Singapore AI startup bags US$7m in Series A round led by two US venture capitalists

ENTERPRISE artificial intelligence (AI) startup NextBillion.ai has raised US$7 million in a Series A round co-led by American venture capitalists Lightspeed Venture Partners and Falcon Edge Capital.

The Singapore-based startup is also supported by angel investors including the former chief operating officer of software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Freshworks, Nishant Rao; and founders of US-based AI startup Mad Street Den, Anand Chandrasekeran and Ashwini Asokan.

NextBillion.ai will use the funds to grow its team, product and research and development in future focus areas, the firm said in a media statement on Tuesday.

The startup was founded earlier this year by former tech-leadership members of Grab, Gaurav Bubna, Ajay Bulusu and Zheng Shaolin.

The trio had developed Grab Maps, as well as routing, pricing and estimated time of arrival features, said NextBillion.ai.

Its first product, Nextbillionmaps, is an AI-first maps SaaS platform that provides enterprises with application programming interfaces such as routing, navigation and direction.

NextBillion.ai said its customers are in social media, ride hailing, food delivery, freight and logistics verticals across China, South-east Asia, India and the US.

Chief technology officer and co-founder of NextBillion.ai, Mr Zheng, said its AI solutions are "aligned with hyperlocal nuances in both emerging markets and developed markets", making them ideal for "companies who wish to expand on a global level".