Updated August 2026. Written by Remy Beaumont.
Total raised in APAC this week: $2.65bn across 27 disclosed rounds.
Key takeaways
APAC funding rounds this week reached about $2.65bn across roughly 27 disclosed deals, and about $650m excluding Firmus's $2bn raise.
The headline: Firmus Technologies, an ex bitcoin miner, raised $2bn at a $10.5bn valuation from Blackstone, Nvidia, Coatue and Jane Street, an 8x markup in 11 months.
The biggest surprise: PokeBot, founded in April 2026, closed a $100m+ pre Series A, its second nine figure adjacent round in barely three months of existence.
Regional split: ANZ took about 76% of dollars on Firmus alone; India led on volume with about 17 rounds worth $281m; North Asia added two $100m embodied AI rounds; SEA about $155m.
What did the APAC funding week look like?
Busy while the West wound down for summer. APAC funding rounds this week totalled around $2.65bn across 27 disclosed deals, from a $2bn AI infrastructure mega round in Australia to a steady drumbeat of Indian Series A and B deals. Strip out Firmus and the region still cleared roughly $650m.
The stories underneath: China's embodied AI machine compounding at startling speed, India's EV and fintech pipelines maturing, and Singapore quietly assembling an agentic AI compute stack. For the longer arc see our APAC funding roundup, and last week's edition is the week ending 31st July roundup.
Which was the biggest round this week?
Firmus Technologies' $2bn (A$2.85bn) strategic equity raise at a $10.5bn (A$15bn) valuation, announced Friday 7th August. The Sydney headquartered, Singapore incorporated company builds green AI factories, including Project Southgate, a planned A$73bn national rollout of Nvidia powered AI data centres across Australia and a 360MW site in Batam, Indonesia. Existing backers Coatue and Nvidia were joined by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Jane Street. The valuation is up 8x from A$1.85bn in September 2025, with over $3bn raised in 12 months, and the company began life as a Tasmanian bitcoin miner in 2019.
The announcement teardown is about timing and syndication. This was a coordinated company announcement with canned quotes from co CEO Oliver Curtis, Coatue and Jane Street, no exchange filing, and it landed with Startup Daily and SmartCompany at 02:26 UTC on Friday, prime Friday morning in Sydney and Singapore while the US was asleep on Thursday night. By the time Western desks woke up, the ANZ syndication chain had already run the story wall to wall. If your market is APAC, announce into APAC's morning and let the West catch up; chasing a US morning slot would have buried it on a Friday.
The other big rounds this week
Acrab, $130m Series B (Singapore, Thursday). Agentic AI compute, custom silicon plus edge orchestration, led by Vertex Ventures SEA and India with Vertex Growth; over $480m raised since leaving stealth in June. Announced via PR Newswire with regional trade pickup.
River Mobility, $120m Series C (Bengaluru, Wednesday). Electric two wheelers, one of India's largest ever private e2W rounds, co led by Elev8 Venture Partners and Claypond Capital with Yamaha, Mitsui and Al Futtaim returning. A wire release carried broadly by Business Standard and YourStory.
DISCOVER Robotics, $100m angel+ round at a $1bn+ valuation (Beijing). Consumer embodied AI from a Tsinghua AIR spinout led by an ex DJI founder, backed by IDG Capital and a state owned industrial group; its second $100m+ round in under a month.
PokeBot, $100m+ pre Series A (Beijing). Robotic manipulation, famously demoed cooking Mapo Tofu autonomously, co led by Shunwei Capital and iMPC with Xiaomi's venture arm re upping. Founded in April 2026; this is a company months old raising nine figures.
Leap India, roughly $39m pre IPO placement (Mumbai, Thursday). KKR backed pallet pooling firm, led by GIC subsidiary Gamnat with Dymon Asia, disclosed via anchor filings ahead of its issue opening, a reminder that in India the exchange filing is often the announcement.
InRisk Labs, $27m Series A (GIFT City, Wednesday). AI parametric reinsurance, co led by Bessemer and Northpoint, announced alongside its IFSCA licence news, stacking regulatory milestone and raise into one story.
