Singapore-based AI firms seek to grow revenue globally
Take cybersecurity startup Peris.ai for example. It has about US$1.2 million in annual recurring revenue from 19 enterprise clients, none of which are in Singapore, as its distributor partnership in the city-state began only two months ago, said its vice-president of finance, Steven Wu.
The Business Times spoke to Peris.ai, health-tech firm Carecam and fact-checking platform AI Seer, at the SuperAI event held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in June.
AI Seer is another company that earns the bulk of its revenue from customers in the US. Its latest product, Facticity.AI, uses a scaffold of large language models such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Llama to provide fact-checking services for text inputs. The startup is backed by venture capitalists.
Facticity.AI has a monthly user growth rate of 17.1 per cent, with most of its paying users using it for research purposes. A significant portion of its users are from journalism, tech and finance industries.
Carecam, on the other hand, has primarily local clients, but is getting ready to take a crack at the overseas market.
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The company's flagship product, 3DGait, can spot early signs of frailty by analysing a short video of the way a person stands up and walks from a sitting position.
The product, currently used at the National Heart Centre Singapore and Sengkang General Hospital for research purposes, was recently listed by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
This means that 3DGait has met the basic requirements of the FDA and can be sold in the US.
AI reduces need for big teams
As they position themselves to capture clients overseas, AI can help these firms to grow.
'With the current advent of AI, it no longer makes sense to have a very big team,' said Dr Ramanpreet Pahwa, chief technology officer of Carecam.
Currently, Carecam has a small headcount of six staff based in Singapore, but it expects to increase this number up to 15, and deploy some new staff to sell products in the US.
Dennis Yap, chief executive officer of AI Seer, also believes that the rise of AI means that the company will be able to scale up while keeping its headcount low. AI Seer now has four full-time employees and an intern, all based in Singapore.
While Peris.ai has a 28-person team (mainly engineers based in Jakarta) serving 19 enterprise clients across the region, the startup plans to hire more account managers for its various markets as it expands.
'We need to have account managers to visit the clients and sell the products,' said Peris.ai's Wu.
The cybersecurity firm is already profitable on an Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) basis, but wants to improve its product to stay competitive, he said.
Support network
Being among the 10 finalists of the recently concluded Genesis startup competition at the SuperAI event, the three companies enjoyed fast-tracked reviews by VC firm 500 Global's investment team, and were provided free startup exhibition stands.
Peris.ai benefited from being selected by CyberSG's 'CyberBoost Catalyse' programme, which provides support for selected cybersecurity firms to integrate into the local and global cybersecurity industry.
Wu said that it would have been 'quite hard' for Peris.ai to access distributors without such a support network.
Dr Ramanpreet from Carecam started working on 3D technology while doing his PhD, and continued his research in Singapore when he worked at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star). He delved into new fields of application for the technology during the Covid pandemic, and moved into its healthcare applications.
As an SME, Carecam tapped into the SGInnovate programme to attract and train talents; it hired a software engineer under the programme.
Expansion plans
The firms are planning to improve and scale their products.
AI Seer is now backed by multiple funders and collaborators. The aim is to keep up the momentum and raise US$2.5 million in a seed-funding and equity round.
The startup intends to use the funds to improve on current products and expand their distribution network. It will also file patents for its products in more countries.
AI Seer's Facticity.AI was one of 14 AI products named among Time magazine's best inventions of 2024.
AI Seer also plans to expand into the digital space, particularly the Web3 space, partnering with Web3 firms such as Virtuals Protocol and Nexus to drive its expansion.
Web3 is an umbrella term for companies and individuals engaged in concepts such as decentralisation and blockchain.
Peris.ai remains focused on scaling up its operations to different countries, while keeping its revenue as the 'pure No. 1' priority to attract more ventures. Similarly, Carecam aims to remain cash-positive in three years by focusing on integration with US electronic medical records.
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