Singapore chatbot developer Pand.ai bags US$1m seed funding

SINGAPORE-BASED chatbot developer Pand.ai has bagged US$1 million in seed funding from an unnamed angel investor and has plans to strengthen its executive bench-strength with the new capital.

The angel investor is a Hong Kong-based barrister who has backed more than 10 ventures across China, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore, the artificial intelligence startup which specialises in developing chatbots for the finance industry in Asia, said in an announcement on Thursday.

James Tan, former Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore (TMLS) chief executive, will take on the newly-created role of executive-in-residence where he will spearhead Pand.ai's insurance business in the Asia-Pacific.

This will be an additional role for Mr Tan, who has been the non-executive chairman of Pand.ai's advisory board since February 2019. Before TMLS, he held various senior management roles in AIA, Bain & Company, Friends Provident and Standard Chartered Bank.

Pand.ai co-founder and chief executive Shin Wee said Mr Tan will bring invaluable industry subject matter expertise to help Pand.ai scale as a company, and become the premium AI chatbot developer for financial services.