Where is APAC capital flowing?
By dollars: ANZ led with about 76% on Firmus alone, though note the domicile nuance, Sydney HQ but Singapore incorporation; reclassify it and SEA flips to the top. India took about 11% ($281m) but led decisively on volume with around 17 disclosed rounds across EV, fintech, D2C and climate. North Asia added about 8%, almost entirely China's two $100m embodied AI rounds, against a backdrop of $10.1bn across 219 Chinese embodied AI deals in H1. SEA ex Firmus was about 6%, led by Acrab. Korea was quiet in disclosed English language coverage. Founders plotting an APAC entry through Singapore should read our playbook on cracking APAC with Singapore as the launchpad.
Notable APAC launches this week
Zankore by Indosat launched, a 1GW AI factory platform for APAC from Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Ooredoo Group, Nvidia and Nokia, with the first 200MW of GB300 capacity due H1 2027 and Ooredoo committing about $800m.
Ola Electric unveiled Mahashakti, its battery energy storage platform, with an MoU for up to 20GWh with Axis Energy; shares jumped 10% ahead of the 15th August launch.
Unitree filed for a Shanghai IPO at a roughly $9bn valuation, with DeepSeek taking a $20.8m cornerstone stake, while OpenAI pushed deeper into India with Indic language voice AI and price cuts.
What should founders raising soon do this week?
Announce into your home market's morning. Firmus dropped at 02:26 UTC Friday, owned the ANZ news cycle by breakfast and let the West catch up later.
Feed the daily digest machine. India's ecosystem runs on daily funding roundups; a clean wire release with clear numbers gets you into every one of them.
Mind your filings. DealStreetAsia surfaced Fazz and Sqreem's raises from regulatory filings before any press release; assume the filing is the announcement and prepare accordingly.
Stack milestones. InRisk announced its licence and its Series A together; one story, twice the substance, twice the pickup.
Velocity is a narrative. PokeBot's age, four months, did more work in headlines than its amount. If speed is your story, date stamp it.
The rest of the week's top rounds
BlissClub, about $16.8m Series B, athleisure D2C, India.
IIRM Holdings, $16m, insurance distribution, India.
Fazz, $12.5m, fintech, Singapore and Indonesia, via preference shares to NTT Docomo per filings.
HomeRun, $12m Series A+, 60 minute construction materials delivery, India, led by Nexus.
Sqreem, $12m, AI behavioural analytics, Singapore, per filings.
Mitti Labs, $9.5m Series A, rice farming methane credits, India, led by Aramco Ventures.
Pinegap, $8m Series A, AI equity research, India, led by Stellaris.
Solinas Integrity, $5.5m Series A1, water infrastructure robotics, India.
JIJ, $5.2m, quantum and AI optimisation, Japan, led by Global Brain and Fujitsu Ventures.
Eudaemon Technologies A$3.75m, Zabidou A$3.5m seed and Rampart A$2.3m, Australia.
FAQ
How much did APAC startups raise this week?
About $2.65bn across roughly 27 disclosed rounds for the week ending 7th August, or around $650m excluding Firmus's $2bn raise.
What was the biggest APAC funding round this week?
Firmus Technologies' $2bn strategic raise at a $10.5bn valuation, backed by Blackstone, Nvidia, Coatue and Jane Street, announced 7th August.
Which APAC market led this week?
ANZ by dollars at about 76%, entirely on Firmus. India led on volume with about 17 disclosed rounds worth $281m, topped by River Mobility's $120m Series C.
Why is Chinese robotics funding notable this week?
Two Beijing embodied AI startups, DISCOVER Robotics and PokeBot, each raised $100m or more in the same week, and PokeBot was only founded in April 2026.
Is Firmus an Australian or Singaporean company?
Both, in a sense. It is Australian born and Sydney headquartered but incorporated in Singapore; ANZ outlets count it as Australian, and reclassifying it would hand SEA the week.
Follow APAC funding rounds this week, every week, with the announcement plays behind the deals, on Ignita's free Substack.
