Wavemaker Partners

Congratulations to Groundup.ai on reaching a major milestone with a landmark US$10 million+ contract, their largest to date 🚀 This builds on the momentum from its US$4.25 million Series A in April 2025. More than just the number, this signals a broader shift. The global industrial sector is moving towards cognitive maintenance, where AI not only predicts, but also reasons, diagnoses, and guides. Groundup.ai’s Cognitive Maintenance solution helps industrial players reduce unplanned downtime, extend machine lifespan, and unlock deeper operational insights. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gtCv8dK7 Leon Lim🚀 Alex (Groundup) Wong

“Why are there so few exits in Southeast Asia?” It’s a fair question, but the reality is more nuanced. We believe that strong exits are still on the cards, but expectations may have been set too high, too soon. Valuations surged, round sizes grew, funds got larger — and naturally, exit expectations followed. So how did we get here? Our Managing Partner, B. Paul Santos, shares his perspective in The Business Times. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gea7WnMV

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! 🌙✨ May this festive season bring peace, joy, and time for meaningful reflection as we celebrate with our loved ones.

As Singapore’s startup ecosystem matures, access to growth-stage capital is becoming increasingly important. In his Budget 2026 speech, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced the formation of a new growth capital workgroup to enhance Singapore’s growth capital ecosystem and support the pipeline of companies from venture capital stage that may eventually list locally. Our Co-founder and Managing Partner B. Paul Santos shared with The Business Times that more developed startup ecosystems, such as those in the United States, Europe, China, and India, benefit from having local investors across every startup stage, from seed to venture to growth. Improving the availability of growth capital in Singapore can help complete the ecosystem and increase startups’ chances of realising their potential and maximising the value they create for all stakeholders. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gQF2d7hF

Thank you to Endeavor for giving our General Partner, Andy Hwang, the chance to serve as a panelist at Endeavor's 106th International Selection Panel (ISP) in Singapore. Andy, who's been mentoring with Endeavor for the past 6 years, had the opportunity to evaluate several finalists, including Melvin Chee, founder of RPG Commerce (Rocket Paradise Group), the Malaysian consumer brands group behind Montigo, OiYO, and Casebang, serving customers across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Following the panel, Melvin successfully passed the ISP and became one of Malaysia’s Endeavor Entrepreneurs. 🇲🇾 Seeing the momentum building among Malaysian founders is incredibly encouraging, and we look forward to supporting them as Wavemaker continues to back founders solving meaningful problems in Southeast Asia through scalable and defensible businesses. Read the press release from Endeavor Malaysia here: https://lnkd.in/gFG48GYt

🇸🇬 Singapore's Budget 2026 includes a S$1 billion top-up to the Startup SG Equity programme — expanding support to growth-stage companies as the ecosystem continues to mature. Our Managing Partner B. Paul Santos shared his perspective with The Business Times: “The question is no longer if we can build promising startups here. The question is if we can generate meaningful, profitable exits here.” He noted that the combination of Startup SG Equity, the Anchor Fund, and EQDP could help trigger a virtuous cycle — where successful exits return capital and confidence to investors, and founders and employees help build the next generation of promising startups. 📰 Read more: https://lnkd.in/g5hYC6vJ

🚀 Congratulations to our portfolio company Aonic, a Malaysia-founded drone technology company operating across Southeast Asia, on securing US$10 million in Series A funding led by Kairous Capital. This funding will accelerate expansion, deepen R&D efforts, and scale its Malaysia-built drones, software, and services. Aonic provides end-to-end drone solutions to modernise the agriculture and industrial sectors across the region, addressing persistent traditional challenges such as labour-intensive and hazardous work. By replacing manual spraying, Aonic helps farmers increase efficiency and yields. Beyond designing its own drones and proprietary software, the company has built an integrated ecosystem supporting farmers through training, agri-financing, and agri-input retail to lower adoption barriers and drive scalable, sustainable impact. 🔗 Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/ggNvtKTp Jin Xi Cheong

Congratulations to our portfolio company Eezee on raising US$5 million in an oversubscribed pre-Series B round led by Korea Investment Partners Southeast Asia. 🚀 We're proud to double down in this round alongside Kickstart Ventures and other strategic investors. With its AI-powered procurement tools, Eezee helps enterprises automate and optimise procurement workflows, particularly for long-tail, low-value purchases that are still largely manual and fragmented. The platform reduces procurement time from days to minutes and enables cost savings of over 20%. With group-level profitability in sight in the second half of the year, we look forward to supporting Eezee as it continues to scale across Southeast Asia and expand its AI capabilities. 🔗 Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/gvMadChg Logan T.

May the Year of the Horse bring us resilience, success, and good health. 🐴 We wish everyone a joyful and prosperous Lunar New Year!

Congratulations to our portfolio company, Oneteam, on securing a dedicated M&A financing facility from Polaris, the alternative financing arm of GB Helios. 🎉 Headquartered in Singapore, Oneteam focuses on acquiring and transitioning SMEs facing succession challenges. This new facility supports Oneteam by providing a dedicated financing structure for SME acquisitions with revenues under S$10 million – a segment often underserved by M&A lenders. 🤝🏻 The partnership between Oneteam and GB Helios reflects strong alignment in tackling real SME challenges, from succession gaps to responsible financing. We’re proud to support this collaboration that strengthens the resilience and continuity of SME sector. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gdxJM8Ah Kevin Boo Matthew Pay