Chinese-founded, Singapore-based AI startups: The next Manus might be on this list
Plenty of Chinese founders are building AI companies in the city-state
MANUS became Singapore’s first billion-dollar artificial intelligence (AI) startup after Meta’s acquisition. But it was not originally from the city-state.
A Chinese founding team started it in China, then moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2025. The neutral ground helped it sidestep US-China tensions and enabled its acquisition by a US tech giant.
Will Singapore see another Manus? Plenty of Chinese founders are building AI companies in the city-state, whether from scratch or through recent relocations.
Tech in Asia compiled a list of 16 such AI companies. They are gaining real traction – from having high-profile clients and top-tier backers to gaining tens of thousands of GitHub stars.
Whether you are an investor or a tech operator keen on AI in the region, this list is worth watching.
Among the backers of these companies, Granite Asia is the most frequent investor with three portfolio companies: Chemlex, Singdata, and Wiz.ai.
The firm’s managing partners, Jenny Lee and Jixun Foo, have a strong track record in China, having backed Alibaba, Baidu, Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Didi.
Peak XV Partners, Singtel Innov8, Sinovation Ventures, and ZhenFund each backed two companies on the list. The last two are Chinese funds.
Meanwhile, the founders share a common thread: most built their credentials at China’s top tech firms before branching out.
Alibaba tops the list of former employers. Four of the 27 founders held senior roles at the Chinese tech giant.
Jensen Wu of TopviewAI ran Taobao’s product division. Singdata’s co-founders also held senior roles – Ethan Yu served as vice president of the group, and Tao Guan worked as senior director at Alibaba Cloud’s Big Data Computing Platform. Felix Tao of Mindverse was the founding director of Neuro-Symbolic Lab at Alibaba Cloud.
Some founders also exited startups in China before setting up in Singapore. Orion Arm’s Raymond Wang sold delivery app Ele.me to Alibaba. AI Rudder’s Teng Ren took CooTek public on a US stock exchange, and Wiz.ai’s Jianfeng Lu offloaded his startup to Qihoo 360.
On educational background, Tsinghua University – China’s top-ranked engineering school – is the most common alma mater among the founders. Zhejiang University, where DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng also studied, comes second.
These founder profiles are reminiscent of Manus’ founding team, all of whom studied science and engineering at Chinese universities and shipped hit products in China before heading to Singapore.
The next billion-dollar AI deal in the city-state might come from a founder who fits this mold. TECH IN ASIA
