Asia’s founders are going global faster, sometimes even before they’re sure what their business is, says Stripe’s SEA MD

Asian tech founders are embracing global markets at an accelerated pace, even before fully defining their businesses, according to Sarita Singh, Stripe's regional head and MD for Southeast Asia, Greater China, and South Korea. A recent survey indicates that AI firms in Singapore typically enter seven new markets within a year of launching, marking a departure from the more measured expansion strategies previously employed by Asian companies.

Traditionally, Asian businesses would establish a local presence, gradually iterating their products and expanding to neighboring countries, often forming local banking relationships along the way. However, AI-native firms are scaling and monetizing more rapidly than their SaaS counterparts. A 2025 study revealed that the top 100 AI companies on Stripe reached $1 million in annualized revenue a median of 11.5 months after launch, four months ahead of the fastest-growing SaaS firms during the subscription era.

Despite this rapid growth, Asian founders confront a complex challenge: the fragmented payments landscape across the region. Singh notes that the market lacks a unified card system, with each country boasting diverse consumer behaviors and transaction patterns. To address this issue, Stripe recently unveiled partnerships with numerous local payment platforms, including Samsung Pay in South Korea, Touch 'n Go in Malaysia, ShopeePay in Singapore, GCash in the Philippines, and TrueMoney in Thailand.

These collaborations aim to enable Stripe businesses to accept cross-border payments through these smaller providers, leveraging Stripe's global distribution network.

Additionally, Stripe has been actively exploring the "agentic economy," an emerging economic system where AI agents operate as independent entities on behalf of human users. In December 2023, Stripe launched the "Agentic Commerce Suite," allowing AI agents to securely share buyer credentials with merchants. Early adopters of this technology include fashion brands Coach and Kate Spade, along with e-commerce platforms Etsy and Halara.

Industry giants Visa and Mastercard are also investing in agentic commerce; Visa introduced its Intelligent Commerce platform in April 2024, enabling AI agents to shop and pay on behalf of users, while Mastercard launched "Agent Pay for Machines" in June 2026 to facilitate micro-transactions between machines.

Despite the promising potential of agentic commerce, Singh acknowledges that it remains an early-stage concept. Instead of rushing to build their tech stacks for this future, Stripe advises companies to prepare for the transition when the time comes. By ensuring their infrastructure is adaptable, businesses can avoid the need for extensive reworks down the line as the agentic economy evolves.