Roundup August

• Campaign Asia released its weekly "Move and win" roundup on August 31, 2026, detailing recent business wins and executive appointments across the industry. • Key companies featured in the roundup include Supermassive, Singlife, Chop Shop, Visa, AKQA Australia, Havas Play, OpenAI, Nova Studio, Edge Marketing, and Influence Matters. • In a significant regional development, the Hong Kong government awarded promotional contracts for 'Brand Hong Kong' to Founder New Media and Mitopia.

• Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,595.16 points on August 31, 2026, marking an increase of 6.94 points (0.44%) with a total trading value of THB 75.81 billion. • The market experienced volatility, trading lower during the morning session due to concerns over the U.S. Federal Reserve's hawkish monetary policy stance. • This movement highlights the continued sensitivity of the Thai stock market to global economic shifts and U.S. interest rate expectations.

• Venture capital firms, including Aramco Ventures, ARK Invest, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and Siemens, are actively funding startups as of August 25, 2026. • Rather than a general return of risk appetite, investors are aggressively targeting specific bottlenecks caused by the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence. • Key investment areas include electricity, semiconductor design, model security, autonomous logistics, licensed media, and specialized workflow software.

• Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Dr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas presented a strategic roadmap to revitalize the Thai economy and mitigate global uncertainties during the Thailand Focus 2026 conference. • A significant investment surge is targeting Thailand, with over $10.1 billion (THB 331 billion) allocated across 224 projects. • Roughly one-third of this capital is focused on printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electronic components to support the global scaling of AI hardware and semiconductor packaging.

• XPeng’s robotics unit secured over $900 million in its first external financing round on August 24, 2026. • The funding round valued the robotics division at more than $6 billion, marking it as the defining transaction of the period. • This surge in capital reflects a broader venture capital trend shifting toward the physical and financial infrastructure required for the next technology cycle.

• Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,601.05 points on August 24, 2026, marking a decrease of 12.73 points or 0.79%. • The total trading value for the session reached THB 60.9 billion. • This decline reflects broader volatility and significant developments within both the Thai and foreign stock markets.

• AI-native lending platform Resolv raised $12.5 million (approximately Rs 120 crore) in a Series A funding round during the week of August 23. • The investment was led by Norwest, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and 3one4 Capital. • Resolv provides technology that enables banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to automate critical lending workflows, including risk assessment, underwriting, sales, and collections.

• Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met in Wellington on August 21, 2026, to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations. • The two leaders signed a Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership, a move designed to formally strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation between the two nations. • In economic news, South Korea reported a significant surge in trade, with total exports reaching $55.2 billion during the first 20 days of August 2026.

• Red Balloon Aerospace is working to develop near-space infrastructure within India to expand the country's aerospace capabilities. • Atomberg has filed draft IPO papers for a fresh issue valued at Rs 450 crore, signaling a major scaling phase for the company. • These developments highlight significant growth and investment trends across India's deep-tech and consumer electronics startup sectors.

• Muon Space has secured $250 million in Series C funding, marking the largest verified deal in the last 12 hours. • The investment targets satellite manufacturing, communications capacity, dual-use space systems, and the development of on-orbit compute. • The company is redesigning nuclear steam systems to enable factory manufacturing and easier transport, aiming to reduce the high costs and long timelines typical of nuclear projects.

• The August 20, 2026, cybersecurity briefing highlights a global shift toward institutional capacity building rather than just technical patches. • Key developments include Vietnam establishing "Cyber Clinics" to create a talent pipeline and the UK and Kenya treating cyber resilience as a strategic diplomatic partnership. • In contrast, Ghana's GMET and France's public sector are struggling with critical security gaps caused by fragmented technology and underfunding.

• Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,609.99 points on August 20, 2026, marking a slight increase of 0.23 points (0.01%) with a total trading value of THB 82.36 billion. • The market experienced an early surge driven by positive overseas trends and investor reactions to declining bond yields following U.S. Treasury movements. • This activity highlights the Thai market's sensitivity to global macroeconomic shifts and U.S. monetary indicators.

• KPIT Technologies and Vietnam-based Vietsol have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on advanced mobility software and engineering services. • The partnership targets Southeast Asian markets, specifically Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, to accelerate product development and engineering efficiency. • KPIT will provide three decades of software expertise and OEM relationships, while Vietsol contributes regional presence and engineering talent.

