A Recap On What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (October 2nd - October 6th)

This month has been an exciting one with the Asian games going in full swing; there were victors and losers and some underdogs who rose to greatness. The startup scene in the Asian Economy had a good funding season thanks to their importance highlighted during the G20 event.

This week, we saw Indian graphic entertainment gain traction, and we also saw a startup which is making sci-fi robots no longer sci-fi. Innovation is the staple of startups, and these startups proved that. Apart from startups, notable VCs also stepped up to aid them.

Toonsutra

Start-up focused on webtoons in India Toonsutra, which CA Media-backed Graphic India incubated, has received an unknown sum of money from the Sony Innovation Fund (SIF), according to a top business executive.

"SIF has joined Toonsutra as one of the investors," said Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Graphic India, declining to give further specifics due to confidentiality concerns.

"The investment further validates the timing and opportunity that Toonsutra represents to have such a prestigious group participate," he stated. Graphic India is the country's major provider of original character entertainment.

SIF has also helped startups such as Lokal, GetVantage, Impact Guru, Medfin, MedPay, Slice, WeRize, and Tricog. Sony fully funds SIF, which invests in early-stage startups.

TreetoScope

TreetoScope, an Israeli irrigation management platform, has closed a venture fundraising round led by Israeli Champel Capital, Earth Venture Capital, SeedIL, and other strategic investors. TreetoScope said in a statement on Oct 4 that the money will allow it to help with R&D, boost overall growth, and expedite commercial agriculture operations in North America and beyond.

Treetoscope's solution gives superior irrigation insights to farmers while utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and novel sensors developed by the company to assess plant water use in real time. It has received nearly $10 million in total investments, including funds from the Israel Innovation Authority and the Bird Foundation, a joint Israel-US government fund.

TreetoScope's major sales volume is now concentrated in North America and Europe due to collaborations with industry leaders such as The Toro Company, Netafim, and Hektas. In addition, the company intends to expand throughout Asia in the next years to assist farmers in growing more with less water and inputs.

Visa

Visa launched a $100 million venture fund for generative artificial intelligence (AI) startups on Oct 2, joining a long list of investors who have flocked to the sector this year.

Following the success of chatbot ChatGPT, several high-profile names, including Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, have backed the AI space, which has become a buzzword in technology circles this year.

"While much of generative AI has been focused on tasks and content creation, this technology... will also meaningfully change commerce in ways we need to understand," said Jack Forestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer.

Generative AI is a technology that creates brand-new content based on what it has learned from past data.

Tsubame Industries

A start-up based in Tokyo, Tsubame Industries has created a 4.5-metre (14.8-foot) tall four-wheeled robot that resembles "Mobile Suit Gundam" from the wildly popular Japanese animation series, and it is available for $3 million.

The robot, named ARCHAX after the avian dinosaur archaeopteryx, has cockpit monitors that receive images from cameras attached to the exterior, allowing the pilot to control the arms and hands with joysticks from inside its torso.

The 3.5-ton robot, unveiled later this month at the Japan Mobility Show, has two modes: upright 'robot mode' and ' vehicle mode,' which can travel up to 10 km (6 miles) per hour.

"Japan is very good at animation, games, robots, and automobiles, so I thought it would be great if I could create a product that compressed all of these elements into one," said Ryo Yoshida, Tsubame Industries' 25-year-old CEO.