Client features
See how we help our clients position their brands and articulate their mission through strategic media relations, corporate storytelling, and spokesperson media training.
Can Southeast Asia claim its place in the AI economy?
Murli Ravi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tin Men Capital, was featured in The Edge Singapore's feature exploring whether Southeast Asia can move beyond hosting AI infrastructure to building lasting enterprise value. The feature, which also drew on perspectives from INSEAD, NUS Business School, and AI Singapore, examined the region's position in the global AI value chain and the gap between investment and commercial impact.
Murli argued that the real test of AI sovereignty lies in who owns the application layer: "The commercial case for sovereign AI is not in the model. It is in the companies that deploy AI into the region's enterprises using that infrastructure. The question is not whether Southeast Asia builds its own [AI model] but whether the companies turning AI into enterprise value are owned here and built here."
The piece highlighted Tin Men Capital portfolio companies Ailytics, Groundup.ai, and Graas as examples of Southeast Asian AI startups solving measurable enterprise problems across construction safety, predictive maintenance, and e-commerce.
Southeast Asia insurers risk profit hit from weak data systems
Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta was interviewed by Insurance Asia on how AI deployment on outdated data systems is limiting profitability gains for Southeast Asian general insurers. Mehta told the publication that insurers who make the right AI investments over three to five years could see profitability improve by 300 to 400 basis points, but warned that many still operate on decades-old infrastructure that needs upgrading before AI can deliver results.
"You need to separate the hype layer from what I call the infrastructure layer," Mehta said, noting that most general insurers in the region operate at high combined ratios with thin net incomes.
Igloo appoints Ramjit Lahiri to lead high-stakes Philippines expansion
e27 profiled Igloo's appointment of Ramjit Lahiri as Philippines Country Head, framing it as a high-stakes bet on one of Southeast Asia's largest protection gaps. The piece noted that while total premiums in the Philippines reached PHP502.6 billion (US$8.9 billion) in 2025, insurance penetration has only inched to between 1.78% and 1.79% of GDP, and GlobalData estimates a catastrophe protection gap of around 98%.
CEO Raunak Mehta was quoted: "Over the next two to three years, we expect rapid scale in the Philippines as embedded insurance becomes part of how Filipinos interact with financial services."
Insurtech Igloo expands Philippines strategy as insurance market hits $8.4B
TechNode Global reported that Igloo has appointed Ramjit Lahiri as Philippines Country Head as the company deepens its presence in one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing insurance markets. The Philippines recorded PHP502.6 billion (US$8.37 billion) in total insurance premiums in 2025, up 14.1% year on year, though penetration remains below 2% of GDP.
Since entering the Philippines, Igloo has partnered with more than 40 digital platforms, launched over 55 insurance products, and established partnerships with GCash, Shopee, Lazada, and Smart Communications. Lahiri will lead the company's expansion into banking, consumer finance, and healthcare sectors in 2026.
Stablecoins are challenging Asia’s financial order
And for Singapore-based StraitsX, its local currency token presents opportunities to optimise payments made to merchants in the Republic.
Its XSGD token, which trades on Coinbase, is the only Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin to date that has been deemed "substantively compliant" with the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) single-currency regulatory structure, which was finalised in 2023.