• Peeko raised $7 million in funding, while Tross secured an undisclosed pre-seed round led by All In Capital and DeVC to expand its US healthcare EHR and payer integrations. • In legal developments, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has moved to court against Beco, and Starlink has reapplied for necessary approval from IN-SPACe to operate. • These events highlight a mix of aggressive growth in the health-tech sector and intensifying regulatory and legal battles among major corporate players in India.

• Venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, and Tiger Global, are shifting their investment focus as of August 18, 2026. • Investors are moving away from generic AI software to fund deeper technology stack components such as specialized silicon, energy efficiency, and biological science. • This strategic pivot aims to develop the critical infrastructure and operating systems necessary to make next-generation technology economically viable at scale.

• Ezolv, an AI-native lending technology platform founded by Karan Mehta and Sonali Jindal, has raised $12.5 million in a Series A funding round. • The investment was led by Norwest, with additional participation from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India and 3one4 Capital. • The funds will be used to scale Ezolv's AI-led lending platform, while other highlighted initiatives include ProgShakti's efforts to bridge the credit gap for women entrepreneurs.

• On August 14, 2026, the Thai and foreign stock markets experienced a period of selective speculation as investors focused on individual company earnings results. • The market lacked major driving factors, leading investors to adopt a cautious strategy based on specific corporate performance rather than broad trends. • Analysts predict the Thai market will continue to move sideways into next week due to the absence of strong catalysts.

• Kaspersky reported blocking 75 million cyberattacks across the Asia-Pacific region from January to June 2026. • The blocked threats included 3.4 million backdoor attacks, 2.4 million password-stealer attacks, and 250,000 ransomware incidents. • The firm highlighted a critical rise in supply-chain attacks, noting that nearly one in three organizations globally reported such incidents over the past year.

• Venture capital activity on August 12, 2026, showed a strong preference for fundamental infrastructure and vertical AI over consumer-facing applications. • Form Energy secured a massive $750 million investment to develop its iron-air battery plant, targeting long-duration energy storage for grid stability. • Other significant funding events included a $400 million round for a Swedish firm, with participation from major investors like Coatue, Sequoia Capital, and Menlo Ventures.

• Apple has enabled eligible Mac users in mainland China to integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI service with Siri and Writing Tools to enhance document analysis and complex request handling. • The Nvidia-backed Open Secure AI Alliance, comprising over 120 organizations, is developing "SAFE" guidelines to improve cybersecurity transparency for agentic AI. • These guidelines shift the focus from model weights to broader agent stack security, emphasizing incident disclosure and standardized evaluation practices following previous security failures.

• Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,612.00 points on August 7, 2026, marking a decrease of 2.64 points or 0.16%. • Total trading value for the session reached THB 63.39 billion, though the market primarily traded sideways within a narrow range. • Analysts attribute the decline and weaker trading volume to a lack of new supporting factors to drive market momentum.

• YourStory's daily roundup for August 7, 2026, highlights key developments across the startup ecosystem. • BlissClub secured a significant funding boost of Rs 160 crore to scale its operations. • Aule Space introduced a new satellite 'jetpack' technology, marking a notable advancement in space infrastructure.

• On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, major venture capital firms including a16z, General Catalyst, and Insight Partners led a series of significant funding rounds. • Investors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into startups focusing on "human-out-of-the-loop" technologies, specifically targeting autonomous mobility and industrial robotics. • The funding surge also covered enterprise AI agents, developer infrastructure, and automated financial systems, signaling a shift toward total operational autonomy.

• Major capital flows on August 4, 2026, were dominated by "big bets" in AI, energy infrastructure, and next-gen security. • The day's largest funding rounds included a $1 billion Series B for Valar Atomics and a $1 billion Series D for Base Power, both focused on powering AI workloads. • Venture capital geography is diversifying, with significant deep-tech investments flowing into European companies like Ore Energy and HappyRobot, as well as Israeli firms Zenity and QuantHealth.

• RHB Bank has appointed Abdul Sani to a leadership role as part of a series of business wins and executive moves for the week of August 3, 2026. • Sani brings extensive industry experience, including nine years as the head of marketing for HSBC in Malaysia and 14 years at Unilever across Malaysia and Thailand. • His background includes overseeing major financial entities like HSBC Amanah and managing global consumer brands such as Dove, Sunsilk, and Rexona.