capital entry, mentorship, and market connections.
Cryptocurrencies drop as US$1.5B in bullish bets liquidated
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped as much as 9 per cent to US$4,075 as practically US$500M in leveraged bullish bets have been worn out, in accordance with Coinglass information | Bitcoin additionally fell virtually 3 per cent to US$111,998 throughout the identical interval |Greater than 407,000 merchants had positions liquidated inside 24 hours.
UAE targets 10K entrepreneurs with ‘Startup Capital’ initiative
The marketing campaign is managed by the Ministry of Financial system and Tourism, with participation from over 50 private and non-private sector entities, together with enterprise incubators and tutorial establishments | Key initiatives embody launching StartupEmirates.ae, coaching 10K Emiratis by way of the Entrepreneurship Programme, and licensing 500 Emiratis to handle residential development initiatives.
European ride-hailing agency Bolt launches in Taiwan
Bolt is partnering with native Taiwanese fleets to supply its service in Taipei, becoming a member of a market that has had restricted platform choices for ride-hailing | The Tallinn-based firm operates in over 600 cities throughout 50+ nations, providing ride-hailing, scooter, e-bike, and automobile leases.
SEMICONDUCTOR
MediaTek launches new AI chip to rival Qualcomm
The Taiwanese semiconductor agency mentioned the processor, Dimensity 9500, was constructed utilizing a 3-nanometer course of by TSMC | It is going to allow options like enhanced name and assembly summaries, improved AI mannequin efficiency, and higher-quality 4K photographs.
Samsung shares rise 5.3 per cent on Nvidia chip approval reviews
The shares rose 5.3 per cent to their highest degree since August 2024 after reviews that the corporate’s 12-layer HBM3E reminiscence chips handed Nvidia’s qualification assessments | Samsung, primarily based in South Korea, produces reminiscence chips utilized in AI and different computing functions.
Taiwan sees GDP increase from TSMC, AI demand
Taiwan is predicted to surpass South Korea in GDP per capita in 2025, pushed by the expansion of TSMC and rising demand for AI functions, in accordance with Taiwan’s Nationwide Improvement Council | TSMC, a Taiwan-based contract chipmaker, elevated its world foundry market share to 70.2 per cent in Q2 2025, in accordance with TrendForce, whereas Samsung held 7.3 per cent.
AI
LLM prompting, fine-tuning, RAG, or AI brokers: Which AI is healthier for advertising and marketing?
There’s no one-size-fits-all in the case of AI in advertising and marketing | Small companies would possibly begin with LLM prompting or dip into AI brokers to get an edge, whereas bigger enterprises can leverage RAG for its real-time insights and fine-tuning for model consistency | In the end, AI isn’t right here to interchange human entrepreneurs; it’s right here to amplify creativity and strategic decision-making.
Agentic AI in motion: How Southeast Asia’s startups are turning constraints into strengths
Agentic AI just isn’t about creating machines that exchange people | It’s about giving small, formidable groups the leverage to do what was beforehand unimaginable | And that’s the reason Southeast Asia issues | Right here, innovation is usually born not from abundance however from constraint | The area’s complexity—its languages, its fragmented rules, its entrepreneurial starvation—makes it probably the most necessary testbeds for this subsequent frontier of AI.
The AI revolution’s darkish facet: Mass unemployment, rage, and the collapse of stability
AI threatens the core financial id of white-collar employees, stripping away not simply revenue but in addition their sense of function and social superiority | The sense of betrayal felt by these employees — falling down the financial and social ladder with no method again — will generate rage on a scale hardly ever seen.
What occurs when AI transforms social networks into civic sq.?
The transition from community to neighborhood governance just isn’t speculative; Already, decentralised platforms are experimenting with fashions that transfer past company stewardship | MeWe, a privateness targeted various social media community, rejects surveillance pushed capital in favour of neighborhood and user-centric management.
Why the way forward for AI on cellular is probably not within the cloud
We’re getting into a part the place the intelligence is not only within the cloud, not simply within the mannequin, however within the choreography between machine, information, and surroundings | AI that actually feels human gained’t be achieved by way of brute compute or greater fashions | It is going to come from programs designed to function on the velocity of thought.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Why I constructed an app to make blood donation much less scary
Expertise ought to function an enabler, not a gatekeeper | By designing instruments which are intuitive, reasonably priced and scalable, we are able to affect public attitudes in the direction of blood donation and deal with one of many area’s most pressing but solvable healthcare challenges.
Funding for good: A brand new period
The problem—and alternative—for traders is to make funding for good the norm relatively than the exception | By backing startups that ship measurable social impression, capital can circulation towards ventures that strengthen communities, protect the planet, and nonetheless generate sturdy monetary returns.
Most CTOs obsess over tech, I obsess over belief — right here’s why
On the planet of AI and ML, belief is essential | These applied sciences will be transformative, however they’re additionally usually seen as a “black field” mysterious and generally even intimidating | To make use of AI/ML successfully, companies should belief that the algorithms are working as anticipated, that the info is safe, and that the fashions are making choices in an moral method.
How this founder went from being a tutor to a modern-day mompreneur
Feminine entrepreneurs want a strong neighborhood to assist them get by way of the troublesome occasions of their work trip | In spite of everything, shattering the glass ceiling is hardly a one (wo)man job | On the subject of stepping outdoors gender norms, the entrepreneurial world will be brutal.
Cybersecurity within the AI age: How startups can keep forward
The emergence of recent techniques reminiscent of Jailbreak-as-a-Service highlights the democratisation of cyber threats, underscoring the necessity for startups to remain forward of the curve | Latest technological developments imply that hostilities can now come from anyplace, which makes menace detection more and more advanced, notably as we sit up for the longer term.
How this startup is bringing effectivity to the method of exchanging enterprise playing cards
Shake is a contact information change and administration app platform which actually digitises the enterprise card and makes for seamless information distribution and assortment | Extra importantly, the platform addresses a wide range of wants and issues which companies and enterprise individuals doubtless didn’t even realise they’ve.
How is open-source collaboration empowering Asia’s quickest rising markets?
Open-source collaboration generally is a gateway to innovation | It offers a platform the place people and organisations collaborate to create, develop, and enhance software program freely shared amongst customers | For instance, think about well-liked platforms like Linux or WordPress; they’ve allowed limitless customisation alternatives on a worldwide scale.
Decoding startup financing: Why pre-money SAFEs are founders’ finest wager
In a pre-money SAFE, the valuation cap is decided earlier than the investor’s contribution | This strategy anchors the investor’s possession stake to the valuation of the corporate on the time of their funding | As a founder, this could work in your favour, as you’re much less prone to dilution attributable to subsequent investments at increased valuations.
Why Japanese startups have an interest within the Southeast Asian market
South East Asia has a rising center class of customers with more and more excessive buying energy driving up demand in a number of sectors | This offers a fantastic alternative for Japanese startups to determine a foothold within the area and faucet into the potential of the markets by plugging their companies into a number of industries.
The put up Ecosystem Roundup: MoneyHero revenue on cuts & FX | Trump: Murdochs eye TikTok | Yup Financial institution raises US$32M appeared first on e27.
