{
  "id": 18447123,
  "title": "The AI boom is the first platform shift where there are ‘real advantages’ of building from Asia, says Antler’s founder and CEO Magnus Grimeland",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/06/the-ai-boom-is-the-first-platform-shift-where-there-are-real",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-06T04:48:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/11/05/the-ai-boom-is-the-first-platform-shift-where-there-are-real-advantages-of-building-from-asia-says-antlers-founder-and-ceo-magnus-grimeland/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Magnus Grimeland, founder and CEO of venture capital firm Antler, asserts that Asia is emerging as a popular hub for AI entrepreneurs due to numerous advantages. Despite fragmented markets and diverse cultures, Grimeland notes that the U.S. remains a highly popular location for tech and AI company formation, yet Asia now has a competitive edge. According to Crunchbase data, $42.8 billion was invested in startup funding rounds across Asia during Q2 2026, which is the highest quarterly total in over three years. Grimeland attributes this growth to several factors, including a rapidly expanding electricity grid and a surplus of AI engineering talent.\n\nAsia boasts four times more power production than Europe and the U.S. combined, with the majority of this growth occurring in China and other Asian countries. Consequently, the cost of power in Asia has significantly decreased compared to that in the U.S. Furthermore, the region is a leader in physical AI, as evidenced by a Chinese company having more autonomous vehicles on the roads than any other location worldwide.\n\nHowever, the distribution of venture funding in Asia remains highly uneven. In 2026, 68.1% of VC funds, or $96.1 billion out of $141 billion, flowed into China, predominantly for AI startups like DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and StepFun. Conversely, only $10.7 billion went to Southeast Asia during the first nine months of the year. Franco Varona, managing partner at Foxmont Capital Partners—a Philippines-based early growth fund—points out that this uneven distribution creates unique investment opportunities. He explains that while developed markets provide readily available infrastructure for AI development, emerging markets like the Philippines lack such infrastructure. As a result, Varona advocates for investing in the infrastructure itself to generate returns in an emerging market.\n\nMeanwhile, Asia's venture firms are adapting to the region's unique corporate dynamics by launching innovative funding models. For instance, Singapore-headquartered VC firm Granite Asia's private credit fund, Libra Hybrid, blends debt and equity into one financial instrument. Ming Eng, Granite Asia's managing partner, highlights that many Asian businesses—such as family-owned or conglomerate entities—are less interested in dilution or an IPO and instead seek strategic capital for growth. This has presented an opportunity for venture firms to provide alternative forms of capital to Asian businesses. Despite recent geopolitical challenges, all three panelists remain optimistic about Asia's VC scene, asserting that innovation is shifting its balance, and more than half of the most groundbreaking AI companies could emerge from Asia—a phenomenon never before witnessed.",
  "summary": "A few factors make Asia an appealing home for startups: a rapidly growing electricity grid, and an abundance of advanced chips and engineering talent.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}