Estha brings offline AI to small firms wary of cloud exposure

The company has raised more than $1m and serves about 100 clients.

Esther.AI Pte. Ltd. is targeting small and medium-sized businesses that want to use artificial intelligence (AI) but are reluctant to put company data in the cloud or hire engineers to run AI systems.

The company's Estha platform lets users build and deploy AI applications through a no-code interface, Esther.AI co-founder and CEO Eric Lam told Singapore Business Review.

Lam, a biologist by training, wanted to use AI to create personalised experiences but could not find a suitable platform.

“I had no idea how to do it, let alone how to monetise something like that,” he said via Zoom.

He teamed up with friends with AI and software development expertise to build Estha in late 2024. The platform started as a no-code builder before evolving into a private AI platform after the team found it ran effectively on Apple Silicon.

Estha targets businesses with two to 150 employees that lack the resources to build private AI systems or maintain server infrastructure, Lam said.

Users can upload company data and configure AI tools through a no-code interface, whilst the platform handles deployment.

Estha includes more than 50 pre-built applications for tasks such as meeting organisation and internal knowledge searches. Companies can also build AI tools using their own procedures, price lists, and internal documents.

One client used the platform to target a 50% to 70% reduction in questions escalated from junior staff to managers, Lam said.

Estha also offers automated agents that analyse data, process documents, transcribe meetings, build presentations, summarise PDFs, and prototype web applications.

Since launching in late 2024, the company has onboarded about 100 clients, most of them in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Singapore adoption is also growing, Lam said.

The company has raised more than $1m in angel and pre-seed funding and is targeting a seed funding round in 2027.

Estha plans to release more agents, including tools for know-your-customer processes and passport record management.

In the next six to nine months, Estha plans to introduce autonomous agents that learn from and use a company's data, Lam said.

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